GENERAL BULLER'S OPERATIONS--ROUTING THE BOERS FROM LAING'S NEK[5]
The Natal Field Force, after the departure of Sir Charles Warren, was
composed as follows:--
SECOND DIVISION (Lieutenant-General Sir C. F. Clery).--2nd
Brigade (Major-General Hamilton)--2nd East Surrey; 2nd West
Yorks; 2nd Devons; 2nd West Surrey. 4th Brigade (Colonel C. D.
Cooper)--1st Rifle Brigade; 1st Durham Light Infantry; 3rd
King's Royal Rifles; 2nd Scottish Rifles (Cameronians), 7th,
14th, and 66th Field Batteries.
FOURTH DIVISION (Lieutenant-General Lyttelton).--7th Brigade
(Brigadier-General F. W. Kitchener)--1st Devon; 1st Gloucester;
1st Manchester; 2nd Gordon Highlanders. 8th Brigade
(Major-General F. Howard)--1st Royal Irish Fusiliers; 1st
Leicester; 1st King's Royal Rifles; 2nd King's Royal Rifles.
Two Brigade Divisions Royal Artillery--13th, 67th, 69th Field
Batteries; 21st, 42nd, 53rd Field Batteries.
FIFTH DIVISION (Lieutenant-General H. J. T. Hildyard).--10th
Brigade (Major-General J. T. Coke)--2nd Dorset; 2nd Middlesex;
1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. 11th Brigade (Major-General
A. S. Wynne)--2nd Royal Lancaster; 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers;
1st South Lancashire; 1st York and Lancaster; 19th, 28th, and
78th Field Batteries. Corps Troops--1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers;
2nd Rifle Brigade; 1st King's Liverpool; Imperial Light
Infantry; 61st Field Battery (Howitzers); Two Nordenfeldts
(taken from the Boers); Natal Battery 9-pounders; Fourteen
naval 12-pounder quick-firers; 4th Mountain Battery; 10th
Mountain Battery, two guns; Four 4.7 naval guns; Naval 6-in.
gun; Part of Siege Train.
CAVALRY DIVISION.--1st Brigade (Major-General J. J. F. Burn
Murdoch). 2nd Brigade (Major-General J. F. Brocklehurst). 3rd
Brigade (Major-General the Earl of Dundonald)--5th Dragoon
Guards; 1st Royal Dragoons; 5th Lancers; 13th Hussars; 18th
Hussars; 19th Hussars; A Battery Royal Horse Artillery; South
African Light Horse; Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry; Bethune's
Mounted Infantry; Natal Carabineers; Natal Mounted Rifles;
Border Mounted Rifles; Umvoti Mounted Rifles; Natal Police;
Colt Battery.
At the request of Sir Redvers Buller, on the 2nd of June, Christian
Botha, brother of Commandant Louis Botha, accompanied by Fourie and
Pretorius, met him near Majuba for the purpose of holding a conference
regarding terms of surrender of Laing's Nek. A proposition was made, of
course involving unconditional surrender, and hostilities were suspended
for three days in order that it might be digested by the Dutchmen. It was
found unpalatable and rejected. Whereupon the belligerents resumed their
warlike attitude. The interval had been utilised by the Boers, who had
entrenched themselves for about ten miles from Pogwani east of the
Buffalo, to the fringes of Majuba, and further westward still. The
natural barriers of Natal--the historic barriers that had made the "grave
of reputations"--were now terraced with trenches, and nodulous with
gun-pits. Another Gibraltar, frowning with menace, was prepared to
accommodate 5000 desperate Boers. But they had not calculated that a way
round might be found, and that they in their fastnesses might be "turned"
before they could utilise that cleverly arranged system of self-defence.
Yet the unforeseen occurred, and we shall see.
[Illustration: THE LAST BATTLE OF MAJUBA HILL--THE BATTLE OF ALMOND'S
NEK. (From a Sketch by Lieut. E. B. Knox, R.A.M.C.)]
