COLONEL PLUMER’S OPERATIONS
Colonel Plumer lived in the hope of joining hands with Colonel Baden-Powell at Mafeking, and messages were successfully interchanged between the two officers. Life in the north was occupied mainly with skirmishes and the repairs of railway lines and culverts, which were needed along almost every mile of route. Between Gaberones and Crocodile Pools the engineers worked arduously, under the protection of an armoured train and a strong body of dismounted men. Very useful information was received of the Boers’ whereabouts from papers contained in a Boer mail-bag captured between Sequani and Sauerpoord. The Boers were found to be in force at Crocodile Pools, and to have in their possession two cannon and two machine-guns, and here it was evident they meant to harass any progressive movement of the British.
Map showing the Advance from the North and the South for the Relief of Mafeking.
The above sketch-plan of Mafeking shows the Boer trenches and the British lines of defence round the town, with the localities and dates of the principal fights which have taken place between the besiegers and besieged. Above and below the plan (though not, of course, upon the same scale) there is a map of the country between Kimberley and Tuli. The margin is divided into spaces of twenty-five miles, measuring from Mafeking north and south, and the advance of Plumer from the north and of Methuen from the south is shown step by step.
On the 11th of January Colonel Plumer, with a portion of his forces, arrived near Mochudi. The Boers—about 200—were reported to have gathered some thirty miles to the south-east, while others were entrenched on the kopjes by the railway at Crocodile Pools. With them were said to be guns in charge of German officers—an objectionable discovery for the British, who were almost gunless! There was reason to suppose that discontent reigned among the Boers owing to scarcity of provisions, and that they were longing to throw up the sponge and return to their farms. They found life in the trenches and kopjes not what is vulgarly described as “all beer and skittles,” and began to think of the coming seasons which would find them empty as the fabled grasshopper in winter.
Some of the troops also proceeded to Gaberones, where three armoured trains were kept active. On the 12th a Boer patrol made an effort to burn a bridge a mile north of the station, but was frustrated by the promptness with which Lieutenant Wallis brought No. 3 armoured train on the scene. When the enemy fell back on the station they were welcomed by No. 1 armoured train under Colonel Llewellyn, and the welcome was so unexpected and so hearty that the enemy bolted. Owing to the darkness they got off in safety. Reconnaissances were made, and it was discovered that the Boers were located one mile south of Crocodile Pools.
Major Bird made a reconnaissance on the 23rd of January—with four squadrons of the Rhodesian Regiment—in the direction of a Boer laager. In consequence of a storm of rain operations could not be carried as far as intended, but some of the enemy were dislodged from a hill, and two horses and two Transvaal flags were captured.
On the 31st an animated artillery duel took place between Colonel Plumer and Commandant Eloff, and on the following day it was some satisfaction to see the Boers busily engaged in repairing the havoc wrought by the British 12½-pounder on their fort. On the 2nd of February more activities took place. Major Bird, with 150 mounted infantry and one 7-pounder, made a demonstration on the right flank of the Boer position. This occupied a ridge running for a mile and a half from south-west to north-east. In the centre of the ridge was a nek, which was protected on either side by a fringe of Boer sharpshooters. This nek became the object of British attention, and Lieutenants Harland and Blunt with their men poured on it some forty volleys, to which the Boers replied, but without serious effect. While the rattling of musketry was kept up by the mounted infantry, a 7-pounder, manned by the British South African Police, escorted by troopers under Captain Maclaren, shelled the nek. Whereupon the Boers brought into play a 12½-pounder, which forced the British 7-pounder to retire. The weapon, however, was met by one of its own calibre, which was posted near Basuto kopje, and a spirited contest ensued. On the 4th of February the hostile guns were silenced by well-directed shells adroitly dropped by Lieutenant Montmorency in the middle of the Boer fortress.
