FMFRP 12-33

The Defense of Duffer's Drift

U.S. Marine Corps

PCN 140 123300 00

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVYHeadquarters United States Marine Corps

Washington, DC 20380-0001

13 April 1989

FOREWORD

1. PURPOSE

Fleet Marine Force Reference Publication (FMFRP) 12-33, The Defense ofDuffer's Drift, is published to ensure the retention and dissemination of usefulinformation which is not intended to become doctrine or to be published in FleetMarine Force manuals. FMFRPs in the 12 Series are a special category: reprintsof historical works which are not available elsewhere.

2. SCOPE

This reference publication is a fictional account of a young British officer'smisadventures as a platoon commander during the Boer War. Its simplistic styleand satirical nature provide a humorous look at how not to employ one's troops.It also emphasizes the importance of employing basic tactical principles in everyoperation, and illustrates the tragic results of ignoring such principles.

3. CERTIFICATION

Reviewed and approved this date.

BY DIRECTION OF THE COMMANDANT OF THE MARINE CORPS

M. P. SULLIVANMajor General, U.S. Marine CorpsDeputy Commander for Warfighting

Marine Corps Combat Development CommandQuantico, Virginia

DISTRIBUTION: "TK 9"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Major General Sir Ernest D. Swinton, K.B.E., C.B.,D.S.O., was a noted English soldier, author and pro-fessor. Considered by Field Marshal Earl Wavellas one of the most far-sighted officers the BritishArmy has produced, he wrote before World War Ion the effects of air warfare, mining and of psycho-logical warfare. In 1914, Sir Swinton completelyrevolutionized warfare by his invention of the tank;he, more than anyone else, was responsible for itsintroduction and development.

He served as Professor of Military History at Ox-ford from 1925 to 1939, and later as Commandantof the Royal Tank Corps from 1934 to 1938earningthe rank of Major General.

As a Captain, shortly after service in the Boer War,he wrote "The Defence of Duffer's Drift," using thepseudonym, Lieutenant Backsght Forethought, orBF. Duffer's Drift has become a military classic onminor tactics in this century. In addition to Duffer'sDrift, and contributing to many journals, he authoredThe Green Curve in 1909 and The Great Tab Dopein 1915, under the pseudonym O'le Luk-Oie (OlafShut-eye). His other works include The Study OfWar in 1926 and his final publication, An EasternOdyssey written in 1935.

A classic in small unit tacticsin the British and U.S. Army,this book is recommended, with-out qualification, for the modernprofessional soldier.

What would you do?Lieutenant Backsight Fore-

thought (BF to his friends) hasbeen left in command of a 50-man reinforced platoon to holdDuffer's Drift, the only ford onthe Silliassvogel River availableto wheeled traffic. Here is hischance for fame and glory. Hehas passed his officer coursesand special qualifications.

"Now if they had given me ajob," says BF, "like fighting theBattle of Waterloo, or Gettys-burg or Bull Run, I knew allabout that, as I had crammed itup...,,

While BF's task appears simpleenough, the Boer enemy causesa multitude of problems, butyou, astute reader, with a quickmind and sharp intellect will, nodoubt, solve the problem beforethe first shot is fired.

BACKGROUNDIN FOR MATION(THE E3OER WAR)

The Boers, Dutch for farmer, first settled what isnow Cape Province, Republic of South Africa in1652. After Great Britain annexed this territory in1806, many of the Boers departed on the GreatTrek" and created the Republic of Natal, the OrangeFree State, and the Transvaal. Gradual commercialcontrol by the British and discovery of gold anddiamonds, among other things, served to createhostility between the Boers and British, resultingin the South African War or Boer War from 1899 to1902.

The Boers initially outnumbered the British andwere well equipped, scoring impressive victories inthe areas adjacent to their territories. Even thoughthe Boer armies finally surrendered, apparent vic-tory for the British was retarded by extensive andcoordinated guerilla warfare. The war was finallyended by the systematic destruction of the Boerguerrilla units and hostilities were terminated by theTreaty of Vereeniging in May 1902. The Boer terri-tories were annexed by Great Britain and were or-ganized into the Union of South Africa eight yearslater.

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GLOSSARY

AI3ATIS: A barticade of fuled rees withbranches facing th.. ene. iy.

ANT I- A large cone-shapeu mounci earth.BOER: Decendents of Dutch Colonists in

outh Africa.DONGA: outh African gully or ravine.DRIFT: A ford, a shallow place in a stream or

river that can be crossed by walkingor riding on horseback.

DUFFEl: An incompetent, awkward or stupidperson.

KAFFIR: A fierce black tribe of South Africa(19th Century).

KOPJE: A rocky lull or butte of South Africausually 200 - 800 meters high.

KRALLE: A village of South African nativessurrounded by a stockade for pro-tection.

QUI VIVE: Fr., a sentry's challenge; "who goesthere?"

SUBALTERN: A British officer holding a commis-sion below that of captain; a lieuten-ant.

VELD: A grassy plain of South Africa, sim-ilar to the Western Tableland of theUnited States.

VC: Victoria Cross, highest British medalfor valor.

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PREFACE

"It was our own fault, and our very grave fault, and nowwe must turn it to use,We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a sin qieexcuse!" lIPLlNG.

This tale of a dream is dedicated to the 'gilded Pop-injays" and "hired assassins" of the British nation,especially those who are now knocking at the door, towit the very junior. ft embodies some recollections ofthings actually done and undone in South Africa,1899-1902. It is hoped that its fantastic guise mayreally help to emphasise the necessity for the practi-cal application of some very old principles, and assistto an appreciation of what may happen when theyare not applied, even on small operations. This prac-tical application has often been lost sight olin thestress of the moment, with dire results, quite urire-alised until the horrible instant of actual experience.Should this tale, by arousing the imagination, assistto prevent in the future even one such case of dis-regard of principles, it will not have been written invain. The dreams are not anticipations, but merelya record of petty experiences against one kind ofenemy in one kind of country only, with certain d-ductions based thereupon. But from these, given theconditions, it is not difficult to deduce the variationssuitable for other countries, or for those or.casionswhen a different foe with different rnethocI of fight-ing and different weapons has to be met.

"BACKSIGHT FO1IETIIO(IGHT"3

PROLOGUE

Upon an evening after a long and tiring trek, I arrivedat Dreamdorp. The local atmosphere, combined witha heavy meal, is responsible for the following night-mare, consisting of a series of dreams. To make thesequence of the whole intelligible, it is necessaryto explain that though the scene of each vision wasthe same, by some curious mental process I had norecollection of the place whatsoever. In each dreamthe locality was totally new to me, and I had an en-tirely fresh detachment. Thus, I had not the greatadvantage of working over familiar ground. Onething, and one only, was carried on from dream todream, and that was the vivid recollection of thegeneral lessons previously learnt. These finally pro-duced success.

The whole series of dreams, however, remainedin my memory as a connected whole when I awoke.

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First Dream"Any fool can get info a hole.' --Old Chinese Proverb"li left to you, for defence make spades. '--Bridge Maxim.

lfelt lonely, and nota little sad, as I stood on the bankof the river near Duffer's Drift and watched the reddust haze, raised by the southward departing columnin the distance, turn slowly into gold as it hung in theafternoon sunlight. It was just three o'clock, and hereI was on the banks of the Silliaasvoget river, left be-hind by my column with a party of fifty NCOs andmen to hold the drift. It was an important ford, be-cause it was the only one across which wheeledtraffic could pass for some miles up or down the river.

(See Map 1)The river was a sluggish stream, not now in flood,

crawling along at the very bottom of its bed betweensteep banks which were almost vertical, or at anyrate too steep for wagons anywhere except at thedrift itself. The banks from the river edge to theirtops and some distance outwards, were covered with

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ffT(ED'S U)U(FTOGENERAL PLAN.

,-

__, .: -

-

SILLIAASVOGEL RIVER

REGRET TABLE MOUNTAIN

INCIDENTAMBIA

(2) DRIFT(4) WASCHOIJT HILL(6) KRAAL

L--- ..--

Map 1

(I)(3)(5)

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dense thorn and other bushes, which formed ascreen impenetrable to the sight. They were alsobroken by small ravines and holes, where the earthhad been eaten away by the river when in flood, andwere consequently very roucih.

Some 2000 odd meters north of the drift was a flat-topped, rocky mountain, and about a mile to thenorth-east appeared the usual suger-loaf kopje, cov-ered with bushes and boulderssteep on the south,but gently falling to the north; this had a farm on thenear side of it. About 1000 meters south of the driftwas a convex and smooth hill, somewhat like an in-verted basin, sparsely sown with small boulders, andwith a Kaffir kraat, consisting of a few grass mudhuts on top. Between the river and the hills on thenorth the ground consisted of open and almost levelveld; on the south bank the veld was more un-dulating, and equally open. The whole place wascovered with ant-.hills.

My orders were to hold Duffer's Drift at all costs.should probably be visited by some column within

three or four days time. I might jossibly be attackedbefore that time, but this was very unlikely, as noenemy were known to be within a hundred miles.The enemy had guns.

