Show HOW BOERS DEFEATED GEN BULLERS TROOPS Story of Terrible Battle At Tugela River In Which the British Were Repulsed < 1 Dad1y Hail of Shells From the Trenches of the Transvaal Forces Could Not Be Faced New < York Dec OA dispatch to the Herald from London gives the foJlow lag account of the battle of Tusela sent to the London Daily Telegraph by its war correspondent The action which was fought today between the British forces and the Boers was a very severely contested affair Losses on both sides were heavy heavGeleral Geleral Buller who commanded was repeatedly under a deadly fire Major Ma-jor Hodges of his staff was killed while Lieutenant the Hon A 1H S Roberts was wQunded Other officers had narrow escapes their horses being shot under them The object of General Bules advance ad-vance was to force the passage ot the Tgela carry the Bce entrenchments an open up a road to Ldysmlth across the ridges General Harts brigade comprising the First battalion of the Connaught ConIugt Rangers the First battalion of the Royal Innisslkling FusilierS the First battalion of the border regiment and the First battalIon of the Royal Dublin Fsliers was sept to ford what Is known as Bridle Drift situated west of Doornkpsprult Composition of Brigades General Hlldyards brigade consisting consist-ing of the Second battalion of the Devonshire regiment the Second battalion bat-talion of the Queens Royal Vest Surrey Sur-rey regiment the Second battalion of the Vet Yorkshire relmClt and the Second battalion of the E Surrey regiment was directed to proceed to Coler and cross the river near the iron bridge General Litetons brIgade which was composed of the Second battalion of the meronlans the Third battalIon Ion of the Kings Royal Rifle corps the First battalion of the Durham Light Infantry and the First battalion of the Rifle Brigade wa ordered to support either Hid ard or Hat as occasion might arise while General Bartons Union Fusler brigade consIsting of the Second battalion of the Royal Fusiliers Fu-siliers the Fir battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers the Second battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers and the Second battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers proceeded to the east of the rallway toward Mount Dangnne to protect the British flank and threaten that of the enemy Our caa and field guns yerta tionedon either icing The naval guns were posted lna centralposion in the west side of the raIlway whle Colonel Long with his artillery went to the east side of the railway on the right of the Infantry General Hid ard Set ahead the Queens Royal Vest Surreys on the right and the DeOns on the left of his front while General Hart pushed on the Innissklins Connaught Rangers and Dubln Fuslers Our front extended ex-tended for a distance of about six miles Boers Front In the Air The Boer had evidently fully extended ex-tended their Jnes Their extreme mo blt almoat gave them a front In air Their guns were booming around Lady smith when ours broke the silence of Colenso by shelling the foothills nvth of the Tugela river and Fort Wie which stands upon e ridge near the I bridGe With ski and labor the Boer had built walls and fort and had dug successive trenches on the I road commanding every line of ap pro ch from Estcourt to Colens The country Is bare and general undulating I undu-lating similar indeed to our downs latng simiar Indee I Our troops therefore had to adyance to the Tugela without any cover The battle commenced before 6 batte I In the morning but the Boers made no replY to the heavy cannonade which OUr bluejackets directed upon them Few oC the enemy was visible They lay hidden hid-den behind their hlworlt but on our Infantry and batteries and cavalry nearing Colenso a shrp musketry fire was opened on thernby the Boers from the houses on the river bank behind which many of the enemy had been I concealed for hours I aas twenty minutes after 6 when the Boer batteries opened fire at our field artillery cavalry and infdntry on the eat of the railway Their cannon II included a reosut ffpouhd r Krupp and a Hotchkss the later A machine gun which while being discharged dis-charged give forth a viainous and an unnerving rattattt a sort ot a vol umous pstmans knock Wa Terrible Fade 1 The enemys shells were soon splashing 1 splash-ing In all directions but out Indomitable Indomit-able Infantry in the face of the fusi lade which real was one continuous roar of shot and shell fought gallantly on and gained Coleno Colonel Long rushed in the batteries In order to get close range when suddenly sud-denly the Boers sprang up and opened a destructive fire with Iauser at a range of only 600 yards Gunners and horses were rapidly shot down With the utmost pluck our private soldiers took teams to recover the cannon can-non but the animals were killed and ten field piece were not recovered despite de-spite to get the them heroic back efforts of our fellows It was then that Lieutenant Roberts Rob-erts was hIt Pelted From Hill Tops General Barton sent In some com panics of Scots and Irish fusiliers to assist Meanwhile General Harts brig jade j-ade was shelled by the enemy and pelted pelt-ed from the hill tops with Mauser bul let and from the trenches on the river bank met wIth an equally terrible opposition positon But despite the great losses which were sustained the boys of the Irish brigade grandly won their way acrose the rIver though a few of them were drowned in the passage But they found the position untenable and were ordered to retreAt retre-At noon our troops withdrew to their 4 former positions the Boers evincIng no disposition to follow us up During the actions the enems rnorcments gal loped up to occupy the trenches g < i f ta I > o I irs I I i I I F III II I III I I I I I I 1 t J jb4tiy r 1 Feo ie w 1 t I RIISK rY RCG no P3 ACTION AT McDIB LIVEP C = |