The battle is also known as Korn Spruit and Koorn Spruit.
In the meanwhile there had been a series of operations in the east which
had ended in a serious disaster. Immediately after the occupation of
Bloemfontein (on March 18th) Lord Roberts despatched to the east a small
column consisting of the 10th Hussars, the composite regiment, two batteries
(Q and U) of the Horse Artillery, some mounted infantry, Roberts's Horse,
and Rimington's Guides. On the eastern horizon forty miles from the
capital, but in that clear atmosphere looking only half the distance, there
stands the impressive mountain named Thabanchu (the black mountain).
To all Boers it is an historical spot, for it was at its base that the
wagons of the Voortrekkers, coming by devious ways from various parts,
assembled. On the further side of Thabanchu, to the north and east of
it, lies the richest grain-growing portion of the Free State, the centre of
which is Ladybrand. The forty miles which intervene between
Bloemfontein and Thabanchu are intersected midway by the Modder River.
At this point are the waterworks, erected recently with modern machinery, to
take the place of the insanitary wells on which the town had been dependent.
The force met with no resistance, and the small town of Thabanchu was
occupied.
Colonel Pilcher, the leader of the Douglas raid, was inclined to explore
a little further, and with three squadrons of mounted men he rode on to the
eastward. Two commandos, supposed to be Grobler's and Olivier's, were
seen by them, moving on a line which suggested that they were going to join
Steyn, who was known to be rallying his forces at Kroonstad, his new seat of
government in the north of the Free State. Pilcher, with great daring,
pushed onwards until with his little band on their tired horses he found
himself in Ladybrand, thirty miles from his nearest supports.
Entering the town he seized the landdrost and the field-cornet, but found
that strong bodies of the enemy were moving upon him and that it was
impossible for him to hold the place. He retired, therefore, holding
grimly on to his prisoners, and got back with small loss to the place from
which he started. It was a dashing piece of bluff, and, when taken
with the Douglas exploit, leads one to hope that Pilcher may have a chance
of showing what he can do with larger means at his disposal. Finding
that the enemy was following him in force, he pushed on the same night for
Thabanchu. His horsemen must have covered between fifty and sixty
miles in the twenty-four hours.
Apparently the effect of Pilcher's exploit was to halt the march of those
commandos which had been seen trekking to the north-west, and to cause them
to swing round upon Thabanchu. Broadwood, a young cavalry commander
who had won a name in Egypt, considered that his position was unnecessarily
exposed and fell back upon Bloemfontein. He halted on the first night
near the waterworks, halfway upon his journey.
The Boers are great masters in the ambuscade. Never has any race
shown such aptitude for this form of warfare - a legacy from a long
succession of contests with cunning savages. But never also have they
done anything so clever and so audacious as De Wet's dispositions in this
action. One cannot go over the ground without being amazed at the
ingenuity of their attack, and also at the luck which favoured them, for the
trap which they had laid for others might easily have proved an absolutely
fatal one for themselves.
The position beside the Modder at which the British camped had numerous
broken hills to the north and east of it. A force of Boers, supposed
to number about two thousand men, came down in the night, bringing with them
several heavy guns, and with the early morning opened a brisk fire upon the
camp. The surprise was complete. But the refinement of the Boer
tactics lay in the fact that they had a surprise within a surprise--and it
was the second which was the more deadly.
The force which Broadwood had with him consisted of the 10th Hussars and the
composite regiment, Rimington's Scouts, Roberts's Horse, the New Zealand and
Burmah Mounted Infantry, with Q and U batteries of Horse Artillery.
With such a force, consisting entirely of mounted men, he could not storm
the hills upon which the Boer guns were placed, and his twelve-pounders were
unable to reach the heavier cannon of the enemy. His best game was
obviously to continue his march to Bloemfontein. He sent on the
considerable convoy of wagons and the guns, while he with the cavalry
covered the rear, upon which the long-range pieces of the enemy kept up the
usual well-directed but harmless fire.
