Being
too peaky for club tonight, I decided instead to stay in my nice warm
flat with a glass(es) of port, and try out my new gaming mat in a
theatre it is consummately suited for – the sweeping vistas of
South Africa. I played a few Boer War games a year or so ago and
had great fun with Rich Clarke's Kop
That,
so with a new mat and Chain
of Command's
Sharp End
campaign
supplement just
out, I decided to give it another go.
Tonight's
game would see a desperate push by General
Mark Thaddeus Brayne's
6th
Division against the
assembled Commandos under Commandant van Heizer. After
the morale-shattering events of Black Week, it is vital to restore
British confidence with a decisive strike against the invaders.
Under
his command, Brayne
has 2400
men in Sir Frederick
Caughan's “Fusiliers”
Brigade (Queen's Irish, Royal Scots, Earl
of Mourne's and Cambrian
Fusiliers), 2400
in the Sir Iain
Harlow's
“Royal” Brigade (King's
Own Royal Borderers, Royal Sherwood Rifles, Norfolk Light Infantry,
Royal Wessex Rangers),
and just shy of 1800
in Gideon Frost's
Light Brigade, comprised of squadrons of the Cape
Mounted Rifles,
Queen's Northern Lancers, Royal Norfolk Dragoons and the Durban
Mounted
Infantry. Also supporting
his advance are a battery of the Royal Artillery,
and several large guns of the Naval Division, though these are firing
from many miles away on the suspected Boer positions. All
told, he has some 7,000
men and eighteen guns at his
command.
Against
this mighty mass of men and guns, van
Heizer has only three
thousand infantry and nine guns – several of them the rapid-firing
pom-poms so detested by the Roinek Tommies. But
with him are the land, the defensive advantage, and the trenches dug
by his men in preparation for this bloody day. I
now turn you over to Mark Abelard, esquire, of the Eastern Times, for
his report on the battle.
The
Battle (four sections:
Intro, Morning, Afternoon, Evening)
I
had then for some weeks been in General Brayne's
company,
and in that time had discovered in the venerable General an amazing
ability to win battles despite his best efforts to the contrary. As
one of his rather cutting junior officers mentioned, the
baron's
most warlike characteristics
were his whiskers – a rather fine pair of muttonchops that set off
very well the array of medals on his chest. These had not only been
donated
by the Queen, but also by such luminaries as the Rajah of Tokyo, the
Czar of Patagonia and even that most noble monarch, the Grand
Panjandrum of Lapland. Once
in his cups, the general was ever eager to wax lyrical on all those
fêted
works that had won
him his collection. Despite
his advanced
age
however, the general still cut an imposing figure. Of the same great
height as in his youth, his uniform had now also been altered in the
horizontal to accommodate the rewards of his many celebratory feasts
and regimental dinners.
To
my militarily unschooled mind, it was his Major-generals
who made any of his deeds possible. The
first to approach me was Gideon Frost, the northerner commanding
Brayne's cavalry. Having come up through the ranks, this
strapping giant of British manhood was in his mid forties and
appeared to me to be nothing less than a genial block of tanned
leather and oak. His
easy camaraderie
seems to have won his colonials to his side in swift order.
Sir
Iain Harlow, only a few years older but several inches shorter, is a
consummate soldier from a military family, who joined his father's
regiment (Norfolk
Light Infantry) fresh from the fifth form at Eton and has steadily
risen through the ranks to his current position as commander of the
“Royal Brigade”.
Sir
Frederick Caughan, the Irishman commanding the “Fusilier”
Brigade, is
the youngest of Brayne's commanders and a rising star in the army. At
thirty-five, he has known no life but the khaki. He proudly admits to
never having worn red in the field, but has a string of mentions and
medals from India to show his quality. Despite
his tender
years, his
eyes are hard, and harder still whenever the Pushto are mentioned in
his company.
On
the morning of January 3rd,
6th
Division marched
out toward
the mouth
of the Verlopt
Valley. The
hills at the far end were vital for Brayne's planned advance on the
river to relieve the pressure on our other flank and
crack the war wide open.
Brayne
decided to command the guns personally in the centre, with
Caughan's
Fusiliers on his left, Harlow's
Royals
in the right-centre, and Frost's Light
Brigade on the far right wing. Far
behind the lines stayed the guns of the Naval Division, and a coterie
of riders attended Brayne like some
medieval conroi, ready to bear his orders to them promptly.
