The age-herald., 1900-05-05
KITCHENER ALSO BLUNDERED
At Paardeberg He Chased Himself
 Butler, Gatacre, and M ethuen

From the London Truth.
 Several accounts of the battle of Paar- deberg that have arrived by mail show that on that occasion the errors which marked the earlier engagements of the war were repeated. The most significant evidence on this point is furnished by the letter which the Times published from its correspondent with Lord Roberts.
 This writer begins by saying that in planning the abortive attack upon Cronie on February 1S Lord Kitchener "underes- timated the stubbornness of the Boer,' and he pronounces the attempt to rush the Boer position. as dangerous experi- ment." He later on compares it to Mod der River After describing the disposition of the troops, he says:
 Such practically was the plan which Lord Kitchener adopted, but like other gen. erals during the campaign, he would ap- pear to have mistaken the character of the enemy opposed to him. To give the Boer a natural trench and then send infantry across open plain to meet him is just what the Boer likes. From q position which affords him almost absolute security he is able to pour very shower of bullets on our poor fellows lying on the bare veldt. The result was the same as the result of so many of our direct attacks-great loss of life, a reverse and an increase of "moraF' in the enemy's camp. With the
  bed by the Essex and Welsh regiments be- tween Cronje and French. the positions held by us on the Monday morning could have been won with the loss of not more than fifty men,"
 Considering that the actual loss was more than ten times that number, this is pretty severe criticism. The Times man gives next some details which are not pleasant readng-notably the account of a | field battery (the Seventy-sixth) being sent to position actually commanded from the rear by kopje which the enemy held, it having been vacated for some unknown and unknowable reason by our men," Such | deadly fire was poured into this battery both by rifles aud Vickers-Maxim that it became necessary at one time to work the battery with four guns firing toward the rear and two on the enemy in the river" The loss in this battery appears to have been terrible. At one gun every man but one was put out of action. The Times account of the battle con cludes thus:
 Individual acts of bravery were shown as usual, but in several cases portions of the troops were bound to retire under the hell of fire that was poured upon them. The general order given was to advance, but, many officers remarked to me, Where were they to advance?" Some of | the Bluffs reached donga on the river | bank right in the center of the Boer posi- l ton, but even if they could have rushed l the Boers lining the south bank of the river, they would have been exposed to the | fire of the Boers on the opposite bank, as well as to the fire of our own men advanc- | ing up the river. The whole thing appear ed ill-conceived.'
 | After this, no one can fairly exempt Lord l Kitchener from any censure that may be pronounced upon General Butler, General | Gatacre, or even Lord Methuen. It must 1 be remembered, too, that the casualty list l of Paardeberg was nearly equal to that of l Coenso or Magersfontein.