The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-07-23
MOUNTED ENGINEERS IN WAR.
(Continued from Fourth Page)

water supply in a country which at pe- riods 1t was extremely difficult to find
 water for the cavalry division. I will
 refer in more detail to the chief
 achievements of the field troop Royal
 engineers, later, but, roughly, they were
 the destruction of the permanent way
 south of Ferreira Spruit, on March 12,
 which led to the capture of an ambu-
 lance train the demolition of the rail-
 way and telegraph north of Bloemfo1-
 tein on the following day, when Major | Hunter Weston's dashing enterprise re-
 suited in the capture of twenty-five To-
 comotives and one hundred and eight
 pieces of rolling stock; the cutting of
 the telegraph at Macfarlanes on Feb
 ruary 16, and the several occasions
 upon which parties of mounted engi-
 neers, completely equipped, were sent
 out with cavalry -raiding expeditions. 1 To this must be added the constant
 duty of the field troops to keep the
 three cavalry brigadess and the mount
 ed infantry supplied with water, | though constantly moving and scat
 tered over great distances. The admir-
 able work which was done in the field 1 by the telegraph section, working in | conjunction with the cavalry, cannot be overrated, and in all probability,
 Cronje would not have been taken if
 the cavalry's division at Kimberley had
 not been connected by wire with the
 chief of the staff at Kip Drift. I fail
 to see by what other means the news of | the enemys retirement could have been | transmitted in time for the instructions
 to arrive, which enabled the cavalry to | effect the move which brought about 1 the investment.
 | The above record is sufficient to prove the value of the mounted engineer. I am inclined to say the necessity of hav- ing mounted engineers with every inde-
 pendent cavalry command is sufficient ly demonstrated The proportion in
 which they should be apportloned may at the present, with the limited experi- ence gained, be problematical, but at
 the lowest computation there should be at least five mounted engineers to every one hundred sabres. Previous to this campaign all demolition work has practically been left in the hands of cavalry pioneers with insufficient tech nical knowledge and insufficient techni- cal equipment to insure that the work, for which they often risk so much, shall be through. Cavalry officers and men have so much to learn in their own specific duties that it is impossible for them to be good pioneers. But under the direction of engineer officers a nd with the aid of artificers and trained engineers, they can become most use full. Throughout the campaign both have worked splendidly together The field troop alone would not have been in sufficient strength to have accom- plished all that was done The pioneers unaided would not have had the techni- cal knowledge to render the work as thorough as 1t has been. The impor- tant features of the campaign have hinged upon the stra tegic value of rail- way communication, and in the demol- ton of railways, before all other branches of field engineer work, techni- cal knowledge is essential To make satisfactory demolitions it is imperative that the man who places the charges should understand strains, should be conversant with the technique of | bridges, telegraph and railway con- struction, and should have experience | in the delicate duties of fixing and firing ! charges. In the operations round La 1 dysmith alone there were two instances | in which inexperience in these opera | tions caused disappointment and delay. | In the one case the delay in fixing the | charge in captured howitzer caused a | considerable loss of life to the storming party which had captured the position. | In the other, ignorance of the nature of | the work rendered the plucky attempt | which was made to destroy the Sun days River bridge abortive. In such | delicate operations it is impossible to be | too horough.-Bloemforte Corres- pondence of the London Times.