To
my untrained eye, the
land before us is a barren nightmare that no man raised in England's
green and pleasant land could truly comprehend. Though small copses
were visible deep in the valley and on the left hill (which I am told
is called Wag Kop, or Watch Head),
the
vast tapestry of this land is woven mainly of dust and earth and thin
grass that a goat
could not eat, let alone a horse. But
men who have long lived and campaigned here wax lyrical about it, and
I am told the natives move great herds of cattle across these plains
with no great hardship than American cow-men.
Caughan
being an enthusiastically self-professed “new man” in the army,
arrayed
his brigade with
the Cambrians in reserve,
and
each other battalion in column with two companies skirmishing ahead
to provide cover. The
more traditional Harlow
placed his advance battalions, the KORB
and his own Norfolk Light Infantry, in line,
with the Royal
Wessex
Rangers
and Sherwood Rifles in
column reserve. All
I could see of the Light Brigade was a swirling morass of horseflesh
in the distance. Next
to me, Brayne
chattered
cheerfully with an adjutant, while a
harassed-looking lieutenant of the Royal Artillery tried to find the
courage to move
his commander out
from in front of the mouths of his cannon.
 |
| Caughan's Fusilier Brigade |
 |
| Harlow's Royal Brigade |
 |
| Frost's Light Brigade |
The
Morning's Work
The
battle started at
0830,
much to Brayne's harrumphed surprise, with
a bugle call from Caughan's
position. His
whole skirmish line advanced toward the base of Wag Kop. Their
audacity was answered with cannon fire from the crest, and the whole
line shivered.
 |
| Caughan's advance from the top of Wag Kop. |
Brayne
sent riders
to give Harlow and
Caughan
permission to advance. Eventually,
they arrived and Caughan's
Irish battalions surged forward to rejoin their skirmishers. I
was jolted from my observation of the Fusiliers as the naval guns
began their bombardment of Staan
Kop, on the opposite side of the valley. At
this prearranged signal, Frost's horse leapt
forward in a great mass, distracting
me from the equally inspiring sight of the
Fusiliers seizing
the first
step of Wag
Kop. Their
advance was
rewarded with
the
sight of an equal Armageddon
being wreaked on the summit
of Wag Kop. Though
I could not see the enemy, or their response to
the naval pounding,
I saw men in our
gallant line begin to duck and hug the earth as
bullets
began to sing around them. As
men fell to their faces, I saw
sergeants marching among them
as though unaware of
death's cold breath.
 |
| The colonial horse advance up Staan Kop. |
Harlow's
brigade then
began
its inexorable advance forward, men
still in parade drill order. Brayne ordered the artillerymen behind
him to open fire on the
Loeuberg in the centre of Verlopt
Valley. It was at this point, not even 10 o'clock of the morning,
that Frost's colonials seemed to gallop uncontrollably past the head
of Staan Kop. I
was later informed that they had seen a Boer Commando fleeing their
position naval fire. In
fact the Cape Mounted Rifles, through
superhuman effort, managed
to catch
their rebellious cousins in the saddle and
routed them completely. Cheekily,
their captain Charles
van der Loop insisted
they had killed all eight hundred men they chased. The
lancers and dragoons moving up behind must
have felt quite abashed not to be part of the charge. Of
course, I heard all this later in
the barracks when van der Loop was defending his men's decision to
flee the field.
(40
inches in three turns saw the Cape Rifles utterly rout their enemy,
removing
8 stands)
 |
| The Royals begin their advance. |
 |
| The Cape Rifles rout the foe on the slope of Staan Kop. |
I
was
distracted from the
drama of Staan Kop
by the advance of the Royal Scots to my left, who unlike
Harlow's
Royals were dispersing
as they moved forward. I
was glad of it however, for behind the tail of the
hill,
the Cape Rifles were now
caught in a deadly crossfire which
saw
a hundred men cut down in the first volley, and the survivors
disordered
and
sent to ground. The
guns firing at
Staan Kop quiesced,
and in that moment we heard the screams of men and horseflesh, which
at the time we took to be the
misery of
Boers. As
van der Loop's later testimony proved of course – It was not.
 |
| The result of the first volley against van der Loop's men. |
Casualties
were mounting at the foot of Wag Kop. The
men of the Royal Scots in the centre were feeling the particular
weight of Boer fire. But now, around 1030, they stiffened their
sinews and surged up the foot
of that
ancient hill.
