ceased firing and had sought protection in his trenches. The following statement is made by one who fought on the Boer side:
"The artillery supported the advance until the latter had arrived within
300 or 400 m. of the enemy; then it ceased firing. After a brief period
of preparation by fire, the British infantry began the assault simultaneously
in one long line. This assault, made without fire support, was repulsed
without trouble by the Boer fire. On several occasions, short lines
of our opponent had begun to advance, but these were in every instance
forced to throw themselves down after a few moments had elapsed. Thereupon
the whole British line, in my estimation at least 300-400 men strong,
began to advance. One could clearly hear the British leaders call to their
men to cease firing, could clearly hear the command 'fix bayonet', and the
cheer 'God save the Queen'! run along the British line. Then the
whole hostile line rose. As they rushed toward us, they looked to me
like a grayish yellow swarm, the men being almost shoulder to shoulder
and the line being in places three to four men deep, just as frequently
happens in charges made during our own peace maneuvers. At the same
moment, we began firing. Our fire was at first somewhat wild, but was soon
better controlled by our more experienced fighters calling, 'Steady boys,
steady, then none of them will reach us'. More and more men fell in
the British line, and, when it had arrived within 100 or 80 paces of our
position, its energy had spent itself. A part of the men threw themselves
down behind boulders and fired, while the majority rushed back to the
shelter of some bushes; but even there it was for the most part impossible
to hold them. An assaulting enemy who does not fire, is not dangerous,
even if he is numerically superior. In this case, the defender can fire
a number of times, and the closer the assailant is to the defender's position
the more quickly and certainly will his force dwindle away. No one
will, however, be able to induce the same men to advance again under
hostile fire over an open field, that is, to expose themselves without shelter
to the hostile fire."[1]
The same lesson was learned long ago at Gorni Dubniac and at Plevna.
It is obvious that fire support is essential to the success of
such an assault. This should be furnished in the first place
by the artillery. In furnishing this support, artillery can employ
time fire only until the infantry arrives within 300 m. of
the enemy, while percussion fire may be continued until the
infantry arrives within 150 m. of the enemy. During the
- ↑ Supplement 8 to the Militär-Wochenblatt, 1901.
