PAARDEBERG
Had Lord Kitchener witnessed the battles of the Modder and
Magersfontein, it is morally certain that he would not have attacked
Cronje in his lair. But hitherto he had been engaged only with
barbarous tribes, who, although magnificently brave, were either
altogether without firearms, or were armed only with muskets of
obsolete pattern. He was unable to form an idea of the tremendous
effect of such rifles as those in the hands of the Boers, a race of
marksmen. Nothing could have been gained by such an attack, even
if successful, as the Boers must sooner or later have surrendered.
Escape was impossible, and the troops could be trusted to give a good
account of any force advancing to aid Cronje. Doubtless he was to some
extent influenced by the burning desire on the part of his men and
officers--who, with the exception of those of the Highland Brigade, had
not as yet been engaged with the Boers--to get at the enemy.
However, on the following morning Knox's, Stevenson's,
Smith-Dorrien's, and the Highland Brigades all advanced against the
position. When within a thousand yards, a semicircle of fire flashed
out from the waggons, as it had done from the bushes on the Modder. The
effect was terrible, and men went down by the score before the hail
of bullets, and the troops were forced, as the Guards had been on the
Modder, to throw themselves down before it. It would have been well if,
as on that occasion, the impossibility of success had been recognized,
and the troops had been ordered to remain in the same position
throughout the day, contenting themselves with returning the Boer
fire. But no such order was given, and companies got up and made short
rushes, each regiment burning to be the first to enter the Boer camp.
Some little relief was afforded by four batteries of artillery, which
kept up an incessant shell fire, distracting the Boers' attention,
preventing their taking aim, and shaking their nerve.
At twelve o'clock one of French's horse-artillery batteries came up
and joined the others at the work. Splendid were the efforts made by
many of the regiments to get to close quarters. The Canadians and
Cornwalls--Smith-Dorrien's Brigade--on the one side swept almost up to
the river bank, and the Welsh, Yorkshire, and Essex regiments did as
well on the opposite side of the semicircle, both forcing the Boers to
contract their lines, and limiting the space occupied by them.
The Highlanders did magnificently, burning to retrieve their defeat at
Magersfontein, and showed that they had entirely recovered from the
effects of that disaster. Their conduct was all the more worthy of
admiration, inasmuch as they had marched over thirty miles, and only
arrived on the scene just as the advance began. From the south side
of the river a heavy rifle fire was maintained by the troops on that
bank; and it is probable that some, at least, among the casualties on
our side were inflicted by their bullets, which passed over the Boer
camp. All day the fight continued, and all that had been effected was
to contract the Boer position along the river bank from three miles to
barely two. When evening fell, our troops were still in the positions
they had won during the day. But the cost was out of all proportion to
the advantage gained. They had suffered eleven hundred casualties. The
Seaforths headed the list with one hundred and twenty, the Black Watch
came next with ninety-six; ninety Yorkshires, the same number of West
Riding Regiment, eighty among the Canadians, seventy-six Argyle and
Sutherlands, fifty-six of the Cornwalls, forty-six of the Shropshires,
and thirty-one of the Oxfordshires, showed how every regiment had taken
its share in the fighting.
On the following day Cronje asked for twenty-four hours' armistice
to enable him to bury his dead. Lord Kitchener assented, but as the
morning wore on Lord Roberts arrived with Tucker's Division from
Jacobsdal, and with three more field-batteries, and five naval guns.
The Commander-in-Chief disapproved altogether of the armistice, which
was evidently a mere pretext to gain time; and he accordingly sent
word to Cronje that the armistice was at an end, but that any women
and children in the laager might come out, and would receive good
treatment. This offer was declined by Cronje. His refusal was the
signal for the guns to open, and all day a hail of fire was poured into
the Boer laager. Smith-Dorrien's Brigade was left on the ground that
it had won, near the river-bank to the west; while one of Tucker's
Brigades, commanded by Chermside, occupied the same position to the
east. The remainder of the troops were drawn off and posted so as to
prevent any portion of the beleaguered host from making their escape.