On the 6th of June Sir Redvers Buller began his new move. General Talbot
Coke and the 10th Brigade and South African Light Horse, after some brisk
skirmishing with the enemy, seized Van Wyk's Hill, whereupon, during that
day, and the following day, the 7th, two 4.7-in. guns and two 12-pounder
naval guns were mounted on the eminence, while two 5-in. guns were
perched on the south-western spur of Inkwelo. General Hildyard, who
during the armistice had moved across from Utrecht to Ingogo,
concentrated his Division for advance over Botha's Pass, while General
Clery kept an eye on Laing's Nek, and beyond him General Lyttelton,
co-operating, brushed the enemy away from the right flank, and kept clear
the country between Utrecht and Wakkerstroom. Thus was prepared the way
for General Hildyard's brilliantly planned and admirably executed
assault of the spur of the Berg between Botha's Pass and Inkwelo, which
took place on the 8th, with the result that the enemy, some 2000 strong,
were outflanked and routed from their mountain strongholds, and the pass
was captured without serious loss.
The 9th was spent in a general halt on the summit of the pass, getting
the transport through the Drakensberg, hauling baggage up the steeps, and
skirmishing with Boers who hovered on the outskirts of the hills. The
labour entailed was prodigious, as the roads to the pass were intensely
precipitous, the hill being over a mile long, and many of the transport
waggons had to be double-spanned before they could make appreciable
advance. The troops, too, were sorely tried, for at night they shivered
in the crisp, frosty atmosphere, which appeared additionally numbing
after the warm sunlight of midday. Still, with unquenchable zeal, they
pursued their labours, climbing and clambering over boulder and slab, and
looking down on the chasms below with genuine satisfaction at the thought
of obstacles surmounted and decisive work to be accomplished. They had
now secured a commanding position, which in a very short space of time
they hoped to make unchallengeable.
On the 10th General Buller's force, marching over the wide veldt, reached
the junction of Gans Vlei, some ten miles north, while General Hildyard's
crossed the pass and concentrated on Klip River, situated some fifteen
miles due west of Laing's Nek, and in face of some rugged country on the
way to Volksrust. The Dutchmen were there congregating, and preparing in
the Almond's Nek region to intercept the passage. The South African Light
Horse, before the arrival of the main column, had captured a useful
kopje, and they, and some squadrons of the Irregulars, made a dashing
attack on the mass of Dutchmen who were barring the main road. A most
animated engagement was fought, which cost the South African Light Horse
six killed and eight wounded. The enemy after the encounter slowly
retired, harassed by the 2nd Cavalry Brigade. The main column,
frost-bitten and weary, bivouacked in the shadow of the captured kopje,
the 11th Brigade immediately below, and further down, the 10th Brigade,
while still lower down came the 2nd Brigade, commanded now by General
Hamilton in place of General Hildyard, who, as we know, was raised to
divisional rank.
On the 11th the advance was continued in the direction of Volksrust, and
General Hildyard (Fifth Division) made a brilliant frontal attack against
the Boers, who were now holding a formidable position with several guns
at the east of Almond's Nek, which place stands about seven miles north
of Gans Vlei. After the artillery had been pounding a dangerous hoop of
ridges for a considerable time, filling the whole atmosphere with
reverberating roars, the 10th Brigade, the Dorsets in the firing line,
the Middlesex in support, advanced on the right of the ridge beyond which
were the Mounted Infantry, while the 2nd Brigade, the East Surreys and
Queen's leading, treading the open, made a bold dash for the foe. These,
concealed among the steep boulders, proceeded to pour a thunderous and
fiery welcome on all who approached. The stertorous rampage continued for
hours. But, fortunately, in their fastnesses our big guns--two 4.7-in.
monsters and six little "handy" 12-pounders--eventually searched them
out, and subsequently a gallant charge--one of the most brilliant in the
campaign--the charge of the Dorsets who, in a blizzard of lead, swarmed
upon the position with fixed bayonets, decided the fortunes of the day.
The superb manner in which those seasoned warriors launched themselves at
miles and miles of entrenched positions--a veritable phalanx of church
steeples--was beyond praise. Their great assault cost the valiant
regiment ten killed and forty wounded. Some Boer prisoners were taken,
and five or six Dutchmen bit the dust. But most of them had bolted before
the gleam of the bayonets, and in their flight had set fire to the grass
so as to render pursuit impossible. Simultaneously with the charge of the
Dorsets, the 2nd Brigade was doing identical work, and doing it
splendidly. They succeeded in capturing the whole of the position, in
clearing the enemy entirely off the scene, and in rendering the
formidable galleries of doom, the rows of trenches on Laing's Nek, "full
of emptiness." The Irregulars under Colonel Gough, brave as ever and cool
as cucumbers, had been also vigorously engaged on the right, so
vigorously, so dauntlessly that two officers, Captain Mann
(Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry), and Captain O'Brien (Composite
Regiment) were mortally wounded. But, losses apart, the day's work was in
every way effective, as the Boers by evacuating Laing's Nek left open the
Volksrust Road, and virtually ceased from defacing British soil.
