The Record of a Regiment of the Line

The Record of a Regiment of the Line

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Title: The Record of a Regiment of the Line Being a Regimental History of the 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment during the Boer War 1899-1902
Author: M. Jacson
Release Date: June 3, 2005 [EBook #15972]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE RECORD
OF
A REGIMENT OF THE LINE
BEING
A REGIMENTAL HISTORY OF THE 1ST BATTALION DEVONSHIRE REGIMENT DURING THE BOER WAR 1899-1902
BY COLONEL M. JACSON
London: HUTCHINSON & CO. Paternoster Row 1908

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE SIEGE OF LADYSMITH 1
II. SIEGE OF LADYSMITH 30
III. EVENTS FOLLOWING THE SIEGE OF LADYSMITH, AND THE ADVANCE NORTH UNDER. SIR REDVERS BULLER 104
IV. LYDENBURG 149
V. TREKKING IN THE NORTH-EAST TRANSVAAL 176

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
MONUMENT ERECTED TO OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE DEVONSHIRE REGIMENT WHO FELL ON JANUARY 6TH ON WAGON HILL, SIEGE OF LADYSMITH. Frontispiece FACE PAGE
EN ROUTE TO LADYSMITH 5
IN THE TRENCHES, LADYSMITH 36
TOWN HALL, LADYSMITH, CLOCK-TOWER DAMAGED BY SHELL FIRE 44
AFTER A WET NIGHT IN THE TRAVERSES, LADYSMITH 56
THE RAILWAY BRIDGE, WITH C?SAR'S CAMP IN DISTANCE, LADYSMITH 62
LIEUT.-COLONEL C.W. PARK 66
NAVAL BATTERY HILL, LADYSMITH } } MONUMENT ERECTED TO DEVONS ON WAGON HILL, } 70 ON SPOT WHERE THE CHARGE TOOK PLACE, LADYSMITH }
A PEACEFUL SUNDAY 80
DEVON OFFICERS REMAINING FIT FOR DUTY AT THE END OF THE SIEGE 102
BRIGADIER-GENERAL WALTER KITCHENER 104
RAILWAY BRIDGE DESTROYED BY BOERS, INGAGANE 108
MAKING BARBED-WIRE ENTANGLEMENT, INGAGANE 110
THE BAGGAGE OF GENERAL BULLER'S ARMY CROSSING BEGINDERLYN BRIDGE 116
TREKKING WITH GENERAL BULLER 124
DEVONS CROSSING THE SABI RIVER 140
COLONEL C.W. PARK, MISSION CAMP, LYDENBURG 148
WIRE BRIDGE, LYDENBURG 160
MISSION CAMP FORT, LYDENBURG (INTERIOR) 170
REMAINS OF BOER BIG GUN, WATERVAL 180
CROSSING THE STEELPORT RIVER 182
DAWN--AFTER A NIGHT MARCH, TRICHARDTSFONTEIN 200
DEVONS EN ROUTE TO DURBAN 208
MONUMENT ERECTED IN LADYSMITH CEMETERY 218
MAPS
SIEGE OF LADYSMITH
NATAL AND S.E. TRANSVAAL

PREFACE
BY LIEUT.-GENERAL W. KITCHENER
Experience we all know to be a valuable asset, and experience in war is the most costly of its kind. To enable those coming after us to reconstruct the picture of war, Regimental Histories have proved of infinite value. That such a record fills a sentimental want hardly requires assertion.
My first feelings on being honoured with a request from the Devonshire Regiment to write a preface to the account of their "Work in South Africa, 1899-1902," were, I confess, How could I refuse so difficult a task gracefully? However, on further consideration it seemed to me that undoubtedly such a preface should be written by some one outside the corps itself. Onlookers, as the saying goes, often see most of the game, and, being free from personal bias, can often add something to what those engrossed in the meshes of life's details can only appreciate from a narrower point of view.
From this standpoint, and as I was the General under whom the 1st Devons served longest in South Africa, it seemed obviously my duty to attempt the task.
The "Work of the 1st Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment" is portrayed in these pages. It therefore only remains for me to add, for the benefit of coming generations, what manner of men these were, who by their dogged devotion to duty helped to overcome the Boer. Associated as one was with many corps in the close intimacy of veldt life, it was a study of the deepest interest to note the individuality that characterized each, and which was often as clearly and as well defined as that of the men with whom one daily came in contact.
During the many months of our intimate association, and in the varied situations that presented themselves, I cannot call to mind any single occasion on which the Devons were ever flurried or even hurried. Their imperturbability of temper, even under the most trying conditions, could not be surpassed.
Another characteristic of the corps was its inherent thrift. They were, in fact, essentially a "self-help" corps. When a flood came and washed away the bridge leading to the picket line, no sapper was required to show them how to throw a suspension bridge above the flood from tree to cliff. It was characteristic of the Regiment that they carried out in war their peace training, never allowing the atmosphere of excitement to distort their actions.
If we take Elandslaagte, Wagon Hill, or any of the hundred and one ticklish night operations in which they took part, this trait will be ever noteworthy, that they acted as was to be expected of them, and made no fuss of having