De Wet, with the force that had attacked and finally captured the
train of waggons at Waterval Drift, had come round and surprised and
captured a party of thirty men and four officers of Kitchener's Horse,
who were posted on a kopje two miles away from the laager. The loss
of this position was serious, because it opened the road to any Boer
force marching to relieve Cronje. That such a force was approaching was
known. Cronje had, when he found the passage at Koodoosrand blocked,
flashed signals asking for aid, and not only would the local forces
answer the appeal, but these would be largely reinforced by Orange Free
State commandos coming with all haste from Natal by rail. Accordingly,
five regiments of cavalry with four batteries were sent against the
kopje, the force being divided into two parties of equal strength, and
passing one on each side of the hill. A force of Boers they encountered
were easily defeated, while the artillery drove off the defenders of
the kopje, of whom some fifty were killed and as many taken prisoners.
Two days later another party approached. They attacked a kopje held
by the Yorkshires but failed to capture it, and then tried to carry
another hill held by the Buffs and were again defeated. In all eighty
were taken prisoners. Every night Boers crept out from their laager and
gave themselves up as prisoners, and by the end of the week we had six
hundred captives. All this time the guns had thundered almost without
cessation. From a balloon overhead signals were made as to the point at
which the fire should be directed. Nothing could withstand this hail of
iron. Scores of waggons were smashed up, oxen and horses killed by the
hundred, but few Boers were visible. Holes and tunnels had been driven
into the side of the numerous dongas that intersected the laager. Here
the women and children were sheltered, and here the men crouched in
readiness to sally out and defend the laager if again attacked, and
whenever our outposts were pushed forward, the fire from their trenches
was as heavy as ever.
At the extremity of the base of the semicircle Smith-Dorrien and
Chermside's men had been steadily pushing forward trenches. On the
night of Monday, February 26th, it was determined that the former
should make an advance. The Canadians were to lead it, the Gordons
to be in support, and the Shropshires to move to the left to protect
the force from any attempt of the Boers to take them in flank. Two
companies of the Canadians led the advance. The moon had not yet risen,
and to keep their position each man grasped the sleeve of the man next
to him. The rear rank carried spades and had their rifles slung behind
them. The 7th Company of the Royal Engineers followed them carrying
sacks full of earth. The distance to be traversed was eight hundred
yards.
Never did men undertake more nervous work, for at any moment they might
be swept by a storm of bullets such as had smitten the Highlanders at
Magersfontein. Not a sound was heard until they were within fifty yards
of the Boer trenches, and then the front rank struck against a wire on
which empty meat-cans were stretched. A rifle-shot was fired as the
clang rose, and the Canadians at once threw themselves on their faces.
Scarcely had they done so when a roar of fire from a line six hundred
yards long broke out. To move forward was impossible; the moon was
on the point of rising, and its light would enable the Boers to pick
them off unerringly. Accordingly the companies out on the plain were
ordered to fall back in very open order, and this was effected with a
comparatively small number of casualties.
[Illustration: CRONJE RIDES OUT TO SURRENDER.]
The Canadians, however, now felt the benefit of the sacks of earth
carried by the Engineers with them. These sacks were thrown down the
instant the first shot was fired, and behind these the two companies of
Canadians and the Engineers lay in comparative shelter. This protection
was soon increased by the work of the men with shovels, and before day
broke they were firmly established, and from their position were able
to open a flanking fire upon the greater portion of the Boer trenches
on that side. The other companies of the Canadians had similarly
entrenched themselves a short distance farther back, and all felt
that the end of the ten days' investment was close at hand. The Boers
also saw that to continue the struggle would result in their entire
destruction, and at six in the morning a white flag was raised and
Cronje himself rode out. He was met by General Pretyman and conducted
by him to the head-quarters camp, where he met Lord Roberts, who shook
hands with him. Cronje then said that he had come in to surrender.
