Show T BLUNDERS OF BRiTISH 1 Indictment of Officers in Command at Spionkop I j USELESS SACRIFICE OF LIFE LIFEI I 1I 1 I Bitter Denunciation of Blundering and Incompetent Britons Who Allowed J Al-lowed the Irish Brigade to be Slain There wa No Strategy Troops 1 i I were Moved Along in Haphazard Manner and Ten n Hill or In trenchment a Reached They were Ordered to Take Itt It-t Correspondence Associated Prcaa London March nTh olJIcer With f Hen Duller who scathingly described I the disaster at Splonkop today contin series with a denunciation i ues his remarkable a le l LR nun elation as bitter as ever fell upon I a General This week hit article Is i confined to a general review of the I strategy or rather lack of strategy which preceded the relief oC Ladysmith iJ and he Includes a terrible Indictment against the useless sacrifice of the t Irish brigade whose gallantry excites so much admiration In England f SUBLIME INDIFFERENCE j Yes writes this olllcor Ladysmlth has been relieved at last we have been blundering along the line of hflls that form the northern bank ot the Tug > lu for many months attempting to pans all sorts of Impossible places and suffering suf-fering heavy loss each lime That Is an accurate description of the ten weeks campaign on the Tugcla No one knew the ground or took the trouble trou-ble to learn It rrounl example of this sublime Indifference Gen Buller was not aware that Alungwanl mountain which commands the crossing of the Tugela was on the southern side of the river until hp had failed In three different differ-ent attempts Yet he lived for weeks within thre or four miles of the hill and at the battle of Coleneo his right flank extended beyond it NO STRATEGY As to strategy there wan none neither good bad nor Indifferent The troops were moved along and when n hill or an Intrcnchment appeared In front they were ordered to take It Sometimes they failed sometimes they succeeded often I when they had sue cecdod after terrible loss the post was found to be tisoloss and was abandoned I aban-doned This Is the blind folly In which we have been engaged jnd which through good luck rather than anything any-thing else has eventually succeeded But had not Lord RoUcrtss victory I drawn away C great part of the Doers for the defence of their own country i weald never have succeeded end Lndysmlth would have fallen ThuH weakened the Boers had not force enough to occupy such 1 long defensive position and one by l one the strong places fell Into our bands TACTICAL ERRORS On Friday February 23rd Gen Hart was ordered to send up the Oonnaught I Rangers the Eiinlsklllcns and the Dub llns along the line of the railroad to attack some low hllln where the river turned again toward the emi Tin operation was moat dlillcult and dangerous dan-gerous Six companies of the Ennlb klllcnK and two companies of the Con naught Rangers formed the attacking line the remainder of the Rangers and half of the Dubllns were In Hupport I the reserve eonwlmed of the other half of tho Dubllna In this order the Irish I brigade recrossed the railway and begun be-gun the attack coming at once under a severe crossfire from the hills on the I right und left 1 was such tactical or i rors that led to such terrlblo loss of life Some of the troops had Indeed I been sent to the hill on the left but they were not ordered to t push the attack at-tack nnd they could not from their position po-sition Even orvthe northern slopes they merely acted as sentries t prevent our being entirely cut off Any one could HOC that I was madness to send an attacking force upon the central hiI while tho flanking hill was unoccupied and the Boers thereon were left free to concentrate their lire for Its defense STUPIDITY RAMPANT But stupid as was the achurae the method adopted for Its execution was even worse Gen Hart placed himself on a neighboring hill with u telescope and a bugler he was completely out of touch with the attack and could not know when a rest was necessary or when an attack could profitably be pressed These matters arc felt only by the officers on the spot and It Is absolutely necessary to leave It to their discretion There he stood sounding at intervals the advance then the don ble and then the charge Ten U appeared ap-peared to him that the attack was not proceeding rapidly enough to suit his taste the bugle rang out again in peremptory per-emptory tone SHELLING THE TRENCHES Our artillery meanwhile was shelling shell-ing the trenches at the top of the hill and kept down the enemys fire from that direction HO that tho advance line El got to within a hundred yards of what seemed to be tho top and waited for a moment to take breath undercover of r the steepness 8 of the hill Then the General and his bugle I Hounded tho three calla advance u4 double cliarge fhe woid was passed I along tho ranks bayonets were fixed and springing to their foot the men 1 i ilfiHhed forward with a cheer Not a J shot was fired by the enemy and the