Thus in two marches Sir Redvers Buller had succeeded in effectively
sweeping Northern Natal, a feat of which his army was very justly proud.
There was no doubt that the Chief had now made himself master both of the
tactics of the enemy and the peculiarities of the country over which he
had to travel. He had bought his experience in a hard school, but in this
march he applied it brilliantly, and exacted from all the applause that
was his due. Through broken country and steep he had made a flank march
of fifty miles with an immense force and tremendous transport, clearing
the way before him with the loss of about 30 killed and 150 wounded. His
strategy had been ingenious as masterly, for while he made a
demonstration on their left and kept the Boers in expectation of attack
in that quarter, he had wheeled his force to their right, and surprised
them before they had time to gather themselves together sufficiently to
frustrate the tactics of the advancing force.
[Illustration: REPAIRING LAING'S NEK TUNNEL BLOWN UP BY THE BOERS.
(Drawing by J. J. Waugh, from a photo by Captain P. U. Vigors.)]
The triumphant issue of the movement was a source of intense satisfaction
to all concerned in it. The Natal Field Force had hitherto scarcely been
fortunate, and there were many among its members who were inclined to
envy those who, to use a popular word, had "processed" up the Free State
figuratively to the tune of "See the Conquering Hero comes." The Natal
Force had had a prodigious number of kicks, and knew what hard fighting
meant, and had felt sore to find themselves, so to speak, "on the
unfashionable side." It became a question with these much battered
warriors whether the kicks would be productive of halfpence, and whether,
when honours were ladled out, those who so richly deserved it would come
in for a bare spoonful. The splendid "little battle that did a big
thing"--that, on the 11th of June, left Almond's Nek purged of Boers and
enabled General Clery and his Division to occupy Laing's Nek--settled all
misgivings. Sir Redvers Buller's flanking movement was full not only of
political but sentimental importance, for the reconquest of Majuba and
Laing's Nek meant the sponging out of humiliating memories which had
grown more painful with the passage of years.
In these operations the total casualties amounted to 153.
On the 7th Second Lieutenant Andrews, 6th Company Western Division Royal
Garrison Artillery, was severely injured on the head, and on the
following day Second Lieutenant E. F. Grant-Dalton, 2nd West Yorkshire
Regiment, was wounded.
On the 11th, the casualties among officers were: Lieutenant Stafford,
East Surrey Regiment, severely wounded; Captain Mansel, Second Lieutenant
Herbert, 2nd Dorsets, slightly wounded; Lieut.-Colonel Mills, Lieutenant
Seppings, 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers, slightly wounded; Lieutenant
Johnstone, 11th Hussars, killed; Captain Northey, 2nd Cameronians,
slightly wounded; Captain O'Brien mortally wounded (since dead).
GENERAL BULLER'S ADVANCE FROM LAING'S NEK TO STANDERTON
The next stage in the proceedings was begun on the 20th, when Sir Redvers
Buller moved to Paarde Kop, and from thence proceeded to Standerton, when
he opened up communications with Lord Roberts. On the 15th of the month
Lord Roberts, telegraphing to the War Office, said, "Buller, I hope, is
at Standerton." But this was not the case, the Natal Force being delayed
at Laing's Nek for various reasons connected with transport and the
rearrangement and recuperation of the troops and the repair of the
Laing's Nek tunnel. Doubtless the inability of the General to proceed,
had considerable effect upon the main war programme, and many imagine
that if the force had been able to occupy Standerton, which lies directly
between Machadodorp, where President Kruger had fled, and Reitz, where
President Steyn had located himself, concerted action between the two
Presidents might have been nipped in the bud. As it was, the Dutchmen
continued to use the telegraph till the 22nd of June, when Sir Redvers
Buller's troops threw a formidable barrier between them, and spoilt the
hatching of further elaborate plots for the continuance of organised
warfare. Meanwhile, General Hildyard occupied Wakkerstroom, but marched
thence to join General Buller on the 19th.
