Show POOR BRITISH generalship irish brigade Is tugela pi hl was needlessly sacrificed gaii hart demonstrated his incapacity and gen buller blundered during ajl the fighting outside of the besieged city correspondence of the associated press london march 31 the officer with gen buller who scathingly described the disaster at kop today continues his remarkable series with a denunciation nuncia tion as bitter as ever fell upon a general this week his article is confined to a general review of the strategy or rather lack of strategy anich preceded the relief of Ladys and he includes a terrible indictment against the useless sacrifice of the irish brigade whose gallantry excites so much admiration in england yes writes the officer has been relieved at last we have been blundering along the line of hills that form the northern bank of the tugela for many months attempting to pass it at all sorts of impossible places and suffering heavy loss each time that is an accurate description of the three months campaign on the tugela no one knew the ground or took the trouble to learn it As an example of this sublime indifference gen buller was not aware that mountain which commands the crossing of the tugela was on the southern river until he had failed in three different attempts yet he lived for weeks within three or tour miles ot the hills and at the battle of colenso bis right flank extended beyond them strategy there was none neither good toad nor indifferent the troops were moved along and when a hill or appeared in front of them they were ordered to take it sometimes they tailed sometimes they succeeded often when they had succeeded after terrible loss the post was found to be useless and was abandoned this is the blind folly in which we have been engaged and which more through good luck than anything else has eventually succeeded but had not lord roberts drawn away a part of the boers tor the defense of their own country they would never have succeeded and would have fallen thus weakened the boera had not force enough to occupy such a long defensive position and one by one the strong places fell into our bands on friday feb 23 gen hart was ordered to send up the connaught rangers the and the dub una along the line of the railroad to attack some low hills where the river turned again toward the east the operations erat ions were most difficult and dangerous six companies of the and two companies of the connaught rangers formed the attacking lines the remainder of the rangers and halt of the were in support the reserve consisted of the other halt of the dubbins Dub lins in this order the irish brigade re crossed the railway and began the attack coming at once under a severe cross alre from the bills on the right and left it was such tactical errors that led to such terrible loss at life some troops bad indeed been sent to the bill on the left but they were not ordered to push the attack and could not from their position even on the northern blonea they merely acted as sentries to prevent our being entirely cut off any one could nee that it was madness to send an attacking force upon the central hill while the flanking bill was and the boers thereon were destt freo to concentrate their alre for its defense but stupid as was the scheme the methods adopted for its execution were even worse gen hart placed himself on a neighboring hill with a telescope and a bugler bo was completely out of touch with the attack and could not know when a rest was necessary or brhen an attack could profitably be pressed these matters are felt only by the officers on the spot and it Is absolutely necessary to leave lit to their borr PANTS SAN FRANCISCO caa direction there he stood sounding af intervals the advance then double and then the charge when it appeared to him that the attack was not proceeding rapidly enough to suit his taste the buglo rang out again in peremptory tones our artillery meanwhile was shelling the trenches at the top of the hill and kept down the fire from that direction so that the advance line got to within a bundred yards of what seemed to them to be the top and waited for a moment to take breath under cover of the steepness of the hill then the generals bugler sounded the three calls advance double charge the word was passed along the ranks bayonets were fixed and springing to their feet the men dashed forward with a cheer not a shot was fired by the enemy and the place seemed deserted the crest was reached and passed and the triumph seemed complete but alas that crest was a false one there was a slight dip behind then another rise which constituted the real crest As the men advanced over the skyline and exposed themselves to full view the boers suddenly stood up in their trenches and fired in quick succession the five rounds with which the mausert were charged at a range of fifty yards the effect was too terrible to describe that great rush men confident and erect as a great wave nearing the shore was checked in a moment there was a stagger forward and then all that remained was a line of poor helpless human beings struggling on the ground in agony some rose again perhaps not knowing what they were doing and tell pierced in many instances with a dozen bullets who marvelously escaped the charge could only lie with the others hoping to escape observation tho slightest movement of an arm or leg whether it was the death struggle of a wounded man or the incautious attempt of one of the lucky ones to get better cover behind a rocla drew a shower of bullets bringing certain death not only to the unfortunate man himself lim self but to many who lay around him stillness was the only hope I 1 will not anticipate the official return as the number of killed and wounded lave been differently stated but I 1 tear hey are very bad I 1 know out of a blundred men who charged with the two companies sixty fell and that any escaped was due only to tho unevenness in the ground in certain spots |