6. I have not thought it necessary to order any investigation. If at
sundown the defence of the summit had been taken regularly in hand,
entrenchments laid out, gun emplacements prepared, the dead removed,
the wounded collected, and, in fact, the whole place brought under
regular military command, and careful arrangements made for the
supply of water and food to the scattered fighting line, the hills
would have been held, I am sure.
7. But no arrangements were made. General Coke appears to have been
ordered away just as he would have been useful, and no one succeeded
him; those on the top were ignorant of the fact that guns were coming
up, and generally there was a want of organisation and system that
acted most unfavourably on the defence.
It is admitted by all that Colonel Thorneycroft acted with the
greatest gallantry throughout the day, and really saved the
situation. Preparations for the second day’s defence should have been
organised during the day, and have been commenced at nightfall.
As this was not done, I think Colonel Thorneycroft exercised a wise
discretion.
Our losses, I regret to say, were very heavy, but the enemy admitted
to our doctors that theirs were equally severe, and though we were
not successful in retaining the position, the losses inflicted on the
enemy and the attack generally have had a marked effect upon them.
I cannot close these remarks without bearing testimony to the gallant
and admirable behaviour of the troops: the endurance shown by the
Lancashire Fusiliers, the Middlesex Regiment, and Thorneycroft’s
Mounted Infantry was admirable, while the efforts of the 2nd
Battalion Scottish Rifles and 3rd Battalion King’s Royal Rifles were
equally good, and the Royal Lancasters fought gallantly.
I am writing to catch the mail, and have not any particulars yet to
enable me to report more fully on details.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
REDVERS BULLER.
F
REPORT BY LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR CHARLES WARREN, K.C.B.,
UPON THE CAPTURE AND SUBSEQUENT EVACUATION OF SPION KOP
_Capture and Evacuation of Spion Kop_
Chief of the Staff,--I make the operations against Spion Kop in a
separate report, because they did not enter into my original plans.
Under the original instructions of the General Officer
Commanding-in-Chief, of 15th January, 1900, I was to act as
circumstances required, but, according to instructions, was generally
to continue throughout refusing my right, and throwing my left
forward until I gained the open plain north of Spion Kop.
[Sidenote: 1]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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