Colonel Plumer, though still too weak to make a decisive move on, was bent on energetically annoying the Boers, but night escapades for some time were stopped by infamous weather. On the first opportunity Major Bird devised a midnight attack, which, unfortunately, was more costly than successful. In dense darkness, on the night of the 11th of February, the troops deployed at the base of a thorny and rocky ridge at Crocodile Pools Bridge, where the enemy was entrenched. No sooner had the men neared the summit than they came on wire entanglements and thorny scrub, and in surmounting wire and bush they necessarily made some noise. This set the Boer dogs barking and the Boer pickets blazing with their rifles. Thereupon Major Bird ordered a bayonet charge. He had forbidden rifle fire lest it should betray the position of the storming party. Before the men could get to close quarters, however, the Dutchmen exploded dynamite mines and followed the fracas with volleys of musketry. The result was disastrous to the British, and Major Bird ordered a retreat. Captain French (Royal Irish Regiment) was among the killed. Seven of the party were more or less severely injured. At first the Boers refused to give up the dead and wounded. When Archdeacon Upcher and Father Hartmann, under cover of the white flag, made the demand, they declared that they could not respect the symbol, as General Buller had stated that the British would no longer respect it. They eventually gave up five of the dead, but refused for some time to part with the wounded. Among these were Major Straker and Colonel Hon. H. White (British South African Police).
On the 26th of February Colonel Plumer, after many strenuous efforts and continued fighting, occupied the enemy’s position at Crocodile Pools, the Boers having taken themselves off and gone south to Lobatsi. Trains were now moving from the Pools to Ramoutsa. A cairn was erected over the spot where the valiant officer, Captain French, met his fate. The wounds received by Major Straker in the disastrous night attack were mending slowly, and great hopes were entertained of his ultimate recovery.
Colonel Plumer and his little force, numbering some 700 in all, continued to suffer many harassments, to fight and to struggle manfully for the assistance of Mafeking, whose relief they believed could not be long delayed. To help in this relief was their perpetual aim, and to this end Colonel Plumer accumulated a vast quantity of stores at Kanya, some sixty miles to the west of Crocodile Pools, so that when opportunity should offer the starving braves might not have to wait for provisions. For some weeks the troops had been fixed on a string of kopjes to the north of the Metsima Suma Bridge, while the Boers’ laager, strongly fortified, occupied another ridge in the vicinity. Both Britons and Boers from their elevated posts could command the river above named, and the Notwani River for some miles. On the 26th of February, for some unaccountable reason, the Boers suddenly made themselves scarce, and suspicion grew that events elsewhere were demanding their prompt attention. The disappearance caused some sensation, as it was reported—erroneously as it afterwards proved—that not a Boer was visible between the British and Mafeking. Thereupon Colonel Plumer decided to be up and doing, and an advance on Lobatsi (situated some forty-five miles from Colonel Baden-Powell’s kingdom) was organised. First of all telegraph lines and rails were repaired, an armoured train being sent forward to Pitsani Pothlugo to protect the operations. This work accomplished, rations for thirty days, the base hospital, &c., were transferred to Lobatsi.
There on the morning of the 6th of March Colonel Plumer’s force arrived. The efforts of the relieving party were now directed to the reconstruction of the railway and bridges which had been wrecked by the Boers in October. These were slowly got into working order. Reconnaissances were pushed south with a view to farther advance, and provision was made for the protection of the railway behind him as Colonel Plumer advanced.
COLONEL PLUMER’S GALLANT ATTEMPT TO RELIEVE MAFEKING FROM THE NORTH.
Drawing by Frank Dudd, R.I., from a Sketch by F. J. Mackenzie.
At daybreak on the 13th of March a column of some 300 men with three guns marched towards Kanya on the west, while Colonel Bodle (B.S.A.P.) with 150 men and a Maxim proceeded towards Pitsani. When the former party had succeeded in reaching a place some twenty miles beyond Lobatsi camp they were suddenly ordered to return. Captain Maclaren with his party, though fairly worn out after a long day’s tramp, at once obeyed orders, marched throughout the night, and by dawn on the 15th had retraced his steps. The reason for the recall was this. Colonel Bodle’s advanced scouts had come upon swarms of the enemy to the north of Pitsani, and the colonel with his small force had been compelled to retire in hot haste. His position was a ticklish one, for all round, in every available kopje, the Boers had ensconced themselves, and only by great nerve and splendid presence of mind was it possible to execute anything like an orderly retreat. But these qualities were possessed by Colonel Bodle, who promptly retired his ambulance and waggons, covering their move by forming his troops in Zulu fashion in crescent shape. Unluckily the right horn of the crescent, under Lieutenant Chapman, was pounced upon by some hidden Boers, who succeeded in making three or four of the party prisoners, and capturing a box or two of ammunition. Owing to an accident to his horse Lieutenant Chapman was thrown and captured. Corporal Galt nearly shared the same fate, but while he was engaged in a smart tussle for freedom, Colonel Bodle came to the rescue and put the Boers to flight. The Dutchmen then commenced to follow at the heels of the column, approaching to within some 2500 yards of the camp, doing some damage among cattle with their smokeless guns, which with difficulty could be located. Their fire was eventually returned, but not before Lieutenant Tyler (West Riding Regiment) had fallen a victim to a shell, which caught him in his tent and killed him instantaneously. The next day (the 16th) the Boers pursued their aggravations, and the British, as usual, gave a very good account of themselves, though their gunners had neither range-finder nor range-table. An animated artillery duel lasted for some hours, and was only terminated at sunset by the successful landing of a shell in the midst of the Boer guns. This served to silence them for the rest of the day. That done, the troops retired, most of the force moving from Lobatsi back to Crocodile Pools (whither stores, &c., had been removed by rail during the whole of the previous night), while Colonel Plumer and the mounted men took the direction of Kanya. On the 17th of March the armoured train voyaged towards Lobatsi, where it was saluted by the Boers, who had returned in hordes with marvellous celerity, and were hovering round that place.
