at sharp
fighting must have attended the effort. Nevertheless the opinion
generally expressed was that it should have been made. My personal
impression is that Sir Redvers Buller was deeply moved by the heavy
losses the troops had suffered, and was reluctant to demand further
sacrifices from them at this time. Indeed, the price of victory had been
a high one.

In the fortnight's fighting, from February 14 to February 28, two
generals, six colonels commanding regiments, a hundred and five other
officers, and one thousand five hundred and eleven soldiers had been
killed or wounded out of an engaged force of about eighteen thousand
men; a proportion of slightly under 10 per cent.

In the whole series of operations for the relief of Ladysmith the losses
amounted to three hundred officers and more than five thousand men, out
of a total engaged force of about twenty-three thousand, a proportion
of rather more than 20 per cent. Nor had this loss been inflicted in a
single day's victorious battle, but was spread over twenty-five days of
general action in a period of ten weeks; and until the last week no
decided success had cheered the troops.

The stress of the campaign, moreover, had fallen with peculiar force on
certain regiments: the Lancashire Fusiliers sustained losses of over 35
per cent., the Inniskillings of 40 per cent., and the Dublin Fusiliers
of over 60 per cent. It was very remarkable that the fighting efficiency
of these regiments was in no way impaired by such serious reductions.
The casualties among the officers maintained their usual glorious
disproportion, six or seven regiments in the army having less than eight
officers left alive and unwounded. Among the cavalry the heaviest losses
occurred in Dundonald's Brigade, the South African Light Horse,
Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry, and the squadron of Imperial Light
Horse, each losing a little less than a quarter of their strength.

The ceaseless marching and fighting had worn out the clothes and boots
of the army, and a certain number of the guns of the field artillery
were unserviceable through constant firing. The troops, besides clothes,
needed fresh meat, an exclusive diet of tinned food being unwholesome if
unduly prolonged. Sir Redvers Buller's estimate that a week's rest was
needed does not seem excessive by the light of such facts, but still one
more effort might have saved much trouble later on. On March 3 the
relieving army made its triumphal entr