"THE DIE HARDS."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 303, 17 May 1911, Page 8

"THE DIE HARDS."

A CENTENARY. (By E. Bez;ir, in the Dominion.) On Tuesday, the 1IH1) inst., the 57th Regiment —"Die Uards" —celebrated the cuiunary of the fierce battle of Albuera. They recognise the day annually, but this day, will, I feel sure, bo a record occasion, when in the Old Land, they invite those who have left the regiment to attend. There are a few of the old corps still lingering above ground 011 this side of the globe, and they will all think of this day, and regret that they cannot join with the younger members in the celebration ol it, but will not fail in their wishes that the dear old regiment may ever maintain the glorious reputation it has gained in the past. With your kind permission I will refer to a few items of interest gleaned from official and other sources. "The 2<Jth, 48th, and 57th Regiments ] swept up the hill in line, led by Houghton, hat in hand. He fell pierced by three bullets, but, over his dead body, eager to close, the British line still swept on. They reached the crest. A deep and narrow ravine arrested their bayonet charge, but with stubborn valor they held the ground they had gained, scourged with musketry fire at pistol-shot distance, and by artillery at lifty yards' range, while a French column smote them with its musketry .on their flank. The men fell fast, but fought as they fell. Stewart was twice : wounded; Colonel Dutworth, of the 48th, was slain. Of the 57th, out of 570 men, 430, with their Colonel, Inglis, fell. 'Die hard, my men, die hard!' saia ! Inglis, when the bullet struck him, and the 57th have borne the name of 'Die hards' ever since." ! Albuera was essentially a soldier's fight. The bayonet of the private, not the brain of the general, won it, and i never was the fighting quality of oui ■ race more brilliantly shown. Marshal I Soult summed up the battle in words that deserve to be memorable: "There is no beating those troops," he wrote, "in ■ ( in spite of their generals." "I always thought them bad soldiers," he added I with a Frenchman's love of paradox "now I am sure of it, for I turned then 1. right, pierced their centre—they wer« I everywhere broken, the day was mine and yet they did not know it, anc would not run."

Marshal Bercsford, in Jiis dispatches, said: "Out of COOO British, 4500 were wounded or killed; the heaviest loss fell on the 57tli Regiment." There was a monument erected on the spot here so many fell. A sketch of it hangs in the sergeants' mess, when in quart< rs. At inkerman, years after Albuern, the "Die 1 ird" of Inglis's seemed to harden the vi'or of the regiment in a fight as st( 'i as Albuera itself. The writer had a brother wsunded in this battle. I had Ihe honor of serving under a colonc' son of the Albuera Inglis. In 1881 1 had the pleasure of meeting a survivor of Albuera. He came on board our ship as we anchored in Auckland harbnr. a hale man of 80. And he : lived a score of years after that. I will | conclude with an extract from a letter , received years ago from the present Gen- \ eral ■ Sir Charles M. Clarke, G.C.B. He said:

"You may have heard that our old colors were placed in St. Paul's Cathedral s«mc years ago. I thought it would be a good opportunity to get up a .subscription to erect a memorial in St. Paul's to those who fell or died in the Crimea and New Zealand. lam pleased to say. T received from past and present officers sufficient, and a vcrv handsome bas-relief has been erected on St. Paul's under the old Crimea, India, and New Zealand colors. On a brass below is the detail of all those lost in the two campaigns. After I left England to join the regiment here (Ceylon), General Inglia, who is a die hard, of the 'Dtie Hards' (his father commanded the regiment at Albuera), took up the superintendence of the work for me, and it has been brought to a successful issue. I often think of New Zealand, and wonder whether I shall ever see it again, for I have a great affection for the country, and if T live hope to visit it at some future time. I spent a very pleasant five years there. Kindly remember me to any of the regiment you come across,"