Broadwood's retreating column now found itself on a huge plain which
stretches all the way to Bloemfontein, broken only by two hills, both of
which were known to be in our possession. The plain was one which was
continually traversed from end to end by our troops and convoys, so that
once out upon its surface all danger seemed at an end. Broadwood had
additional reasons for feeling secure, for he knew that, in answer to his
own wise request, Colvile's Division had been sent out before daybreak that
morning from Bloemfontein to meet him. In a very few miles their
vanguard and his must come together. There were obviously no Boers
upon the plain, but if there were they would find themselves between two
fires. He gave no thought to his front therefore, but rode behind,
where the Boer guns were roaring, and whence the Boer riflemen might ride.
But in spite of the obvious there WERE Boers upon the plain, so placed that
they must either bring off a remarkable surprise or be themselves cut off to
a man. Across the veld, some miles from the waterworks, there runs a
deep donga or watercourse--one of many, but the largest. It cuts the
rough road at right angles. Its depth and breadth are such that a
wagon would dip down the incline, and disappear for about two minutes before
it would become visible again at the crown of the other side. In
appearance it was a huge curving ditch with a stagnant stream at the bottom.
The sloping sides of the ditch were fringed with Boers, who had ridden
thither before dawn and were now waiting for the unsuspecting column.
There were not more than three hundred of them, and four times their number
were approaching; but no odds can represent the difference between the
concealed man with the magazine rifle and the man upon the plain.
There were two dangers, however, which the Boers ran, and, skilful as
their dispositions were, their luck was equally great, for the risks were
enormous. One was that a force coming the other way (Colvile's was
only a few miles off) would arrive, and that they would be ground between
the upper and the lower millstone. The other was that for once the
British scouts might give the alarm and that Broadwood's mounted men would
wheel swiftly to right and left and secure the ends of the long donga.
Should that happen, not a man of them could possibly escape. But they
took their chances like brave men, and fortune was their friend. The
wagons came on without any scouts. Behind them was U battery, then Q,
with Roberts's Horse abreast of them and the rest of the cavalry behind.
As the wagons, occupied for the most part only by unarmed sick soldiers
and black transport drivers, came down into the drift, the Boers quickly but
quietly took possession of them, and drove them on up the further slope.
Thus the troops behind saw their wagons dip down, reappear, and continue on
their course. The idea of an ambush could not suggest itself.
Only one thing could avert an absolute catastrophe, and that was the
appearance of a hero who would accept certain death in order to warn his
comrades. Such a man rode by the wagons - though, unhappily, in the
stress and rush of the moment there is no certainty as to his name or rank.
We only know that one was found brave enough to fire his revolver in the
face of certain death. The outburst of firing which answered his shot
was the sequel which saved the column. Not often is it given to a man
to die so choice a death as that of this nameless soldier.
But the detachment was already so placed that nothing could save it from
heavy loss. The wagons had all passed but nine, and the leading
battery of artillery was at the very edge of the donga. Nothing is so
helpless as a limbered-up battery. In an instant the teams were shot
down and the gunners were made prisoners. A terrific fire burst at the
same instant upon Roberts's Horse, who were abreast of the guns.
'Files a bout! gallop!' yelled Colonel Dawson, and by his exertions and
those of Major Pack-Beresford the corps was extricated and reformed some
hundreds of yards further off. But the loss of horses and men was
heavy. Major Pack-Beresford and other officers were shot down, and
every unhorsed man remained necessarily as a prisoner under the very muzzles
of the riflemen in the donga.
As Roberts's Horse turned and galloped for dear life across the flat,
four out of the six guns of Q battery and one gun (the rearmost) of U
battery swung round and dashed frantically for a place of safety. At
the same instant every Boer along the line of the donga sprang up and
emptied his magazine into the mass of rushing, shouting soldiers, plunging
horses, and screaming Kaffirs. It was for a few moments a
sauve-qui-peut. Serjeant-Major Martin of U, with a single driver on a
wheeler, got away the last gun of his battery. The four guns which
were extricated of Q, under Major
Phipps-Hornby, whirled across the plain, pulled up, unlimbered, and
opened a brisk fire of shrapnel from about a thousand yards upon the donga.
Had the battery gone on for double the distance, its action would have been
more effective, for it would have been under a less deadly rifle fire, but
in any case its sudden change from flight to discipline and order steadied
the whole force. Roberts's men sprang from their horses, and with the
Burmese and New Zealanders flung themselves down in a skirmish line.
