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Amidst the cacophony of war — the horses’ hooves pounding on the ground, the terrified animals braying; men barking orders, others screaming as they fell; the reports of gunfire, with bullets hitting metal, wood, flesh and bone — one sound had stopped: Sgt. Edward Holland’s Colt machine-gun had overheated, jammed and fallen silent.

Holland, a 22-year-old Ottawa lad, knew what the problem was and how to fix it; it would just take a few seconds. But he didn’t have a few seconds. The enemy was that close — closer, even, than his horse that pulled the mounted machine-gun.

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He knew, too, that he couldn’t leave the gun behind; the Boers would simply turn it around, unjam it and start mowing down Canadian and British soldiers. The gun could fire 400 rounds per minute.

It was Nov. 7, 1900, in South Africa — the Boer War, and what would be known as the Battle of Leliefontein. The day before, a column of British troops had pushed Boer forces south, across the Komati River. But the British commander, Maj.-Gen. Horace Smith-Dorrien, knew the Boers would reinforce their numbers overnight, and so he planned to retreat 30 kilometres north to the British camp in Dublin, South Africa, first thing in the morning. A small contingent of Canadian soldiers from The Royal Canadian Dragoons, 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles and “D” Battery Canadian Field Artillery would act as a rearguard, protecting the British soldiers as they pulled back. Holland was a Dragoon.