The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-06-19
CAUSES OF B0BR DEFEAT
Captain RciChmann'S Review Of the
South African Conflict.


dierIy GuaIifcatfons-No Longer
the 1InrIlsmen They Once We're.
The report of Capt Charles ReiChnanr-
L s Army, on the operations of the Brit
ish in the war in South Africa Is to he
published 10y the War Department 1t Is
very long and particularly interesting
Captain Reichmann praises the Boer cha
Tacter his fighting qualities and daring
but criticiscs the absence OF soIdieTly
Qualifications He declares that foreign
erS We're the aggressive feature of the
Boer army, and explains the victories Of
the British in the following sentences:
The causes OF the defeat of the Beers
are not far 10 seek The prepondsrance
OF Great Britain in men. money. and war
like material was overwhelming.
Captain Reichmann begins the report by
telling Of his arrival at LoUreuCo Marquee
and later at Pretoria. He describes in de
tail the political and military institutions
OF the South African Republic, and says:
Politics play 4 great role in the seIec-
ton Of officers and the families prominent
in Il political way furnished number of
officers corresponding to their political
Importance To the military mind the de-
gree to which inferior officers carried their
self-wiIl Is inconceivabIe-'
Referring to the Beers themselves he
continues: Although still fine shots. the
Beers are no longer the excellent marks
men they used to be Among troops where
no discipline was enforced. it is natural
that the expenditure and waste Of ammu-
milton were great; the bUrghers travelling
on q train would shoot out Of the windows
at the ant heaps in the prairie.
Our official guide. q grandson OF Presi-
dent Kruger, tried TO stop the shooting.
but came back disheartened. There was
no Importation Of muRitioT.s OF war after
hostiiities had broken out and the Gov
eFnment eventually went to work to es-
tablIsh ammunition factories Volunteers.
3 generally, have played q considerable part
in this var: they were mostly foreigners.
adventures amateurs active, retired, and
ex-oneers Of foreign armies The Beers
are hunters rather than soldiers they are
not much given to holding a position to
the last The foreigners, on the con
Srary. once posted would hold their
ground Whenever offensive operations
were undertaken the foreigners had to
bear the brunt Of the fighting
IN the assault on Spton KoD. January
2, 1869 the leading detachment consisted
mostly Of foreigners; il the abortive al
tack on Sfafeking, a detachment Of for
eiEners led, which was sent for that pur-
IL
the worst Of ali the Boer generals. failed
10 send the re-enforcements agreed upon.
A careful investigation Of the strength Of
these foreign corps shows that their num-
Der did not exceed 60 or 500. The HoI-
lander corps. numbered 32o men, the ItaI-
ian corps numbered about 20 men.
representing eleven different nation
aIties under command Of Captain
Riccardi, who had been with
AgUinaldo in the Philippines The
Scandinavian corps numbered 50 men The
Irish Brigade was commanded b. Col
Blake, formerly an officer Of the Sixth
United States Cavalry, and numbered
about $50 men The German corps NUM-
bered 30 men, and there was also French
corps Of > men a Russian corps Of .
men and an American scout company Of
about 80 men Another was that of the
Irish-AInericans. who had reached Preto-
RE under the guise Of ambulance person
mel they being members Of the ambulance
organized at Chicago
Captain Reichmann explains his meet
ing with General De Wet and General
Crouje. and described a number Of en-
gagements which he witnessed from the
battle at AbranaIn-s KraaI. in March.
which resulted in the retreat to Driefon-
TEN. to the defence of Lydenburg district
in September.
He tells Of the life Of the BoeT in camp.
saying During my stay. Of seven months
with them 1 never saw a drunken Boer
and the greatest piece of profanity I ever
heard was the Dutch equivalent for al
mighty IN camp or ct q halt on the
march. he read his Bible or hymn book
and At night after dark, groups Of men.
would sing psalms and hymns The men
who led the Beers in prayer also led them
in battle Their religious sentiment pre-
dominated in everything. and their indi-
viduaI trend Of sentiment was such tha1
they we're as much appalled, by the
slaughter Of the enemy as they were
grieved i5y their own defeats"
Referring TO charges that the Beers
violated the rules Of war, Captain Reich
mann says: such alleged unlawful oc-
currences were not confined to the side Of
the Beers; they occurred on the British
side also When they occurred on the
British side. the Beers had little TO say
about them When they occurred on the
Boar side, a horde Of war correspondents
stood ready to snap them Up and TO heap
libel on the Beers The 20er bestowed
the same care on the British wounded as
on his own. and treated British prisoners
with kindness and consideration. His most
Eerigus defect was the lack Of military
discipline When a proposed movement
did not suit him OF his officer, he simply
did not move and many a welI-pIanEed
affair was ruined in that way. Under FIRE
the Beers were remarkably cool and de-
Iiberate- Once started on the attack the
British infantry had no cover against the
Eoer artillery. but as rule the Beers
lack Of offensive capacity prevented him
from reaping the fruits Of tactical vic
tory He was contented when he had
Tepulsed the enemy
The Beers were always fairly we'll in
formed of the enerny's whereabouts and
doings. in the transmission OF intelIi-
gence the bicycle played a prominent part
The cyclists did rot confine themselves to
the roads. on which they had the right
cf way: they made short cuts by follow
ing cat paths and even rode across the
prairie They could be found at every
generals headquarters. The heIiograph
also found executive employment" 4"
In concluding the report Captain Reich
mann says: IN point of tactics. while
some features were brought out In strong
relief. the war established no new prin-
cipIes. While the fine defensive positions
taken up by the Beers. and their superior
craftsmanship, compensated 20 some ex-
tent for their numerical inferiority the
superior quality Of their field pieces could
IN no way make up for their paucity- The
prolific source Of BoeT defeats was their
lack - sufficient number Of guns
Captain Reichmann criticises the British
TB-s+F