It all seemed plain enough, except that the trueinwardness of the last piece of information did notstrike me at the time. Though in company with fifty"good men and true," it certainly made me feel some-what lonely and marooned to be left out there com-paratively alone on the boundless veld; but thechance of an attack filled me, and I am quite sure, mymen, with martial ardour. At last here was the chance

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I had so often longed for. This was my first "show,"my first independent command, and I was determinedto carry out my order to the bitter end. I was youngand inexperienced, it is true, but I had passed all myexaminations with fair sUccess; my men were a goodwilling lot, with the traditions of a glorious regimentto uphold, and would, I knew, do all I should requireof them. We were also well supplied with ammunitionand rations and had a number of picks, shovels, andsandbags, etc., which I confess had been ratherforced on me.

As I turned towards my gallant little detachment,visions of a bloody and desperate fight crossed mymind a fight to the last cartridge, and then an ap-peal to cold steel, with ultimate victory andbut adiscreet cough at my elbow brought me back to re-alities, and warned me that my colour-sergeant waswaiting for orders.

(See Map 2)After a moment's consideration, I decided to pitch

my small camp on a spot just south of the drift, be-cause it was slightly rising ground, which I knewshould be chosen for a camp whenever possible. Itwas, moreover, quite close to the drift, which wasalso in its favour, for, as every one knows, if you aretold off to guard anything, you mount a guard quiteclose to it, and place a sentry, if possible, standingon top of it. The place I picked out also had the rivercircling round three sides of it in a regular horse-shoe bend, which formed a kind of ditch, or, as thebook says, "a natural ohstacle." I was indeed luckyto have such an ideal place close at hand; nothingcould have been more suitable.

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.T': -

-f i/----.. -:

' -

I came to the conclusion that, as the enemy werenot within a hundred miles, there would be no needto place the camp in a state of defence till the fol-lowing day. Besides, the men were tired after theirlong trek, and it would be quite as much as they coulddo comfortably to arrange nice and shipshape alt the

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Map 2

stores and tools, which had been dumped down any-how in a heap, pitch the camp, and get their teas be-fore dark.

Between you and me, I was really relieved to beable to put off my defensive measures till the mor-row, because I was a wee bit puzzled as to what todo. In fact, the more I thought, the more puzzled Igrew. The only "measures of defence I could recallfor the moment were, how to tie "a thumb or over-hand knot," and how long it takes to cut down anapple tree of six inches diameter. Unluckily neitherof these useful facts seemed quite to apply. Now, ifthey had given me a job like fighting the battle ofWaterloo, or Sedan, or Bull Run, I knew all aboutthat, as I had crammed it up and been examined init too. I also knew how to take up a position for a divi-sion, or even an army corps, but the stupid little sub-altern's game of the defence of a drift with a smalldetachment was, curiously enough, most perplexing.I had never really considered such a thing. However,in the light of my habitual dealings with army corps,it would, no doubt, be child's-play after a littlethought.

Having issued my immediate orders accordingly,I decided to explore the neighbourhood, but was fora moment puzzled as to which direction I should take;for, having no horse, I could not possibly get all foundbefore dark. After a little thought, it flashed acrossmy mind that obviously I should go to the north. Thebulk of the enemy being away to the north, that ofcourse must be the front. I knew naturally that theremust be a front, because in all the schemes I had hadto prepare, or the exams I had undergone, there wasalways a front, or -- "the place where the enemies

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come from." How often, also, had I not had troublein getting out of a dull sentry which his 'front andwhat his "beat" was. The north, then, being my front,the east and west were my flanks, where there mightpossibly be enemies, and the. south was my rear,where naturally there were none.

I settled these knotty points to my satisfaction, andoff I trudged, with my field-glasses, and, of course,my Kodak, directing my steps towards the gleamingwhite walls of the little Dutch farm, nestling under thekopje to the north-east. It was quite a snug little farmfor South Africa, and was surrounded by blue gumsand fruit trees. About a quarter of a mile from thefarm I was met by the owner, Mr. Andreas Brink,. atame or surrendered Boer farmer, and his two sons,Piet and Gert. "Such a nice man too," with a pleasantface and long beard. He would insist on calling me"Captain," and as any correction might have con-fused him, I did not think it worth while to make any,and after all I wasn't so very far from my "company.'The three of them positively bristled with dog's-earedand dirty passes from every Provost Marshal in SouthAfrica, and these they insisted on showing me. I hadnot thought of asking for them, and was much im-pressed; to have so mary they must be special men.They escorted me to the farm, where the good wifeand several daughters met us, and gave me a drinkof milk, which was most acceptable after my long anddusty trek. The whole family appeared either tospeak or to understand English, and we had a veryfriendly chat, during the course of which I gatheredthat there were no Boer commandos anywhere with-in miles, that the whole family cordially hoped thatthere never would be again, and that Brink was really

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a most loyal Briton, and had been much against thewar, but had been forced to go on commando withhis two sons. Their loyalty was evident, becausethere was an oreograph of the Queen on the wait,and one of the numerous flappers was playing ourNational Anthem on the harmonlw'n as P entered.

The farmer and the boys took a great interest inalt my personal gear, especially a brand-new pair ofthe latest-pattern field-glasses, which they tried withmucn delight, and many exclamations of 'Aller-machtig." They evidently appreciated them extreme-ly, but could not imagine any use for my Kodak inwar-time, even after I had taken a family group.Funny, simple fellows! They asked and got permis-sion from me to sell milk, eggs and butter in the camp,and I strolled on my way, congratulating myself onthe good turn I was thus able to do myself and de-tachment, none of whom had even smelt such lux-uries for weeks.

After an uneventful round, I directed my steps backtowards the thin blue threads of smoke, rising verti-cally in the still air, which alone showed the positionof my little post, and as I walked the peacefulness ofthe whole scene impressed me. The landscape laybathed in the warm light of the setting sun, whoseparting rays tinged most strongly the various heightsWithin view, and the hush of approaching eveningwas only broken by the distant lowing of oxen, andby the indistinct and cheerful camp noises, whichgradually grew louder as I approached. I strolledalong in quite a pleasant frame of mind, meditatingover the rather curious names which Mr. Brink hadgiven me for the surrounding features of the land-scape. The kopje above his farm was called Incidn-

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tamba, the flat-topped mountain some two miles tothe north was called Regret Table Mountain, and thegently rising hill close to the drift on the south of theriver they called Waschout Hill. Everything was goingon well, and the men were at their teas when I gotback. The nice Dutchman with his apostolic face andthe lanky Piet and Gert were already there, sur-rounded by a swarm of men, to whom they were sell-ing their wares at exorbitant rates. The three of themstrolled about the camp, showing great interest ineverything, asking most intelligent questions aboutthe British forces and the general position of affairsand seemed really relieved to have a strong {3ritishpost near. They did not even take offence When someof the rougher man called them "blarsted Dutch-men," and refused to converse with them, or buytheir"skoff."Aboutdusk they left, with many promisesto return with a fresh supply on the morrow.

After writing out my orders for next day--one ofwhich wasfordigging some trenches round the camp.an operation which I knew my men, as becomesgood British soldiers, disliked very much, and regarded as fatiguesI saw the two guards mounted.one at the drift, and the other some little way downthe river, each furnishing one sentry on the riverbank.

When alt had turned in, and the camp was quitesilent, itwas almost comforting to hear the half-hourlycry of the sentries. "Number oneall is well': Num-ber twoall is well!" By this sound I was able to lo-cate them, and knew they were at their proper posts-.On going round sentries about midnight, I waspleased to find that they were both alert, and that.as it was a cold night, each guard had built a bonlir'

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silhouetted in the cheerful blaze of which stood thesentrya clear-cut monument to all around that herewas a British sentry fully on the qui-vive. Afterimpressing them with their orders, the extent of theirbeat," and the direction of their front' etc., I turned

in. The fires they had built, besides being a comfortto themselves, were also useful to me, because twiceduring the night when I looked out I could, withoutleaving my tent, plainly see them at their posts. Ifinally fell asleep, and dreamt of being decoratedwith a crossbelt made of V.C.s and D.S.O.s, and ofwearing red tabs all down my back.

I was suddenly awoken, about the grey of dawn,by a hoarse cry, "Halt! who goes cut short bythe unmistakable "plipplop" of a Mauser rifle. Be-fore I was off my valise, the reports of Mausers ranground the camp from every side, these, mingledwith the smack of the bullets as they hit the groundand stripped, the 'zipzip" of the leaden hail throughthe tents, and the curses and groans of men whowere hit as they lay or stumbled about trying to getout, made a hellish din. There was some wild shoot-ing in return from my men, but it was all over ina moment, and as I managed to wriggle out of mytent the whole place was swarming with beardedmen, shooting into the heaving canvas. At that mo-ment I must have been clubbed on the head for Iknew no more until I found myself seated on an emp-ty case having my head, which was dripping withblood, tied up by one of my men.

Our losses were 10 men killed, including both sen-tries, and 21 wounded; the Boers' had one killed andtwo wounded.