The general replied that the surrender must be unconditional. Cronje
felt that in the desperate position in which he was placed he could
not stand out for any conditions, but merely asked that his wife,
grandson, secretary, and adjutant should, with his servants, be allowed
to accompany him. This was granted, and he and those with him were the
same afternoon sent down with the other prisoners, about four thousand
in number, under a strong escort to the railway, by which they were
taken down to Cape Town.
Only a hundred and fifty wounded were found in the camp, and, taking
the usual proportion of killed and wounded, only some thirty or forty
could have fallen victims to the tremendous bombardment to which
they had been exposed for ten days, including those who fell during
the attack on the 18th. The aspect of the prisoners was miserable
to the last degree as, pallid, unwashed, unkempt, and ragged, they
staggered up from the holes in which they had been lying, worn out by
the terrible strain, sickened by the horrible odours that speedily
drove back the soldiers who entered the camp, and must have been
well-nigh insupportable even to nostrils accustomed to insanitary
surroundings. Some were sullen and downcast, but among the majority the
predominant feeling was evidently one of satisfaction at the end of
their sufferings, and the fact that, as far as they were concerned, the
fighting was over.
The scene in the camp was indeed terrible. Carcasses of dead animals
lay everywhere, the greater part, owing to the heat of the sun, being
in a state of decomposition. Waggons overturned, and sometimes smashed
to pieces by the explosion of our shells, showed the destruction modern
artillery can effect against material of all kinds, though it is
comparatively harmless against troops when not in solid formation.
If the Boer prisoners had expected--as would assuredly have been the
case had they been the victors--that the vanquished would be received
with exultation and triumphant jeers, they were agreeably surprised.
They had been brought up in the belief that the British soldier was
at once contemptible as a fighter and full of every evil quality.
They had already learned that he could fight; now they learned that
he was a generous enemy, and that his imagined hatred of the Boer had
no existence whatever. The patient endurance with which the besieged
had supported the tremendous fire to which they had been subjected,
had filled the soldiers with admiration and pity for men forced by the
iron will of their commander to maintain a resistance when there was no
possibility of escape, and they crowded round the captives, offering
them little kindnesses, helping the feeble, giving them tobacco and
other little comforts from their own scanty stores, carrying the
children, and assisting the women. There was no sign of exultation.
They were justly proud of the success they had gained, but no show of
this feeling was visible. As much honour was due to the British soldier
for his bearing at the moment of victory as for the desperate courage
and steadfast endurance he had displayed in trying to achieve it.
Yorke Harberton had been kept at work almost night and day from the
time he reached Jacobsdal, carrying orders to the different columns and
bringing back news of their position and progress. He would alternately
ride his own horse and that which Mr. Chambers had given him, and
when these required rest would use animals captured when Jacobsdal
was taken. Although the excitement had kept him up, he was completely
worn out when he arrived at head-quarters at Paardeberg. The other
aides-de-camp were in a similar position, and Lord Roberts with his
usual kindness told them that they must for a day or two consider
themselves relieved from further duty, and that their work would be
carried on by officers drawn from the cavalry. In spite of the thunder
of the guns Yorke slept for nearly eighteen hours without waking, then,
after a hearty meal, he rode round the line of investment, in order to
ascertain the exact position of the various regiments and brigades, in
case he should have to carry orders to them. But although after two
days' rest he returned to duty, there was little for him to do, as the
position remained unchanged until the final advance of Smith-Dorrien's
men.
The joy of the troops at the capture of Cronje and his host--who
had left Magersfontein six thousand strong, and of whom only one
thousand who had slunk away to their farms retained their liberty--was
heightened by the fact that his surrender occurred on Majuba Day.
This feeling was especially strong among the Colonial troops, who had
hitherto been obliged to put up with the triumphant celebrations of
that event by the Boers. This feeling was still further heightened by
the receipt of the news that a day later Buller's army had relieved
Ladysmith.
