Lord Roberts addresses the officers--Cavalry
leaders--Advance to Ramdam--French at Waterval
Drift--De Kiel's Drift secured--Sunset on the
veldt--Cronje's optimism--The cavalry push
forward--Heat and thirst--Veldt on fire--Rondeval and
Klip Drifts seized--Advance of the infantry--Halt
at the Modder--Cavalry opposed--Lancers clear
a nek--In touch with Kimberley--Capture of
Alexandersfontein--Entry into Kimberley--Bivouac
in a Boer camp--C.I.V.s' baptism of fire--Seizure
of Jacobsdal--Convoy attacked by De Wet--Waggons
abandoned--Cronje's retreat--The Boers carry off their
big guns--Orders to head Cronje.
[Sidenote: Lord Roberts addresses the officers.]
As the night of the 10th fell, there was an unwonted bustle in Modder
River Camp. Train after train laden with troops went rattling southward
through the darkness, carrying battalions and batteries to the points
of concentration down the line. The whole cavalry division was under
orders to start at 3 a.m. Lord Roberts, in his plain khaki uniform,
with no sign of his countless orders and decorations, had, earlier
in the evening, ridden round the various camps. He now convened the
commanding officers of the cavalry division and made them one of his
brief speeches. They were about, he said, to start upon an expedition
which he knew they would welcome as an opportunity of maintaining the
traditions of British cavalry. They formed the largest British cavalry
division that had ever worked together as a whole. The object of their
operations was the relief of Kimberley. Things were so desperate that a
dash must be made, and he would follow as best he could with the rest
of the army. Lord Kitchener had put the need for sacrifice even more
strongly. The cavalry, he had said, were to reach Kimberley even if
they left half their strength upon the road.
[Sidenote: Cavalry leaders.]
Stirring words these to great cavalry leaders such as those now
gathered at Modder River Camp. There was the short, quiet, restrained,
unimposing figure of General French--the ablest officer that the war
had hitherto revealed. There were the trim and alert Broadwood and
Gordon, both with good service to their record and each commanding
a brigade of three regiments of horsemen. The third brigade, until
General Porter's arrival, was under Colonel Alexander. In the very
note of Lord Roberts' orders to them was that touch of confidence and
decision which sweeps men with it and tells them that they are being
splendidly led.
[Sidenote: FEB. 10-11, 1900.] The Army leaves Camp.]
[Sidenote: Advance to Ramdam.]
All down the line men were in movement. From Orange River Camp, on
the morning of the 10th a great convoy, hundreds of waggons strong,
was advancing on Ramdam, an important road-junction, in charge of a
strong force of mounted infantry under Colonel Hannay, whose task it
was to clear of the enemy the country to the south of the Riet. All
the 11th he was in contact with a party of 300 or 400 Boers, detached
from Cronje's force, who hung upon his flanks and rear, skirmishing
continually, but none the less he held steadily on his way to Ramdam.
[Illustration:
[Photo by Elliott & Fry.
LIEUT.-COLONEL HANNAY.
(Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders).]
[Illustration: HOWITZERS OF THE 37th BATTERY.
Photographed immediately after the fight at Sunnyside, in which they
had taken an active part.]
[Sidenote: [FEB. 11-12, 1900.]
Punctually at 3 a.m. of the 11th, the day of prayer and intercession
for success in England, General French led out his cavalry regiments
and his horse artillery in magnificent procession--the last seven
batteries or 42 guns strong. The night had not yet given way to dawn,
when he struck due south from Modder River Camp, leaving his tents
standing to deceive the enemy. The spectacle was a very fine one.
"Out of the moonlit dust," writes an officer, "one could discern a
squadron of Lancers trotting up into position, the lances standing out
against the sky-line, the heads and shoulders of the men being just
visible, while the lower portion of their bodies and the horses faded
into obscurity. Then there would come with a heavy rumble a battery
of artillery, similarly vignetted in the moonlit dust, or, perhaps,
an ambulance section, with its red cross, or a battalion of mounted
infantry, while hoarse, short words of command caught the ear on all
sides." The troopers marched light with only their arms, the clothes
they wore, and five days' rations. In the darkness the horses stumbled
often over the holes of the ant-bears. Now and then a cavalryman would
come heavily to earth; at times a half-dozen of men and horses would
be floundering in one confused heap, and the cry was heard on every
side--"Hole here!" "Hole to the right!" The horses were for the most
part in bad condition. They had not recovered from the long sea voyage
before they were put to the hardest of work in an unfamiliar climate.
The mounted infantry men, too, were not skilled in the art of sparing
and saving their horses. The move in the fierce heat to Koodoesrand
Drift, at General Macdonald's demand, had put a great strain upon one
of the cavalry brigades, from which it had not entirely recovered. And
so, as in the twilight the dust-shrouded column swept down towards
Ramdam, twenty miles away, some of the horses already began to show
signs of weakness. The railway was followed as far as Graspan, so as
to afford not the slightest indication of the division's object. Then
turning east, Ramdam was struck about mid-day. The place which bulks
so large upon the map was merely a farmhouse with one or two hovels
near, a well, and a "pan" or large pond of water, dry except during
the rains. The thirsty men crowded round the well; the horses were
taken down to the pan, for the day had been one of broiling heat. Here
Colonel Hannay's men fell into the column, reporting a loss of 39
killed, wounded, or missing; here, too, drafts and details from the
base joined up, swelling the gathering of cavalry; and here presently,
as night came on, long columns of infantry of the Sixth Division began
to arrive. Far off on every side to the west rose clouds of dust,
marking the advance of a great army. Three divisions were upon the
move, besides the cavalry. First came the Sixth, then the Seventh, and
last the Ninth Division, each a day apart, heading steadily for Ramdam
and the Riet.
