South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 6 (of 8) / From the Occupation of Pretoria to Mr. Kruger's Departure from South Africa, with a Summarised Account of the Guerilla War to March 1901

by Louis Creswicke

IN THE WESTERN TRANSVAAL—CHASING DE WET—THE SIEGES OF RUSTENBURG AND ELANDS RIVER

Before entering on the complications which occurred in the Western Transvaal immediately after the return of Lord Roberts and General Ian Hamilton from the Middelburg Campaign, it is necessary to remember that, while the Chief’s back was turned and most of the army was moving to the east, and a certain portion was forced to guard Pretoria, Delarey’s gang had been mustering round the Magaliesberg range. Here, as we know, the passes were but poorly, if at all, protected, owing to the disasters at Deerdepoort and Nitral’s Nek, which thinned the already thin British forces. Therefore the direct road from Pretoria to Mafeking, the road past Rustenburg, Elands River, and Ottoshoop, which it was imperative to guard—and which was guarded by Colonel Hore at Elands River, General Baden-Powell at Rustenburg, and Sir Frederick Carrington further on—was seriously menaced by the hovering hordes of the enemy.

Indeed the Boers, after their petty triumphs at Nitral’s and Commando Neks, had continued so to cluster around Rustenburg, that towards the end of July General Baden-Powell was in danger of enduring the miseries of a second siege. The General prepared himself for all emergencies, and investigated all the Boer arrangements for bombardment which were in course of completion. Meanwhile he was aware that to his support Methuen, with a force of 6000 men, was approaching Olifant’s Nek, and Colonel Plumer prepared himself to co-operate. Unluckily the synchronal arrangements were imperfect, and the result was that the passes which should have been blocked to the Boers were open, and their several forces succeeded in effecting a junction, and menacing not only Rustenburg and the Elands River Station, but the Krugersdorp-Potchefstroom railway line. Therefore Lord Methuen promptly retraced his steps, and by the 23rd of July, as we have seen, had moved back to Krugersdorp, leaving General Baden-Powell to rely on the wits that had hitherto stood him in such good stead.

At this time Colonel Airey sent information to Rustenburg which promised to bring about the capture of Boers who were threatening a convoy that was expected from Mafeking, and accordingly reinforcements were sent out, but only to find that Colonel Airey’s Australians had got into difficulties, and that the enemy, having killed six, wounded nineteen, and shot down their horses, were very much in the ascendant. The Colonials were fairly trapped, and surrender stared them in the face. Fortunately, at this juncture, Captain FitzClarence and the Protectorate Regiment galloped up, threatening the rear of the assailants, and forced them to make off with all possible speed. But from this date until at the beginning of August, when relief was sent from Pretoria, Rustenburg remained cut off from the outer world.

General Ian Hamilton with the opening of August started towards the west on his way to Rustenburg to the rescue of General Baden-Powell’s garrison. Near Vitbaal Nek he encountered some opposition, but skilfully brushed away the Dutchmen, losing in the fray two officers and five men wounded. He succeeded in turning the enemy entirely off the Magaliesberg Range, a feat which was mainly accomplished by the gallantry of the Berkshires and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The officers wounded were Lieutenant-Colonel Rhodes, Berkshire Regiment, and Major G. D. Williams. Thirty-nine men, twenty-six of whom belonged to the Berkshires, were also injured. Their wounds were mostly of a serious nature, as the seventeen prisoners who were taken, owned to the fact that they had had soft-nosed bullets served out to them and used them.