Not until March 6th, a week after the surrender, was there any
movement. This pause had been absolutely necessary to rest the horses
of the cavalry, which had been half starved as well as terribly
overworked. Accustomed to be fed at regular hours, these were unable to
eke out the scanty rations served to them by cropping the dried-up and
scanty grass on the veldt, and even at the end of the week were still
scarcely fit for service. Thus no effort could be made to disperse the
large force consisting of local levies, commandos from Colesberg and
other places south of the Orange River, and those that had hurried up
from Natal, now all commanded by De Wet.
But in the meantime reinforcements had arrived--the Guards from
Klip Drift, the Australians and the Burmese Mounted Infantry, a
detachment of horse from Ceylon, the Imperial Yeomanry, and the City
Imperial Volunteers, who had distinguished themselves in the attack
on Jacobsdal, and were for all purposes of such warfare the equals
of any of the line regiments. Indeed, the South African troops, the
contingents from our colonies, and the volunteer companies which came
out attached to the various line regiments, shattered to atoms the
long-cherished belief of military men that civilians would be of no
real service in warfare. In point of bravery, readiness to submit to
discipline, and of cheerful endurance of fatigue and hardship, they
proved themselves equal to their comrades of the regular army, and
showed that enemies of Britain must not, in making an estimate of her
strength, omit from consideration the militia and volunteers, the
mounted corps that would spring into existence, and the aid of her
great colonies in case of need.
The position taken up by De Wet was a very strong one. In its centre
was a farmhouse called Poplars Grove. On both flanks rose hills
connected by scattered kopjes. Guns were placed on all the hills, and
along the front ran trenches, rifle-pits, and barbed wire; and a direct
attack would probably have proved at least as costly as Magersfontein.
But Lord Roberts possessed what Lord Methuen had not--three brigades
of mounted men and a strong force of horse-artillery. He had a number
of guns greatly superior in weight of metal to those of the enemy, and
an army of over thirty thousand men. But even with such a force he was
not a man to throw away a single life unnecessarily, and therefore
determined to turn the Boers' position. The cavalry were sent off
before morning broke on March 7th to make a wide sweep, and come down
upon the Boer line of retreat. Tucker's Division were to follow and
support them. Kelly-Kenny was to push straight along the southern bank
of the river, but he was not intended to attack until the cavalry and
Tucker were in their appointed places. The Highland Brigade were on the
north side of the river with the Naval Brigade, and these were to make
a turning movement.
Had the plan been carried out as intended, the whole of the Boer force
would probably have been annihilated and captured, and the war might
have come to an abrupt end, for both Kruger and Steyn were with De Wet,
and with the capture of the two originators of the war, all further
resistance might have ceased at once. But for once in his brilliant
career French failed. Thus, instead of sweeping quite clear of the Boer
line, he ran against the extreme left of their position. Daylight broke
before the cavalry were perceived, and the instant the Boer leaders saw
that they were in danger of being outflanked, and their retreat cut
off, they abandoned the position they had so laboriously fortified and
retired hastily. But there was still ample time for the cavalry to have
overtaken the guns and waggons, even if they could not have caught the
flying horsemen. They allowed themselves, however, to be held in check
by a handful of skirmishers, some fifty in number, who first held a
farmhouse, and when, driven from this, kept up a stinging fire from a
low kopje, until, knowing that the guns and waggons were out of reach,
and that the two presidents must have escaped, they retired.
Thus, for an hour this great body of cavalry and mounted men suffered
themselves to be detained on their all-important journey by half a
company of infantry. Such was not the method by which French had
relieved Kimberley. Then he had disregarded the rifle and artillery
fire of a vastly larger body of men, and had galloped straight on. His
mission was to the full as important now, and yet he allowed himself to
be detained for a precious hour, by which time the finest opportunity
of the whole war was lost. General Roberts remarked when he heard of
the utter failure of his plans, "In war you cannot expect everything
to come out right. General French can afford to lose one leaf from his
laurel wreath." Tucker's infantry had never fired a shot, and De Wet's
little band had inflicted some fifty casualties among our cavalry.