[Illustration: DE KIEL'S DRIFT.
Getting the water-carts, &c., across amidst clouds of dust.]
[Illustration:
[Walker & Cockerell sc.
Midnight, Monday Feb. 12th. Night, Tuesday Feb. 13th.]
[Sidenote: French at Waterval Drift.]
[Sidenote: FEB. 12, 1900.] Passage of the Riet.]
So far General French himself had not been in touch with the enemy.
But on the morning of the 12th, when his troops saddled up and started
on a short seven miles ride to Waterval Drift upon the Riet, it was
clear that the Boers were approaching. They were the same party that
had been engaged by Colonel Hannay on the previous day, reinforced by
400 men from Magersfontein. The start was made at 3 a.m., yet though
Rimington's famous scouts, who knew every inch of the ground, were
guiding, the darkness just before dawn was such that a halt became
imperative, and the general's intention of seizing the drift before
clear day broke was frustrated. As the red light of early dawn showed
over the kopjes to the east, the march was resumed, and about 6 a.m. a
few shots were fired upon the British left flank when the column neared
the drift, and a gun galloped out into the open and began a rapid and
well-directed fire upon the British troops. General French found that a
kopje in his immediate front was strongly held. What was to be done?
[Illustration: Frank Craig.] [From a sketch by G. D. Giles.
THE CROSSING OF THE RIET.
Showing the kopjes south of the river which the enemy tried, too late,
to seize.]
[Sidenote: De Kiel's Drift secured.]
[Sidenote: [FEB. 12-13, 1900.]
For the moment the Horse Artillery were ordered to silence the Boer
gun--a task which it achieved with the greatest expedition. Then the
general boldly determined to try a new kind of strategy, which was
nothing more nor less than to walk his men round the Boers, and leave
them disconsolately holding their kopje against no one, and reflecting
sadly upon the fact that at last the "rooineks" could move as fast
as or faster than themselves. But not wishing as yet to disclose his
real intentions, he directed General Gordon with one brigade to go
through all the elaborate ritual of an attack, shelling the kopjes and
holding the enemy's attention. While this display was in progress,
General French with his two other brigades, turned, leaving Waterval
Drift on his left, and rode rapidly east, cutting loose from all his
communications, towards De Kiel's Drift, five miles higher up the Riet.
Here signs of the enemy's presence were again unmistakably felt, but
the river was reached and forded just in the very nick of time. In
fact, the Boers rode up only five minutes after the passage had been
secured. On the south side were two high kopjes, which appeared as if
they had been simply designed for Boer warfare, and which in the hands
of the enemy might have caused no small amount of trouble and loss.
These General French seized and occupied with dismounted men without a
moment's delay. As word was passed back along the line that the river
had been gained, the men pressed forward with inconceivable eagerness
to the streak of green foliage which told at last there was water to
drink, and that the object of the day's march had been won. The drift
was a very difficult one, the road winding round between the kopjes
and dropping sharply to the stream. Still higher up, Roberts' Horse
crossed under fire, and in so doing lost four killed or wounded. The
Boers, when they saw that De Kiel's Drift was lost and that the British
cavalry were upon their line of communication, fled in the utmost
confusion, yet managed to remove the two guns which they had with them.
Could only the Horse Artillery have come rapidly into action after
crossing the drift, they might have been severely punished. But the day
had been suffocatingly hot, and the men and horses were so ungovernably
eager to drink, that delay was inevitable. As the sun went down General
French established his headquarters at a farm near the ford, whence he
found that the inmates had fled in such haste that they had left behind
them hot coffee, upon which the general and the staff rioted.
[Illustration:
[Copyright 1900 by Underwood & Underwood.
HANDLING FODDER AT ORANGE RIVER CAMP.
The necessity for bringing up fodder for the horses from the immense
stores accumulated at Orange River Camp occasioned some delay in the
advance on Kimberley.]
[Sidenote: Sunset on the veldt.]
[Sidenote: Cronje's optimism.]
All through the day, through the heat and dust, the Sixth Division had
been marching from Ramdam to the fords; it headed for Waterval Drift,
and its advance began to arrive with the supply train just as the
cavalry off-saddled. "That train crossing the dark veldt at sunset had
a weird beauty of its own," writes Mr. Battersby, the Morning Post
correspondent. "The evening was absolutely still and clear, and the
grey, soft smoke of dust, which every footfall lifted, clung about the
miles of waggons like a cocoon. Looking westward, where the train rose
over the roll of ground about the pan, the dust that drifted across the
sunset became a wondrous smoke of gold, filled with strange creatures
and monstrous shapes, black as a silhouette and spidery thin. The smoke
faded to rose, and from rose to silver, as the track sank into the
dark shadow of the down, and the beasts and carts which filled it took
again their own shapes and size." And as the Sixth Division moved up to
Waterval Drift, the Seventh with Lord Roberts entered Ramdam, and the
Ninth, acting as rearguard, approached Enslin. Only the First Division
now remained at Modder River Camp to watch Cronje and prevent him from
breaking out to the west or striking at the camp. Even now that the
British turning movement was making such progress, the Boer leader
obstinately clung to his belief that all it portended was an attack
upon Magersfontein by way of Jacobsdal, for which he was perfectly
ready, or, at the worst, an attempt to cut the communications of the
commandos operating at Colesberg; told Count Villebois de Mareuil, when
that worthy strove to alarm him, that he had been a soldier from before
Villebois was born, and knew what he was about; and he derided those
who pointed out the ominous clouds of dust far away to the south.