The General reached Rustenburg on the 5th, and scattered the investing Boers. He then heard the sound of firing in the direction of Elands River, and soon it became known that the small force mounting guard there was also in trouble. The fact was that at dawn on the morning of the 4th, the garrison at Elands River—they arrived there on the day before to guard the line between Zeerust and Rustenburg—was attacked by the Boers. The force, which was commanded by Colonel Hore of Mafeking fame, consisted of 140 Bushmen, 80 Rhodesians, and 80 Rhodesian Volunteers. Sir Frederick Carrington, with a smart force of Yeomanry (Paget’s Horse) and Bushmen, about 700 rifles, and a 15-pounder battery manned by New Zealanders, who was on his way to that region, being warned of the trouble, had instantly hurried to the succour of the garrison. His troops had reached Zeerust on the 1st, the Boers who were there decamping before them in the direction of Elands River. The force followed them up and fought them, but more Dutchmen—those pushed off from the neighbourhood of Rustenburg—had added to the already large mass of the enemy, and made further advance impracticable. General Carrington had barely realised the impossibility of proceeding, when the report came in that Elands River garrison had surrendered. He therefore decided to go no farther, but fall back on Mafeking. This he did on the 9th, moving afterwards to Ottoshoop with supplies for Lord Methuen, and engaging the enemy en route. His casualties were somewhat large, but the fighting was of a desperate kind, and the mettlesome New Zealanders were as usual to the fore. Captain J. A. Harvey, New Zealand Mounted Infantry, and Lieutenant Gilpin, Victoria Bushmen, were killed. Captain H. F. Fulton and Lieutenant R. W. Rollins, New Zealand Rough Riders, were wounded. Captain R. Arbuthnot, Royal Irish Regiment, was dangerously wounded. In the engagements prior to the return to Mafeking, Major Paget, 20th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry, and Lieutenant Webb were among the twelve wounded.

To return to General Hamilton. Having accomplished his mission, and freed General Baden-Powell, and being advised that Colonel Hore had surrendered, he was returning with General Baden-Powell and Colonel Plumer to Commando Nek, when in came contradictory yet joyful news that Elands River garrison was still holding out. Off went his mounted troops to the rescue, while the unfortunates who had had to leave their homes in Rustenburg, and the prisoners, among whom was a son of Kruger, were sent on to Pretoria in charge of General Baden-Powell.

Meanwhile the small garrison at Brakfontein (Elands River), to whose aid two forces had been moving, were fighting like demons, and making one of the most magnificent stands of the war. Very little is known of their pluck, their dexterity, and their heroism, but what little we do know goes to prove that these Australians and Rhodesians were made of the stuff that supplies the conquerors of the world. No sooner had they comfortably settled down than they became aware of the close proximity of Boers. Their camp was on a flat plain near a boulder-strewn kopje, enclosed by a girdle of menacing hills which commanded not only them but the nearest point of the river half a mile off. The Colonials looked and saw, and came to their conclusion with rapidity: they were in a trap as close as Cronje’s, a trap which must be kept open as long as possible. There were Boers already in the hills, but it was only on the morning of the 4th that they knew the Boers had big guns—six of them—in position, and meant to use them!

OFFICER OF THE VICTORIA MOUNTED RIFLES.
Photo by Gregory & Co., London.

With dawn the overture had begun, an overture to a murderous opera, for shells, 1500 in number, during that dismal day, were hurled over the little British band. But these were not the fellows to be bombarded with impunity. They examined their resources, looked ruefully at their one gun, a muzzle-loader, which before long jammed, and became more of a danger than a defence. The Boers’ fire was too hot and snipers too numerous to allow of remedy to the damage, so nothing could be done but wait—wait for the kindly cloak of night. Then, the besieged set to work with a will, brawny arms and knowing heads helping to construct trenches and shelters, splinter proofs and tunnels, which should defy the snorting weapons of the Dutchmen. But these, despite the darkness, continued to snort and to shriek, and went on persistently till daybreak. Then the besiegers varied the entertainment by directing at the defenceless ones a pom-pom. This was as the last straw that breaks the camel’s back. Off rushed gallant young Aanat with twenty-five dashing dare-devils, creeping, rifles in hand, into the bush, and then—the pom-pom was silent! The Boers, chastened, were too cautious again to approach it. But alas! at night this remarkable young Queenslander, so full of grit and gallantry, dropped dead, a victim to the shells that still poured intermittently into the camp. But his good work was done, and the valiant Lieutenant, though he knew it not, had struck the keynote of victory. His comrades swore with a tremendous oath that they would die rather than give in, that the white flag should never float over those five acres that were then the melancholy and diminutive symbol of British Empire.