Had a portion of the mounted infantry been sent forward on foot against
them as soon as they opened fire, the matter would have been over in
five minutes, and the loss would probably have been much smaller.
The Boers, unmolested in their retreat, speedily rallied and took up
a fresh position at Driefontein; and on the 9th, Lord Roberts again
advanced. As before, De Wet had chosen his position well. It was some
seven miles in length. The northern flank was protected by the river,
the southern by a steep hill extending back for a long distance. The
general's plan was the same as in the previous fight, namely, to
outflank the enemy and cut off their retreat. For this purpose Tucker's
Division, with a portion of the cavalry, were to make a wide circuit.
The river prevented any flanking movement being attempted on that side.
General French was in command. The left wing was composed of
Kelly-Kenny's Division, the 1st Cavalry Brigade, and a regiment of
Mounted Infantry. He was to keep in touch with the centre, and not to
push his attack home until Tucker had worked round to the rear of the
position. But movements in the dark are always uncertain, and French,
in endeavouring to keep touch with the centre, moved his men more
and more to the right, unknowing in the darkness that he was already
ahead of that body. Thus, when he approached the Boer position, he was
absolutely between it and the main body. Morning was breaking now, and
Kelly-Kenny learned from a Boer farmer, who had doubtless been ordered
by De Wet to give false information, that the hill in front had been
abandoned. Therefore, he advanced until a storm of fire showed that he
had been deceived.
The Welsh, who were the leading regiment, were staggered by the rain
of bullets, and the Buffs passed them. So heavy was the fire to which
they were exposed that every officer was hit, and, throwing themselves
down, the men joined the Welsh in returning the fire of their unseen
assailants. The men of the Essex regiment, who were next in order,
pushed on, supported by the Yorkshires, and these with a cheer surged
over the crest and fell upon its defenders, who were the Johannesburg
Police, considered the best corps in the Boer army. It was composed of
men of every nationality. They had been the terror and scourge of the
town where they were supposed to keep order, and were, for the most
part, unmitigated ruffians. They possessed, however, that fighting
instinct that was absent among the Boers, a readiness to stand an
attack, and they here suffered heavily for it.
The Essex men were among them with the bayonet, and drove them like
chaff before the wind, leaving a hundred dead behind them. The moment
the position was carried, the Boers quitted their whole line of
defences and fled hastily. In point of the number of casualties the
action was an insignificant one. Kelly-Kenny's Brigade had lost four
hundred in killed and wounded, but they alone had been engaged. The
turning movement had failed altogether, from some miscalculation in
distance. The attack had begun long before Tucker and the cavalry had
reached their appointed place, and, as before, the Boers were able to
draw off their waggons and guns. Nevertheless, the consequences were
of immense importance. The road to Bloemfontein was again open, and
the Boers had learned that, however strong their position, they could
not hope to oppose the British advance. From this time until the army
marched into Pretoria they never again attempted to make an enduring
stand, but abandoned one after the other, without an attempt to defend
them, the positions they had prepared, or rather had forced the Kaffirs
to prepare for them with immense labour.
There was no delay after this success; the army swept forward, and
on the 12th they were within striking distance of Bloemfontein. The
cavalry pushed forward to the railway south of the town and cut it,
while Major Hunter-Weston, with a handful of Mounted Infantry, started
to cut the lines to the north of the town. The feat was a bold and
difficult one. The night was extremely dark, but they succeeded
in finding the railway and in blowing up a culvert, and returning
in safety after having fought their way through a Boer force they
encountered. This action was of immense service, as it prevented the
escape of twenty-eight railway-engines, two hundred and fifty trucks,
and a thousand tons of coal, which were all standing in readiness to
start as soon as the British were seen advancing against the town. It
is not too much to say, that had these trains escaped, Lord Roberts
would have found it next to impossible to supply his army with
provisions.