[Sidenote: The cavalry push forward.]
[Sidenote: FEB. 13, 1900.] Advance of the Cavalry.]
Early in the morning of the 13th Lord Roberts arrived to see the
cavalry march off. Delay had been necessary to obtain supplies and to
feed the horses, as their forage did not come in till it was broad
daylight. The Field-Marshal warmly praised General French and his men
for the skill and success of their movement. It was a most auspicious
opening to a splendid campaign, and filled all with renewed confidence.
The infantry, too, had indeed deserved well. The marching of the Sixth
and Seventh Divisions through the heat had been superb, for though
the distance was not great, the tracks were sandy and exceedingly bad,
and the dust suffocating. In the best of spirits, about 11·30 a.m.,
the Cavalry Division moved off, with orders to cover a distance of
twenty-five miles and seize by nightfall the important fords over the
Modder River known as Klip Drift and Rondeval Drift. The lateness of
the start, though unavoidable, added greatly to the difficulty of the
task. The sun was already high and the heat great as the horsemen went
forward over the plain in magnificent array. Behind them the advance
brigade of the Sixth Division was already marching out, to follow in
their wake to Wegdraai, a farm with good water, half way between the
Riet and Modder. Behind this brigade again, the rest of the Sixth
Division and the whole of the Seventh Division were nearing Waterval
Drift, and the Ninth Division was on its way to Ramdam.
[Illustration:
J. Charlton.]
BETWEEN TWO FIRES: THE ENEMY'S AND THE BURNING VELDT.]
[Sidenote: Heat and thirst.]
[Sidenote: Veldt on fire.]
[Sidenote: [FEB. 13, 1900.]
Laying a field cable as it advanced, the Cavalry Division turned on
its northward sweep, and soon after noon sundered the telegraph wires
which connected Jacobsdal with Bloemfontein. Patrols were pushed out
towards Jacobsdal and ascertained that this place was held in no great
strength. At Wegdraai was a splendid well full of cool water, but the
orders were peremptory that it was to be left for the Sixth Division,
and so, notwithstanding heat and thirst, the column had to move on,
though this was the only well on the arid plain between the Riet and
Modder. The horses now began to show signs of great suffering, as
well the poor beasts might, for there was neither shade nor verdure
to break the intensity of the heat and vary the monotony of the dull
brown steppe. The veldt grass was parched and brown--as brown as the
veldt itself--and presently, some troopers, dropping matches in it
as they passed, set it ablaze. A great sheet of flame swept with the
wind behind the cavalry, but as the men rode faster than the fire
could travel, little heed was paid to the conflagration. By this fire
the field telegraph was destroyed and communication with Lord Roberts
lost, while the heat and smoke it caused were further sources of trial.
It was only because the Boers offered no serious resistance that the
results were not far worse. At one point the scouts were suddenly
driven in, and almost without notice heavy firing broke out. The
British line was taken between two fires, and choosing to perish by the
shots of the Boers rather than in the flames, dashed forward, when the
enemy fled; but for some instants matters looked critical. The front
covered by the cavalry as it went forward was one of enormous extent.
"From flank to flank," wrote Captain Boyle, a Yeomanry officer with
General French's headquarters, "the distance was so great that at times
the General's gallopers could not move their horses out of a walk,
though the message was important." Horses were dropping out right and
left, the artillery in especial suffering.
[Illustration:
Walker & Cockerell sc.
Night, Wednesday Feb. 14th. Night, Thursday Feb. 15th.]
[Sidenote: Rondeval and Klip Drifts seized.]
And now, about 5·30 p.m., the goal of the day's march came into
view. To the north could be seen a line of dreary green--the bushes
which fringe all South African rivers. General French went forward
to reconnoitre, halting his division and changing its formation.
Gordon's Brigade was deployed on the left, Broadwood's on the right,
and Alexander's ordered to follow as a rearguard. It had already
dropped much behind and had lost no less than sixty of its horses.
A few minutes' examination and reflection convinced General French
that the wisest course was to push on rapidly for the drift, even
though there were clear traces of the enemy, and though a Boer laager
could be seen by the stream. Gordon on the left was to seize Rondeval
Drift, Broadwood to take Klip Drift. Each Brigadier unlimbered his
horse guns and shelled the enemy before crossing. But there was no
real resistance; the Boers, aghast at the rapidity and resolution of
General French's movements and staggered by the shrapnel from the
Horse Artillery 12-pounders, fled in utter confusion, abandoning
three laagers, 150 waggons, much ammunition, and a quantity of
cattle and sheep. "Some of the larger cases in the Boer camp, marked
'biscuits,' of which there was a regular stack, were found to contain
rifle ammunition," says a correspondent with the division. "The marks
on the cases showed that they came from Europe viâ Delagoa Bay."
The telegraph line from Magersfontein to Bloemfontein was broken,
and Cronje left without other means of communication than those the
heliograph afforded. Thus the Modder Drifts were won, and now the way
to Kimberley was all but open. The seizure of the drifts was, in the
judgment of a competent officer, the crisis of the whole elaborate
series of movements which ended a fortnight later in the glorious
success of Paardeberg. For if General French had waited or hesitated,
the Boers would have called up reinforcements and a desperate fight
would have been necessary before the river could have been crossed.
