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....The endurance, tenacity, and heroic determination of the British soldier has been displayed over and over again in the engagements fought by our troops in South Africa, and duly recorded by war correspondents at the scene of action, but there has recently arrived at Stratford a well-known figure in the person of Mr. Fred. Lyne, who accompanied Buller's forces from the first battle of Colenso until the relief of Ladysmith, being attached to an ambulance corps. A representative of the Herald called on Mr. Lyne this week with the idea of gleaning some interesting information for the benefit of readers of this paper, and the result of the interview is appended. Mr. Lyne has been living at the Boer capital for the last four years, engaged at engineering works at Pretoria, The firm were Government contractors, and executed a number of orders for the Transvaal authorities. Mr. Lyne, naturally, knew a good many of the burghers, and was acquainted personally with such prominent personages as Joubert, Meyer, and Botha. He described the late Commander-in-Chief of the Boer forces as a nice man to do business with, and an early riser, Joubert often appearing at the office of the firm at 6 in the morning. In Mr. Lyne's opinion he was rather partial to the English; at any rate not nearly so anti-English as some people would make him out to be. Before he left the capital Mr. Lyne saw a great deal of ammunition and armaments which had been imported, and remarked that many of the English in South Africa had been deceived as to the hold England had on Delagoa Bay, for there could be no doubt that since the commencement of hostilities large quantities of guns and munitions of war had reached the Boers by way of Delagoa Bay. Mr. Lyne was promised a permit to stay in Pretoria, but as this was not forthcoming he decided, and very wisely, to trek, and caught the last train which passed through the Colony, eventually reaching Durban. At Maritzburg he met the Hon. Stuart Wortley, who was organising the Natal Volunteer Ambulance Corps, promptly joined the same, and three days afterwards was present at the first battle of Colenso. The corps, which was 250 strong, was divided into sections of 24, and Mr. Lyne was given charge of one section. On December 15th General Buller made his first attack on Colenso, with what unfortunate result our readers know. The first shot was fired at 5.30 a.m., and it was all over by 2 o'clock. But little impression was made on the Dutch position, and eventually the order was given to retire. It was here that Mr. Lyne saw Sir William MacCormac, who had just arrived, and Mr. Frederick Treves, both of the eminent medicos being busy attending to the wounded. A retirement was made to Estcourt, where after waiting for reinforcements, the army marched on to Frere, from 30,000 to 40,000 strong, and with about 15 miles of transport, in Mr. Lyne's words, "a glorious sight, and also one that baffles description." ....Sir Redvers Buller's failure to force the passage of the Tugela at Colenso had convinced him of the overwhelming strength of the Boer defences, and on January 10th the second attempt to relieve Sir George White began, Buller having determined on a turning movement. A crossing was effected in two places, and much progress was made, until Sir Charles Warren, with whose brigade Mr. Lyne's section was engaged, found himself obliged to attack Spion Kop in front. How the hill was stormed and the Boers caught napping by the troops under General Woodgate is now old news. The attack was made shortly after midnight, Mr. Lyne's section accompanying the troops, and some idea of the frightful slaughter may be gauged from the fact that 266 of our men were buried the next morning. Mr. Lyne was close to General Woodgate when that gallant officer was wounded. Advantage was taken of the darkness to dig trenches, but as soon as daylight broke the men began to fall fast. Mr. Lyne continued: "Our troops fought on gallantly through the day, and reinforcements arrived about 11 o'clock, the Scottish Rifles coming up the east side of the hill, and the Imperial Light Infntry in front. It rained heavily all night. I went down after General Woodgate was shot. Some of our men carried him down. I mounted the hill again, and stayed for the rest of the day, but in the evening returned with some more wounded men. On the Thursday morning I went up again, and found that the English had evacuated the position during the night. The Dutch were on top of the hill, Commandant Louis Botha being in command on horseback. Our own medical officer was there. One of the Boers told me that he reckoned there was cover on the hill for 160 men, and as we took up 1200 with us you can guess the difficulty we had in dodging the bullets."
...."At the time," continued Mr. Lyne, "the Boers were actually trekking away with some 60 wagons, but finding that our guns did not make any reply a few of the Transvaalers crept up the hill, and found nothing but the dead and wounded up there. We had 24 hours to move the hospital, and got right away back to Springfield."
...."And you came out without a scratch?" queried the interviewer.
...."Yes," responded Mr. Lynes, "I was not wounded in any of the engagements, and this is remarkable, as 47 members of the ambulance corps were shot, some of them chums of mine, and Buller lost about 6,000 men in the fighting along the Tugela."
....Mr. Lyne also spoke of the next attack, the battle of Vaal Krantz. "We did not lose very heavily there," he explained, "as the balloon went up and we found 32 Boer guns in places where the mounted infantry was likely to proceed. I was on Mount Alice with the naval brigade, and we could see Ladysmith quite clearly in the distance, some 12 miles away."
....At the fourth attempt to relieve the beleaguered town, General Buller made a fast movement to the extreme Boer left, and finding a weak spot at once took advantage of it. Greenhill and Mount Monte Cristo were captured by the troops, and in the evening Colenso was entered about 6 o'clock, the army bivouacking there. During the night a company of the Somersetshires took up a position on Hussar hill, which it was intended that the artillery should occupy in the morning, but they went a little farther than they should have done. As a consequence they were badly cut up, and in killed and wounded they lost six officers and 144 men. From that day (February 14th) till the 28th, fighting took place every day, but Mr. Lyne was disposed to believe that the Boers did not lose so heavily as we. On February 27th Pieter's hill was assaulted and carried, and the road to Ladysmith lay open. No less than 83 guns were brought to bear on the hill, the majority firing lyddite, and as one of the Boers observed "a cat could not live up there." Mr. Lyne further remarked that on reaching Ladysmith the troops camped four miles north of the town for four days, it being generally understood that the forces would rest for a month. He adds: "We did not know they were in quite so bad a way, and from what I was told I do not believe it could have held out more than another week. I understand the Naval Brigade only had six shells left." In the hospital at Ladysmith there were 4,000 cases of enteric fever alone.
....Mr. Lyne eulogises the heroism of the officers and troops. The ambulance corps was sent back to Maritzburg and disbanded, Mr. Lyne, who had spent 98 days on the veldt, often without a tent, journeying to Durban for a change. He had only been there two days, and called at the medical base depôt, when an officer offered him a berth to England in a ship conveying the wounded home. Within two hours the Majestic sailed on St. Patrick's day for England, arriving as above stated.
....Further inquiries elicited the information the fighting in Natal proved very disheartening to our men, who were always attacking, and always up steep kopjes. The Maxim-Nordenfelt guns of the Boers gave one the "rats." The winter season was now coming on, and in Northern Natal and the Transvaal rain is unknown in the winter. The Boer capital is splendidly fortified, but Mr. Lyne hardly thinks that Mr. Kruger, whom he describes as "deep and very cunning," will allow it to be shelled. There is a great deal of Dutch property in Pretoria, both public and private.
....Mr. Lyne's trophies of the war include specimens of Boer shells, pieces of cordite, a Dutch bandolier, and a pair of opera glasses, picked up on Pieter's Hill, which had evidently belonged to one of the Boer Commandants.
Stratford-upon-Avon Herald, Friday 20th April 1900
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