Robert Buchanan Riddell always lead from the front and would certainly never expect anything of his officers and men, that he, himself, would have been unwilling to carry out, he was certainly brave, but, this was unfinished business, as far as he was concerned, he had encountered this particular Queens enemy before and he paid the price on the day in question, I suppose we must lay the blame at Neville Lyttleton's feet.
The awful fog of war descends and unfortunately every commander on every battlefield has to make difficult choices, after Lyttleton received a request for help from Warren, he sent Buchanan Riddell to assault Twin Peaks, he then received another message telling him that place was far better defended than he had thought, what was he to do?
He decides to order them back, Buchanan Riddell ignores the order and deploys his men, another order is sent out, it was, once again, ignored and the Rifles pressed home their attack.
At this point Lyttleton, really should have looked at the wider picture, a certain Schalk Burger did and ordered his artillery to withdraw, but, sadly, Lyttleton did not, he sent yet another order to Buchanan Riddell telling him to return, by which time he had been fatally hit, his officers felt that they could not go on ignoring orders, so they abandoned Twin Peaks.
The day was now completely lost for the British Army simply because of a single, some say, split second decision, made by one man, bad soldiering, or, the fog of war?
The death of Buchanan Riddell and the other casualties incurred by his battalion had all been for nothing, a tragic waste of brave men and an episode that many within the Staff wanted to put behind them.
Brett Hendey wrote: The death in action of Lt-Col Buchanan-Riddell, 3rd KRRC, and about two dozen of his men was entirely due to another cowardly blunder by Buller at Spioenkop. After successfully attacking the Boer left flank as ordered, the 3rd KRRC were inexplicably ordered to withdraw, and another gallant action by the lions was nullified by the donkeys.
Brett