And in the delay which must thus have been caused, Cronje might well
have escaped. General French had risked much, since, so far as he
knew, the Boers had 6,000 to 7,000 men along the Modder line and at
Magersfontein, while no support could reach him until, at the earliest,
the evening of the 14th. His total losses did not exceed half-a-dozen
officers and men, and about 100 horses.
[Illustration: John Charlton.] [From a sketch by G. D. Giles.
THE RUSH TO KIMBERLEY: THE 10TH HUSSARS CROSSING KLIP DRIFT.]
[Sidenote: Advance of the infantry.]
[Sidenote: [FEB. 13-15, 1900.]
Behind him the infantry divisions continued to push steadily forward
through the burning heat. At nightfall the 18th Brigade of the Sixth
Division was at Wegdraai, half way between the Riet and Modder, the
13th Brigade at Waterval Drift, the Seventh Division with Lord
Roberts at De Kiel's Drift, and the Ninth Division at Ramdam. So
trying was the march, that from De Kiel's Drift fifty-seven officers
and men had to be sent back to the rear in ox-waggons, prostrate with
heat and exhaustion. On the evening of the 13th Cronje was still at
Magersfontein, though the severance of his telegraph wires must have
caused him great uneasiness.
[Illustration: BUTCHERS WITH GENERAL FRENCH'S FLYING COLUMN.]
[Sidenote: Halt at the Modder.]
As General French's cavalry bivouacked for the night on the banks of
the Modder, a tremendous dust storm swept over the country, hiding
every feature from sight. Under cover of it the Boers must have moved
down, for when night fell their pickets were in touch with ours on
the north bank of the river. As it was vital to economise supplies,
the cavalrymen were rationed from the cattle captured in the Boer
laagers. It was decided to rest all the 14th for two reasons--because
the horses were exhausted, and because it was considered necessary that
the infantry should arrive and hold the drift before the cavalry left
for Kimberley. Meantime the soldiers rioted on the hot bread, poultry,
and fruit captured in the Boer camps, bathed in the river, and examined
the strong position at the drift, which the Boers had so unaccountably
abandoned. A good deal of skirmishing went on all day; the Boers
brought up guns and shelled one of the British camps on the north of
the stream, but were driven off by the Horse Artillery. It was clear
that they were becoming uneasy as to their communications; but Cronje
delayed and hesitated, and that day's indecision destroyed him.
[Illustration: PART OF THE IRISH SQUADRON OF ROBERTS' HORSE.]
[Sidenote: FEB. 15, 1900.] Drawing near Kimberley.]
Messages had been sent back by General French begging that the infantry
might hurry forward, and very late in the night of the 14th-15th the
advance brigade of the Sixth Division, with Lord Kitchener, General
Kelly-Kenny, and three field batteries, marched in. They were guided in
by Captain Laycock, who rode out alone to find Lord Kitchener, and who
was sniped at everywhere in the darkness. With early morning the rest
of the Sixth Division arrived, hot and weary. Of the other divisions,
the 15th Brigade of the Seventh Division was moving on Jacobsdal, the
14th of the same division on Wegdraai, and the Ninth Division just
beginning its northward march from De Kiel's Drift. The First Division
still observed Magersfontein. All along the line of march small parties
of Boers were in touch with the British troops, and great caution had
to be observed. That afternoon people in Kimberley watched with curious
interest what looked like great columns of smoke on the plains near
Jacobsdal. It was the dust raised by the British army on its march to
their relief.
[Illustration: H. M. Paget.] [From a sketch by G. D. Giles.
BRITISH BLUEJACKETS CARRYING THEIR GUN.
Wheel of the carriage of a 12-pounder gun collapsed, whereupon the
sailors lifted it from its carriage and hauled it to the top of a
kopje, a distance of two miles.]
[Sidenote: [FEB. 15, 1900.]
[Sidenote: Cavalry opposed.]
On the morning of the 15th Lord Kitchener and General Kelly-Kenny
rode round the cavalry camps. The field batteries and two naval guns
replaced and set free the Horse Artillery. One of the naval 12-pounders
was stationed upon a kopje overlooking the drift, after an incident
which well illustrated the resourcefulness of our bluejackets. "On
moving the gun," says a correspondent, "one of the wheels collapsed;
but the sailors lifted the gun from its carriage, and hauled it
a distance of two miles to the top of the kopje. It was a great
performance, and well deserved the thanks which Lord Kitchener conveyed
to them." The tired infantry went on outpost duty instead of the
cavalrymen, and after breakfast the three cavalry brigades and the
seven horse batteries drew up and moved out with definite orders to
reach Kimberley that night. The sight, as the endless line of cavalry
rode off across the veldt, about 9 a.m., was a very fine one. On the
left was Broadwood with his Hussars, Lancers, and heavy Household
Cavalry; in the centre was General Porter, just arrived, with his
Dragoons; on the left Gordon with the Lancers' gay pennons and the
more sombre squadrons of Roberts' Horse. Scarcely had the line left
the river--heading directly to the east with the object of deceiving
the enemy, and leading them to suppose that the object of the ride was
Bloemfontein rather than Kimberley--when a Boer gun opened fire on the
British left, sending several shells among the cavalry. At once two
batteries of Horse Artillery went rattling to the front, deployed,
and returned the fire. The three field batteries from Klip Drift also
pushed out to support General French. The Horse Artillery suffered
considerable loss, thirteen officers and men being killed or wounded.
