The Boers generally remained quietly in their trenches and made no reply
to the British cannon fire, however hot it was. The British generals
several times mistook this silence as an indication that the Boers had
evacuated the trenches, and sent forward bodies of infantry to occupy the
positions. When the infantry reached the Boer zone of fire they usually
met with a terrific Mauser fire that could not be stemmed, however gallant
the attacks might have been. Hundreds of British soldiers lost their lives
while going forward under shell fire to occupy a position which, it was
presumed by the generals, was unoccupied by the Boers.
There were innumerable instances, also, of extraordinarily brave acts by
individual burghers, but it was extremely difficult to hear of them owing
to the Boers' disinclination to discuss a battle in its details. No Boer
ever referred to his exploits or those of his friends of his own volition,
and then only in the most indefinite manner. He related the story of a
battle in much the same manner he told of the tilling of his fields or the
herding of his cattle, and when there was any part of it pertaining to his
own actions he passed it over without comment. It seemed as if every one
was fighting, not for his own glorification, but for the success of his
country's army, and consequently there was little hero-worship. Individual
acts of bravery entitled the fortunate person to have his name mentioned
in the _Staats-Courant_, the Government gazette, but hardly any attention
was paid to the search for heroes, and only the names of a few men were
even chronicled in the columns of that periodical.
Pages:
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110