Later on, as, at the order of the not ill-natured but16

very frowzy Boer commandant, I was gloomily takingoff the saucy warm spotted waistcoat knitted for meby my sister, I noticed our friends of the previousevening in very animated and friendly conversationwith the burghers, and 'Pappa" was, curiouslyenough, carrying a rifle and bandolier and my newfield-glasses. He was laughing and pointing towardssomething lying on the ground, through which hefinally put his foot. This, to my horror, I recognisedas my unhappy camera. Here, I suppose, my mindmust have slightly wandered, for I found myself re-peating some Latin lines, once my favourite imposi-tion, but gorgotten since my schooldays---

"Timeo Danaos et dona ferenteswhen suddenly the voice of the field cornet brokeinto my musing with "Your breeches too, captain.'

Trekking all that day on foot, sockless, and in theboots of another, I had much to think of besides mythrobbing head. The sight of the long Boer convoywith guns, which had succeeded so easily in crossingthe drift I was to have held, was a continual reminderof my failure and of my responsibility for the dread-ful losses to my poor detachment. I graduallygathered from the Boers what I had already partlyguessed, namely, that they had been fetched andguided all round our camp by friend Brink, had sur-rounded it in the dark, crawling about in the bush onthe river bank, and had carefully marked down ourtwo poor sentries. These they had at once shot on thealarm being given, and had then rushed the campfrom the dense cover on three sides. Towards eve-ning my head got worse, and its rhythmic throbbingseemed gradually to take a meaning, and hammered

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out the following lessons, the result of much ponder-ing on my failure:

1. Do not put ofl taking your measures of defencetill the morrow, as these are more important than thecomfort of your men or the shipshape arrangementof your camp. Choose the position of your campmainly with reference to your defence.

2. Do not in war-time show stray men of the en-emy's breed all over your camp, be they never sokind and full of butter, and do not be hypnotised, bynumerous "passes," at once to confide in them.

3. Do not let your sentries advertise their positionto the whole world, including the enemy, by standingin the full glare of a fire, and making much noiseevery half-hour.

4. Do not, if avoidable, be in tents when bulletsare ripping through them; at such times a hole in theground is worth many tents.

After these lessons had been dinned into my soUlmillions and millions of times, so that I could neverforget them, a strange thing came to passtherewas a kaleidoscopic changeI had another dream.

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5econd Dream"And what did ye look they should compass? Warcraftlearnt in a breath,Know/edge unto occasion at the first far view of Death?"

KIPLING.

I suddenly found myself dumped down at Duffer'sDrift with the same orders as already detailed, andan equal detachment composed of entirely differentmen. As before, and on every subsequent occasion,I had ample stores, ammunition, and tools. My posi-tion was precisely similar to my former one, withthis important exception, running through my brainwere four lessons.

As soon as I received my orders, therefore, I beganto make out my plan of operations without wastingany time over the landscape, the setting sun, or thedeparting column, which, having off-loaded all ourstores, soon vanished. I was determined to carry outall the lessons I had learnt as well as I knew how.

To prevent any strangers, friendly or otherwise,from coming into my position and spying out theelaborate defences I was going to make, I sent outat once two examining posts of one NCO and three

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men each, one to the top of Waschout Hill, and theother some 1000 meters out on the veld to the northof the drift. Their orders were to watch the surround-ing country, and give the alarm in the event of theapproach of any body of men whatever (Boers were,of course, improbable, but still just possible), ardalso to stop any individuals, friendly or not, from com-ing anywhere near camp and to shoot at once onnon-compliance with the order to halt. If the new-comers had any provisions to sell, these were to besent in with a list by one of the guard, who would re-turn with the money, but the strangers were not to beallowed nearer the camp on any account.

(See Map 3.)

Having thus arranged a safeguard against spies, Iproceeded to choose a camping ground. I chose thesite already described in my former dream, and forthe same reasons, which still appealed to me. Solong as I was entrenched, it appeared the best placearound. We started making our trenches as soon asI had marked off a nice squarish little enclosurewhich would about contain our small camp. Though,of course, the north was the front, I thought, havinga camp, it would be best to have an all-round defenceas a sort of obstacle. The majority of the men weretold off to dig, which they did not relish, a few beingdetailed to pitch camp and prepare tea. As the lengthof trench was rather great for the available numberof diggers, and tho soil was hard, we were only ableby dark, by which time the men were quite done upby their hard day, to make quite a low parapet andshallow trench. Still we were entrenched," which

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was the great thing, and the trench was afl round ourcamp, so we were wefl prepared, even should we be

attacked during the night or early next morning,which was quite unlikely.

During this time one or two strangers had ap-21

Map 3

proached the guard of the north from a farm underIncidentamba. As they had eggs and butter, etc., tosell, these were brought in as arranged for. The mansent in with the stuff reported that the elder of theDutchmen was a most pleasant man, and had sentme a present of a pat of butter and some eggs, withhis compliments, and would I allow him to come inand speak to me? However, not being such a fool asto allow him in my defences, I went out instead, incase he had any information. His only informationwas that there were no Boers anywhere near. Hewas an old man, but though he had a museum ofpasses," I was not to be chioroformed by them into

confidence. As he seemed friendly, and possiblyloyal, I walked part of the way back to his farm withhim, in order to look around. At dark the two examin-ing posts came in, and two guards were mountedclose by the object I was to watch, namely, the drift,at the same places as in my previous dream. Thistime, however, there was no half-hourly shouting,nor were there any fires, and the sentries had ordersnot to challenge but to shoot any person they mightsee outside camp at once. They were placed stand-ing down the river bank, just high enough to see overthe top, and were thus not unnecessarily exposed.Teas had been eaten, and all fires put out at dusk,and after dark all turned in, but in the trenches in-stead of in tents. After going round sentries to seeeverything snug for the night, I lay down myself witha sense of having done my duty, and neglected nopossible precaution for our safety.

Just before dawn much the same happened as al-ready described in my first dream, except that theball was started by a shot without challenge from one

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of our sentries at something moving amoung thebush, which resulted in close-range fire opening upto us from all sides. This time we were not rushed,but a perfect hail of bullets whistled in from everydirectionfrom in front of each trench, and over andthrough our parapet. It was sufficient to put a handor head up to have a dozen bullets through and allround it, and the strange part was, we saw no one.As the detachment wag plaintively remarked, wecould have seen lots of Boers, "if it wasn't for thebushes in between."

After vainly trying until bright daylight to see theenemy in order to do some damage in return, somany men were hit, and the position seemed soutterly hopeless, that I had to hoist the white flag.We had by then 24 men killed and six wounded. Assoon as the white flag went up the Boers ceased fir-ing at once, and stood up; every bush and ant-hillup to 100 meters range seemed to have hid a Boerbehind it. This close range explained the marvellousaccuracy of their shooting, and the great proportionof our killed (who were nearly all shot through thehead) to our wounded.

As we were collecting ourselves preparatory tomarching off there were one or two things whichstruck me: one was that the Dutchman who had pre-sented me with eggs and butter was in earnest con-fabulation with the Boer commandant, who was call-ing him "Oom" most affectionately. I also noticed thatall male Kaffirs from the neighbouring kraal hadbeen fetched and impressed to assist in getting theBoer guns and waggons across the drift and to loadup our captured gear, and generally do odd anddirty jobs. These same Kaffirs did their work with

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amazing alacrity, and looked as if they enjoyed it;there was no 'backchat" when an order was given--usually by friend "0cm."

Again, as I trudged with blistered feet that livelongday, did I think over my failure. It seemed so stran,I had done all I knew, and yet, here we were, ignomin-iously captured, 24 of us killed, and the Boers overthe drift. "Ah, BF, my boy," I thought, "there mustbe a few more lessons to be learnt besides those youalready know." In order to find out what these were,pondered deeply over the details of the fight.

The Boers must have known of our position, buthow had they managed to get close up all round with-in snapshooting range without being discovered?What a tremendous advantage they had gained inshooting from among the bushes on the bank, wherethey could not be seen, over us who had to show upover a parapet every time we looked for an enemy,and show up, moreover, just in the very place whereevery Beer expected us to. There seemed to besome fault in the position. How the bullets seemedsometimes to come through the parapet, and howthose that passed over one side hit the men defend-ing the other side in the back. How, on the whole,that natural obstacle," the river-bed, seemed to bemore of a disadvantage than a protection.

Eventually the following lessons framed them-selves in my head--some of them quite new, someof them supplementing those four I had alreadylearnt:

5. With modern rifles, to guard a drift or localitydoes not necessitate sitting on top of it (as it it couldbe picked up and carried away), unless the locality

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is suitable to hold for other and defensive reasons.It may even be much better to take up your defensiveposition some way from the spot, and so away fromconcealed ground, which enables the enemy to crawlup to very close range, concealed and unperceived,and to fire from cover which hides them even whenshooting. It would be better, if possible, to have theenemy in the open, or to have what is called a clear"field of fire."

A non-bullet-proof parapet or shelter which isvisible serves merely to attract bullets instead ofkeeping them out--the proof of thickness can beeasily and practically tested.

When fired at by an enemy at close range fromnearly all round, a low parapet and shallow trenchare not of much use, as what bullets do not hit the de-fenders on one side hit those on another.