The cavalry extended to the right, when from kopjes on the left front
as well as the left flank and left rear came a heavy fire from what
was evidently a large force of Boers; on the right front upon a kopje
the enemy also showed in some strength. It was now that General French
had an opportunity to show his skill and generalship. Without any
hesitation he gave General Gordon orders to charge with his men and
clear a nek between the kopjes. The nek was about 2,500 yards wide,
smooth, and level. At the same time the Horse Artillery was ordered to
scourge the kopjes with shrapnel.
[Illustration: BRIG.-GENERAL J. R. P. GORDON.
Joined the 15th (King's) Hussars as 2nd Lieutenant in 1879, when he was
18 years of age, and served in the Afghan War of 1880; Lieutenant and
Adjutant in 1881; served in the Boer War of that year, the Bechuanaland
Expedition of 1884-5, in Burma 1887, Lagos 1892, and Ashanti 1895-6;
Captain 1888, Major 1895, Lieut.-Colonel 1897; appointed to the command
of the 3rd Brigade of the Cavalry Division in South Africa, with local
rank of Brigadier-General, Feb. 1900.]
[Illustration:
[Photo by H. B. White, Cape Town.
RECEPTION OF THE 16TH LANCERS, CAPE TOWN.
The 16th Lancers, who did such excellent work on February 15, were
dispatched from India to South Africa on the application of Lord
Roberts. On their arrival at Cape Town a request was made that the
regiment should march through the town. The request was granted, and
the fine regiment, whose list of battle honours is surpassed by no
other cavalry regiment, and equalled only by one, was received with the
wildest enthusiasm.]
[Sidenote: Lancers clear a nek.]
[Sidenote: FEB. 15, 1900.] In Sight of Kimberley.]
Gordon's men swept into line and thundered off, in dense clouds of
dust, the dreaded 9th and 16th Lancers with their lances ready, and
General French ordered his two other brigades to follow at a gallop.
The cavalry avalanche broke upon the Boers with terrible vehemence;
those who had not mounted their ponies and precipitately ridden off,
were caught by the glistening steel of the lances, and there were
some grim scenes in the brief seconds of the hand-to-hand encounter.
It was well known that the Boers on their part rarely gave quarter to
Lancers, whom they especially dreaded, and shot down mercilessly when
they could. The cause was some story told by a romancing Lancer private
after Elandslaagte--that he had stuck prostrate Boers "like pigs." Some
fifty Boers were killed or wounded in this charge, and the general
effect upon the enemy was thoroughly to demoralise them. The Lancers
pushed on five miles in their furious gallop, maintaining, however, the
most perfect order, and then were halted to allow the Horse Artillery
guns to come up. Broadwood's Brigade pressed on yet further, and
secured the débouché from the long nek upon the plains which surround
Kimberley. The gate to Kimberley had been won.
The British losses in this dashing movement were ridiculously small.
Less than a dozen men were killed or wounded. At a deserted farm an
excellent well was discovered, and the men were able to quench their
thirst; unhappily there was nothing for the horses, which were much
exhausted. The night of the 14th-15th had been marked by one of those
tropical downpours, so common in the rainy season, and the surface of
the veldt was in consequence slushy and wet, trying the artillery and
cavalry horses more than ever.
[Illustration:
F. J. Waugh.]
A CHARGE OF LANCERS, FROM THE BOER POINT OF VIEW.]
[Sidenote: In touch with Kimberley.]
[Sidenote: Capture of Alexandersfontein.]
And now, about 3·30 p.m., as a ridge was breasted, far away over the
plain the tall chimneys and mine gear of Kimberley came into sight.
The column broke into a tumult of cheering. On the extreme left
could be seen the kopjes of Magersfontein; over the veldt sounded
the heavy booming of guns, and from time to time the puffs of smoke
from bursting shells showed that an artillery fight was in progress.
Broadwood moved off to the left with orders to demonstrate to the
enemy that the British cavalry were behind them. General French, with
the heliographers, climbed a small kopje on the right and set to
work to open communication with the besieged garrison. For long his
heliograph winked and flashed without attracting any notice, and all
grew impatient. Then at last came an answering flash. But the garrison
took General French's division for a force of Boers, and replied to
his anxious signals with chaff, such as the signallers of the two
opposed armies often exchanged. They lavished upon him a great deal
of fictitious detail, until presently it dawned upon them that the
British cavalry were in truth approaching. Then at last they informed
General French that they had captured Alexandersfontein, a point seven
miles from Kimberley and only five miles from the cavalry, and that the
direction by which he was advancing was the best. Already, far away,
the note of cheering came over the veldt. The British troops holding
Alexandersfontein were rejoicing at the coming of their comrades.
[Sidenote: [FEB. 15, 1900.]
[Sidenote: Entry into Kimberley.]
The onward movement was speedily resumed. Two squadrons were ordered
to push on with all possible speed into Kimberley itself, and before
them the enemy were seen to be galloping off to the east as fast as
Boers could go. To cut off their retreat, if possible, General French
swerved to the right, when suddenly a Boer gun to the east of Kimberley
opened a sharp fire. General Porter at once brought up his horse guns
and replied, but the enemy had no stomach for a fight. They hastily
fell back, taking with them their gun, and unfortunately the British
horses were too exhausted to pursue. Far away from the north at Kamfers
Dam was heard the heavy note of the great Boer 6-in. Creusot, still
showering its deadly bolts upon the town, in ignorance that its prey
had already as good as escaped. Then, as night fell, and the array of
troopers and guns entered into the town, weary, thirsty, sweating, but
conscious of a deed done that would ring through the world and fill
with exultant joy the British race, the sullen boom of this weapon
ceased also, and peace returned to Kimberley.
