s
attack with the central operations.

Dundonald's force was entirely too weak for such an operation as the
capture of the formidable entrenched hill, and it is probable that the
movement was meant rather as a reconnaissance than as an assault. He had
not more than a thousand men in all, mostly irregulars, and the position
which faced him was precipitous and entrenched, with barbed-wire
entanglements and automatic guns. But the gallant colonials were out
on their first action, and their fiery courage pushed the attack home.
Leaving their horses, they advanced a mile and a half on foot before
they came within easy range of the hidden riflemen, and learned the
lesson which had been taught to their comrades all along the line, that
given approximately equal numbers the attack in the open has no possible
chance against the concealed defence, and that the more bravely it is
pushed the more heavy is the repulse. The irregulars carried themselves
like old soldiers, they did all that mortal man could do, and they
retired coolly and slowly with the loss of 130 of the brave troopers.
The 7th Field Battery did all that was possible to support the advance
and cover the retirement. In no single place, on this day of disaster,
did one least gleam of success come to warm the hearts and reward the
exertions of our much-enduring men.

Of Barton's Brigade there is nothing to be recorded, for they appear
neither to have supported the attack upon Hlangwane Hill on the one side
nor to have helped to cover the ill-fated guns on the other. Barton
was applied to for help by Dundonald, but refused to detach any of his
troops. If General Buller's real idea was a reconnaissance in force in
order to determine the position and strength of the Boer lines, then
of course his brigadiers must have felt a reluctance to entangle their
brigades in a battle which was really the result of a misunderstanding.
On the other hand, if, as the orders of the day seem to show, a serious
engagement was always intended, it is strange that two brigades out of
four should have played so insignificant a part. To Barton's Brigade
was given the responsibility of seeing that no right flank attack was
carried out by the Boers, and this held it back until it was clear that
no such attack was contemplated. After that one would have thought that,
had the situation been appreciated, at least two battalions might have
been spared to cover the abandoned guns with their rifle fir