6. It is not enough to keep strange men of the en-emy's breed away from your actual defences, lettingthem go free to warn their friends of your existenceand whereabouts--even though they should not beunder temptation to impart any knowledge they mayhave obtained. "Another way," as the cookery booksays, more economical In lives, would be as follows:Gather and warmly greet a sufficiency of strangers.Stuff well with chestnuts as to the large force aboutto join you in a few hours; garnish with corroborativedetail, and season according to taste with whiskeyor tobacco. This will very likely be sufficient for thenearest commando. Probable cost--some heavy andglib lying, but no lives will be expended.

7. It is not business to allow lazy men (even thoughthey be brothers and neutrals) to sit and pick their

25

teeth outside their kraals whilst tired soldiers arebreaking their hearts trying to do heavy labour inshort time. It is more the duty of a soldier to teachthe lazy neutral the dignity of labour, and by keep-ing him under guard to prevent his going away totalk about it.

By the time the above lessons had been well burntinto my brain, beyond all chance of forgetfulness,a strange thing happened. I had a fresh dream.

26

Third Bream"So when we take tea with a few guns, o'course you willknow what do dohoof hoo!" KIPLING.

I was at Duffers Drift on a similar sunny afternoonand under precisely similar conditions, except thatI now had seven lessons running through my mind.

I at once sent out two patrols, each of one NCOand three men, one to the north and one to the south.They were to visit all neighbouring farms and kraalsand bring in all able-bodied Dutch men and boys andmale Kaffirsby persuasion if possible, but by forceif necessary. This would prevent the news of our ar-rival being carried round to any adjacent com-mandos, and would also assist to solve the labourquestion. A small guard was mounted on the top ofWaschout Hill as a look-out.

I decided that as the drift could not get up and runaway, it was not necessary to take up my post or posi-tion quite close to it. especially as such a positionwould be under close rifle fire from the river bank,to which the approaches were quite concealed, andwhich gave excellent cover. The very worst place forsuch a position seemed to be anywhere within the

27

horseshoe bend of the river, as this would allow anenemy practically to surround it. My choice there-fore fell on a spot to which the ground gently rosefrom the river bank, some 700 to 800 meters southof the drift. Here I arranged to dig a trench roughlyfacing the front (north), which thus would have about800 meters clear ground on its front. We started tomake a trench about 50 meters long for my 50 men,according to the usual rule.

(See Map 4.)

Some litUe time after beginning, the patrols camein, having collected three Dutchmen and two boys,and about thirteen Kaffirs. The former, the leader ofwhom seemed a man of education and some impor-tance, were at first inclined to protest when theywere given tools to dig trenches for themselves,showed bundles of "passes," and talked very bigabout complaining to the general, and even as to aquestion in the "House" about our brutality. Thismomentarily staggered me, as I could not help won-dering what might happen to poor BF if the memberfor Upper Tooting should raise the point; but West-minster was far away, and I hardened my heart. Final-ly they had the humour to see the force of the argu-ment, that it was, after all, necessary for their ownhealth, should the post be attacked, as they.wouldotherwise be out in the open veld.

The Kaffirs served as a welcome relief to my menas they got tired. They also dug a separate hole forthemselves on one side of and behind our trench, ina small ravine.

By evening we had quite a decent trench dug28

;-

. --'' --

-

- 2' .g1 - - - ... .4-::

.. - -.

N

-.

Map 4

the parapet was two feet six inches thick at the top,and was quite bulletproof, as I tested it. Our trenchwas not all in one straight line, but in two portions,broken back at a slight angle, so as to get a more di-vergent fire (rather cunning of me), tho&igh each halfwas of course as straight as I could get it.

29

--

I-

.. -

.0- DR1FT

It was astonishing what difficulty I had to get themen to dig in a nice straight line. I was particular asto this point, because I once heard a certain captainseverely told off" at manoeuvres by a very seniorofficer for having his trenches "out of dressing." Noone could tell whether some "brass hat" might notcome round and inspect us next day, so it was as wellto be prepared for anything.

At dusk the guard on Waschout Hill, for whom atrench had also been dug, was relieved and in-creased to six men, and after teas and giving out theorders for the next day, we all "turned in" in ourtrenches. The tents were not pitched, as we werenot going to occupy them, and it was no good merelyshowing up our position. A guard was mounted overour prisoners, or rather "guests," and furnished onesentry.to watch over them.

Before falling asleep I ran over my seven lessons,and it seemed to me I had left nothing undone whichcould possibly help towards success. We were en-trenched, had a good 'bulletproof defence, all ourrations and ammunition close at hand in the trenches,and water-bottles filled. It was with a contented feel-ing of having done everything right and of beingquite "the little white-haired boy," that I graduallydozed off.

Next morning dawned brightly and uneventfully,and we had about an hour's work improving detailsof our trenches before breakfasts were ready. Justas breakfast was over, the sentry on Waschout Hillreported a cloud of dust away to the north, by RegretTable Mountain. This was caused by a large party ofmounted men with wheeled transport of some sort.

30

They were most probably the enemy, and seemedto be trekking in all innocence of our presence forthe drift.

What a scoop" I thought, if they come on quiteunsuspecting, and cross the drift in a lump withoutdiscerning our position. I shall lie low, let the ad-vanced party go past without a shot, and wait untilthe main body gets over the side within close range,and then open magazine fire into the thick of them.Yes, it will be just when they reach that broken ant-hill about 400 meters away that I shall give the word"Fire!"

However, it was not to be. After a short time theenemy halted, apparently for consideration. The ad-vanced men seemed to have a consultation, and thengradually approached Incidentamba farm with muchcaution. Two or three women ran out and waved,whereupon these men galloped up to the farm atonce. What passed, of course, we could not tell, butevidently the women gave information as tO our ar-rival and position, because the effect was electrical.The advanced Boers split up into two main parties,one riding towards the river a long way te the east,and another going similarly to the west. One mangalloped back with the information obtained to themain body, which became all bustle, and started offwith their waggons behind lncidentamba, when theywere lost to sight. Of course, they were all well outof range, and as we were quite ready, the only thingto do was to wait till they came out in the open withinrange, and then to shoot them down.

The minutes seemed to crawlfive, then tenminutes passed with no further sign of the enemy.Suddenly, "Beg pardon, sir; I think I see something

31

on top of that kop-je on the fur side yonder." Oneof the men drew my attention to a few specks whichlooked like waggons moving about on the flattishshoulder of Incidentamba. Whilst I was focusing myglasses there was a "boom" from the hill, followed bya sharp report and a puff of smoke up in the air quiteclose by, then the sound as of heavy rain patteringdown some 200 feet in front of the trench, each dropraising its own little cloud of dust. This, of course,called forth the time-honoured remarks of "Whatho, she bumps!" and 'Now we shan't be long," whichproved only too true. I was aghastI had quite for-gotten the possibility of guns being used againstme, though, had I remembered their existence, I donot know, with my then knowledge, what differenceit would have made to my defensive measures. Asthere was some little uneasiness among my men, I,quite cheerful in the security of our nice trench withthe thick bulletproof parapet, at once shouted out,"It's alt right, men; keep under cover, and they can'ttouch us." A moment later there was a second boom,the shell whistled over our heads, and the hillsidesome way behind the trench was spattered withbullets.

By this time we were crouching as close as pos-sible to the parapet, which, though it had seemedonly quite a short time before so complete, nowsuddenly felt most woefully inadequate, with thosebeastly shells dropping their bullets down from thesky. Another boom. This time the shell burst well, andthe whole ground in front of the trench was coveredwith bullets, one man being hit. At this moment riflefire began on Waschout Hill, but no bullets came ourway. Almost immediately another shot followed

32

which showered bullets all over us; a few more menwere hit, whose groans were unpleasant to listen to.Tools were seized, and men began frantically to tryand dig themselves deeper into the hard earth, as ourtrench seemed to give no more protection from thedropping bullets than a saucer would from a stormof rain--but it was too late. We could not sink into theearth fast enough. The Boers had got the range ofthe trench to a nicety, and the shells burst over usnow with a horrible methodic precision. Several menwere hit, and there was no reason why the enemyshould cease to rain shrapnel over us until we wereall killed. As we were absolutely powerless to do any-thing, I put up the white flag. All I could do was tothank Providence that the enemy had no quick-firingfield guns or, though "we had not been long," weshould have been blotted out before we could havehoisted. it.

As soon as the gunfire ceased, I was greatly sur-prised to find that no party of Boers came down fromtheir artillery position on Incidentamba to take oursurrender, but within three minutes some fifty Boersgalloped up from the river bank on the east and thewest, and a few more came up from the south roundWaschout Hill. The guard on Waschout Hill, whichhad done a certain amount of damage to the enemy,had two men wounded by rifle fire. Not a single shellhad come near them, though they were close to theKaffir huts, which were plain enough.

What an anti-climax the teality had been from thepleasurable anticipations of the early morn, when Ihad first sighted the Boers.

Of course, the women on the farm had betrayed us,but it was difficult to make out why the Boers had

33

at first halted and begun to be suspicious before theyhad seen the women at the farm. What could theyhave discovered? I failed entirely to solve thismystery.

During the days trek the following lessons slowlyevolved themselves, and were stored in my mind inaddition to those already learnt:--

8. When collecting the friendly stranger and hisSons in order to prevent their taking information tothe enemy of your existence and whereabouts, ifyou are wishful for a "surprise packet," do not forgetalso to gather his wife and his daughter, his man-servant and his maidservant (who also have tongues),and his ox and his ass (which may possibly serve theenemy). Of course, if they are very numerous or veryfar off, this is impossible; only do not then hope tosurprise the enemy.