[Illustration: COLONEL RHODES HELIOGRAPHING TO HIS BROTHER, Mr. CECIL
RHODES, BESIEGED IN KIMBERLEY.]
[Illustration: THE NAVAL SEARCHLIGHT WHICH TALKED WITH KIMBERLEY DURING
THE SIEGE, AND ONE OF THE 12-POUNDER NAVAL GUNS.]
Thousands were already pouring into the streets to greet the British
cavalry and their gallant leader. Perhaps some were disappointed in
the silent, small, undemonstrative man who trotted awkwardly in--for,
like Napoleon, General French was not a showy horseman--seemingly
unconscious that he had achieved something which would be for ever
remembered in military history. Yet with this man rested the honour of
the march. "It should never be forgotten," writes a soldier who rode
with him, "that what decided the fate of the day was the General's
masterly decision in the early morning to cut his way through what then
seemed to be an almost surrounding of us by the enemy, and, instead
of losing time by waiting to fight them, to leave them and risk their
being on our flank and rear for the rest of the day." An even greater
result than the relief of Kimberley was the demonstration which this
march afforded of the fact that the Boers were helpless against flank
attack by a mobile cavalry. The Boer tactics suddenly collapsed now the
day of frontal assaults was over, and in that hour the danger to the
British Empire passed away.
[Sidenote: Bivouac in a Boer camp.]
[Sidenote: FEB. 15, 1900.] Seizure of Jacobsdal.]
In the final rush another Boer laager was captured, with a great
quantity of stores and ammunition. The bulk of the British force
bivouacked in or near this camp, where there was a good supply of
water; only General French and some hundreds of his men entered the
delivered city. It still remained to be seen whether Kimberley was
really free, or whether, as Boer sympathisers inside and outside the
town pretended, General French had simply walked into a trap set by
Cronje.
[Illustration: H. C. Seppings Wright.] [After a sketch by Fred
Villiers.
THE CITY IMPERIAL VOLUNTEERS' BAPTISM OF FIRE.]
[Sidenote: C.I.V.s' baptism of fire.]
[Sidenote: Seizure of Jacobsdal.]
[Sidenote: [FEB. 15, 1900.]
On the morning of the 15th the general advance of the Seventh and
Ninth Divisions had been resumed. The 15th (Wavell's) Brigade of the
Seventh Division was directed upon Jacobsdal; the other brigade and
the Ninth Division began their march to join the Sixth Division at
Klip Drift. Jacobsdal was not seized without a brush with the enemy.
On the 14th it had been visited by our patrols and found unoccupied,
but with the hospitals full of British and Boer wounded. On their way
back the patrols were attacked by the Boers, and nineteen men wounded
or captured. They had come into contact with a small detachment sent
by Cronje to hold the village. Early in the afternoon of the 15th, the
15th Brigade approached the place. It was a small, peaceful-looking
village of white houses, bowered in green trees, pleasant of aspect
amid the arid brown expanse of the treeless veldt. But it soon began
to wear another and far less peaceful aspect. The British advance was
covered by a cloud of scouts drawn from the City Imperial Mounted
Infantry Volunteers. They were within 800 yards of the village, when
suddenly a terrific fire was opened from gardens on the outskirts.
The sergeant-major in charge of the party and two privates were
wounded. The men behaved with great steadiness and bravery upon this
historic occasion--the first time that a Volunteer Force had been
under fire. But the Boer resistance could not be maintained in the
face of a British brigade 4,000 strong. The 75th Field Battery was
brought up, the town was shelled, and the enemy hastily retired towards
Magersfontein and Cronje's entrenchments. Lord Roberts arrived, and
at the head of his troops made his entry. There was no looting or
plundering. The British Army, always famous for its rigid discipline
in war, filed in in perfect order, and paid for everything which it
took. Military police patrolled the streets; sentries stood in front
of every store. The hungry and thirsty khaki-clad men bought up all
the bread and milk that they could get, and the Boers began almost
to bless a war which had brought them such customers. They had
expected merciless treatment, for the Boer Governments, to stiffen
their people's resistance, had studiously spread the report that where
the British came they ravished, plundered, and destroyed. The wives
of the burghers, however, avenged the invasion of the Free State by
the exorbitance of their prices, and thus turned the tables upon the
conquerors. One of Lord Roberts' first acts was to visit the large
German hospital which was established in the village. In it he found 37
British wounded; all the arrangements were admirable in the extreme.
Indeed, if more than one British officer can be believed, in comfort
and attention to the suffering it far outdistanced the British field
hospitals.
[Illustration: F. J. Waugh.
THE LOSS OF THE CONVOY AT WATERVAL DRIFT.]
[Sidenote: FEB. 15-17, 1900.] Loss of a Convoy.]
[Sidenote: Convoy attacked by De Wet.]