The Battlefields of Pretoria. (From a personal survey).
Scale 17 miles to an inch.

The next day Delarey sent in to say that Rustenburg and Zeerust were occupied by Boers, that they presently would be in possession of the whole country, and he further mildly suggested that if they refused to surrender, his 94-pounder “would blow them off the face of the earth.” Colonel Hore’s reply stated that he was in command of Imperial troops who would not surrender, and the ultimatum was met with renewed bombardment. All day long the tempest of artillery raged. Then, to their joy, and also to their anxiety, they heard the guns of Carrington coming to their relief—the echo of them in the distant hills—and hope grew and grew, and—waned. Carrington, as we know, had heard the report of their surrender, and having given battle to an overwhelming force of Boers for what he thought no purpose, had retired!

So, the 3000 Republicans in their hills laughed together, and trained their guns on to the spot where, at night, they knew the gallant men who defied them must water their horses and refresh themselves after their long day’s burrowing in the bowels of the earth. But these, emerging parched and sinking from their subterranean holes, were still equal to the ruses of their tormentors. Some took one way—the way towards the longed-for river—while others took another, and went forth on sniping operations which subdued, if they did not vanquish, their enemies, and protected those who had to run through fire to reach the longed-for draught. And so for eleven days the contest between Boer obstinacy and British determination continued, till at last on the horizon the dust rose and a rumour of the approach of Broadwood’s Cavalry brought gladness into a scene of desperation. But the little garrison by now was sadly thinned, and the nature of the warlike activities may be guessed by the casualty list. Five were killed, seven were mortally struck down, eleven were wounded, and twenty-seven, though slightly injured, remained combatants to the end! What the losses might have been had not the ingenious Colonials applied their pluck and their wits to the scientific construction of trenches, which defied the six big guns of the enemy, cannot be discussed, for surrender would have been inevitable.

However, on the 16th, Colonel Hore and his doughty warriors were still holding out when, to his intense relief, and that of his emaciated band of heroes, the Boers were routed. Lord Kitchener had pressed to their succour from the south-east. How Lord Kitchener contrived to push up and arrive on the scene, may be told in a few words; but, to make the movement intelligible, it is necessary to go back several days.

On the 5th of August Lord Kitchener, who was operating south of the Vaal, was joined by a strong detachment of what was familiarly known as “Brabanditti,” and also by the Canadian Regiment. The late Sirdar was personally superintending the hunt after the wiliest of foxes, De Wet, whose nimbleness since his rush from Stabbert’s Nek was a matter for marvel and admiration even to his opponents. On the one side of the quarry was Lord Kitchener, with cavalry and mounted infantry; while on the right bank of the Vaal was Lord Methuen, preparing to pounce on the Dutchman’s advance guard, which was known to have crossed the river.

Early on the 7th, Lord Methuen engaged a portion of De Wet’s force, which was occupying a strong position on a succession of kopjes near Venterskroon. In brilliant style the Scots and the Welsh Fusiliers charged hill after hill, driving the Boers therefrom, but without frustrating the designs of De Wet, who had succeeded in getting across. The fighting was costly, for seven men were killed, and among the wounded officers were Major F. C. Meyrick and Lieutenant H. Gurney, both 5th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry; Major A. P. G. Gough, Captain G. F. Barttelot, Second Lieutenant E. A. T. Bayly, all Royal Welsh Fusiliers; and also Lieutenant E. S. St. Quintin, 10th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry.