The enemy had now placed a 1-pound Maxim and a 12½-pounder on the east side of the line 4000 yards to the south of the main camp, but fortunately the right flank was protected by the Chief Bathoen, who defied the Boers to enter his territory. The left flank, however, engaged Colonel Plumer’s attention, and there was every fear that the enemy, repulsed on the western border, might fall in force upon the Rhodesians. The Dutchmen were now busy in wrecking the rail south of Lobatsi, and preparing to meet any further advance made by Colonel Plumer with stout resistance. On the 18th, somewhat exhausted with fruitless toil and endless marching and fighting, the troops were once more at their starting-point on the ridges overlooking the Metsima Suma and Notwani Rivers, Colonel Plumer’s force now occupying the position there formerly held by the Boers.
On the 21st Commandant Snyman entertained himself with a little journey to Lobatsi and gaily bombarded it, in ignorance that it had been evacuated by Colonel Plumer’s force, and explosions on all sides announced that he also was engaged in the destruction of the railway. While the Boers were away, the Baralongs made hay—they utilised the shining hour by looting some of the Boer cattle and driving them in triumph into Mafeking. There, the result of Snyman’s attack on Plumer was in its way approved; the town enjoyed temporary repose. The bombardment lessened for a day or two, and the besieged were buoyed up by the hope that Colonel Plumer was pursuing his advance.
To intercept the same the enemy had taken up positions at Maritzuni and Ramathlabama, but they at the same time had to engage themselves with a native chief in the south. This personage, who had hitherto been friendly to them, working on the good old principle of “kick a man when he’s down,” had heard of the Boer reverses in the Free State, and promptly seized his opportunity.
On the 25th Colonel Plumer left his base camp with a force of infantry and as little impedimenta as possible, and invaded the Transvaal, making two rapid night marches for the purpose of threatening the Boer lines of communication. In this way, though he found himself too weak in men and guns for really aggressive operations, he determined to make himself a thorn in the side of the persecutors of Mafeking, and keep the Boer hordes too busily engaged to allow of their attempting serious operations on their own part.
Early on the morning of the 31st Colonel Plumer, with 270 mounted men, some infantry, and a Maxim reached Ramathlabama, where the Boers were said to have made their headquarters. The advance guard under Colonel White proceeding within six miles of Mafeking, encountered a Boer commando, whereupon Captain Kensman on the left and Major Bordan on the right simultaneously became engaged. Desperate fighting ensued, the Boers almost doubling the British. The Dutchmen formed a semicircle, vainly endeavouring to outflank the party east and west, while Colonel Plumer’s small force, fighting “tooth and nail,” retired slowly, the squadrons covering the retreat of the unmounted men for a good ten miles till the force reached its base. Owing to the close proximity of the Boer laagers, reinforcements of Dutchmen and guns were constantly at hand, while Colonel Plumer was entirely at a disadvantage. Little cover was available, and the railway embankment, which was his only protection, was barely two feet high. Captain Crewe, a most popular officer, was mortally wounded while covering the retreat of the rest, as was also Lieutenant Milligan while gallantly defending his position.
Some interesting particulars of the fighting outside Mafeking came in a letter from a trooper.