As the troops marched through Bloemfontein to the spot selected for
their encampment, a mile or two outside the town, they were received
with enthusiasm by the British portion of the population. Union-jacks
waved from the windows, caps were thrown up, and women sobbed in their
joy at their release from the long strain of nearly six months of
Boer insolence and oppression. The general was met by a deputation
headed by the mayor, the landdrost, and Mr. Fraser--the last-named
being a Scotchman who had long been settled there, and had adopted
the nationality of the Orange Free State. He had won the esteem of
the Dutch population as well as that of the British, and had been run
against Steyn for the presidentship. Had he succeeded, the Free State
would never have thrown in its lot with the Transvaal, and would have
been spared enormous sacrifices and financial ruin. He was thoroughly
loyal to the country of his birth, and was appointed by Lord Roberts
chief magistrate of Bloemfontein, while General Pretyman was named as
its governor.
It was evident to all that there must be a long pause before the army
could renew its advance. The single line of railway, by which alone
it must depend for getting up provisions and stores, was threatened
along its whole length from the Orange River by the Boers, and indeed
was at present almost completely in their hands. The bridges by which
it crossed the Orange River at Norval's Pont, on the branch to Port
Elizabeth, and at Bethulie on the branch to East London, were known to
have been blown up by De Wet when he was summoned to hasten to Cronje's
assistance. Even when these had been repaired, and the Boers driven
back from Springfontein and other points held by them, it was liable to
be interrupted at any moment by small parties of the enemy, who would
have the aid and shelter of farmhouses near the line.
The army was now cut off entirely from its base at De Aar, and it would
be necessary not only to pass up supplies sufficient for its daily
consumption, but to collect great magazines for its supply when it
started on its march north. It was necessary, too, to fill up the gaps
caused among the horses of the cavalry and the mules of the transport.
No fewer than ten thousand had died or become utterly unfit for service
during the month that had elapsed since the advance began from the
Modder River, and even of those that remained, few would be able for
some time to perform hard work. Considering the enormous difficulties
in the way, it is wonderful that six weeks sufficed to complete the
preparations for an advance.
Yorke's first step when the force arrived at Bloemfontein was to call
upon Mr. von Rensburg. The latter expressed great satisfaction at
seeing him again.
"I had every hope that you had got through safely, Mr. Harberton. For
if you had not done so, we should certainly have heard of it here.
Moreover, there came a story that three Boers had been strangely
overpowered, and left tied up in a stable by two others, aided by a
Kaffir. The two men had been recognized as spies by one of the party
assaulted. The incident was considered as an extraordinary one, as
taking place in the heart of a town occupied by the Boers, without any
alarm being given. So far as was known their assailants had escaped.
It was certain that the two spies had ridden quietly out of the town,
and had been accompanied by the Kaffir. A hundred men started in
pursuit along all the roads leading west, but without success. I felt
no doubt that you were the men engaged in the matter, and I heartily
congratulate you."
"It was entirely due to you that we succeeded; your getting us that
ride in the train down to Colesberg, and the permit were of the
greatest service to us, and we could hardly have crossed the river
without them. Even as it was, it was a close thing, and it was the
greatest piece of good fortune that we were able to get out of the town
after the affair you speak of."
He then related how Dirck Jansen and his companions had been overcome
and silenced.
"You Englishmen are quicker of thought and action than our people,"
von Rensburg said. "I am not astonished that in a sudden struggle like
that, when both parties were equally surprised, you had the advantage.
I shall be glad, if your duties permit, if you will take up your
quarters here. I have no doubt that the Dutch rule in this place is at
an end, and I shall be running no risk whatever in showing that I for
one am well content that it should be so. The behaviour of your men as
they marched through the town to-day was beyond all praise. They must
have had a terrible time of it, for they all looked worn and haggard,
and had evidently been doing desperately hard work on the smallest
amount of food."
"Yes, it has been hard work, and our loss in horses and baggage animals
has been enormous; still, we are all well satisfied. In a month from
starting we have relieved Kimberley, captured Cronje and some five
thousand of his men, driven De Wet out of two strong positions, and now
occupy this town."
"I do not think you will have much more hard fighting, Mr. Harberton.
