At the Battle of Spion Kop between the British and the Boers in 1900, a man of the 1st Royal Dragoons saw an extraordinary incident: "One fellow of the Imperial Light Infantry had his head shot clean off while he was lying down firing. He got up and stood straight up with his rifle in his hand while his head had gone. He then threw up his hands and fell down in a heap."
And an army surgeon gave the following account: "An old infantryman -- his chin, neck, and chest shot through by bullets - came in and said he had just dropped in to let me take his finger off, as it was so shattered he could not pull the trigger of his rifle, and it got in the way of his next finger. He wanted to get back up the hill to pay the Dutchmen* out."
一九零零年斯皮恩山之役,是英軍和波爾人之戰。皇家第一龍騎兵團有人目睹一件異事:「皇家輕步兵團一人伏在地上開槍,忽然整個頭顱給轟掉。這個無頭步兵站起來,挺直身子,手裏還拿着來福槍,然後一揚雙手,頹然倒在地上。」
一個軍醫則有以下記載:「有個年老步兵,下巴、脖子、胸膛都給子彈洞穿,走進來,說只是要把一根手指切除,因為那血肉模糊的手指,妨礙旁邊那根手指活動,使他無法扣來福槍扳機。他還要回到山上,跟荷蘭人*算帳。」
*波爾人即荷蘭裔南非洲人。