These were under the command of
Colonel Ian Hamilton, who had a thorough knowledge of Boer tactics, and
knew how to handle his troops. It was well that it was so, for, led by a
less experienced commander, they would have suffered terribly in their
advance. While the infantry detrained, the Colonials, followed by the
5th Lancers, rode towards some low hills, whence some parties of Boers
had maintained a distant fire. These were at once scattered. The
infantry marched along some ridges parallel with the railway, but a mile
away, while the Devonshire regiment kept along the low ground by the
line. The 5th Dragoon Guards, with some troops of Colonials and one of
the field batteries, moved forward on the left.
The Manchesters were on the right of the infantry, the Gordons in the
centre, and the Devons on the left, as they set their faces towards the
Boer position. At three o'clock the action began, the Boer riflemen
opening a heavy fire. It was still too distant, however, to do any
serious execution, and the British moved forward as regularly and
unconcernedly as if it had been a field day. The Boer fire grew in
intensity, and one of our batteries opened with shrapnel to drive them
from the lower ridges. At half-past three the Boer artillery joined
their deeper roar to the rattle of musketry and the sharp cracks of the
British guns.
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