One article which would have been found in a British
camp was altogether absent from those of the enemy, and it was a joke
among our troops that the only piece of soap ever captured was found in
the pocket of a dead Boer, and that its wrapper was still unopened.
The strength of the position was, however, even more surprising than the
state of filth; every trench was enfiladed by another, great boulders
were connected by walls of massive construction, this being specially
the case where guns had been placed in position. Colenso itself had been
in a similar manner rendered almost impregnable to a frontal attack, and
could hardly have been captured by an assaulting force until Hlangwane
had been taken.
The hills beyond the railway still covered the road bridge by their
fire, and had the troops marched across it they would have suffered
severely. Accordingly a pontoon train was sent through an opening in the
Hlangwane range, and a bridge thrown over the Tugela north of Fort
Wylie. The Dorsets, Middlesex, and Somersets crossed at once, and,
ascending the kopjes, extended their line south until they were in
communication with Thorneycroft's men, holding therefore the railway
line along the river bank nearly half the distance between Colenso and
Pieters station.
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