In the rear of the grand army marched a convoy of over 200 waggons,
laden with immense quantities of stores, forage and provisions for the
army, and drawn by over 3,000 head of oxen--a month's supplies for
a force of 40,000 men. They were in charge of a quite small escort,
composed of a company of Gordons and eighty mounted infantry. The
convoy had moved slowly behind the army, where, it was thought, no
danger was to be feared, from Ramdam to Waterval Drift. At Waterval
Drift it began its crossing of the river under cover of the Ninth
Division, some 10,000 men strong. But the drift was of such an
execrable nature that its passage by the enormous train of waggons
was a matter of many hours, and at this moment, when troops might be
wanted, and badly wanted, on the banks of the Modder, time could ill
be spared. The banks of the Riet at Waterval, as is common with South
African streams, were steep; at the bottom lay the river bed, 100 yards
wide, with only a trickle of water in the centre and everywhere else
soft sand three feet deep, in which the waggons sank up to their axles,
inflicting the most prodigious labour upon the teams of oxen and mules
that dragged them. Three teams had regularly to be employed to drag
each laden vehicle up the northern bank, which meant that two waggons
had to stand still for each one that moved. And thus it came to pass
that after hours of waiting, the Ninth Division marched off before the
crossing was nearly completed. The convoy was left to its diminutive
escort. "There are no Boers in the country," said everyone. Yet at
this very moment De Wet with a party of about 1,000 men, summoned from
Colesberg to Cronje's help, was riding up the Riet from the squalid
hamlet of Koffyfontein. A great way off he saw the dust and heard the
tumult of shouts and cracking whips that proceeded from the convoy,
and, after reconnoitring and discovering that there was no British
force near capable of resistance, opened a tremendous fire, just after
9 a.m.
[Illustration: COMMANDANT CHRISTIAN DE WET.]
The Gordons at once extended and replied, while the officer in charge
of the convoy telegraphed to Lord Roberts detailing his position and
asking for reinforcements. Some squadrons of Kitchener's Horse, the
1st Scottish Borderers, and a battery of the Seventh Division were
promised, and, though well on the way to Wegdraai, received orders
to march back with all speed. But already the Boers had brought up
guns, and were playing upon the convoy with deadly effect. The oxen
were falling fast, though the men did not suffer so much, being under
cover. But when at last the boom of the British field battery to the
north told that relief had arrived, the Boers ceased their bombardment,
and could be seen falling back. Kitchener's Horse now came up, and
attempted, but without complete success, to turn the Boer flank. The
convoy had been saved--for a time. All that were left of the oxen were
at once sent down to the river to be watered, a difficult process with
so many beasts when the drivers could not be found. But as they came up
again from the river a fresh mishap occurred. The Boers again opened
fire, killed or drove away the men in charge, and the animals forthwith
went grazing along the river banks, direct towards the enemy. Attempts
were made unsuccessfully to head them off, but only a few could be
saved. Of the 200 waggons, 176 were left helpless for want of cattle.
[Sidenote: Waggons abandoned.]
Lord Roberts learned these facts and made his decision. Should he save
the convoy with its immense stores, and perhaps allow Cronje to escape,
or should he sacrifice everything to the destruction of Cronje's army?
Many generals would have wavered; the risk of continuing the advance,
with what appeared to be a strong mobile Boer force well supplied with
artillery in his rear, was no pleasant prospect, and if anything went
wrong might prove simply disastrous. But Lord Roberts had learned that
nothing great can be achieved without risk. He issued orders to the
small force with the waggons to abandon them under cover of darkness
and steal away. No lights were to be shown and no noise made. At 2
a.m. of the 16th the escort began its retreat. To crown the list of
misadventures, half-a-dozen men of the Gordons and some small parties
of stragglers were not warned of the withdrawal. Next day they were
captured by the Boers, who carried off or burnt the 176 abandoned
waggons.
[Illustration: A BOER FARMHOUSE FLYING A WHITE FLAG.
A British soldier on guard to prevent looting.]
The loss of the convoy was a blow the effects of which were felt all
through the march to Bloemfontein, as the forage, stores and provisions
it contained could not be replaced without grave delay. Who was to
blame for the utter inadequacy of this escort, it is impossible as yet
to ascertain.
[Illustration: DESCRIPTION CARD.
Carried by every soldier sewn into the lining of his jacket. It is of
white glazed calico.]
[Sidenote: [FEB. 15-16, 1900.]
[Sidenote: Cronje's retreat.]
All through the 15th the Sixth Division had been engaged in skirmishing
with the Boer force through which General French had cut his way.
This force hung about the drift, and exchanged fire at long range,
but though its "sniping" caused some annoyance, it was too weak to
effect anything serious against a whole infantry division, with three
batteries of artillery. At Magersfontein, Cronje had now at last
arrived at the decision to retreat. Already burghers were riding off
right and left, in a wild helter-skelter, heedless of commands and
orders. What little discipline existed in the Boer camp had been
greatly weakened by the presence of the enemy in the rear. About noon,
at the instance of the Field Cornets, a council of war was summoned.
High words were exchanged between Cronje and the European adventurers,
who pointed out the peril of each instant's delay. But the final
vote was for retirement, mainly through the insistence of the Free
Staters, who were full of fear for their cattle and their farms. All
outposts were withdrawn, and with the utmost precipitancy the burghers
were called in from the trenches. The Boers abandoned everything
except the essentials--food, ammunition, and the waggon train--and
received orders to march with dawn along the Modder River, in the
direction of Bloemfontein. What had led Cronje to this determination
was the sight of General French's division scudding across the plain
to Kimberley, and the columns of dust that rose in all directions on
his left, betokening Lord Roberts' march. But his rooted opinion that
the British could never move a large force away from the railway, his
persistence in the belief that the object of all the British manœuvres
was another assault on Magersfontein--this time from the direction of
Jacobsdal--and his failure to seize the true purpose of the British
Commander-in-Chief, had already undone him. In spite of frantic efforts
it was now all but impossible for him to escape from the net which
Lord Roberts had so skilfully spread. Nor was his force anything like
so strong as the British officers opposed to him had believed. Instead
of eight or ten thousand it had melted in the last few hours till it
probably did not exceed at this juncture 5,000 men. About these were
fully 26,000 British infantry and over 7,000 mounted men. The odds were
such as to render the struggle all but hopeless.