On the 9th, Lord Methuen fought a rearguard action near Buffel’s Hoek, captured six waggons, two ambulances, but—no De Wet. Lieutenant Knowles was killed, and Colonel Younghusband was wounded. The fugitive, fleeing before the forces of Kitchener at Gatsrand (south of the Krugersdorp-Potchefstroom Railway) and those of Methuen still further to the south-west, now strove to cross the rail at Welverdiend Station, and in so doing dropped almost into the jaws of Smith-Dorrien, who promptly engaged him. Into the plan for frustrating the Dutchman’s design the City Imperial Volunteers and the 2nd Shropshires flung themselves with zeal, the former regiment marching thirty miles in seventeen hours, the latter forty-three in thirty-two hours, in order, as they hoped, to be “in at the finish.” But De Wet accomplished his purpose and eluded all. Later Lord Methuen, after a forced march of thirty-two miles, came in contact with the Boer convoy, fought vigorously a whole day, recaptured one of our guns lost at Stormberg, sixteen waggons of stores and ammunition, but again—no De Wet. Still the troops were full of hopes, and telegrams home said, “His capture is only a matter of hours.”

But the Dutchman was more than their match. He blew up three waggons rather than be impeded by them—(he always attributed Cronje’s downfall to the tenacity with which he clung to his waggons)—and let loose from his camp sixty British prisoners and an officer, left behind thirty wrecks of horses at Schoolplats, and even flung away ammunition. Having thus thrown out ballast, as it were, he soared into the unknown. The disappointment on all sides was extreme, for sometimes the troops had been so close on the track that they had even boiled their kettles on the camp fires left by their quarry. “Collisions, but no cornering,” was the terse telegram home of a youthful officer who had been keen in the hunt. Colonel Ricardo (10th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry) whose gallant men had displayed first-rate cavalry qualifications, had gone so far as to offer £50 for the prize, dead or alive! Yet the ignis fatuus danced gaily ahead, but never within clutch! Still, clever as he showed himself to be, it must be remembered he had everything in his favour. His spies were in every farmhouse, and no inch of the country was strange to him; he could burrow, circle, or climb by day or by night, while his pursuers, though their waggons had double teams of picked animals, were forced to relinquish their vigilance at sundown. So both Lords Methuen and Kitchener found themselves outmarched, and De Wet (who had gone off through Olifant’s Nek in the Magaliesberg range, while Methuen was blocking Magato Pass, some twelve miles further westward) doubtless plumed himself on his ingenuity. The reason for his success lay in the fact that, owing to some synchronal accident, General Baden-Powell on vacating Olifant’s Nek had not been immediately relieved by General Ian Hamilton, who was due on the 13th. Lord Methuen, unaware of this hitch, thought that by veering towards Magato Pass De Wet must effectually be cornered, and discovered too late that his mighty marches and spirited efforts had been thrown away. Thus in following De Wet’s evolutions we learnt not so much a lesson in strategy as a lesson in quick-wittedness. Moral maxims teach us to catch time on the wing; De Wet taught us more—to leap to the back of opportunity, and fly with it where it may lead. As at Koorn Spruit so elsewhere. He jumped to his decisions and acted on them at one and the same moment. At Koorn Spruit it was a matter of minutes that made him master of the situation. At Stabbert’s Nek it was little more. He was informed that there must be some hours’ delay in the clicking of the padlock round the Brandwater basin, and he used those hours, exactly as he had now used the synchronal hitch that left a gap at Olifant’s Nek between the evacuation of General Baden-Powell and the arrival of General Ian Hamilton. Deliberation in all three cases would have been fatal. He did not deliberate but acted, and in getting across from the south of Orange River Colony to the north of Pretoria he showed himself a born genius in the art of war. Lord Methuen, knowing further pursuit to be useless, moved afterwards to Mafeking, where he could recoup his force, and allow it to recuperate after having fought fourteen engagements besides skirmishes innumerable since his march from Boshof in May.