9. Do not forget that, if guns are going to be usedagainst you, a shallow trench with a low parapet someway from it is worse than useless, even though theparapet be bulletproof ten times over. The trenchgives the gunners an object to lay on, and gives noprotection from shrapnel. Against well-aimed long-range artillery fire it would be better to scatter thedefenders in the open hidden in grass and bushes,or behind stones or ant hills, than to keep themhuddled in such a trench. With your men scatteredaround, you can safely let the enemy fill your trenchto the brim with shrapnel bullets.

10. Though to stop a shrapnel bullet much lessactual thickness of earth is necessary than to stopa rifle bullet, yet this earth must be in the right place.For protection you must be able to get right close

34

under the cover. As narrow a trench as possible, withthe sides and inside of the parapet as steep as theywill stand, will give you the best chance. To hollowout the bottom of the trench sides to give extra roomwill be even better, because the open top of thetrench can be kept the less wide. The more like amere slit the open top of the trench is, the fewershrapnel bullets will get in.

While chewing over these lessons learnt from bit-ter experience, I had yet another dream.

35

Fourth Dream"0 was some power the gittie gb us, To see oursois asothers see us!" BURNS.

Again did I find myself facing the same problem, thistime with ten lessons to guide me. I started off bysending our patrols as described in my last dream,but their orders were slightly different. Alt humanbeings were to be brought into our post, and anyanimals which could be of use to the enemy were tobe shot, as we had no place for them.

For my defensive post I chose the position alreadydescribed in my last dream, which seemed very suit-able, for the reasons already given. We consequentlydug a trench similar in plan to that already described,bUt, as I feared the possibility of guns being usedagainst us, it was of a very different section. In planit faced north generally, and was slightly broken for-ward to the front, each half being quite straight. Insection it was about three feet six inches deep, witha parapet about twelve inches high in front of it; wemade the trench as narrow as possible at the topcompatible with free movement. Each man hollowed

36

out the under part of the trench to suit himself, andmade his own portion of the parapet to suit his height.The parapet was about two feet six inches thick atthe top and quite steep inside, being built up ofpieces of broken ant-hill, which were nearly as hardas stone.

(See Map 5.)

The patrols returned shortly with their bag of a fewmen, women and children. The women indulged inmuch useless abuse, and refused to obey orders, tak-ing the matter less philosophically than their man-kind. Here was evidently an opportunity of makinguse of the short training I had once had as an A.D.C.I tried it. I treated the ladies with tons of tact' inmy suavest manner, and repeated the only Dutchwords of comfort 1 knew "Wackt een beetje" "Alzal rech kom"--but to no purpose. They had not beenbrought up to appreciate tact in fact, they were nottaking any. I turned regretfully round to the colour-sergeant, winked solemnly and officially, and seeingan answering but respectful quiver in his left eyelid,said--

"Colour-sergeant.""Sir?""Which do you think is the best way of setting alight

to a farm?""Well, sir, some prefer the large bedstead and

straw, but I think the 'armonium and a little kerosenein one corner is as neat as anything."

There was no need for more. The ladies quite un-derstood this sort of tact; the trouble was over.

37

The Dutchmen and Kaffirs were at once starteddigging shelters for themselves and the women andchildren. The latter were placed together, and wereput into a small ravine not far from the trench, as itwas necessary to place them in a really deep trench,firstly to keep them safe, and secondly to prevent

38

Map 5

theirwaving or signaling to the enemy. The existenceof this ravine, therefore, saved much digging, as itonly required some hollowing out at the bottom anda little excavation to suit admirably.

All dug with a will, and by night the shelters for thewomen and children, men prisoners, and the firingtrench, were nearly done. All arrangements for theguards and sentries were the same as those de-scribed in the last dream, and after seeing every-thing was all correct and the ladies provided withtents to crawl under (they had their own Llankets),I went to sleep with a feeling of well-earned security.

At daybreak next morning, as there were no signsof any enemy, we continued to improve our trench,altering the depth and alignment where necessary,each man suiting the size of the trench to his ownlegs. In the end the trench looked quite neat--al-most as nice as mother makes itwith the fresh redearth contrasting with the yellow of the veld. As oneof my reservists remarked, it only wanted an edgingof oyster shells or gingerbeer bottles to be like hislittle broccoli patch at home. Upon these importantdetails and breakfast a good two hours had beenspent, when a force was reported to the north in thesame position as described in the previous dream.It advanced in the same manner, except, of course,the advanced men were met by no one at the farm.When I saw this, I could not help patting myself onthe back and smiling at the Dutch ladies in the pit,who only scowled at me in return, and (whisper) spatt

The advanced party of the enemy came on, scout-ing carefully and stalking the farm as they came. Asthey appeared quite unwarned, I was wondering ifI should be able to surprise them, all innocent of our

39

presence, with a close-range volley, and then maga-zine fire into their midst, when suddenly one manstopped and the others gathered round him. This waswhen they were some 1800 meters away, about ona level with the end of lncidentamba. They had evi-dently seen something and sniffed danger, for therewas a short palaver and much pointing. A messengerthen galloped back to the main body, which turnedoff behind Incidentamba with its waggons, etc. Asmall number, including a man on a white horse, rodeoff in a vague way to the west. The object of thismove I could not quite see. They appeared to havea vehicle with them of some sort. The advanced partysplit up as already described. As all were still at longrange, we could only wait.

Very shortly 'boom' went a gun from the top of In-cidentamba, and a shrapnel shell burst not far fromus. A second and third followed, after which theysoon picked up our range exactly, and the shell be-gan to burst all about us; however, we were quitesnug and happy in our nice deep trench, where wecontentedly crouched. The waste of good and valu-able shrapnel shell by the enemy was the cause ofmuch amusement to the men, who were in greatspirits, and, as one of them remarked, were "as cosyas cockroaches in a crack." At the expenditure ofmany shells only two men were hitin the legs.

After a time the guns ceased fire, and we at oncemanned the parapet and stood up to repel an attack,but we could see no Boers though the air began atonce to whistle and hum with bullets. Nearly all theseseemed to come from the riverbank in front, to thenorth and northeast, and kept the parapet one con-

40

tinual spurt of dust as they smacked into it. All wecould do was to fire by sound at various fikely busheson the riverbank, and this we did with the greatestpossible diligence, but no visible results.

In about a quarter of an hour, we had had live menshot through the head, the most exposed part. Themere raising of a head to fire seemed to be absolute-ly fatal, as it had on a former occasion when we wereattempting to fire at close range over a parapetagainst The enemy concealed. I saw two poor fellowstrying to build up a pitiful little kind of house of cardswith stones and pieces of ant-hill through which tofire. This was as conspicuous as a chimney-pot ontop of the parapet, and was at once shot to powderbefore they had even used it, but not before it hadsuggested to me the remedy for this state of affairs.Of course, we wanted in such a case head coverand loopholes."As usual, I was wise after the event,for we had no chance of making them then, even hadwe not been otherwise busy. Suddenly the noise offiring became much more intense, but with the smackof the bullets striking the earth all round quite closeit was not easy to tell from which direction this freshfiring came. At the same time the men seemed to bedropping much oftener, and I was impressing themwith the necessity of keeping up a brisker fire to thefront, when I noticed a bullet hit our side of the para-pet.

It then became clear, the enemy must evidentlyhave got into the donga behind us (to which I hadpaid no attention, as it was to the rear), and wereshooting us in the back as we stood up to our parapet.

This, I thought, must be what is called being "takenin reverse," and it was.

41

By the time I had gathered what was happening,about a dozen more men had been bowled over. Ithen ordered the whole lot to take cover in thetrench, and only to pop up to take a shot to the frontor rear. But no more could be done by us towardsthe rear than to the front. The conditions were thesameno Boers to be seen. At this moment two ofthe guard from Waschout Hill started to run in to ourtrench, and a terrific fusillade was opened on to them,the bullets kicking up the dust all round them as theyran. One poor fellow was dropped, but the other man-aged to reach our trench and fall into it. He too wasbadly hit, but just had the strength to gasp out thatexcept himself and the man who started with him, allthe guard on Waschout Hill had been killed orwounded and that the Boers were gradually workingtheir way up to the top. This was indeed cheering.

So hot was the fire now that no one could raise hishead above ground without being shot, and bycrouching down altogether and not attempting toaim, but merely firing our rifles over the edge of thetrench, we remained for a short time without casual-ties. This respite, however, was short, for the men inthe right half of the trench began to drop unaccount-ably whilst they were sitting well under cover, andnot exposing themselves at all. I gradually discoveredthe cause of this. Some snipers must have reachedthe top of Waschout Hill, and were shooting straightdown our right half trench. As the bullets snickedin thicker and thicker, it was plain the number ofsn;pers was being increased.

1 his, I thought, must be being "enfiladed from aflank." It was so.

Without any order, we had all instinctively vacated42

the right half of our trench and crowded into the lefthalf, which by great good luck could not be enfiladedfrom any point on the south side of the river, nor irk-deed by rifle-fire from anywhere, as, owing to theground, its prolongation on the right was up aboveground for some 3000 meters away on the veld onthe north bank.

