Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900 | Page 8

with some confidence that among the wounded it was not as great as ten per cent. I should be inclined to place it as low as five per cent. Again, I cannot fix the proportionate occurrence of wounds from bullets of large calibre such as the Martini-Henry, but this was certainly not large. I think if ten per cent. is deducted to represent the number of hits from either of these forms of projectile, that we may fairly assume the remaining 90 per cent. of the wounds to have been produced by bullets of small calibre. The numbers of the opposing forces were probably fairly even.
Taking all these circumstances together, and bearing in mind that our army was always in the position of having to make frontal attacks on men well protected in strong positions, I think it must be allowed that a fair idea should be possible of the effectiveness of the modern weapons. Only one circumstance, one inseparable from any fighting with the Boers, seems to affect the numbers in an important manner. This consists in the fact that the Boer rarely fights to the bitter end, hence the greater proportion of his hits are obtained at long distances.
TABLE I
+---------------------+--------+------+-------+-------+-----+-------------+ | | Number | | | | |Percentage of| | | of | | | | | killed and | | | troops |Killed|Wounded|Missing|Total| wounded to | | | engaged| | | | |number of men| | | | | | | | engaged | +---------------------+--------+------+-------+-------+-----+-------------+ |Belmont: | | | | | | | | Officers | 297 | 3 | 23 | 0 | 26 | 8.75 | | Non.-com. officers | | | | | | | | and men | 8,396 | 55 | 206 | 4 | 265 | 3.15 | | +--------+------+-------+-------+-----+-------------+ | Total | 8,693 | 58 | 229 | 4 | 291 | 3.34 | | | | | | | | | |Graspan: | | | | | | | | Officers | 326 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 3.06 | | Non.-com. officers | | | | | | | | and men | 8,213 | 18 | 163 | 7 | 188 | 2.29 | | +--------+------+-------+-------+-----+-------------+ | Total | 8,539 | 21 | 170 | 7 | 198 | 2.31 | | | | | | | | | |Modder River: | | | | | | | | Officers | 335 | 3 | 19 | 0 | 22 | 6.56 | | Non.-com. officers | | | | | | | | and men | 9,856 | 67 | 377 | 18 | 462 | 4.68 | | +--------+------+-------+-------+-----+-------------+ | Total | 10,191 | 70 | 396 | 18 | 484 | 4.74 | | | | | | | | | |Magersfontein: | | | | | | | | Officers | 379 | 18 | 48 | 2 | 68 | 17.94 | | Non.-com. officers | | | | | | | | and men | 11,068 | 148 | 669 | 101 | 918 | 8.29 | | +--------+------+-------+-------+-----+-------------+ | Total[1] | 11,447 | 166 | 717 | 103 | 986 | 8.43 | +---------------------+--------+------+-------+-------+-----+-------------+
Table I. gives the number of men engaged, and also that of the killed and wounded at each of four battles. Table III. shows for comparison the relative number of killed and wounded in some former campaigns while older forms of weapon were in use.
With regard to the numbers in Tables I. and II. it should be at once said that they are only to be regarded as approximate, since they do not exactly tally with those officially reported in the 'Times' at a later date. Sources of error may, however, have crept into both, and as there is little difference in the gross numbers, I have preferred to retain the series compiled by Major Burtchaell, R.A.M.C., as Table II. contains interesting information as to the proportionate number of men who died during the first 48 hours, after being wounded.
TABLE II
SHOWING PROPORTION OF MORTALITY AMONGST MEN HIT, (a) ON THE FIELD, (b) DURING THE FIRST FORTY-EIGHT HOURS
---------------------+-------+------+------+------+-------+---------------- |Number |Total | | Died | | Percentage | of |number| |within| | mortality -- |troops |of men|Killed|forty-| Total +-------+-------- |engaged| hit | |eight | |To men |To force | | | |hours | | hit |employed ---------------------+-------+------+------+------+-------+-------+-------- Belmont: | | | | | | | Officers | 297 | 26 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 23 | 2.02 Non.-com. officers | | | | | | | and men | 8,396 | 265 | 55 | 8 | 63 | 23.77 | 0.75 +-------+------+------+------+-------+-------+-------- Total | 8,693 | 291 | 58 | 11 | 69 | 23.71 | 0.79 | | | |