Lord Kitchener, saving his strength, diverted his course and rushed to the rescue of Colonel Hore. He arrived, as we know, on the 16th, and scattered the enemy with small loss to himself. Unluckily in the collision one of the most active and brilliant of the heroes of the campaign, Colonel De Lisle (Durham Light Infantry), was seriously wounded.[9]

To resume. General Carrington, as we know, was at Ottoshoop, and General Ian Hamilton, freed from the necessity to relieve Colonel Hore, was now able to occupy Olifant’s Nek in the Magaliesberg, which he did on the 17th, meeting with considerable opposition from the enemy. His advance troops (under Colonel Mahon) having reached Roode Kopjes on the west bank of the Crocodile River, came in for a full share of fighting, but the operations were crowned with success, and finally General Hamilton crossed the Crocodile River in a north-easterly direction, plus two Krupp guns, some transport and ammunition waggons, and seven Boer prisoners. The losses on our side were small, but unhappily Lieutenant Henry Bradburn succumbed to his injuries.

Commando’s Nek, Magaliesberg

An interesting case of diamond cut diamond took place elsewhere, which resulted in the temporary tracing of De Wet. General Baden-Powell, who was now holding Commando Nek, received a messenger with a flag of truce from the Boer commandant requiring him to surrender, his real purpose being to discover the strength of the garrison. The General, with his usual “slimness,” replied demanding what terms he was prepared to offer, his demand being formulated with the object of ascertaining whether De Wet himself was conducting the operations! Each of the “slim” ones having obtained the information he required—having crossed the swords of intellect, as it were—De Wet proceeded on his way to the north, probably to effect a junction with Delarey, and General Baden-Powell, chuckling, “shadowed” him.

The 20th found an animated chase taking place on the north-west of Pretoria. De Wet was scurrying north-eastwards from Hebron—which is nineteen miles north-west of the capital, with Colonel Mahon at his heels, General Paget menacing his right rear, and General Baden-Powell—who was now encamped at Waterval, and whose soldierly defenders of Mafeking had there been inspected and complimented by the Chief—in readiness to assist. Both the latter officer and General Paget, while moving up the Pietersburg railway between Haman’s Kraal and Pienaars River Station, became engaged with some of the roving commandos, and unfortunately a gallant young fellow, Lieutenant Fordham Flowers, Warwickshire Yeomanry, was killed. Lieutenant Kirkby (49th Company Imperial Yeomanry) was severely wounded, and six men of various corps were also injured.

The whole of the 21st was spent in warm contest with Grobler’s forces, with the result that the enemy was driven off, prevented from going west, and the railway station was occupied by General Baden-Powell’s forces. But these hard marching days in the bush veldt, groping after the enemy, involved lamentable sacrifice. The splendid Rhodesian Regiment lost many of its fine fighters, but most notably Colonel Spreckley,[10] whose services throughout Colonel Plumer’s operations had been invaluable. Lieutenant Irvine and six men were wounded, as also was Captain Kinsman (Dublin Fusiliers). Captain Bolton, 1st Wiltshire Regiment, was also wounded during General Paget’s operations.

De Wet, finding himself cornered towards the east, had now whisked back in the direction of the Magaliesberg with the intention of again trying his success in Orange River Colony. His excursion from Bethlehem had been costly. Starting, he had some 1500 men and six or eight guns, while behind him in the hills were Prinsloo and some 5000 Dutchmen. He now was returning to find the Bethlehem band on its way to Ceylon and his own force thinned to attenuation. Poor De Wet! At this juncture his display of talent in the field had bred a feeling of pity which was “akin to love,” and those who were most interested in his capture were those loudest in appreciation of his sporting proclivities, and pronounced him “a first-class fighting man.” He certainly seemed never at a loss, and even now, in making his way back to Orange Colony, chased and jaded as he was, he pursued the mosquito tactics which worried, annoyed, and wore out those who were subjected to them. To cover his crossing of the rail near Bank Station on the Potchefstroom line, his ally Delarey with a large force summoned the garrison (the City Imperial Volunteers, under Lord Albemarle) to surrender. Of course, the summons was declined, but the little interlude served De Wet’s purpose and gave him the time he needed to save his skin and gather himself together. Still, as he was fairly crippled, and the recuperative period promised to be a long one, the main operations against Botha on the east, which had been gradually planned out, could now be begun.

DE WET
From a Photograph