Churchill Wanted Dead or Alive

7. Into Captivity

SEVEN Into Captivity 'This misfortune, could I have foreseen the future, was to lay the foundations of my later life.' WINSTON CHURCHILL, My Early Life W A T E R POURED FROM A LEADEN SKY as the motley band of prisoners was assembled: two officers and fifty men in bedraggled khaki; four sailors in jaunty straw hats embellished with HMS Tartar in gold lettering on their black ribbons; several railwaymen in sodden overalls; and one hatless war correspondent in a wet buttoned-up tunic, baggy trousers and long leather gaiters. 'Voorwarts ,' came the order, and the procession moved off, surrounded by Boers, their horses steaming in the rain. For Churchill, with the fair complexion of a redhead, the rain was probably preferable to the burning South African sun. After a few paces one of the Boers took pity on the hatless civilian and threw him an Irish Fusilier's forage cap, a trophy picked up after an earlier battle. Churchill's immediate surroundings had only a temporary and marginal effect on his morale. His emotions encompassed humiliation at the indignity of being taken prisoner and frustration at being a captive, but above all concern that he might miss the rest of the war and the opportunities it could offer. As he plodded along the muddy track, in a hat the like of which he had not worn since he had left Sandhurst, his mind was already racing ahead to the one avenue of opportunity which, at least to him, was clearly signposted . He knew that his part in the armoured train action would 63 Churchill Wanted Dead or Alive feature with credit in the British press. His misadventure could thus be turned to advantage. In his autobiography A Soldier's Saga, Aylmer Haldane portrays Churchill as looking ahead with confidence even in the first hours following his capture: Churchill must have been cheered by the thought, which he communicated to me, that what had taken place, though it had caused the temporary loss of his post as war correspondent, would help considerably in opening the door for him to enter the House of Commons. As we trudged wearily over the damp veldt he remarked to me that in allotting him what I might call the 'star turn' I had effaced myself, while his work of clearing the line had brought him into prominence . . . He added that so far as I was concerned he would at first opportunity publish the facts in his newspaper. Churchill's suggestion to Haldane that he had been allotted the starring role was no more than a polite way of glossing over the fact that he had reacted positively to the crisis, seizing the initiative while others were still in a state of shock. Haldane, perhaps recognising that his own performance had been eclipsed and not wishing to see that implied in print, responded with a stiff upper lip: 'While thanking him, I replied that being satisfied that I had done my duty and acted in what I considered the wisest way in the circumstances no explanation as to what had occurred was necessary.' Churchill's fame was spreading even as he was being marched into captivity. That very evening the Natal Advertiser ran a special edition carrying a report of his 'courageous conduct' during the ambush. It had to rely on fragmentary accounts from those survivors who had made it back to Estcourt, for, as Reuter reported, 'the only war correspondent present was Mr Churchill', and he was at that moment incommunicado somewhere on the rain-soaked veldt. The report ended: 'Our friend Mr Churchill is a prisoner,' a tribute to the impact he had made in the short time he had been in Natal. Two days later the paper carried a more lengthy account, based on the testimony of Captain Wylie, who had been wounded during the attack. He described Churchill's conduct 'in the most 64 \ Winston Churchill, war correspondent, by Mortimer Menpes. ' % "' Churchill in South Africa, by Mortimer Menpes. Estcourt in 1899. Estcourt station, where Churchill pitched his tent. ABOVE Churchill with Colonel Julian Byng, commander of the South African Light Horse. RIGHT Captain Aylmer Haldane. LEFT The Boer commander General Louis Botha, later reputed to have personally captured Churchill. BELOW Daniel Swanepoel {right), who guarded Churchill on the train to Pretoria. OPPOSITE LEFT The armoured train approaching...