The cavalry moved to the left to find some drift by which the donga could be
passed, and out of chaos there came in a few minutes calm and a settled
purpose.
It was for Q battery to cover the retreat of the force, and most nobly it
did it. A fortnight later a pile of horses, visible many hundreds of
yards off across the plain, showed where the guns had stood. It was
the Colenso of the horse gunners. In a devilish sleet of lead they
stood to their work, loading and firing while a man was left. Some of
the guns were left with two men to work them, one was loaded and fired by a
single officer. When at last the order for retirement came, only ten
men, several of them wounded, were left upon their feet. With scratch
teams from the limbers, driven by single gunners, the twelve-pounders
staggered out of action, and the skirmish line of mounted infantry sprang to
their feet amid the hail of bullets to cheer them as they passed.
It was no slight task to extricate that sorely stricken force from the
close contact of an exultant enemy, and to lead it across that terrible
donga. Yet, thanks to the coolness of Broadwood and the steadiness of
his rearguard, the thing was done. A practicable passage had been
found two miles to the south by Captain Chester-Master of Rimington's.
This corps, with Roberts's, the New Zealanders, and the 3rd Mounted
Infantry, covered the withdrawal in turn. It was one of those actions
in which the horseman who is trained to fight upon foot did very much better
than the regular cavalry. In two hours' time the drift had been passed
and the survivors of the force found themselves in safety.
The losses in this disastrous but not dishonourable engagement were
severe. About thirty officers and five hundred men were killed,
wounded, or missing. The prisoners came to more than three hundred.
They lost a hundred wagons, a considerable quantity of stores, and seven
twelve-pounder guns--five from U battery and two from Q. Of U battery
only Major Taylor and Sergeant-Major Martin seem to have escaped, the rest
being captured en bloc. Of Q battery nearly every man was killed or
wounded. Roberts's Horse, the New Zealanders, and the mounted infantry
were the other corps which suffered most heavily. Among many brave men
who died, none was a greater loss to the service than Major Booth of the
Northumberland Fusiliers, serving in the mounted infantry. With four
comrades he held a position to cover the retreat, and refused to leave it.
Such men are inspired by the traditions of the past, and pass on the story
of their own deaths to inspire fresh heroes in the future.
Broadwood, the instant that he had disentangled himself, faced about, and
brought his guns into action. He was not strong enough, however, nor
were his men in a condition, to seriously attack the enemy. Martyr's
mounted infantry had come up, led by the Queenslanders, and at the cost of
some loss to themselves helped to extricate the disordered force.
Colvile's Division was behind Bushman's Kop, only a few miles off, and there
were hopes that it might push on and prevent the guns and wagons from being
removed. Colvile did make an advance, but slowly and in a flanking
direction instead of dashing swiftly forward to retrieve the situation.
It must be acknowledged, however, that the problem which faced this General
was one of great difficulty. It was almost certain that before he
could throw his men into the action the captured guns would be beyond his
reach, and it was possible that he might swell the disaster. With all
charity, however, one cannot but feel that his return next morning, after a
reinforcement during the night, without any attempt to force the Boer
position, was lacking in enterprise. [Footnote: It may be urged in
General Colvile's defence that his division had already done a long march
from Bloemfontein. A division, however, which contains two such
brigades as Macdonald's and Smith-Dorrien's may safely be called upon for
any exertions. The gunner officers in Colvile's division heard their
comrades' guns in 'section--fire' and knew it to be the sign of a desperate
situation]. The victory left the Boers in possession of the
waterworks, and Bloemfontein had to fall back upon her wells - a
change which reacted most disastrously upon the enteric which was already
decimating the troops.
VC recipients:
Glasock, Driver Horace Henry, Q Battery, Royal Horse
Artillery
Lodge, Gunner Isaac, Q Battery, Royal Horse Artillery
Maxwell, Lieutenant Francis Aylmer, Indian Staff
Corps (attached to Roberts's Light Horse)
Parker, Sergeant Charles, Royal Horse Artillery
Phipps-Hornby, Major Edmund John, Q Battery,
Royal Horse Artillery
See the
officer casualties.