[Illustration: A HISTORIC BATTLEFIELD: JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1881, AND MAY
1900
From a Sketch by Major-General Coke, Commanding the 10th Brigade]
On the 20th General Buller's headquarters arrived at Sandspruit Station
beyond Volksrust, and pitched camp two miles further on, to west of the
rail. Many surrenders took place, and some blowing up of culverts by
those who were retreating in disgust at the defeat at Almond's Nek, a
defeat which they considered the worst disaster to their arms that had
yet occurred. The Natal Volunteers were now about to be disbanded, and
left for Dundee. They were highly praised by all, and the Chief issued an
order expressing his keen appreciation of the services rendered by
Brigadier-General Dartnell and his stalwart followers in the arduous
task which has resulted in the expulsion of the enemy from Natal
territory. General Lyttelton now moved from Coetzes Drift to Laing's Nek
to protect the line from Newcastle to Volksrust, while General Coke's
Brigade mounted guard over the latter place.
The next day, the 21st, the advance column reached Paardekop, situated
some thirty miles from their destination. Standerton was neared by Lord
Dundonald's mounted force on the 22nd, while the infantry followed some
eight miles behind, the 10th Brigade only being left at Paardekop. As
Major Gough and a squadron of the Composite Regiment entered Standerton a
party of Boers made off, leaving the place to be occupied without
resistance. The railway bridge was found to be injured, as also were some
engine trucks and engines. The Hollander railway officials, for whose
idle hands the devil had invented this mischief, were imprisoned.
[Illustration: RAILWAY MAP SHOWING LINES FROM PRETORIA TO E. AND S.E.
(Scale, 1 inch = 64 miles. By permission of the Publishers of "South
Africa.")]
While these activities were taking place, and General Buller was slowly
making his way into the Transvaal from the east (guarding every inch of
the rail in his rear, so that when he should reach Heidelberg the Natal
Field Force would be extended all along the line), General Ian Hamilton,
in order to join hands with him, was moving with a mobile force _viâ_
Springs to Heidelberg, which was occupied on the 23rd. Both armies thus
approaching were now capable of frustrating concerted and combined action
between the hostile bands of the Transvaal and those still lingering in
Orange River Colony. Lord Dundonald's Brigade, meanwhile, had been joined
by Strathcona's Horse, a picked body of sporting men who were tingling
for fight.[6] This experience they soon enjoyed, as in the course of the
march towards Heidelberg they came on a gang of Boers and had an animated
encounter which cost them a man killed and two missing, including the
officer who was in command of the party. Four Boer victims were left on
the scene of the fray.
The Boers, though many were surrendering, were sustained in their dogged
determination to fight by the exquisite inventiveness of Mr. Kruger, who,
undoubtedly, is a Defoe or a De Rougemont lost to the world. He caused a
proclamation to be issued, stating that the Russians had declared war on
Japan, and that Great Britain was bound by treaty to support the
Japanese, and must therefore withdraw her troops from South Africa. The
proclamation also stated that Lord Roberts had no supplies, and implored
the burghers to keep up their courage. About a thousand burghers
accordingly collected in the neighbourhood of Sandspruit with the wily
ambition of severing the lines of communication. The Komati Poort Bridge
had been threatened, and the cauldron of Boer machination was simmering
portentously in the neighbourhood of Machadodorp.
With Buller's force on the east, Rundle's on the south, Hunter's to the
west, it was hoped that the animated De Wet might be trapped as Cronje
had been trapped. Still the wily one--slim by instinct, slimmer now by
experience--contrived to become slippery as an eel whenever the fingers
of the enveloping British hand began to curve in his direction. There was
no doubt about it that this sometime butcher of Barberton, this late
speculator in potatoes, who, it is stated, "went bankrupt in an
unsuccessful attempt to establish a potato corner on the Johannesburg
market," was a born genius in the art of war. He was aware of his own
potentialities, and is reported to have said that he gave Lord
Kitchener--if he put his mind to it--ten days to catch him in, while to
Lord Roberts he allowed three weeks, and to Lord Methuen the rest of a
lifetime! And the statement was not all Boer bounce, as time proved.