The men who came in here yesterday, after being driven from the last
position, were completely disheartened. They said they had been told
that the Rooineks were cowards, but that there was no stopping them,
and that your soldiers marched through a storm of bullets as if these
had merely been hailstones."
As the Government House, of which Lord Roberts had taken possession,
was close to Mr. von Rensburg's, Yorke had no difficulty in obtaining
permission to stay there. The time passed pleasantly for him; he
had just enough work to do in riding out to the camps with orders,
and in questioning farmers who had come in to take advantage of the
proclamation, that all who gave up their arms and took the oath of
neutrality would be permitted to return to their farms and remain there
unmolested. He had his friends of the 9th Lancers, and was always
welcomed in the camps of the cavalry brigades. He was introduced by Mr.
von Rensburg to several of the leading Dutch families, and passed many
pleasant evenings among them. As the shops were still fairly supplied,
the head-quarter mess was now comparatively luxurious, and altogether
he was far less impatient than most of the other officers for the
advance to commence.
Preparations for it had begun some time before, when Tucker's Division
had captured Karee siding, some twenty miles north of the town; but
not without considerable loss, for, as upon previous occasions, the
infantry attacked before the cavalry had completed their turning
movement. But on the 3rd of May all was ready for the advance. The
troops were glad indeed, for while they were stationed at Bloemfontein,
a terrible foe had made its appearance among them. Enteric fever had
broken out, the hospitals were filled to overflowing with sick men, and
the accommodation was altogether insufficient to meet the emergency.
For this no one could be blamed. The medical staff that had accompanied
the movement from the Modder River was sufficient to cope with and care
for any amount of wounded that were likely to be thrown on to their
hands; but it was not capable of meeting such an emergency, even with
the assistance of the hospitals that had been furnished and sent out
by private subscription from home. All that could be done was done;
but the first necessity was to provide for the wants of the fighting
men, to accumulate the stores on which they would have to depend
during their advance; and although many Red Cross trains came up,
there was, for a considerable time, a grievous deficiency of hospital
accommodation and hospital necessaries, doctors, and nurses.
In one hospital, where there were five hundred beds, there were
seventeen hundred sick. Upwards of a thousand men died, but there were
some seven thousand cases, and those who recovered were so debilitated
by the effects of the disease that they were unfit for further service,
and had to be sent down to the Cape or Port Elizabeth, and then to
England. The seeds of this terrible scourge had been sown by the
polluted waters drunk at Paardeberg. By some grievous oversight the
War Office had neglected the advice of those who urged upon it the
necessity of sending out a special corps to attend to sanitary points.
Had this recommendation been attended to, the lives of some four
thousand or five thousand men, and of over twenty thousand sent home
incapacitated for work, would have been saved.
Gatacre's force were able after De Wet's departure to move up to the
Orange River, repairing the railway as they advanced. On arriving at
Bethulie Bridge, the general found that, although that magnificent
railway viaduct had been destroyed, the road bridge was still intact.
It was known, however, to be mined, and there was a strong Boer force
on the other side ready to blow it up the instant the British ventured
upon it. It was saved, however, by the daring action of Lieutenant
Popham, of the Derbyshire Regiment, and of Captain Grant, of the
Sappers. The former, with two men, crept along the bridge at night and
removed the detonators, took away the dynamite from under the farther
span, and carried it off under a heavy fire, opened by the Boers as
soon as they found that the mines were being tampered with. But there
still remained heavy charges in the piers, and although the Boers
could not explode these in the ordinary way, as they were commanded by
our rifle-fire, they might have effected it by directing a shell-fire
against them. Captain Grant, therefore, completed Popham's work by
going across, removing the charges, and dropping them into the river.
As the reconstruction of the railway-bridge was a work that would
occupy months rather than weeks, the preservation of the road-bridge
was a matter of vital importance. Gatacre's force marched across it
after the enemy had been shelled out from their position on the other
side, and advanced along the line of railway. The cavalry pushed
forward to Springfontein, and there met two battalions of Guards sent
down by train from Bloemfontein--and thus the whole line of railway was
in our possession.