Though we were huddled together quite helplesslike rats in a trap, still it was in a small degree com-forting to think that, short of charging, the enemycould do nothing. For that we fixed bayonets andgrimly waited. If they did make an assault, we hadbayonets, and they had not, and we could sell ourlives very dearly in a rough-and-tumble.

Alas1 I was again deceived. There was to be nochance of close quarters and cold steel, for suddenlywe heard, far away out on the veld to the north, asound as of someone beating a tin tray, and a coveyof little shells whistled into the ground close by thetrench; two of these burst on touching the ground.Right out of rifle-range, away on the open veld on thenorth, I saw a party of Boers, with a white horse anda vehicle. Then I knew. But how had they managedto hit off so welt the right spot to go to enfilade ourtrench before they even knew where we were?

Pornporn pornporn-porn again, and the littlesteel devils ploughed their way into the middle olus in our shell-trap, mangling seven men. I at oncediagnosed the position with great professionalacumen; we were now enfiladed from both flanks,but the knowledge was acquired too late to help us,for---

43

"We lay bare as the paunchof the purser's sow,

To the hail of the Nordenfeldt."

This was the last straw; there was nothing left butsurrender or entire annihilation at long range. I sur-rendered.

Boers, as usual, sprang up from all round. We hadfought for three hours, and had 25 killed and 17wounded. Of these, seven only had been hit by theshrapnel and rifle-fire from the front. All the rest hadbeen killed or hit from the flanks, where there shouldbe few enemies, or the rear, where there should benone1 This fact convinced me that my preconceivednotions as to the front, and its danger relative to theother points of the compass, needed considerablemodification. All my cherished ideas were beingruthlessly swept away, and I was plunged into a seaof doubt, groping for something certain or fixed tolay hold of. Could Longfellow, when he wrote thatimmortal line, "Things are not what they seem," everhave been in my position?

The survivors were naturally a little disheartenedat their total discomfiture, when all had started sowell with them in their "crack." This expressed itselfin different ways. As one man said to a corporal, whowas plugging a hole in his ear with a bit of rag

"Something sickening, I call it, this enfilading rack-et; you never know which way it will take yer. I'mfairly fed up." To which the gloomy reply, 'Enfiladed?Of course we've been enfiladed. This 'ere trenchshould have been wiggled about a bit, and then therewouldnot have been quite so much of it. Yes, wiggled

44

about--that's what it should have been." To whichchipped in a third, "Yes, and something to keep theblighters from shooting us in the back woufdn't avedone us much 'arm, anyway."

There were evidently more things in earth than Ihad hitherto dreamt of in my philosophy!

As we trekked away to the north under a detachedguard of Boers, many little points such as the abovesank into my soul, butt could not for some time solvethe mystery of why we had not succeeded in surpris-ing the enemy. There were no men, women, children,or Kaffirs who, knowing of our arrival, could havewarned them. How did they spot our presence sosoon, as they evidently must have done when theystopped and consulted in the morning? It was notuntil passing lncidentamba, as I casualty happenedto look round and survey the scene of the fight Ironithe enemy's point of view, that I discovered the sim-ple answer to the riddle. There on the smooth yellowslope of the veld just south of the drift was a brown-ish-red streak, as conspicuous as the Long Man ofWilmington on the dear old Sussex downs, whichpositively shrieked aloud, "Hi! Hi! Hi!--this.way forthe British defence." I then grimly smiled to think ofmyself sitting like a "slick Alick" in that poster of atrench and expecting to surprise anybody!

Besides having been enfiladed and also taken inreverse, we had again found ourselves at a disad-vantage as compared with the concealed enemyshooting at close range, from having to show up ata fixed place in order to fire.

Eventually I collected the following lessons-11. For a small isolated post and an ative enemy,

there are no flanks, no rear, or, to put it otherwise, it45

is front all round.12. Beware of being taken in reverse; take care,

when placing and making your defences, that whenyou are engaged in shooting the enemy to the frontof your trench, his pal cannot sneak up and shootyou in the back.

13. Beware of being enfiladed. It is nasty from oneflankfar worse from both flanks.

Remember, also, that though you may arrangematters so that you cannot be enfiladed by rifle fire,yet you may be open to it from long range, by meansof gun or pompom fire. There are few straighttrenches that cannot be enfiladed from somewhere,if the enemy can only get there. You can sometimesavoid being enfiladed by so placing your trench thatno one can get into prolongation of it to fire downit, or you can "wiggle" it about in many ways, so thatit is not straight, or make "traverses" across it, or digseparate trenches for every two or three men.

14. Do not have your trench near rising groundover which you cannot see, and which you cannothold.

15. Do not huddle all your men together in a smallIrench like sheep in a pen. Give them air.

16. As once before -- cover from sight is of oftenworth more than cover from bullets.

For close shooting from a non-concealed trench,head cover with loopholes is an advantage. Thisshould be bulletproof and not be conspicuously onthe top of the parapet, so as to draw fire, or it will befar more dangerous than having none.

17. To surprise the enemy is a great advantage.

46

18. If you wish to obtain this advantage, concealyour position. Though for promotion it may be soundto advertise your position, for defence it is not.

19. To test the concealment or otherwise of yourposition, look at it from the enemy's point of view.

47

Fifth Bream'A trifling sum of misery

New added to the foot of they account."DRYDEN.

"Jack Frost looked forth one still clear night,And he said, 'Now! shall be out of sight;So over the valley and over the heightIn silence I'll take my wayY' GOULD.

Again I faced the same task with a fresh mind andfresh hopes, all that remained with me of my formerattempts being 19 lessons.

Having detailed the two patrols and the guard onWaschout Hill as already described, I spent some20 minutes--whilst the stores, etc., were being ar-ranged--in walking about to choose a position to holdin the light of my 19 lessons.

I came to the conclusion that it was not any goodbeing near the top of a hill and yet not at the top. Iwould make my post on the top of Waschout Hill,where I could not be overlooked from any placewithin rifle range, and where I should, I believed,have "command." I was not quite certain what "com-mand' meant, but I knew it was important--it says so

48

in the book, besides, in all the manoeuvres I had at-tended and tactical schemes I had seen, the 'de-fence" always held a position on top of a hill or ridge.My duty was plain: Waschout Hill seemed the onlyplace which did not contravene any of the 19 lessonsI had learnt, and up it I walked. As I stood near oneof the huts, I got an excellent view of the drift andits southern approach just over the bulge of the hill,and a clear view of the river further east and west. Ithought at first I would demolish the few grass andmatting huts which, with some empty kerosene tinsand heaps of bones and debris, formed the Kaflirkraal; but on consideration I decided to play cunning,and that this same innocent-looking Kaffir kraalwould materially assist me to hide my defences. Imade out my plan of operations in detail, and we hadsoon conveyed all our stores up to the top of thehilt, and started work.

Upon the return of the patrols with their prisoners,the Dutchmen and "boys" were told off to dig forthemselves and their females. The Kaffirs of the kraalwe had impressed to assist at once.

(See Map 6.)

My arrangements were as follows: All round thehuts on the hilltop and close to them, we dug someten short lengths of deep-firing trenches, curved inplan, and each tong enough to hold five men. Thesetrenches had extremely low parapets, really onlyserving as rifle rests, some of the excavated earthbeing heaped up behind the trenches to the heightof a foot or so, the remainder being dealt with as de-scribed later. In most cases the parapets were pro-

49

vided with grooves to fire through at ground-level,the parapet on each side being high enough to justprotect the head. As with the background the men'sheads were not really visible, it was unnecessary toprovide proper loopholes, which would have neces-sitated also the use of new sandbags, which would

50

Map 6

be rather conspicuous and troublesome to conceal.When the men using these trenches were firing, theirheads would be just above the level of the ground.Once these firing trenches were well under way,the communication trenches were started. Thesewere to be narrow and deep, leading from one trenchto the next, and also leading from each trench backto four of the huts, which were to be arranged as fol-lows, to allow men to fire standing up without beingseen. Round the inside of the wails of these huts partof the excavated earth, of which there was ample,would be built up with sandbags, pieces of anthill,stones, etc., to a height that a man can fire over,about four and a half feet, and to a thickness of sometwo and a half feet at the top, and loopholes, whichwould be quite invisible, cut through the hut sidesabove this parapet. There was room in each hut forthree men to fire. In three of them I meant to placemy best shots, to act as snipers, as they would havea more favourable position than the men in thetrenches below, and the fourth was a conning-towerfor myself. All the tents and stores were stacked in-side one of the huts out of sight.

That evening, in spite of the hardness of the work,which caused much grousing among my men, we hadgot the firing trenches complete, but the others werenot finished--they were only half the necessarydepth. The earth walls inside the huts were also notquite completed. The Kaffirs and Dutch had deeppits, as before, in three of the huts. Ammunition andrations were distributed round the trenOhes the lastthing before we turned in. I also had all water-bottlesand every vessel that would hold water, such asempty tins, Kaffir gourds, and cooking-pots, filled and

51

distributed in case of a long and protracted fight.Having issued orders as to the necessity for thegreatest secrecy in not giving away our posi-tion should Boers turn up early next morning, I wentto sleep with confidence. We had, anyhow, a verygood position, and though our communications werenot perfect quite, these we could soon improve ifwe had any time to ourselves the next morning.

