Today in Kimberley's History
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45 days since beginning of the Siege of Kimberley, 1899
Extract from "The Diary of a Doctor's Wife – During the Siege of Kimberley October 1899 to February 1900" by Winifred Heberden.
About 4 a.m. Jack came into my room looking utterly worn-out. He told me what a terrible time our men had had on the veld after a magnificent attack against enormous odds in four of the enemy's redoubts. After having taken their laager they had succeeded in capturing shells and camp equipment and the limber of a gun. Colonel Scott-Turner was killed at the taking of the third one; and the fourth redoubt com manding the others our troops also occupied. As night had fallen our men retreated as well as they could, the enemy still pouring in a hot fire in the dark from their position.
In searching for the wounded Jack lost his bearings, and spent the night in the open waiting for daylight. He tried to get over the Ridge knowing there must be some killed or wounded there, but the fire was too close (300 yards) and too heavy to make result anything but deadly. As Jack was putting a very badly wounded trooper, named Arundale, into the Ambulance, the trooper said quietly: 'Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.' (It is a sweet and blessed thing to die for one's country.) 'You can leave out the last word, old chap,' said Jack. 'Do you think so, Doctor?' was his cheerful answer, as the Ambulance moved away with him.
By some mistake - and the whole chapter of this attack was a medley of mistakes, magnificent courage, and loss of splendid life - the Ambulance, with 'Comforts' in it, was left behind, so Jack had no little supper to give the officers who were with the Colonel under the worst of the fire. Major McGregor, amongst others, showed a stubborn courage, and his account of their enforced retreat - 'crawling and praying, then crawling again - till Carter's Farm was reached' - gives a vivid touch of the effectiveness of the Boer position. We lost 22 killed and 28 wounded.
The news of the Colonel's death, and our own disasters, was brought to Kimberley about 2 a.m. and by 8 a.m. our troops were all here again, whilst the Ambulance went back to fetch the 19 killed from the Ridge. Jack had tried to fetch them in before - their poor bodies being riddled with shot.
There was one funny incident during the attack, and that was when the Cape Police seized the Boer laager up the redoubt. There they found a baboon tied to a wagon which had been brought down from a store in Vryburg. It had been accustomed to the Police, for at the sight of the well-remembered uniform it became frantic with delight, and insisted on shaking hands with all of them. They brought him back and restored him to his old master who is now in Kimberley.
Later in the afternoon the majority of the poor fellows we lost were buried at Kenilworth. Sorrow was very deep and very sincere; the circumstances altogether being so very sad and so full of regrets.
Extract from "The Diary of a Doctor's Wife – During the Siege of Kimberley October 1899 to February 1900" by Winifred Heberden.
About 4 a.m. Jack came into my room looking utterly worn-out. He told me what a terrible time our men had had on the veld after a magnificent attack against enormous odds in four of the enemy's redoubts. After having taken their laager they had succeeded in capturing shells and camp equipment and the limber of a gun. Colonel Scott-Turner was killed at the taking of the third one; and the fourth redoubt com manding the others our troops also occupied. As night had fallen our men retreated as well as they could, the enemy still pouring in a hot fire in the dark from their position.
In searching for the wounded Jack lost his bearings, and spent the night in the open waiting for daylight. He tried to get over the Ridge knowing there must be some killed or wounded there, but the fire was too close (300 yards) and too heavy to make result anything but deadly. As Jack was putting a very badly wounded trooper, named Arundale, into the Ambulance, the trooper said quietly: 'Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.' (It is a sweet and blessed thing to die for one's country.) 'You can leave out the last word, old chap,' said Jack. 'Do you think so, Doctor?' was his cheerful answer, as the Ambulance moved away with him.
By some mistake - and the whole chapter of this attack was a medley of mistakes, magnificent courage, and loss of splendid life - the Ambulance, with 'Comforts' in it, was left behind, so Jack had no little supper to give the officers who were with the Colonel under the worst of the fire. Major McGregor, amongst others, showed a stubborn courage, and his account of their enforced retreat - 'crawling and praying, then crawling again - till Carter's Farm was reached' - gives a vivid touch of the effectiveness of the Boer position. We lost 22 killed and 28 wounded.
The news of the Colonel's death, and our own disasters, was brought to Kimberley about 2 a.m. and by 8 a.m. our troops were all here again, whilst the Ambulance went back to fetch the 19 killed from the Ridge. Jack had tried to fetch them in before - their poor bodies being riddled with shot.
There was one funny incident during the attack, and that was when the Cape Police seized the Boer laager up the redoubt. There they found a baboon tied to a wagon which had been brought down from a store in Vryburg. It had been accustomed to the Police, for at the sight of the well-remembered uniform it became frantic with delight, and insisted on shaking hands with all of them. They brought him back and restored him to his old master who is now in Kimberley.
Later in the afternoon the majority of the poor fellows we lost were buried at Kenilworth. Sorrow was very deep and very sincere; the circumstances altogether being so very sad and so full of regrets.