Identifier: battlesofninetee06forb (find matches)
Title: Battles of the nineteenth century
Year: 1901 (1900s)
Authors: Forbes, Archibald, 1838-1900 Atteridge, A. Hilliard (Andrew Hilliard)
Subjects: Battles Military history, Modern
Publisher: London New York : Cassell and Company
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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gforward when the;;Boers opened fire, and theadvance was continued, the four battalions whichled the attack being the Welsh Regiment in thecentre, the Essex Regiment on their left, the Buffson their right, and the Yorkshires coming up ontheir flank and extending the line. They weremet by such a heavy fire that the advance upthe slope, covered with long grass and scatteredstones, was very slow, and it was nearly fiveo clock when at last the infantry closed on theBoer trenches and rushed them with bayonetsfixed. Very few of the Boers were there, andmost of them got away. The cavalr\-, mean-while, made another attempt to work round thesouth end of the Boer position. . The enemywere able to hold them in the broken groundthat guarded their flank until-the main positionhad been evacuated, and^as the Boers retired tothe eastward and northward no attempt wasmade to pursue them—the horses were sotired oiit. : The enemy had fought a delaying action, andhad done it very well. Considerably out-
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270 thp: roek war. numbered as thev were, they had preventedtheir flanks being turned, they had checked ouradvance for a whole day, and they had effectedtheir retreat in good order. The) fell backacross the Kaal Spruit (a tributary of theModder), where they took up another positionbarring the direct road to Bloemfontein. Theyhad carried off their wounded, but they left120 dead on the field and 20 prisoners. Ourloss was : 5 officers killed and 15 wounded, and)6 non-commissioned officers and men killed and313 wounded—a total loss of 3Qq. The WelshRegiment suffered the heaviest loss. The failureto cut the Boer line of retreat, or to make anypursuit, was largely the result of the poorcondition in which most of the horses were.Thev had been working hard and living onscanty forage. Officers and men, too, wereliving on reduced rations during the advance.The loss of the convoy at Waterval was stillmaking itself felt. During the ne.\t day (Sunday, the nth)Lord Roberts, with the left and cent

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