General Hamilton from the west approached Heidelberg on the 22nd, and
exchanged shots with the Boer patrols; but during the night the enemy
disappeared and the troops occupied the town. The force consisted of
General Gordon's and General Broadwood's Cavalry Brigades (the 9th, 16th,
17th Lancers, and Household Cavalry, 10th Hussars, and 12th Lancers
respectively), two batteries Royal Horse Artillery, two batteries Field
Artillery, two 5-inch guns, a brigade of Mounted Infantry under General
Ridley, and the 21st Brigade (City Imperial Volunteers, Camerons, Sussex,
and Derbys) under General Bruce Hamilton. It was found that the Boers had
retreated to a crescent of hills turning south-east of the town, and from
here they fired on patrols of the New South Wales Contingent. General
Hamilton advanced on the Dutchman's haunts, while General Broadwood, with
a pom-pom and Field Battery, Roberts's Horse, the Ceylon Mounted
Infantry, and Marshall's Horse, made a vigorous flank attack which sent
the enemy scudding into space. The casualties were few. Among the wounded
were Captain F. Whittaker, Roberts's Horse, since dead; Captain H.
Carrington Smith, Royal Dublin Fusiliers; Captain M. Browne, Roberts's
Horse; Lieutenant C. Livingstone Learmonth, Roberts's Horse; Lieutenant
E. Rex King, Roberts's Horse. General Ian Hamilton unluckily fell from
his horse and sustained a fracture of the collar-bone.
Generals Hunter and Hart, therefore, hurriedly joined General Ian
Hamilton on the 25th at Heidelberg, the former replacing the latter in
command there, as General Hamilton's injury temporarily incapacitated him
from resuming his duties. How General Hunter managed so opportunely to
arrive on the scene must be described.
General Hunter, after taking Christiana, moved _viâ_ Vryburg,
Lichtenburg, Potchefstroom, and Krugersdorp to Johannesburg. With Colonel
Mahon--who had joined him and was in command of the Cavalry Brigade--he
had been engaged in the task of pacifying the Wolmaranstad and
Potchefstroom districts. Klerksdorp surrendered on the 9th of June
(uselessly, as it afterwards appeared). A few days later Colonel Mahon's
Cavalry Brigade entered Potchefstroom after a bitterly cold night march.
On the 15th General Hunter moved _viâ_ Krugersdorp (which surrendered on
the 18th), towards Johannesburg (Colonel Mahon preceding him and moving
to Pretoria) and went to Springs in support of General Hamilton's advance
to Heidelberg.
General Hunter's reduced force now consisted of the Dublin Fusiliers,
part of the Somersetshire Light Infantry, and a small number of the
Yeomanry. By the 25th he had taken over the command of General Hamilton's
column and at once proceeded to engage himself with the work that that
officer was intending to accomplish. General Hart before this time had
been at Frederickstad, some fifteen miles north of Potchefstroom on the
rail and best road to Johannesburg, but speedily moved on to assist. The
plan was to arrange for the permanent garrisoning of Frankfort in the
Orange River Colony, Heilbron, Lindley, and Senekal, the taking of
Bethlehem, and, if possible, the cornering of De Wet.
General Hunter marched from Heidelberg towards Frankfort with a view to
finding out the haunts of the malcontents, but encountered no
opposition, and reached his destination on the 1st of July. Two days
later he was joined by the troops from Heilbron under General Macdonald.
General Hart, with a battalion and a half of infantry, remained in
Heidelberg and engaged in the repair of the railway bridge, which had
been wrecked by the Boers.
Here for the nonce we must leave them while the operations in other parts
of the disturbed Colonies are investigated. General Buller had
accomplished his work of clearing Natal, and had joined hands with Lord
Roberts's force, and thus interposed a strong British barrier between
Botha at Middelburg and De Wet in Orange River Colony. These two
adventurous spirits had now to be tackled separately, and the cornering
of De Wet came first in Lord Roberts's programme. The commando of the
astute Free Stater was to be pushed eastward towards Bethlehem and
surrounded, and for this purpose General Hunter was to co-operate with
Generals Rundle, Clements, and Paget, while Lord Methuen in the
neighbourhood of Paardekraal (ten miles south-west of Heilbron on the
Kroonstad Road), was to mount guard over the rail between Kroonstad and
the Vaal River and prevent De Wet from breaking out westward.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] See Map at front.
[6] See vol. iii. p. 146.