Show t u r BOILERS BATTLEFIELDS REVISITED l Memorials o of the tho Fight Round Ladysmith j In Poor Lord Roberts Roberta is re reported ret ported portell to have hao exclaimed when then t ho ha vl vi vit s lied Hod and paw ana lIa II the t round for tor o hi t The Tho battle of oC Colenso like Ilk i I will always somewhat of ot a n mystery Neither tho the up of at th the Highland brigade In n th the one case CalC nor the th loss of ot the gun guile gunIn In the tho other fully tully explain the results When I 1 woe Will at lit Farm Mr MI who viewed the tho battlo bahlo I from the homestead told me says I Chas Chos D Don In the London Dally Daily Mall 1011 that tho the Rill British lull h hail had practically turned tho the hoer Boer left lett but the thu attack was IM not preened hone home Tho rho Highland err m ere of ot course COUrte walked slap Into the eastern castern end cm of at the range of or kopjes koples In n stead glend of or keeping welt well away In the open open to the one onu realty weak In the hoer defense ll At Colenso we e wore an nn are of ot turning the hoer Doer left but our extreme right wins wing was wan withdrawn at t the critical moment 1 t refer to lu and amt the mounted force tONe sent gent to occupy It ItI ItI itI I do not with wieh to dwell upon the lie al at already ready familiar of ot the battle battlo A careful study stud of ot the ground however shows how how almost t Im Impossible impossible possible was the task ta k our were Viero asked to perform The rho Hoer pUll pool extended In n n a rough w from moot to tn I a vast natural natura amphitheater of ut hill hili h It front ld and turned the Die river In tn u to of ot SH Ss foully turning sharp Ihl rl ly Iy northwards on tho western side aide oc ot MERCIFUL It It IB is said although I Mil can scarcely b I JI eo It than thai the staff 1 Tugela wane to be 1 h on un tho the northern bunk bank i of or tho loft luft 11 brigade Here to ford Carll fordu forda u IL river which thereabout flows Hows oleh loan taen or twenty feet teet deep The ignorance Ignorance ance ante of ot tho the nature of ot the tho country dis als displayed played by the British commanders la iS scarcely credible However even had tarts and nil II brigades suc succeeded I In 1 the tho river they would only have fallen Into a 11 deadly trap the theother other lither side eldo It to me nio that thu tho Tenth of o the tho saved avell the tho British army from fr Jn what might havo proved Ir II Irreparable Ir I reparable rE disaster r Why General Otery jery should have cent half his hla Infantry to I bo ho shut down looking for tor aon tent dulls drifts over a river twenty tee foes delI deep rand kept the outer other oth r unit Idling at the Hie back while n a mere In handful of or men were dispatched to negotiate tits tIle one Boer liner posItion which It woo was essential for tor us to occupy why these things tiling should have been heen I do not at tempt to explain Perhaps some somo day tIn the explanation will All b be Ul e Ining Tho rho monument erected on Oil tho the spot pot I where young Roberts fell tell stands In a n spot of ot quiet sunshine und and and t pleasant ant winds bringing the tho warm Scents scent of ot the tho African veldt el t there Thero Is hI no nn trace left lett of ot the maelstrom which raged here on December 15 G trace except pt the tho big solitary monument briefly record recordIng recordIng recording Ing the tact fact that Huberts fell Ct II there He lie In le burled near b by bythe the side sid of ot gallant comrade e who also al o fell teU In action The exact position nt Ot the guns Is marked by b pieces of ot wood placed In the tho ground a u few pace and facing racing toward towards Fort Wylie Tho The t twit st at way wa to get gel to lop Kop In is II from I the Acton rori either J I amen One can either ride or drive the sixteen milts miles The country la le very level hovel and easy a I y III It unlike the mountainous region lying between ln Co Colenso lenso and Ladysmith As ts far tar ni ne n the British h were concerned con the tattle was chiefly confined to tho the pla 1111 plateau teRU tern Her they clustered thick aa tie bees been The fhe shallow trenches trench and stud tastily hastily constructed Hangars afforded then lit ht It Whichever way wa their en entrenchments entrenchments were waro constructed they Choy could be he enfiladed from one ono or other of ot the tho kapica with which Is III connected and which were occupied by tho the Boer Boar 1 If It there thero Is 18 one olle thing which wh h military history proves Provos In South Africa It U IB is tills that you 0 do not win will n a nbattle 1 battle but you 0 may very or easily lose loso It by b capturing a