Clements, advancing from Colesberg, had thrown a pontoon bridge
across the river close to the ruined Norval's Pont, and thus, when a
temporary deviation of the line had been effected, this branch of the
railway was also available. Farther to the east, General Brabant, with
a force of Colonial Volunteers, the Royal Scots, and three guns of
field-artillery, advanced to Dordrecht, won a victory there, and pushed
on so rapidly towards Aliwal, that he occupied the bridge there before
it could be blown up, and then proceeded to stamp out the rebellion
in that part of Cape Colony. To the east of the line of railway, from
Bethulie to Bloemfontein, strong bodies of the enemy continued to
wander about doing considerable damage. But Lord Roberts was not to be
tempted to move any considerable forces to suppress them. His great
object was to march to Pretoria, his great work to collect stores that
would enable him to do so, and to do this he contented himself with
holding fast to the line of railway. Rails were often removed and
culverts blown up, but a few hours' work always sufficed to repair the
damage.
Two serious reverses, however, happened. A cavalry force had been
threatened by a strong Boer commando at the water-works that supplied
Bloemfontein. They were twenty-four miles from the town. The Boers
opened fire with heavy guns from a hill that commanded the British
position. Colonel Broadwood, who was in command, could not, with a
force composed only of mounted men, attempt to storm the hill, and
as the guns of the two batteries of horse-artillery with him were
altogether inferior to those of the Boers, he decided to retire upon
Bloemfontein. He knew that a messenger he had sent the night before
to ask for reinforcements had arrived there, and he received a reply
that Colvile's Division would be sent out before daybreak to meet him.
Believing, therefore, that there was no danger in front, he remained at
the rear of the column, which had been shelled by the enemy.
The waggons were at the head of the retiring column, which, as it
crossed the plain, had to go through a deep donga. Here the Boers were
in hiding. Each waggon as it descended was silently seized. A Boer took
the place of the driver, and it ascended the opposite side without
any alarm being given. So the whole convoy would have fallen into the
hands of the hidden enemy had not one of the troopers with it drawn
his pistol and fired. A volley of shots rang out, and the brave fellow
paid for his courage with his life. The nine waggons which had not
reached the donga halted. The two batteries were close behind them,
and, knowing further concealment to be useless, the Boers sprang to
their feet and opened a terrible fire on them. Men and horses went down
in numbers. The confusion was terrible. The men struggled to get the
fallen horses out of the traces, but were mown down by the continuous
rain of bullets. The rearmost gun of the leading battery alone was able
to get off, and galloped furiously back. Two guns of the second battery
were overturned by the struggling horses and had to be abandoned. As
soon as the others reached a distance of seven or eight hundred yards
from the edge of the donga, they turned and opened fire.
Roberts's Horse had been abreast of the guns and suffered heavily also;
but they, the New Zealanders, and the Burmese Horse dismounted when
they had retired a sufficient distance, and, throwing themselves down,
returned the fire of the Boers. Parties of cavalry were sent off to
discover some other point at which the donga could be crossed, and one
was found two miles to the south by an officer of Rimington's Scouts,
and towards this the force moved off. The artillery nobly covered the
retreat. But they had suffered terribly. Two of the guns had but two
men left to work them, and another was loaded and fired by an officer
single-handed; and when at last the order came to fall back, but ten
men remained on their legs, and several of these were wounded. The
Colonial corps covered the withdrawal by turns, and in two hours the
rear of the column had crossed the donga. Some thirty officers and
three hundred men were killed, wounded, or missing. A hundred waggons,
with seven guns, were lost. Only one officer and the sergeant-major of
the leading battery escaped.
The other disaster, which was equally serious, occurred four days
later, when a detachment of five companies of infantry posted at
Reddersburg were surrounded on their march from an advanced position,
and took post on a kopje. For twenty-four hours they defended
themselves gallantly. But they were without water, the hoped-for relief
did not arrive, and they surrendered the next morning.