THE VLAKFONTEIN FIGHT.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 194, 23 August 1901, Page 3

THE VLAKFONTEIN FIGHT.

BOERS SHOOT THE WOUNDED,

BRITISH MERCY

! SUCCESSION OF SKIRMISHES.

I (TuiK.-j Special Correspondent, Mr A. Cox.) 1 Krugersdurp, July 10. i Lieut. Williams, Imperial Yeomanry, I and seven men, who were taken prisoners j during General Dixon's right at N lakfonI tc-iu, north-west of hc-re, were released in j the Magaliosberg Ranges, at a distance of i 30 miles from here, and have returned,

I having walked in. Lieut. Williams states • that the Boers are much encouraged with J the result of the fight at Ylakfontein, and ; as Kruger has urged them to continue the j struggle, they are determined to hold out jas long as possible. Whilst in camp 200 : horses from the Orange River Colony j arrived, and the Boers state they can get plenty more from there. This Ylakfontein fight, which took place on the 20th of .May at 1.30 p.m., has been undoubtedly the severest battle in the Transvaal. The column for greater security wore moving in two parallel

j wings, the left wing consisting of the mam I body, and the right of two squadrons j of Imperial Yeomanry, two companies Derbyshire Regiment, two guns of the 28th Battery, and some Scottish Horse. When about to converge on to the camp the flank scouts, who were skirting the edge of a veldt fire (namely the grass or fire) which raged to the right of the column, noticed through the thick smoke a few shadowy figures moving about. They were challenged, and an answering voice responded, u Oh, it’s all right; we are Scottish Horse.” This answer satisfied the scouts, who recognised the long feathers in the horsemen’s hats, the men being dressed in kharki, but a sudden gust of wind for a moment drove off the pall of smoke, and in a moment the little column saw that it was within a few hundred yards of a Boer army of 2000 men. The Boers had set fire to the veldt and had crept up in this manner. The moment the Boers saw that they were

discovered their first line charged down upon the gun, yelling and firing from their horses’ backs. The first volley laid fifty of our men low, and the column fell back in confusion to the nearest cover. The Boers then came up to the gun and, it is alleged, shot the lieutenant of the Royal Artillery for refusing to show them how the gun was worked. Although the guns were taken by the Boers, they could not remove them, as our artillerymen, seeing the impossibility of defending them, had shot the horses, which one will see hereafter saved the guns. The enemy, how-

evor, managed to get the guns in working order, and succeeded later in putting six shots into Dixon’s left wing, which was coining up to the rescue. At this period—- ! the interregnum between the taking and retaking of the guns—happened what must always be regarded as the very pluckiest chapter in the annals of this campaign, and must be remembered against the Boers as an exhibition of insensate savagery, the like of which has only been hinted at and seldom authenticated. Two Boers armed with Martini carbines walked round the prostrate forms of the men who had fallen in the first ten minutes of the fight, and placing a carbine at the heads of the wounded, deliberately shot them. Tl. 're were eye-witnesses to this. One officer, lying desperately wounded, called for water, and his sergeant, who was less hurt, went across to supply him.- Both men were deliberately shot dead. In the meantime the Yeomen, raw recruits though they were, had taken cover, and were keeping up a heavy lire on the enemy, and Dixon’s howitzer came into action. Then it was that two companies of the Derbyshire Regiment, fixing bayonets, advanced on the guns, and their charge lias been described as one of the finest incidents of the war. The Boers attempted to make a stand about the captured guns, hut nothing save the best trained troops in the world could have withstood the splendid rush of the infantrymen, and the guns were recaptured and the enemy put to flight, leaving sixty dead upon the field and a number of wounded. They also carried off a large number of their wounded. Our casualties wore heavy, numbering a hundred odd, 52 of whom were killed. The tight lasted about 45 minutes. Our doctors attended to the Boer wounded on the field, and all the wounded came through here, where the ambulance train was waiting to take them to .lohannesburg. It was a pitiful sight to see them coming in lying on the waggons in terrible agony and their bandages covered with blood. 'Phc lighting of late has been a succession of skirmishes, and the Boers arc greatly demoralised through our columns acting from all parts of the country. The Boers accounted for—wounded and dead picked up by us, captured, and surrenders —average from 1500 to 2000 per month, so that if this continues those in the field will soon fee! the effect. The estimation of those still in the field amounts to about 15,000 to 20.000 men, amongst whom arc a lot of foreigners. Two days ago Colonel Allenhy came within signal communication here, and camping 10 miles out, waited for the Boers’ move after their attack on Roodcpoort and Florida, a few miles down the line from here. The Boers under Kemp, numbering -100, attacked Koodepoort last week at mid- i night, their intention being to obtain ammunition and clothing, of which they are very short. They entered the town, burnt the railway station, two hotels, a private house, and fired the head gear of a mine, which was put out subsequently. They did not gain anything, hut lost six men wounded and one killed, who are in our hands. Our garrison thero only numbered :>O, and we had one wounded. About 50 of them went further along the line to Florida, but were repulsed and retired in a northerly direction, leaving one wounded. Kemp picked all his men again and came round to the north of here with the intention of attack, hut as Colonel Allenby’s column was waiting for him, he moved further north. Last night at midnight Allenby’s cavalry moved out, and his column left at 4 o’clock this morning. The cavalry reached 100 odd of Kemp's men at sunrise this morning and attacking them took seven prisoners, 40 cattle, goats, and two waggons and a Cape cart full of ammunition, so that now Kemp is without ammunition. It is reported that the Boer Commandants are to hold a meeting next week, and it seems that the war will not last above two or three months from all reports that have come to hand.