Buller’s Final Crossing of the Tugela, February 1900 Georges Bertin Scott
In November 1899, the Natal Field Force under Lieutenant-General (later Field Marshal) Sir George White (1835-1912) was besieged by the Boers in the town of Ladysmith. With White isolated, command of the British forces fell to General Sir Redvers Buller VC (1839-1908), who concentrated a force near Colenso, about 14 miles (22.5 kms) from Ladysmith.
Buller’s first attempts to relieve the town resulted in the failures at Colenso (15 December 1899), Spion Kop (24-25 January 1900) and Vaal Kranz (5-7 February). However, the final and successful attempt began with the capture of Hlangwane Hill on 19 February.
This gave the British forces command of the Tugela River. On the 22nd a steady advance was made on Pieter’s Hill which was taken and held at the cost of heavy casualties. Buller then pivoted his whole army, swinging the centre and left back across the Tugela, before re-crossing it to turn the Boer left flank, thereby opening the way to relieve Ladysmith.
In order to complete this final crossing a pontoon bridge was thrown across the river. On 27 February, British forces poured across the bridge, under cover of artillery fire. Once the guns had done their work, the Royal Artillery followed, as shown in the painting.
Un saludo
"En este mundo traidor / nada es verdad ni mentira / todo es según el color / del cristal con que se mira"
2nd Battalion The Rifle Brigade at Bergendal Unknown
The Battle of Berg-en-dal (also known as the Battle of Belfast or Battle of Dalmanutha) took place in South Africa during the Second Anglo-Boer War. The battle will be remembered as the last set-piece battle of the war, although it was still to last another two years. It was also the last time that the Boers' four 155 mm Creusot Long Tom guns were used in the same battle.
The incident for which Captain Howse was awarded the VC in Vredefort, July 1900 William Dargie
Captain Neville Reginald Howse from the NSW Medical Corps carrying a wounded soldier from the 2nd Mounted Infantry Brigade. This incident took place in 1900 during action near Vredefort where the soldiers were attempting to capture the Boer commander De Wet. For this act of bravery Captain Neville Howse received the first Victoria Cross to be awarded to an Australian, it is also the only Victoria Cross to have been awarded to medical personnel.
Un saludo
"En este mundo traidor / nada es verdad ni mentira / todo es según el color / del cristal con que se mira"
Luis M. García escribió:En todo caso somos nos, quienes estamos en deuda con el señor caballero, y si un día se acerca por estos andurriales astures, será festejado convenientemente, ea!
No lo pongo en duda. Otra cosa sería que pretendiera VM que se estirara el caballero.
Moral nos haría falta, después de lo siguiente...
De Güiner escribió:
caballero alcoyano
Creo que ha cometido cierto error de bulto, con perdón.
La infamia de ayer no caerá en el olvido...
Un saludo
"En este mundo traidor / nada es verdad ni mentira / todo es según el color / del cristal con que se mira"
La batalla de Tippecanoe tuvo lugar en el año 1811 y enfrentó al ejército de los Estados Unidos de América liderado por William Henry Harrison, gobernador del territorio de Indiana, contra los guerreros de la confederación de pueblos tribales aliados bajo el mando de Tecumseh de la tribu de los shawnee
Luis M. García escribió:En todo caso somos nos, quienes estamos en deuda con el señor caballero, y si un día se acerca por estos andurriales astures, será festejado convenientemente, ea!
No lo pongo en duda. Otra cosa sería que pretendiera VM que se estirara el caballero.
Moral nos haría falta, después de lo siguiente...
De Güiner escribió:
caballero alcoyano
Creo que ha cometido cierto error de bulto, con perdón.
La infamia de ayer no caerá en el olvido...
Rayos! Doyme a todos los diablos, señor Caballero; mas os he de asegurar que fue ignorancia supina y no fatal villanía quien tal dislate me fizo afirmar.
Más aun he de argüir, pues fue cierto elemento, quien con ligereza zascandileó en mis oídos la equívoca especie, y a buen seguro fue el mismo que a los vuestros acercó el nefando soplo...
Pero ya el cilicio mortifica mis magras carnes en muestra de expiación, tened pues por presentadas mis excusas más sinceras.
Y ya pasado el trago, he de decir que esta última serie de 6 láminas pareciéronme maravilla; especialmente la primera y las dos últimas de la serie.
