Part 3 (2/2)

followed by the ”Retire” For a moment they wavered between discipline and dismay At that instant fro as soain their position

There was a ler shouted ”Retire be damned,” and sounded the ”Advance” Gradually the infantry recovered, and the Gordons and Devons, rushi+ng on the enee for the dastardly trick

French had scored his first victory within a day of his arrival What wonder if men called him ”French the lucky?” Froreat deal te Had French not advanced his ht never have been his It has been said that he was our only general to master the Boer methods

He was certainly the first and the most able imitator of those methods But he was prepared to meet them before he ever stepped on South African soil For his whole theory of cavalry tactics is based on the realisation that massive for: LUCK OR BRAINS]

One of the newspaper correspondents[8] happened to run across French twice during the battle He tells how at the end of the engagee in the fighting line of the Manchesters and Gordons, and offered hiratulations on the day He adds: ”Last time I had met him hen the artillery on both sides were hard at it; he appeared then ame of war, and was not too busy to syht when he sawaht Horse near us”

French's luck lay in his ability to see his opportunities and grasp them But the soldier will never be convinced on that point, even if French himself attempt his conversion For him the British leader has rete Yet in a letter to Lady French after the engageht I would come out alive”

As frequently happened in the South African ca cleared the railway line, French was unable to garrison his position, and returned next ain in action, and again he was successful It had become necessary to keep the way open for General Yule and his jaded forces now in retreat from Dundee White deterain the heavy share of the work fell on French and his cavalry

Marching out fro a range of hills about seven miles from Ladysmith

Flanked by the artillery, and supported from the rear by rifle fire, the infantry advanced to a convenient ridge froht be shelled There they were joined by the field and reat havoc ae the summit of the slope, atte lines were ploughed down by a deadly fire ”In the first three minutes,” said an eye-witness, ”Colonel Wilford, as coh the head, and a nu about hi could have remained upon the exposed slope, which boasted not even a shred of cover of any kind” Slowly and silently the Gloucesters retired

By two o'clock the infantry fire had ceased, and White had received news that Yule was nearing Ladysmith in safety He therefore decided to withdraw his troops This was no easytheir position, had merely retired for a short distance The retreat, however, was safely carried out, thanks largely to the masterly fashi+on in which French's cavalry covered the retireeic point of vieas invaluable It certainly saved General Yule's force, which the Boers would otherwise have cut off on its way to Ladysmith This would scarcely have been difficult, for the coluht That it covered twenty-three htfall in its exhausted condition was in itself re: THE ONLY GENERAL]

This was the last successful engageht for many a day But that was not French's fault In the first week after his arrival he had scored two distinct successes and won for hi the Boers He was indeed the only British general for whohtest respect In a week his na them A soldier[9] has recorded hohen towns or railway stations were captured, our men would find allusions to French chalked on the wall

Thus: ”We are not fighting the English--they don't count--we are only fighting the 'French'” Quite early in the can this inscription was found on the wall of a Boer farh we have only 90,000 burghers, that h they have 200,000 soldiers, have only one General--and he is French” That was in the days before Roberts and Kitchener were on the scene

But the Boers were not alone in their appreciation of French One of the authorities of the German General Staff wrote of him ”His (French's) name was one of those most dreaded by the enemy,” and ”he impressed his personality on the troops” Perhaps the best description of the man ever penned, however, came from the brilliant American journalist, Julian Ralph ”As to his personality, the phrase 'The square little General' would serve to describe him in army circles without a mention of his naentle When you are under his command you don't notice him, you don't think about hilad you are there”[10]

FOOTNOTES:

[8] The correspondent referred to is Mr George Lynch

[9] ”ADC” _The Regiment_

[10] In the _Daily Mail_

CHAPTER V

THE TIDE TURNS