Next morning broke; no enemy in sight. This wasexcellent, and before daylight we were hard at it,finishing the work still undone. By this time the menhad fully entered into the spirit of the thing, and werequite keen on surprising Brother Boer if possible.While the digging was proceeding, the "dixies" werebeing boiled for the breakfasts inside four grassscreens, some of which we found lying about, so asto show nothing but some very natural smoke abovethe kral. I picked out one or two of my smartestNCOs, and instructed them to walk down the hill indifferent directions to the riverbank and try if theycould see the heads of the men in the firing trenchesagainst the sky. If so, the heaps of earth, tins, bones,grass, screens, etc., should be rearranged so as togive a background to every man's head.

To review the place generally, I and my orderlywalked off some half-mile to the north of the river.As we were going some distance, we doffed our hel-mets and wrapped ourselves in two beautiful orangeand magenta striped blankets, borrowed from ourKalfir lady guests, in case any stray Boer should belurking around, as he might be interested to see twokhakis" wandering about on the veld. It was awk-

ward trying to walk with our rifles hidden under our52

blankets, and, moreover, every two minutes we hadto look round to see if the sentry at the carrip hadsignalled any enemy in sight. This was to be doneby raising a pole on the highest hut. The result of ourwork was splendid. We saw a Kaffir kraal on a hilt,and to us "it was nothing more." There were theheaps of debris usually round a kraal, looking mostnatural, but no heads were visible, and no trenches.There was only one fault, and that was that a fewthoughtless men began, as we looked, to spread theirbrown army blankets out in the sun on top of thehuts and on the veld. To the veriest new churn thesesquare blots, like squares of brown sticking-plasterall around the kraal, would have betokened some-thing unusual. To remedy this before it was too lateI hastened back.

After we had done our breakfasts, and some threehours after dawn, the sentry in one of the hutsreported a force to the north. We could do nothingbut wait and hope; everything was ready, and everyman knew what to do. No head was to be raised nora rifle fired until I whistled from conning-tower; thenevery man would pop up and empty his magazineinto any of the enemy in range. If we were shelled,the men in the huts could at once drop into the deeptrenches and be safe. Standing in my conning-tower,from the loopholes of which I could see the drift, Ithought over the possibilities before us. With greatluck perhaps the Boer scouts would pass us on eitherside, and so allow us to lie low for the main body.With a view to seeing exactly how far I would let thelatter come before opening fire, and to marking theexact spot when it would be best to give the word,I got down into the firing trenches facing the drift

53

and the road south to see how matters appeared fromthe level of the rifles. To my intense horror, I foundthat from these trenches neither the drift nor the roadon the near bank of the river, until it got a long waysouth of Waschout Hilt, could be seen1 The bulgingconvexity of the hilt hid all this; it must be deadground! It was. The very spot where I could bestcatch the enemy, where they must pass, was notunder my fire! At most, the northern loopholes ofthe conning-tower and one other hut alone couldgive fire on the drift. How I cursed my stupidity! How-ever, it was no-good. I could not now start diggingfresh trenches further down the hill; it would betrayour whole position at once. I determined to makethe best of it, and if we were not discovered by thescouts, to open fire on the main body when they werejust on the other side of the river bunched up on thebank, waiting for those in front. Here we could fireon them; but it would be at a much longer range thanI had intended. It was really a stroke of luck that Ihad discovered this serious fault, for otherwise wemight have let the bulk of the enemy cross the driftwithout discovering the little fact of the dead groundtill too late. I reflected, also (though it was not muchconsolation), that I had erred in good company, forhow often had I not seen a "brass-hat" ride along onhorseback, and from that height, fix the exact posi-tion for trenches in which the rifles would be littleabove the ground. These trenches, however, hadnot been put to the test of actual use. My error wasnot going to escape the same way.

Meanwhile the enemy's scouts had advanced inmuch the same way as detailed before, except thatafter coming past Incidentamba Farm, they had not

54

halted suspiciously, but came on in small groups orclumps. They crossed the river in several places andexamined the bushy banks most carefully, but finding no "khakis" there, they evidently expected nnron the open vetd beyond them, for they advaricel'anyway" without care. Several of the clumps jndtogether, and came on chatting En one body o some30 men. Would they examine me kraal, or would thvpass on? My heart pounded. The little hill we wereon would, unluckily, be certain to prove an attractionfor them, because it was an excellent vantage groundwhence to scan the horizon to the south, and to siqnal back to the main body to the north. The kraal WSalso a suitable place to off-saddle for a few niinutewhile the main body came up to the drilt. and it rncantpossibly a fire, and therefore a cup of coffee Theyrode up towards it laughing. chatting. and sniokiruqquite unsuspectingly. We uttered no sound. OucDutch and Kaffir guests uttered no sount, either. fc;in their pits was a man with a rifle alongside themAt last they halted a moment some 250 meters awn'.:on the northeast, where the slope of the hilt wasmore gradual and showed them all up A few dismounted, the rest started again straight towards uIt was not magnificent, but it was war. whistl"'

About ten of them succeeded in galloping off,some loose horses; five or six of them on the groundthrew up their hands and came into the post. On theground there remained a mass of kicking horses anddead or groaning men. The other parties of scoi.itsto east and west had at once galloped hack to theriver where they dismounted under cover and beganto pepper us. Anyway, we had done something.

As soon as our immediate enemy were disposed o.55

we opened fire on the main body some 1500 metersaway, who had at once halted and opened out. Tothese we did a good deal of damage, causing greatconfusion, which was comforting to watch. The Boerin command of the main body must have gatheredthat the river-bed was clear, for he made a very boldmove; he drove the whole of the waggons, etc.,straight on as fast as possible over the odd 400meters to the river and down the drift into the river-bed, where they were safe from our fire. Their lossesmust have been heavy over this short distance, forthey had to abandon two of their waggons on the wayto the river. This was done under cover of the firefrom a large number of rifiemen, who had at oncegalloped up to the river-bank, dismounted, andopened fire at us, and from two guns and a pompom,which had immediately been driven a short distanceback and then outwards to the east and west. It wasreally the best thing he could have done, and if hehad only known that we could not fire on the groundto the south of the drift, he might have come straighton with a rush.

We had so far scored; but now ensued a period ofstalemate. We were being fired at from the riverbankon the north, and from ant-hills, etc., pretty well all-round, and were also under the intermittent shell-fire from the two guns. They made most excellentpractice at the huts, which were soon knocked tobits, but not till they had well served their turn. Someof the new white sandbags from inside the huts werescattered out in full view of the enemy, and it wasinstructive to see what a splendid target they made,and how often they were hit. They must have drawna lot of fire away from the actual trenches. Until the

56

Boers discovered that they could advance south fromthe drift without being under rifle fire from our posi-tion, they were held up.

Would they discover it? As they had riddenall round us, by now, well out of range, they mustknow all about us and our isolation.

After dark, by which time we had one man killedand twO wounded, the firing died away into a con-tinuous but desultory rifle fire, with an occasionaldropping shell from the guns. Under cover of dark, Itried to guard the drift and dead ground to the southof it, by making men stand up and fire at that level;but towards midnight I was forced to withdraw theminto the trenches, after' several casualties, as theenemy then apparently woke up and kept up a furiousrifle fire upon us for over an hour. During this timethe guns .went through some mysterious evolutions.At first we got it very hot from the north, where theguns had been all along. Then suddenly a gun wasopened on us away from the southwest, and we wereshelled for a short time from both sides. After a littlewhile the shelling on the north ceased, and continuedfrom the southwest only for 20 minutes. After thisthe guns ceased, and the rifle fire also graduaflydied away.

When day dawned not a living soul was to be seen;there were the dead men, horses, and the desertedwaggons. I feared a trap, but gradually came to theconclusion the Boers had retired. After a little wediscovered the riverbed was deserted as well, butthe Boers had not retired. They had discovered thedead ground, and under the mutually supporting fireof their guns, which had kept us to our trenches, hadall crossed the drift and trekked south!

57

True, we were not captured, and had very fewlosses, and had severely mauled the enemy, but theyhad crossed the drift. It must have evidently been ofgreat importance to them to go on, or they wouldhave attempted to capture us, as they were about500 to our 50.

I had failed in my duty.During the next few hours we buried the dead,

tended the wounded, and took some well-earnedrest, and I had ample leisure to consider my failureand the causes. The lessons I derived from the fightwere:

20. Beware of convex hills and dead ground. Espe-cially take care to have some place where the enemymust come under your fire. Choose the exact posi-tion of your firing trenches, with your eye at the levelof the men who will eventually use them.

21. A hill may not, after all, though it has "com-mand," necessarily be the best place to hold.

22. A conspicuous "bluff" trench may cause theenemy to waste much ammunition, and draw fireaway from the actual defences.

In addition to these lessons, another little matteron my mind was what my colonel would say at myfailure.

Lying on my back, looking up at the sky, I was try-ing to get a few winks of sleep myself before westarted to improve our defences against a possiblefurther attack, but it was no use, sleep evaded me.

