| Show t t aB B s tA As ls Nf f i t lP e ee bee ef AS e O t f f e ee e e I oe b eiA t ee e t t s ses s t s s s s Ae I e frez te teI 4 I f i CAMPA NG N THE If LAND OF THE KOP JE I ee I Ia a b Af sA O i rA fere f it f f tf fA fAb 1 i fr i e br i f f 0 f 1 b it t fe fea t to o a beo f bo b e t e eAb b e f e f fO O aa NE ot of the tho deplorable features ot of 0 warfare Is the tact that a modern campaign always provokes a loud ot of militant poetry Most of It Is very ery bad poetry though most of It II fortunate I Iy is III also soon forgotten An n occasional passionate outburst nevertheless due tug 1111 some great often OUID sinks deep into Inlo the hearts ot of the people Among such must to lio included the re reo published little poem n or of m Watson who was Willi one ot of the also alo tans rans not long ago ngo for tor the British poet tau Inu This Ihl which stirred ur the tho jingoes of Groat Britain to 10 white heat beat runs run as 01 follows follow MII loft MU raset tea up Ib the ku IU This little Iud hod to daunt sad IlK quell The 11 or of beaten Were our oar ADd Aed smote her t that she he tell hit hitAu Au Ah not Dot I le on eer udel aldel The and Dd tilt the are our on lot foe And AlII 11 stare tier II heart oi 01 roan man shied III l lIi It Ii hard to 10 TIlls Tile outspoken and rather indiscreet young poet has dt described the South At I rican military situation In a 0 nutshell efto war In london and the worM l lit at large that the struggle In South M Af Africa rica hRS has mark marked a revolution In tb the methods ot of military warfare Old standards of t attack and defense have been upset Out ot of the th exceedingly un ant eX experiences of the British forces dUring this hoer Joer war have come corne ninny new maxims The old military manuals used to declare that an ul ticking tackleR force In the enemies country countr must have times the number of mn men of that ot of the defenders That old axiom lies been for tor all time lime dissipated A As hording Davis Dav pointed out regarding the advance nd nee of General Dul Bul Duller Bulher her ler beyond the Tugela the country rose role rosehill hill hili utter after hill hili like the waves In a rough soa What each hill hili h held ld ot of the enemy could not Until its crest creat had been fell It by tile the British Each wave wao of that great rolling roiling sea ot of rook had to bl be fought diminutive battle batlle after atter battle Such frontal attacks could be made malle only a at t a tremendous sacrifice ot of menAs men As AI tor flanking such auch a thing was inn possible The Iho hoer knew the country I In the meantime the foe fOl exhausted his hll own Ire fire and when the lull came In the leaden rain the rush usually took look place With the magazine rifle this sort ot thing Is out ont ot of the question At odder dodder River the tho Doer Boers built buill their trenches at atthe atthe the very edge cde ot of II a steep steel river bank and this afforded them sufficient cover fur tur the movement ot of re and the bringing up of supplies nearly all of which was 15 done quite out of sight of the attacking British The smoke loss powder gave gan no hint ot of the source louree of the The Tho magazIne rifle gave the hoer Joor plenty ot of reserve lire fire rind his fine artillery plaYed from I mc secure position In the tho far tor distant back When the news newl of General Bullers third repulse on the tho Tugela reached I England there ther wu was a 11 brief space of time lime when faith In theIr once glorified general wavered aced It was A bit bitter ter blow to the Jingoes wh who had away wal wallowed lowed this somewhat Indiscreet creet gamier REmer all als assertion that there would be no going back baek When huller Duller dl did gO beck back I precisely the sort lort ot of country In whIch l I the burgher sniper and hooter I Iwas was most At home The Th way In which men succeeded In holding back the British valiant as tI were the themen themen men on either tide was a clear demon demonstration that the tho hoer Jl er had adopted tire the method of most suited to the country In which ho was campaigning Although the English looked upon tire the relief of In as II a great success for tor their forces It was such only In n a qualified degree The British losses hal had been and their final adVance ad Vance ance through the mountainous Ulel Qt of Natal sas possible onlY after tile the practical of at the Hoer Doer forces In tact It If Field Roberts lied not II sized zed up till the general situation nM and caused the drawIng or off of torce by menacing It re reqUIres qUIres no military expert to see aee that Ladysmith mutt soon BOOn have hoo fallen tallu l Into the tho hands of the thEt Boors and that would have bae remained battered and checked for many n a week k on the wrong side of the Tugela r n a supply ot of ammunition for the 15 halt way IY up the hilt hili each load was guided from II a protecting shelf ot of rock to 10 Us its destination Not once Was wal titre any scarcity ot of shells on the hill hili hillcrest crest crell This tent ot of French was ono one ot of the tho most remarkable ot of the campaign for b by g 1 ling the 15 up on Colu Coles kop the they coUld be so 1 trained that they dropped shells Into the Hoer litres yards away am and so assisted In cutting off art their retreat Some idea of the Ibe way a In which Moth Mother Iother er Nature ha fortified hIs country for tor this Boer may b from the tact that its Hi only are such rough and narrow ii as and Van K This Ihl latter laUer patS pass Ill is l the e loophole Into the Transvaal creeps the Netherlands railway running rU from Delagoa Bay DIlY to Pretoria tona Either of th these rocky I lath passes can enu bt be b by a corn e ln small tore fora of men In such a ai away i WilY way as al to menace the passage of an arm army ot of In n fact all the Xa Na XaI Natel I tel tal frontier that fringes the land Jant of nt mace and an occasional stolen march marchb b by night for the creation of some lame new newline newline line of trenches first b by the one end then by y the tho other otherOn On lh the whole It may be stated slated that the tho South African campaign has haa taught the tho military world many vary or valuable lessons Ono One has bean lIeen the advantage of Ion long range guns gulls Another r has haa been the thu necessity for tor cavalry und and the tho toge tage ensuing from the 1 ot of mounted troop Still another is III the lesson that an enemy armed with the modern magazine title rille and us usIng lag Ing powder Is able to slant off Q a force many times 8 his superior and that this same superior attacking torte force must stand at al least ten to one It the attacking general wishes to make sure lure of his 1 W WILCOX |