f place seemed to be deserted Tho crest I was reached and passed and the triumph S tri-umph seemed complete BRITISH MOWED DOWN I But alas that rest was a false one 5 then was a light dip behind to another an-other rise which constituted the real creEL As thc men advanced over the ji pky I line and exposed themselves to full view the BOCDJ suddenly stood up In their trenches and tire In quick with which V HUccoPslona the five rounds wit the Muusors were charged at a range L of fifty yards The effect fUI too terrible ter-rible to describe That grout u loC men confident and erect us a great r wave nearIng the shore was checked t i in a moment PIERCED BY BULLETS There was a stagger forward and then all that remained was a line oC poor hflpkfs human beings straggling I on the ground In agony some rose again perhapn not knowing what they r were doing and fell pierced in many instances with n dozen bullets Those 1 who marvelouBly escaped the murderous murder-ous discharge could only lie with the others hoping to escape observation the lightest movement of an arm or leg whether it wns the dettth struggle of a wounded man or the Incautious attempt at-tempt of one of tho lucky ones to get better cover behind a rock drew 1 shower of bullwtfl bringing certain death not only to the unfortunate C man himself but to many who lay around him AX AWFUL DEATH ROLL StIle was the only hope of life 1 will not anticipate the official roturn as the number killed and wounded i have been differently stated but I fear J they urn very bud I know that out of c u hundred men who charged with the J I two companion six Ml nut Unit any Istvipc wut din only t fho unevenness f uneven-ness J of the ground In certain SPOIL which partly concealed a tU critical I monxtnt portions of the line Th6 lus 1 of the Ennlsk len was slated to hi I well over 400 out of SCO mustered that morning but I believe this to b a exaggeration two companies were loft I behind only about fO advanced to the I attack and probably 400 took part In 1 the charge I should think 300 hundred should be nearer the mark Five officers cers only are left CRIES OF WOUNDED TERRIBLE This disastrous charge took place i about 5 oclock and there the un I fortunate men lay dead wounded and sound huddled together or scattered Just as they fell covered by Boer rifles unable to move or oven to look around The groans and cries of tho wounded wore terrible to listen I to some cried for help some murmured I for water Once or twice moved by pity l fount man would try to igct his wounded neighbor to the real but he was shot Instantly What was left lee during those terrible hours I will not attempt to describe HILL OF NO ADVANTAGE I The hill could not possibly have been tuken till PIcters hill on the right rear came Into our possession and till r I the enemy hud been driven from the J I Kloof and hill on the left Moreover j if It had been taken it could not have 1 been held for the summit was swept i by orosBfire and enfilade In fact the I Irish brigade was only saved from an u nlhllatlun or capture by tho extraordinary extraordin-ary steadiness of the soldiers and by the nemy guna and p great part of the lire had already been Seat Nor would the position have given u any I great tactical advantages The Boers would still have held Htl IHc hetlthe mountains i from Grobelers Kloof und Onderbrook to Pleteri hill and their lines would have remained unbroHen AGONIES OF WOUNDED MEN uI come now to the saddest part of the story The poor wounded men I who had been struck clown In that gallant charge remained where they fell not only all Friday night but dur ing all the blazing heat of Saturday I I and even Saturday night passed without I with-out relief Not a drop of water In their feverish mouth no food no help but u tropical sun beat on their heads Oh the Intolerable agonies that were en dured J one heard that such a thing happened in England or Ireland to f horse or a dog one would shiver with pity but here hundreds of gal t I lant Irishmen who had fought as nc other troops have foughtin this war were left l on tho battlefield to endure a horrible death MOST ALL DIED Most of them of course died one of them a very senior officer whose name out of pity I shah not mention menton suffered so terribly that he begged those near him to put him out of hiS I pain He died during the day for no help came rill not attempt to apportion the hlame If blame there may be Gen Tart was present till Saturday and It seems to me that a flag of truce should have been dispatched asking for lento len-to bring In the wounded The Boers have never yet refused such a demand f and have Indeed been singularly kind and considerate in al such cases There have been unanswerable reasons against this but any way no attempt i was made and un explanation ought to be demanded On Sunday an armistice armis-tice was asked for and obtained but the necessity was now more to bury wounded the I dend than to tender aid to the i |