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Page 14
On December 10th an attack on Devon Post was expected, and precautions
taken accordingly. The attack, however, did not come off.
On the night of December 10th the Rifle Brigade made a sortie and blew
up a Boer big gun on Surprise Hill. This attack was admirably planned
and carried out, but the losses sustained by the Rifle Brigade were
heavy, being fourteen killed and fifty wounded out of the five companies
employed. The Boers attacked them as they were retiring; there was a
good deal of indiscriminate firing, and the bayonet was freely used. The
Boers lost considerably, partly in the general mix-up, from their own
fire, and partly owing to the close-quarter combat with the Rifle
Brigade.
The Regiment, with other troops, was ordered out with all baggage on the
night of the 12th, the rendezvous being the iron bridge on the
Vanreenen's Pass road. On arrival there the order was received to go
home. This was supposed to be a rehearsal for a sortie. On December 13th
General Buller's guns were heard for the first time due south from
Ladysmith, and at 8 p.m. the Regiment and transport were inspected by
Colonel Knox to see if everything was complete and in readiness to move
out, and on the 14th the Regiment was placed with other troops in a
flying column formed under the personal command of Sir George White.
It was expected by all that General Buller would relieve the Ladysmith
garrison on December 15th.
The following day, December 15th, a very heavy cannonade commenced at 6
a.m. in the direction of Colenso; and at 7 a.m. a heliograph message was
sent into Ladysmith which told the garrison that "the Boers are
suffering terribly from our thirty guns and 23,000 men." The cannonade
ceased at about 1 p.m.
This day the meat ration was reduced to 9 oz. per man, but 1-1/4 lb. of
bread per man was still being issued.
December 16th being Dingaan's Day, the garrison of Ladysmith was treated
to heavy shell fire at daybreak.
On December 17th the Regiment and the Gordon Highlanders were told off
as reserve battalions under the immediate orders of Sir George White.
It was officially given out that Sir R. Buller had been unable to make
good his advance at Colenso, and that the garrison must be prepared to
hold on for another two weeks. The orders publishing this news stated
that the "Lieutenant-General regrets to have to announce that the
Lieutenant-General Commanding-in-Chief in South Africa failed to make
good his first attack on Colenso; reinforcements will therefore not
arrive as early as expected."
On the evening of December 18th the Regiment gave over the good works
they had completed on Devon Post and Cemetery Hill to the Liverpool
Regiment, and moved into the latter's camp at Tunnel Hill, or, as it was
otherwise known, Railway Cutting Camp.
* * * * *
Helpmakaar Hill, on account of being so exposed, had, at the
commencement of the siege, been considered indefensible and untenable.
Under the vigorous superintendence of Colonel Knox, the commandant of
the section who planned the defences, the works on this hill had by now
been almost completed by the officers and men of the Battalion.
The defences were as complete as possible--flanking works, covered ways,
splinter and shell-proof covers were dug or erected, and the main
trenches had been turned into defensible barracks with head cover to
keep off the rain.
It was possible to proceed from the reserve under Cemetery Hill up to
and round the front and main works, and round the other side of the hill
back to the reserve again, without once coming into view from the Boer
positions on Gun Hill, Bulwana, or elsewhere, a six-feet covering wall
having been built for this purpose. It was thus possible to send
reinforcements to any part of the works without exposure to fire or
view.
During the siege this post was never attacked or seriously threatened.
The Regiment, being now in the general reserve, was ordered to be ready
to jump into mule wagons, and be carted at a gallop to any place where
they might be required, at any moment, and on the 20th the manoeuvre was
put into execution.
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