CHELTENHAM'S BOER WAR MEMORIAL: 'WHAT MIGHT HE BE THINKING?'

 What Might He Be Thinking?

(The Boer War Memorial, Cheltenham…)

Belt tightened around loose tunic, 

Rifle upturned, bayonet sheathed,

The infantryman’s head is bowed,

His moustache cultivated during campaigns,

Yet his expression is wreathed 

By thoughts of actions fought

And of comrades lost, of panic,

Of shrapnel, of incompetence endemic

But minus the peace he had desperately sought…

And he maybe recalls Ladysmith

And Nicholson’s Nek pass

And a tardy march

Then arriving en masse;

And being seen by Boers

And being forced to encamp

And entrench upon Tchrengula Hill 

In dew’s morning damp;

And being fired upon

And pack mules stampeding,

And dragging the battalion’s artillery

With ammunition away, then conceding

And accepting defeat: 

And after having surrendered,

And suffering many casualties,

 His military humility is clearly engendered…

Pete Ray

October 2020 

The 1st Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment was late setting out to seize a pass near Ladysmith in 1899.

Arrival in darkness was thus not possible and the Boers spotted the manoeuvre, riding and firing at the Gloucesters and during the fighting, the pack mules, carrying artillery and ammunition bolted down the hill, nicknamed ‘Hog’s Back’.

There were apparently 38 deaths and 115 wounded, before the Gloucesters finally surrendered, whereby the survivors were held as prisoners of war in Pretoria…