[Illustration: FIELD DRESSING.
The dressing, which consists of a sheet of waterproof, gauze, cotton
wool, bandaging, and two safety pins, packed first in an extra sheet
of waterproof and then in a bag of lining material, is sewn into one
of the bottom corners of the jacket of every man who goes on active
service, the description card occupying the corresponding corner on the
opposite side.]
[Sidenote: FEB. 16, 1900.] Cronje's Retreat.]
Just before dawn Cronje's army fell back from Magersfontein--the
position which for now more than two months had held the army of Lord
Methuen in complete check. So skilfully was the operation effected
that no sign of the Boer retreat was detected by Lord Methuen's
Division, closely watching the enemy's trenches, till the bird had
flown. But as the day wore on, the scouts and pickets noted that the
place look deserted, and that there seemed to be no one about. They
pushed carefully in, examined the works more closely, and, as no
shots were fired at them, grew in audacity. Finally they entered the
trenches, and brought Lord Methuen word that the position had been
abandoned. He at once advanced to Magersfontein with his division, and
thus, without striking a blow or firing a shot, opened the way from the
south to Kimberley.
[Illustration:
[Photo by Hancox, Kimberley.
GENERAL FRENCH'S TROOPS BIVOUACKING IN THE BOER LAAGER OUTSIDE
KIMBERLEY.]
The state of the Boer trenches gave clear evidence of the haste with
which the enemy had retreated. Mr. Ralph, who examined them, gives
this interesting description:--"The Boers had gone away in such a
hurry that they had no time to take their belongings with them.
Evidently the order was 'every man for himself, and no time must be
lost.' Consequently the position was littered with trunks, saddles,
tin boxes, bags of mealies, of mealie flour, and of rice. Cartridges
were as thickly strewn about as if they were as cheap as dead leaves in
autumn. Blankets and clothing were also much in evidence. In places the
frightened Boers had made an effort to hide their leavings by piling
them in the trenches, and then throwing skins or canvas over them, and
dirt and tree branches on top of all. In their trunks we found usually
only clothing and letters. Much that they had been using was of British
make, largely taken from the British dead. Dozens and dozens of bullock
hides were in use there, for shelters and for coverings. These had been
taken fresh from the backs of the cattle, and the sun was making them
fizzle and bubble, frying the fat and tissue on the underside of each,
so that they exhaled a nauseating stench. But this formed the least
part of the effluvia. A plague of flies helped to make the pest spot
still more unendurable. From every shelter, and pole, and bush hung
strips of biltong (jerked beef or venison), for they had not dared to
stop even long enough to take away this main staff of their lives."
[Sidenote: The Boers carry off their big gun.]
[Sidenote: [FEB. 16, 1900.]
To the north of Kimberley a considerable force of Boers, with the great
gun from Kamfers Dam, was in full retreat, though much troubled by the
unwieldiness of this weapon. Anxious if possible to capture it, General
French had started out at 3·30 a.m. of the 16th with all available
men and guns. His horses were in such a state that rapid movement was
out of the question. He rode due north, followed by the infantry in
the town, who came on by rail, and got as far as Macfarlane's Siding,
two stations north. Continual skirmishing with the Boer rearguard was
the chief feature of the day, and the cavalry engaged suffered some
casualties, about a dozen men being killed or wounded. The horses
were too worn out to get near the big gun, and the Boers succeeded
in carrying it off, but they had to abandon a laager at Dronfield,
with one gun, several waggons, and a great quantity of stores. In the
British division neither men nor horses had food or water from early in
the morning till late at night, and the suffering of all was terrible.
The horses in particular, already sorely tired by their 150 miles'
ride from Modder River Camp to Kimberley, began to drop right and left
in the most alarming manner. Those that still staggered on were mere
bundles of skin and bone, in the most urgent need of a week's rest and
food, which, however, was not to be theirs.
[Illustration: THE BOER GUN CAPTURED AT DRONFIELD.]
[Illustration: RECEPTION IN CAPE TOWN OF THE NEWS OF THE RELIEF OF
KIMBERLEY.]
[Sidenote: Orders to head Cronje.]
Already a messenger had come in from the south-east to say that
Cronje's force was moving swiftly along the Modder, had destroyed the
field telegraph, and was engaged with the British infantry at Klip
Drift. But no confirmation of the intelligence and no order from the
British headquarters as yet reached General French, nor did he hear the
sound of guns. He concluded therefore that the report was erroneous or
at least premature; moreover, the state of his horses rendered another
long ride back to Klip Drift all but impossible of immediate execution.
He gave his staff leave to sleep late into the morning, after their
four days of continuous hard work, and himself retired to sleep the
sleep of the just, when an order of the highest importance from Lord
Kitchener arrived. It stated that Cronje was in full retreat from
Magersfontein, with all his waggons, baggage, and four guns, along the
line of the Modder to Bloemfontein, that Lord Kitchener had already
engaged him, and if General French, with every available horse and man,
could head him and prevent his crossing the river at the Paardeberg
Drifts, the infantry from Klip Drift would follow with all speed,
overtake him, and surround him. Such a message admitted of no excuses
or delays--not that General French was the man for either--and orders
were at once issued for the only brigade available and three batteries
to start with the dawn. But it is now time to turn from General French
and his doings to the tale which the people of Kimberley had to tell
him.
END OF VOLUME I.