“On our latest patrol we had a real exciting time. We went to have a look at Mafeking, and actually saw the promised land, but we had to pay dearly for the sight. We marched from here (halfway between Kanya and Mafeking) on March 30th, and arrived at Ramathlabama on the 31st at 9 A.M. Between 300 and 350 men went, with one Maxim, all under Colonel Plumer himself. We were all mounted except thirty men of E Squadron. We formed a camp at Ramathlabama, and at 11 A.M. all the mounted men moved off towards Mafeking, our unmounted men and the Maxim remaining in camp. Our troop and Crewe’s scouts formed the advance guard under our skipper, Colonel White. We rode on about eight miles, and then we got our first glimpse of Mafeking. We raised a bit of a cheer on spotting the place. Very soon we saw a large body of Boers coming up in front at a fast pace, while others were working round our flanks. We started firing at 1000 yards, with hardly anything to see to fire at. Their fire was high at first, but some of them soon got the range. We had to retreat, as we were far outnumbered, and the Boers were working away at our flanks. Moreover, they had an unlimited supply of ammunition, their base being a mile or two away, while we had to go slow with ours. So we retired by alternate squadrons.
“We were nearly caught once. The Boers were coming round on our flank, and were making for some Kaffir kraals whence they would have had us fairly on toast. Our skipper, however, spotted the move in time, and we raced them for the first place and won. Crewe’s men, who were sent to the second kraal, also got there first. We made them turn tail and bolt, and they were never afterwards quite so keen in getting round our flank. Our skipper worked splendidly. It was a running fight for about eight miles, lasting from 1 P.M. till 6 P.M. When we reached the camp we found that Colonel Plumer had decided to abandon it, and had already sent the waggons off an hour before. We had to cover the retreat of the unmounted men, who had been in turn covering the retreat of the Maxim. There was a very warm time over that business. The unmounted men nearly got caught. Our casualties were pretty heavy—52 in all—12 killed, 26 wounded, and 14 missing. Altogether 75 horses were killed, wounded, and missing. Don’t get the idea that we were disgracefully licked. We retreated certainly and were chased by the Boers, but we retreated in perfect order without any confusion. Moreover, in retreating we were doing as we were intended to do. Colonel Baden-Powell had some move he wished to make at Mafeking, and we were to draw away as many Boers as possible, and we certainly were successful in that. There must have been at least 600 or 700 against us.”
In the fight at Ramathlabama the following were taken prisoners:—Captain K. Maclaren, Captain F. Crewe, Captain Duncan Robertson, all badly wounded; the two last mentioned since dead. Staff-Officers Cecil and Granville and nine soldiers, of whom six were more or less severely wounded, were also captured.
Owing to the absence of war correspondents with Colonel Plumer’s force this officer’s unceasing efforts to match the Boers and rescue Colonel Baden-Powell received none of the publicity they deserved. It has been possible only from private sources to gauge the terrible tension of the situation, and the truly noble activity that was maintained in the face of a most alarming outlook. Of the heroism of the commander little has been said, but from a few lines written by a trooper we may understand how his gallant conduct stimulated his men. He said: “It was a good fight, and our men behaved very well. Plumer was slightly wounded, but behaved splendidly. He sent his horse away and walked behind the dismounted men, encouraging them when they were retreating.”
Colonel Bodle and Captain Rolt (adjutant) were also slightly wounded.
Some splendid service was rendered by Sergeant-Major Manning (5th Dragoon Guards), on whom the whole work of staff officer afterwards devolved.
Another writer shows the trying circumstances in which Colonel Plumer’s campaign was conducted, circumstances which, when the historian of the future sets to work, cannot be disregarded:—
“On the 31st ult. we got as far as six miles from Mafeking, but had to retire after four hours’ heavy fighting, losing 48 killed, wounded, and missing. We have had a very rough time indeed, always fighting against much superior odds armed with splendid artillery, living on short rations, without tents or any other shelter, wet through with the rain, and scorched with the sun, and yet the people at home never give us a thought. We have been so hard up for tobacco that men have been smoking tea leaves. We have not had a thing from home, not even the Queen’s chocolate, and yet we have done as much in our small way as the troops down south. Of course, we have had no big battles, as we have not the men or guns, but we have had constant patrols and skirmishes, nearly always losing men killed or wounded, or both. We have also suffered very heavily with fever and dysentery, and all our hospitals are full.”
These lines in their bald simplicity are quoted because they, like the work they describe, were originated with no view to effect nor applause, and serve exactly to describe the modest deeds of perpetual valour which were perpetrated by our countrymen, and which by force of circumstance were left to waste their smartness “on the desert air.”
Lobatsi Railway Station
LIST OF STAFF
The following is a list of appointments to the Staff of the Eighth Division, which left England in February:—