It Was A Small Affair, But It Derived
Importance From Being The First Blood Shed And The First Tactical
Success Of The War.
The garrison of the town, whose fame will certainly live in the
history of South Africa, contained no regular soldiers at all with
the exception of the small group of excellent officers.
They
consisted of irregular troops, three hundred and forty of the
Protectorate Regiment, one hundred and seventy Police, and two
hundred volunteers, made up of that singular mixture of
adventurers, younger sons, broken gentlemen, and irresponsible
sportsmen who have always been the voortrekkers of the British
Empire. These men were of the same stamp as those other admirable
bodies of natural fighters who did so well in Rhodesia, in Natal,
and in the Cape. With them there was associated in the defence the
Town Guard, who included the able-bodied shopkeepers, businessmen,
and residents, the whole amounting to about nine hundred men. Their
artillery was feeble in the extreme, two 7-pounder toy guns and six
machine guns, but the spirit of the men and the resource of their
leaders made up for every disadvantage. Colonel Vyvyan and Major
Panzera planned the defences, and the little trading town soon
began to take on the appearance of a fortress.
On October 13th the Boers appeared before Mafeking. On the same day
Colonel Baden-Powell sent two truckloads of dynamite out of the
place. They were fired into by the invaders, with the result that
they exploded. On October 14th the pickets around the town were
driven in by the Boers. On this the armoured train and a squadron
of the Protectorate Regiment went out to support the pickets and
drove the Boers before them. A body of the latter doubled back and
interposed between the British and Mafeking, but two fresh troops
with a 7-pounder throwing shrapnel drove them off. In this spirited
little action the garrison lost two killed and fourteen wounded,
but they inflicted considerable damage on the enemy. To Captain
Williams, Captain FitzClarence, and Lord Charles Bentinck great
credit is due for the way in which they handled their men; but the
whole affair was ill advised, for if a disaster had occurred
Mafeking must have fallen, being left without a garrison. No
possible results which could come from such a sortie could justify
the risk which was run.
On October 16th the siege began in earnest. On that date the Boers
brought up two 12-pounder guns, and the first of that interminable
flight of shells fell into the town. The enemy got possession of
the water supply, but the garrison had already dug wells. Before
October 20th five thousand Boers, under the formidable Cronje, had
gathered round the town. 'Surrender to avoid bloodshed' was his
message. 'When is the bloodshed going to begin?' asked Powell. When
the Boers had been shelling the town for some weeks the
lighthearted Colonel sent out to say that if they went on any
longer he should be compelled to regard it as equivalent to a
declaration of war.
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