The clear blue vault of heaven was suddenly over-cast by clouds which gradually assumed the frown-ing face of my colonel. 'What? You mean to say, Mr.Forethought, the Boers have crossed?' But, luckily

58

for me, before more could be said, the face beganslowly to fade away like that of the Cheshire pussin "Alice in Wonderland," leaving nothing but theawful frown across the sky. This too finally dissolved,and the whole scene changed. I had another dream.

59

sixth Dream"Sweet are the uses of adversity.

0nce more was I fated to essay the task of defendingDuffers Drift. This time I had 22 lessons under mybelt to help me out, and in the oblivion of my dreamI was spared that sense of monotony which by nowmay possibly have overtaken you, "gentle reader."

After sending out the patrols, and placing a guardon Waschout Hill, as already described, and whilstthe stores were being collected, I considered deeplywhat position I should take up, and walked up to thetop of Waschout Hill to spy out the land. On the top Ifound a Kaffir kraal, which I saw would assist memuch as concealment should I decide to hold thishill. This I was much inclined to do, but after a fewminutes' trial of the shape of the ground, with thehelp of some men walking about down below, and myeyes a little above ground level, I found that its con-vex ity was such that, to see and fire on the drift andthe approach on the south side, I should have toabandon the top of the hill, and so the friendly con-

60

cealment of the Kaffir huts, and take up a positionon the open hillside some way down. This was, ofcourse, quite feasible, especial fy if I heki a positionat the top of the hill as well, near the huts on theeast and southeast sides; but, as it would be impossible to really conceal ourselves on the bare hillside,it meant giving up all idea of surprising the enemy,which I wished to do. I must, therefore, find sonieother place which would lend itself to easy and goodconcealment, and also have the drift or its approaches under close rifle fire. But where to firnisuch a place?

As I stood deep in thought, considering this knottyproblem, an idea gently wormed itself into my mind,which I at once threw out again as being absurd andout of the question. This idea was to hold the river-bed and banks on each side of the drift! To give upall idea of command, and, instead of seeking thenearest high ground, which comes as natural to thestudent of tactics as rushing for a tree does to a sqtiir-rel, to take the lowest ground, even though it shouldbe all among thick cover, instead of being nicely inthe open.

No, it was absolutely revolutionary, and againstevery canon I had ever read or heard of; it was evidently the freak of a sorely tried and worried brain.I would have none of it, and I put it firmly from me.But the more I argued to myself the absurdity of it,the more this idea obtained possession of me. Themore I said it was impossible, the more allurementswere spread before me in its favour, until each ofmy conscientious objections was enmeshed andsmothered in a network of specious reasons as to the

61

advantages of the proposal.I resisted, I struggled, but finally fell to temptation,

dressed up in the plausible guise of reason. I wouldhold the riverbed.

The advantages I thus hoped to obtain were:1. Perfect concealment and cover from sight.2. Trenches and protection against both rifle and

gunfire practically ready made.3. Communications under good cover.4. The enemy would be out in the open veld ex-

cept along the riverbank, where we, being in posi-tion first, would still have the advantage.

5. Plentiful water supply at hand.True, there were a few dead animals near the drift,

and the tainted air seemed to hang heavy over theriverbed, but the carcases could be quickly buriedunder the steep banks, and, after all, one could notexpect every luxury.

(See Map 7.)

As our clear field of fire, which in the north wasonly bounded by the range of our rifles, was on thesouth limited by Waschout Hill, a suitable position forthe enemy to occupy, I decided to hold the top ofit as well as the riverbed. All I could spare for thiswould be two NCOs and eight men, who would beable to defend the south side of the hill, the northbeing under our fire from the riverbank.

Having detailed this party, I gave my instructionsfor the work, which was soon started. In about acouple of hours the patrols returned with their pris-oners, which were dealt with as before.

62

-.1

a,

-'.

AAL.4 -

'

For the post on Waschout Hill, the scheme wasthat the trenches should be concealed much in thesame way as described in the last dream, but greatcare should be taken that no one in the post shouldbe exposed to rifle fire from our main position in theriver. I did not wish the fire of the main body to be in

63

Map 7

any degree hampered by a fear of hitting the men onWaschout Hill, especially at night. If we knew it wasnot possible to hit them, we could shoot freely allover the hill, This detachment was to have a doublelot of waterbottles, besides every available recep-tacle collected in the kraal, filled with water, in antic-ipation of a prolonged struggle.

The general idea for the main defensive positionwas to hold both sides of the river, improving theexisting steep banks and ravines into rifle-pits to con-tain from one to four men. These could, with verylittle work, be made to give cover from all sides. Assuch a large amount of the work was already done forus, we were enabled to dig many more of these pitsthan the exact number required for our party. Path-ways leading between these were to be cut into thebank, so that we should be able to shift about fromone position to another. Besides the advantage thiswould give us in the way of moving about, accord-ing as we wished to fire, it also meant that we shouldprobably be able to mislead the enemy as to ournumberswhich, by such shifting tactics might, fora time at least, be much exaggerated. The pits forfire to the north and south were nearly all so placedas to allow the occupants to fire at ground level overthe veld. They were placed well among the bushes,only just sufficient scrub being cut away to allow aman to see all round, without exposing the positionof his trench. On each side of the river, just by thedrift, were some "spoil" heaps of earth, excavatedfrom the road ramp. These stood some five or sixfeet above the general level, and were as rough asthe banks in outline. These heaps were large enoughto allow a few pits being made on them, which had

64

the extra advantage of height. In some of the pits,to give head-cover, loopholes of sandbags weremade, though in most cases this was not needed,owing to the concealment of the bushes. I found itwas necessary to examine personally every loop-hole, and correct the numerous mistakes made intheir construction. Some had the new clean sand-bags exposed to full view, thus serving as merewhited sepulchres to their occupants, others wereequally conspicuous from their absurd cock-shy ap-pearance, others were not bulletproof, whilst othersagain would only allow of shooting in one direction,or into the ground at a few meters range, or up intothe blue sky. As I corrected all these faults I thoughtthat loopholes not made under supervision mightprove rather a snare.

The result was, in the way of concealment, splendid.From these pits with our h.eads at ground level wecould see quite clearly out on to the veld beyond,either from under the thicker part of the bushes oreven through those which were close to our eyes.From the open, on the other hand, we were quiteinvisible, even from 300 meters distance, and wouldhave been more so had we had the whiskers of the"brethren." It was quite evident to me that thesesame whiskers were a wise precaution of nature forthis very purpose, and part of her universal schemeof protective mimicry.

The numerous small dongas and rifts lent them-selves readily tdilanking fire, and in many places thevertical banks required no cutting in order to giveideal protection against even artillery. In others, thesides of the crooked waterways had to be merely

65

scooped out a little, or a shelf cut to stand upon.In one of these deeper ravines two tents, which,

being below ground level, were quite invisible, werepitched for the women and children, and small cavescut for them in case of a bombardment. The positionextended for a length of some 150 meters on eachside of the drift along both banks of the river, and atits extremities, where an attack was most to befeared, pits were dug down the riverbanks and acrossthe dry riverbed. These also were concealed as wellas possible. The flanks or ends were, of course, ourgreatest danger, for it was from here we might ex-pect to be rushed, and not from the open veld. I wasundecided for some time as to whether to clear a'field of fire" along the river-banks or not, as I hadno wish to give away our presence by any suspiciousnudity of the banks at each end of our position. Ifinally decided, in order to prevent this, to clear thescrub for as great a range as possible from the endsof the position, everywhere below the ground level,and also on the level ground, except for a good fringejust on the edges of the banks. This fringe I thoughtwould be sufficient to hide the clearance to any onenot very close. I now blessed the man who had leftus some cutting tools. Whilst all this was being car-ried out, I paced out some ranges to the north andsouth, and these we marked by a few empty tinsplaced on ant-heaps, etc.

At dusk, when we had nearly all the pits finishedand some of the clearance done, tents and gearwere hidden, ammunition and rations distributed toall, and orders in case of an attack given out. As Icould not be everywhere, I had to rely on the out-lying groups of men fully understanding my aims

66

beforehand, and acting on their own To preventour chance of a close-range volley into the enemybeing spoilt by some over-zealous or jumpy manopening fire at long range, I gave orders that tirewas to be held as long as possible, and that no manwas to fire a shot until firing had already cominencecielsewhere(which sounded rather Irish), or my whisilesounded. This was unless the enemy were so closeto him that further silence was useless. Firing havingonce started, every man was to blaze away at anyenemy within range as judged by our range narks.Finally we turned in to our pit for the night with somecomplacency, each eight men furnishing their ownsentry.

We had about three hours next morning beforeany enemy were reported from Waschout Hill (theprearranged signal for this was the raising of a polefrom one of the huts). This time was employed in per-fecting our defences in various ways. We managedto clear away the scrub in the dry riverbed arid banksfor some 200 meters beyond our line of pits on eachside, and actually attained to the refinement of an"obstacle"; for at the extremity of this clearance asort of abatis entanglement was made with the wirefrom an adjacent fence which the men had dis-covered. During the morning I visited the post onWaschout Hill, found everything all correct, and tookthe opportunity o