The Earl of Mourne's Fusiliers were stopped short of
the Boer trenches by
enemy fire,
but their musketry cleared the positions
nonetheless. On the other side of the trees, the
Scots and Irish beat
back the Boers as well – though for rather more casualties.
 |
| The Fusiliers seize the foot of Wag Kop. |
During
all this action
on
the flanks,
Harlow's
stalwart Royals had continued their methodical advance into the
valley. This
ended for the Norfolk Light Infantry as it approached the base of the
Loeuberg and
a Boer artillery piece caught
the battalion in its sights. I
saw myself as great holes appeared in their flank company. As
cannon fire hit them from the other flank too, their stately advance
ground to a halt. Seeing
this, Harlow
split
his
brigade in columns around the hill, trusting to the artillery to keep
quiescent
any
Boers
now in his midst.
 |
| The British advance from the Boer end of the valley. |
It
was now, around 1100, that Gideon Frost received a terrible shock. He
had ridden forward with a few aides after the naval barrage ended, to
inspect the field from Staan Kop. Imagine
his surprise when four hundred Boers rode straight at him, as though
meaning to take him captive! He
later admitted they had clearly meant simply to re-occupy the
heights, but
at the time he was jolted quite out of his skin – especially with
the bodies of the Cape Rifles lying
steaming
on the hillsides below him. Thinking
quickly, he sent a bugler back over the crest, and managed
to co-ordinate a counter charge with the Durban Light Infantry and
the Royal
Norfolk Dragoons
that
made a quick and messy end of his would-be kidnappers. They
too however, came under fire from hidden Boer positions, and were
trapped on the reverse slope of Staan Kop for several hours, until a
break in Boer fire allowed them to remount and dash over the crest of
the hill.
By
midday, the foot of Wag Kop and all of Staan Kop were in British
hands, and
the mouth of the valley secure. However,
the hill of Verlopt, von
Duyne's kraal on the valley floor, and the
foothills around were still
in enemy hands – and of our own men, only
half were on the front lines, the rest being
in reserve not more than half a mile from myself and General Brayne.
The
Afternoon
As
before noon turned to after, the
Norfolk Light Infantry
were still suffering under Boer artillery fire, now identified as
coming from a knoll on the rear slope of Wag Kop. Shouting
encouragement to the family regiment, Harlow waved the Royal
Sherwoods and the Wessex Rangers forward to join his densely packed
front line. That
line shuddered beneath the hammerblows of Boer ordnance, but
shuddered forward in the best British tradition.
 |
| Royal Sherwoods and Wessex Rangers join the Royal advance. |
Under
their old colonel's watchful eye,
the NLI were
soon far ahead of the rest of their brigade, powering down the centre
of the valley. Despite
the honour with which they bore themselves, they were soon driven to
ground with great casualties. One sergeant I spoke to said that they
had been reduced to less than half their fighting strength by three
o'clock, due to the several Boer cannon trained on them and the
sharpshooters on the crest behind van Duyne's kraal. Soon
after this grisly waymarker
however, the naval guns turned their attention to said crest and
began to dampen the Boer spirits considerably.
As
the guns
pounded, the rest of the Royals began to swamp the bottom of the
valley, supporting their brethren
however late.
 |
| Naval shells fall around van Duyne's kraal. |
At
the foot of Wag
Kop, the serried
ranks of the Earl of Mourne's Fusiliers carried
on up the slopes, passing the exhausted survivors of the first
assault. The
naval fire landing ahead trailed off as they reached the copse, and
soon they were within a hundred yards of the peak. This
was when they realised that a few demoralised Boers still held the
trenches there, and they halted to prepare for a charge. Further
down the slope, Caughan himself had ridden forwards to rally the
Scots
on
his flank. So well did he rouse them that they charged the few
survivors of their earlier heroics and cut them down too, clearing
that face of Wag Kop completely.
By
half past one, they had cleared the heights, and their opponents were
fleeing down the north face of the mountain. Wag
Kop was unequivocally Caughan's. I
later learned that Colonel Andrews
of the Mournesmen had
been dissatisfied with this achievement, and led his men pell-mell
over the crest to sweep away the few Boers who had retreated before
them. They
were so pitiful that he
instead took them prisoner.
 |
| Mournesmen chase the Boers off the peak. |
There
was then a great lull in the battle for several hours. Our casualties
had been great on the valley floor, and the great advances made on
the flanks required a redressing of the ranks. Having
fought now for six
hours, our men needed food and water brought forward from the rear,
as well as the bullets and bandages that pay the price of any
victory. By
five o'clock, all were ready once again, and Harlow's Royals had
consolidated their hold on the valley floor, all the way up to the
rear of the Loeuberg. I now rode forward to observe
the battle's endgame.