On October 24 and 25, 1942, Sgt John Basilone (1916–45), a machine-gun section leader of Company D, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division – attached to his battalion’s Company C – fought off repeated attacks by six Japanese infantry battalions supported by artillery and tanks. Basilone’s two M1917A1 Brownings were hastily dug in on the east bank of the meandering Matanikau River. By the second night, the 15-man section had been cut down to Basilone and two men. One gun was damaged and Basilone personally brought up a reserve gun. He repeatedly repaired and cleared malfunctions, reset headspacing, returned to the rear to carry armloads of 14lb ammunition belts to the positions, and cleaned mud and dirt off the belts. He operated the guns to relieve his remaining men and shot bayonetwelding Japanese who had made it across the shallow river at pointblank range with his .45-caliber M1911A1 pistol. During the battle the Marines were under near-continuous artillery, mortar, and grenade-discharger fire along with rifle and machine-gun fire. In addition to all this, it rained heavily off and on. They were out of rations and had little drinkable water.
The far M1917A1 is one of the earlier guns with bronze barrel jacket caps. M1 water chests can be seen, along with a 7-quart filler canteen and a leather filling funnel. Brownings were normally bare gunmetal, but en route to Guadalcanal the Marines painted the tripods and barrel jackets forest green. The bronze jacket end caps may or may not have been painted over. While there were stoppages owing to excessive and long stretches of rapid fire, the guns performed well under extreme conditions of overheating, running out of water; rain, sand and mud; and no opportunity to clean the carbon build-up and fouling. Sergeant Basilone was presented with the Medal of Honor for his refusal to give up the key position, which proved instrumental in halting a major Japanese offensive.
Seguiremos con el tema, a pesar de la reciente afrenta...
Rushing the orchard Johnny Shumate
Boer view: The Boers generally preferred to fight dispersed among the protection of natural features, but at Bothaville the speed of the unexpected British attack had forced the Boers to take shelter in the walled orchard. This at least provided some cover and commanded open ground towards the British position, while the right of the orchard looked towards the ‘Red House’ and farm buildings which Le Gallais and his staff had occupied.
Le Gallais had tried to press an attack from this position, but it was too exposed to accurate Boer return fire, and indeed Le Gallais and several of his officers were killed or wounded inside the buildings themselves. The Boers were also able to pick off the gun-crews of the British artillery as it arrived and deployed for action. Even so, British return fire caused casualties at the orchard wall and, without their horses, the Boers were largely trapped, unable to escape or even move to a different position without breaking cover. The fighting had been going on for about four hours when, taking advantage of the arrival of reinforcements, Major Lean launched his charge; here the British, with bayonets fixed, are beginning to rush forward across the intervening ground. With no line of retreat, and with no tradition or training in close-quarter combat, the Boers in the orchard will raise a white flag and surrender before the charge strikes home.
British view: The climax of the battle of Bothaville at about 0945hrs on 6 November 1900. De Wet’s forces, attempting to avoid two British mounted columns pursuing them, had passed the town of Bothaville and bivouacked on the Doornkraal farm a few miles away. The terrain was typically open Free State grasslands and the farm consisted of a small cluster of buildings, a walled orchard and a dammed water-hole. De Wet had camped in a traditional laager close to the farm buildings.
At 0500hrs, Lean’s detachment of the 5th Mounted Infantry had surprised a sleeping Boer picquet, occupied a rise looking across to the Boer camp and opened fire; many of the Boers fled while others, unable to reach their horses, sheltered behind the stone wall around the orchard and returned fire.
The British had occupied the farmhouses on their left, but here Le Gallais and several of his officers were shot through the open doors by Boers sheltering around the orchard. By 0700hrs, however, troops from Knox’s column began to reinforce the position and at about 0945hrs Major Lean assembled a storming party of men of the 5th Mounted Infantry, supported on his right by men of the Western Australian Mounted Infantry, who all fixed bayonets and rushed forward in open order from the cover of the ridge across the open ground towards the walled orchard. The view shows the farm buildings on the left where Le Gallais was mortally wounded, the orchard centre, and beyond to the right De Wet’s artillery park and wagon-laager.
Un saludo
"En este mundo traidor / nada es verdad ni mentira / todo es según el color / del cristal con que se mira"
This scene shows the height of the battle of Ingogo (Schuinshoogte) at about 1300hrs on 8 February 1881. To break the stalemate Colley directed Brownlow’s Mounted Squadron to charge out on his flank in an attempt to prevent the Boers from encircling him completely. Advancing past the British line, the Mounted Squadron moved to the open ground beyond, where they attempted to deploy to charge. They were now exposed to the fire of Boers sheltering behind rocks only 160yd away down the slope, however, and attracted a hail of bullets. The Boers seem to have aimed particularly at the horses and within a very short space of time the majority of them were hit, although only one man was wounded. Brownlow’s force was effectively destroyed before the charge had even begun, and he was forced to withdraw his men back to the centre of the plateau.
Un saludo
"En este mundo traidor / nada es verdad ni mentira / todo es según el color / del cristal con que se mira"
