Part 39 (2/2)

2nd brigade Field Hospital.

Ammunition column, No. 2 Divisional troops.

In second line (counting from the right):--

Baggage of 6th brigade.

Baggage of 4th brigade.

Baggage of 5th brigade.

Baggage of 2nd brigade.

In third line (counting from the right):--

Baggage of mounted brigade.

Baggage of No. 1 Divisional troops.

Baggage of No. 2 Divisional troops.

In the fourth and fifth lines (counting from the right):--

Supply columns, in the same order as the Baggage columns in second and third lines.

Lieut.-Colonel J. Reeves, Royal Irish Fusiliers, will command the whole of the above details.

10. The position of the General Officer Commanding will be near the 47-in. guns.

The Commander Royal Engineers will send two sections 17th company, Royal Engineers, with the 5th brigade, and one section and Headquarters with the 2nd brigade.

11. Each infantry soldier will carry 150 rounds on his person, the ammunition now carried in the ox wagons of regimental transport being distributed. Infantry greatcoats will be carried in two ox wagons of regimental transport, if Brigadiers so wish; other stores will not be placed in these wagons.

12. The General Officer Commanding 6th brigade will detail a half-battalion as Baggage Guard. The two Naval guns now in position immediately south of Divisional Headquarter camp will move at 5 a.m., to the position now occupied by the 47-in. guns.

BY ORDER,

B. HAMILTON, Colonel, a.s.sistant Adjutant-General, South Natal Field Force.

CHAPTER XXII.

COLENSO, DECEMBER 15th, 1899.[226]

[Footnote 226: See maps Nos. 15 and 15(a), and freehand sketch.]

[Sidenote: The move begins. Power of the Naval guns.]

In the cool of the early morning of December 15th, 1899, while it was yet dark,[227] the British troops were set in motion. The day was to prove intensely hot, a sign, at this period of the Natal summer, of the approaching rains. Captain E. P. Jones, R.N., commanding the Naval brigade, moved with two 47-in. and four 12-pounder guns to a site pointed out to him personally by Sir Redvers on the previous day, to the west of the railway and about 4,500 yards from Fort Wylie. From thence, at 5.20 a.m. he began to sh.e.l.l the kopjes on the far side of the river. For more than half an hour no reply was made and, even when the Boers opened fire, no guns appear to have been directed on Captain Jones' six pieces until about 7 a.m. These Naval guns with their escort, a company of the 2nd Scottish Rifles, remained on the same spot until the close of the action, suffering no loss. Their telescopes made it easy to see, their long range and powerful sh.e.l.ls to silence, guns unseen by others.

[Footnote 227: Sunrise at Colenso on 15th December is at 5 a.m.]

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