n lull hill In hr 11 the case caso of oC 1 however It was not so 80 touch much rifle rille Ho fire from Crom adjacent hills which did the tho awful execution U It was i the shell tire Ore tine The liners Doers pounded away with a big Creusot on five dye miles away nII This big gun fitted on a Q disappearing platform could not hI bg l j by our big hl guns across s the riv river river er on Mount Alice nor could our guns get at the Doers Boers entrenched on tho the northern slopes elopes of ot Spion Kop The treeless summit of oC Is a u dreary miserable Ignoble scene ceni I enough although the view across hills and valleys alleys and plains to the south Routh and un to to tho the gee i peaks ut of ut thu tho u J 1 Dors Piled up UI In lu contusion on the tho western Is one never to III b IN t forgotten On Un thu this two monuments have been built though no nu tablets hove yet ct been placed upon open them crosses aio are In Iu disorder some crookedly placed lu in thu the ground others bent t or all showing signs of ot hasty con Jill Tha Thu lh plateau Is seamed with rough und and lung Irregular I mounds of ot red stony stoll earth A few tew unity t y cartridges or ur shrapnel ball bah or orbits bits of shell Ile about but must of ot such Idl of ot thu tho bloody battle buttle have disappeared disappeared The Is III om one of ot utter titter tOn con and nu of unspeakable nod and U It t has hns u II dreadful irony irmy of ot its Ita own All Ail around Nature Is 13 revealed In her fairest and grandest aspects but hero on this lonely rugged h tOIl tap War WarIs Is devils delis work after ott r all nil allAs As Aa soll oil all till tho world duller ulti ultimately Ultimately maty broko broke through the Doer Boor de lie defences defences fences n near ir the tho point at which ho he started To follow the line of at tho the final Una advance one should establish I ones headquarters at Colenso und and do much n All the Ih letera t tIn R points pullUs can oan ho hu visited vl on horseback In iii InI I lead dead there thero In Is no other effective Ve way of ot getting about One Ono can con ride out past towards Monte Montc Christo where the British nt at last found the key ke keto to Fort Wylle Wylie an nn shot and shell I shattered until unlit scarcely one ono stone stono rc TO remains mains on another crowns a I slight emi eminence III I notice nence Exquisite bits of ot river and hill hili scenery present themselves at ot every eer turn of at the tho road rondo Tho The Tugela Is la n a per pcr perpetual perpetual delight to the eye ey One picture succeeds cascades dancing rapids glassy y pools mirroring In their unruffled ed surface every hue and outline of ot the tho foliage above From tho the summit of or Harts key Ite to tho the whole complicated ed od series of oC positions one commands n a superb panorama of oC rolling landscape la III on the one ono side and nn on the either On harts Hill the Doers Bocra had n a 1 position of ot enormous natural II Ill I strength Their trenches and shelter are marvels of oC Ingenuity To visit tho the positions held hehl by tho the floors Hofira Is to understand something of ot the tho awful ordeal of or modern artillery art Iller fire Hurts arts Hill la is torn tore and antI seamed und and ne red t With shell Great trees are rent In twain mare arc are smashed Into frog frag fragments ments arc are strewn from end to end Ind with shrapnel The boulders lire are splashed 1 green and yellow with Not n stone stono but In ho If chipped with bullet or shrapnel l It Is ie na ns though nil all the of DC hell had and been let loose on thin sir fair countryside The was WM drawing to a n close cluRe ns nR I 1 retraced my III way WILY towards the river In the shadow of at the hills the tho air yeas was cool conI 1114 sweet The turbulent voice of ot the river filled lINI the valley Here lt re and there thero nn on tho the crest of pt a hill hili a n white ernes ned In the mm pun Ah Alii these th e little tittle white crosses They The are every everywhere whom where to be seen een on tho the hanks banks of ot the Tugela them the tumult and the dies They Ih speak to arh In words word nn no tongue could tell tellof of the nanny end the till nod and the Thoy make of thin this Smith Sn ith Africa f of or ours a 1 land of or the mend end Put nut the Treat preot worM world on nn The Tho future n v lt the living the future P eq I va 1 shah It lt with nur Ur and with our nilI On filly vIt t and hill hv by 11 bloat kIn kon lp lie the men and trite ho it will n vr ver know kno v thAt flint future never In bane Its It n 1 T p u nuo to 10 1 1 ilk nf of G nm 1 r ver t nth n fn v hii hu v the th nets At i to be 11 let It u II us top their JiMr memory green |