The
Evening
At five o'clock, the Queen's
Northern Lancers began their advance around Staan Kop, and though
they lost men to heavy Boer fire, their two squadrons swept the
eastern guns that had so plagued the Royal Brigade. By six o'clock,
they were battered and bruised, but in victorious control of three
Boer pieces.
 |
| QNL charge the Boers' eastern gun position. |
At the same time, the Royal
Wessex Rangers had fixed bayonets and advanced toward van Duyne's
kraal. Unfortunately, they took desperate casualties until their
advance ended a mere few hundred yards from their goal. But then,
with bugles ringing, came the Royal Sherwood Rifles, and like the
crest of a wave they crashed against the Boer positions, charging
through Boer bullets and British cannon to seize the kraal, the hill
behind and then were on the flats in front of the imposing Verlopt
Kop itself, under fire from yet more Boer defenders.
 |
| The RSR crash into the kraal... |
 |
| ...and come under fire on the other side. |
While the Royal reserves were
redeeming their front line, Caughan's men advanced swiftly across Wag
Kop, storming every position before them. By sunset at eight o'clock,
they had seized the entire British left flank, forming a khaki cordon
against the end of the Verlopt Valley. The new man had proved his
worth in this new war, without a doubt.
 |
| British lines at 1900, from the west. Fusiliers intact. |
But old courage still has its
place. As the light faded, Harlow rode forward to join the Royal
Sherwoods in person, he drew his old sabre and roused them mightily.
The light hit that old blade as it had at Waterloo, as it had at
Blenheim, and so the Major-General dismounted and led the battalion
forward in open order, singing as they cleared the trenches with good
old fashioned British steel. As the night closed in, the Royal
Brigade had advanced as far as the Fusiliers, though with far greater
casualties.
 |
| The Royal Sherwoods charge home once more, in the dying of the light. |
I am told by scouts of the
Durban Mounted Infantry that van Heizer's Boers slipped away in the
night, realising their position to be untenable thanks to the last
gasps of our assault down the vale of Verlopt. If every victory is as
costly as this, we shall empty the British Isles, the colonies and
the Dominions to hold this sun-scorched savannah. Is the paramountcy
of British arms worth such a price?
Mark Abelard esq., Eastern Times
 |
| Endgame, from the Verlopt heights. |
 |
| The view from the west - look at the Fusiliers in the foreground! |
 |
| The view from the south. RSR top right. |
 |
| The view from the east. Remnants of NLI & RWR left. |
Butcher's
Bill
Boers:
723
dead or
incapacitated,
450
wounded or missing, 300
taken prisoner.
British:
500
dead or incapacitated, 250 wounded, 350
Cape Mounted Rifles routed
 |
| View from Verlopt the next morning. |
Overview
A
minor British victory in the end,
despite
the poor showing of the Cape Mounted Rifles.
They
routed wholesale after some brutally effective Boer
shooting on the reverse of Staan
Kop. Although
Verlopt was not taken by nightfall, its position was clearly
untenable given the ending
positions of the British.
Campaign-wise,
the
British casualties were quite high using the Sharp End casualty
mechanic. Of
those 750
casualties, 350 occurred among Harlow's treasured Norfolk Light
Infantry, and another 150 among his Royal Wessex Rangers. His
Royal Sherwood Rifles lost
only half
a company,
and they are conspicuously his only battalion to have shaken into
open order. They
were also the ones to take the kraal, win a second charge in the
flats and then take a trench in a third charge, despite starting in
his reserve. Of
course, his front line was brutally torn up due
to their formed order, which
diminished their chances of
getting anything done.
Man
of the Match is
definitely Caughan.
For
one hundred and fifty casualties, he swept Wag Kop and the hill
behind it, taking the most ground of any of the three Major-Generals.
Second
place I
think goes to van Heizer, whose
battleplan
to bleed the British until nightfall nearly worked – and
would have if it were not for the two large commandos that were
slaughtered on the rear of Staan Kop. Nearly
half the Boer casualties occurred in those two brutal engagements.
Now
that van Heizer has been forced to retreat, Colenso
is
open. Next
battle: the river...
Picking
where to deploy Boers, I am tempted to
adapt
Chain of Command's 3C
for Kop
That!
It would reduce paperwork immensely
when
trying to remember where I left my hidden Boers.
