Two Years on Trek: Being Some Account of the Royal Sussex Regiment in South AfricaDu Moulin, Louis Eugène
History
Two Years on Trek: Being Some Account of the Royal Sussex Regiment in South Africa
Du Moulin, Louis Eugène
Great Britain. Army. Royal Sussex Regiment; South African War, 1899-1902 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain
A real genuine Good Samaritan of a modern type appeared in the shape of
an acting Chaplain, Mr. Leary, a Colonial born and bred, who did right
good service in looking after our men--whom he had never seen before. He
went to and fro with the ambulance, and, after one or two trips, got the
men taken on a couple of miles further and put in the Field Hospital,
which was at Boshop Farm. He is a right good man, just the one for a
soldiers' padré, and he ought to be a Bishop: I hope he will be one
before long.
We managed to rake up some Bovril, and gave the wounded that and some
tea: the padré took out a bucketful of soup to give to the men still
waiting at the dressing station to be removed. Our doctor, a civilian
named Edwards, and also a Colonial, from New South Wales, worked like a
horse: his labour and the padré's that night only began when ours was
finished.
The following orders relating to the action were published a day or two
afterwards:--
Extract from Battalion Orders, 24th July, 1900.
"It is with the deepest regret that Lieut.-Col. Donne records the death
in action yesterday of Sir Walter Barttelot, Bart., Commanding the
Volunteer Company. Sir Walter Barttelot served throughout the long and
arduous marches of the battalion, showing an example of fortitude and
devotion to duty unsurpassed in the annals of the regiment, and which
had deservedly won him the love of his comrades of all ranks. Sir Walter
Barttelot passed unharmed through the actions of Welkom, Zand River,
Doornkop, the Capture of Pretoria and the battle of Diamond Hill, in all
of which he led his volunteers to the attack. In the desperate assault
yesterday on the Boer position at Retief's Nek, he fell gallantly at the
head of his company, to be mourned both by the regiment and the county
of Sussex as one of the bravest soldiers and truest of men that have
given their lives for Queen and country."
Extract from Battalion Orders, 26th July, 1900.
"Lieut.-Gen. Sir A. Hunter, K.C.B., referred as follows to the conduct
of the battalion in the action of Retiefs Nek on 23rd July.
"'Your men worked splendidly in the attack. They could not have done
more. I wish you to convey to them, please, my high admiration of the
dauntless way in which they advanced under such a fire.
"'Nothing could have been finer, and I deeply deplore the heavy losses
incurred.'
"Lieut.-Col. Donne feels proud to publish these remarks from such a
distinguished General as Sir A. Hunter, with whom he has often had the
honour of serving before.
"Although the attack could not be pressed home, owing to darkness and
the cross-fire of the enemy, yet the losses of the battalion were not in
vain, and the boldness of the attack on the right justly contributed to
the success next morning of the turning movement on the left, which
resulted in the rout of the Boers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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