The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-04-01

Correspondence Of the Associated Press
London, March 24.-An officer present
at Spion Kop writes in Today such a
scathing description of the tactics en-
ployed in this fight that the editorial
columns Of that paper says: "Napo-
Icons bitter commentary comes to
mind: Lions led by asses; and 1t is
not the asses who pay the TOLL"
The officer writing the account says
In part: Il repeat that it is impossible
to hope for the first glimmer of sue
cess until a man OF ability is placed in
command and until the minor leaders
are men Of at least ordinary intelli-
gence and vigor.
Il do not profess to know for what
special qualities the leaders have hith-
erto been chosen, but nearly all are
men well known throughout the army
for incapacity, whose very names ex-
cite derision among all who have
served under them
II refer not 60 regimental officers (of
whom I wish to speak with much re-
spect), who have little opportunity of
influencing the minor actions of a bat
tie, but to those selected officers who
are either advisors or commanders.
Know Nothing of War.
Some OF these have proved them
selves to be equal to their regulations,
some Of them have astonished even
those who knew them best for their
utter lack of common sense, for weak
ness in difficulties, and even for in
ability to put in practice the elemen-
tary rules Of war that all soldiers have
learned in the lower grades Of the
service. This last failure strikes one
the more when we consider that they
have all, or nearly all, received high
military education at the staff college,
many Of them have been lecturers and
professors.
y am far from condemning military
science. 1 believe it to be almost i'm
possible to find a general or a staff Of
ficer capable of performing his duty
who has not given years of study and
thought to his profession. Takers and
writer's, however, are rarely men of ac-
ton, and men who are admirable in
Office, or as teachers, fail utterly when
confronted with the harsh realities Of
the battlefield. The dead shot who
can put out a candle at twenty yards,
takes wild aim when confronted with
an antagonist at fifteen PAGES.
Should Be Recalled.
There is only one remedy for this
state of affairs. All generals who have
proved their lnefficiency-and they are
as plentiful as the ant heaps which
cover the South African plains, should
be at once recalled; the necessities Of
the country demand it. There is no
difficulty in discovering them; they are
known TO everyone from the general
in-chief to the drummer boy"
Describing the sticking Of a convoy in
a drift he writes "a scene of indie
scribable confusion ensued; men and
wagons crowded on each other and
blocked all the available space. KAT
frs roared and shrieked and logged
their oxen with their long cowhide
whips IN a way to make even those ac1
customed to trekk shudder at the cru
city, but all was of no avail. 1t had
not occurred to any one to send on a
working party with engineers to i'm
prove the passage,
These matters are prGy ided for 10
military manuals, but are despised in
South Africa, where, owing to the abb
sence OF roads and bridges, they are
more necessary than in any settled
country. All the generals and staff Off
GERS collected round the drift, giving a."
ders and counter orders and directing
and adding in no small measIre to the
confusion.
after hours of delay, engineers and
working parties were at length en-
ployed, and they soon leveled the banks,
placed stones in soft mud and dragged
the wagons onto dry land"
Attack on Spion Kop.
OF the preliminaries to the attack on
Spion Kop he says: Just before dark
the officer commanding Cthe late Cen
eral Woodgate) was informed that lie
had been selected to lead a night att
tack on Spion Kop. He had never even
seen the hill he was to attack or heard
its name, and no correct maps were at
hand. During the few available min
utes he made every effort to view the
ground.
But time did not allow and he had
to grope his way back to his own camp
after dark. SO pitch black was the
night and so new was he to the place
that in that half mile he had lost him
self so completely and had great diff
Guilty in getting home.
But he was brave man; he had re-
ceived his orders and he allowed no
doubt Of success to cross his mind. To
those who knew the ground it presented
gloomy prospect, and threatened z
terrible disaster, worse, even, than the
one which overwhelmed General Cat
acre.
The cry was always for more men.
more men, till the hill was so over
crowded that every bullet and every
shell produced destruction. At no time
should more than 200 men at the outside
have been allowed or the exposed
ground on top of the hill. Probably
smaller number would have sufficed.
The remainder should have been kept
wei hidden behind the slope.
"A greater blunder coEId not have
been made by the most ignorant pri-
vate in the army, but throughout this
war we have never realized that men
cannot be crowded together without
running every chance Of success"