South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 7 (of 8) / The Guerilla War, from February 1901 to the Conclusion of Hostilities

by Louis Creswicke

APRIL. ORANGE RIVER COLONY—OPERATIONS OF GENERAL BRUCE-HAMILTON AND GENERAL RUNDLE

Now that the Boers, in small bands, were being forced northward from Cape Colony and from Kruitzinger’s hunting-ground, preparations were made near Bethulie and along the Orange River for their reception. To this end General Lyttelton moved the troops of General Bruce-Hamilton and Colonel Hickman from Dewetsdorp and Wepener, and these—in conjunction with Colonel Haig’s columns—were so ranged by the 5th April, as to defeat any great incursion of marauders into the Orange River Colony. But, save for the clever capture by Colonel Munro, with 150 Bethune’s Mounted Infantry and a pom-pom, of a convoy and eighty-three prisoners (including Commandant Bester and Lieutenant Lindigne of the Staats Artillery), little took place, and General Bruce-Hamilton was enabled to return to his position at Dewetsdorp. On the 13th of April he succeeded General Lyttelton in his command, as that officer was leaving for England, and Colonel Haig moved to take charge of operations in Cape Colony. On both sides of the river the sweeping up of stores and capture of Boers proceeded apace, and the total result of General Bruce-Hamilton’s April activities was the capture of ninety-five prisoners, 300 horses, and an abundance of live stock.

The raiders, ragged and starving, were continually active. Kruitzinger made an ineffectual effort to cross on the 4th, but was frustrated by finding the troops of General Bruce-Hamilton in possession of the river banks. Colonel White and Colonel Munro so actively scoured round and about Springfontein that such Boers as there were quickly vanished till a more opportune period. Others tried to sneak across at Oudefontein Drift, but Major Murray’s men discovered them in the act and disposed of them. From the region of Brandford came the news of the capture of a laager on the 2nd by the prowess of Thorneycroft’s Mounted Infantry, who, by night, had surrounded the camp of Bester and caught him napping.

On the 7th of April, Colonel Thorneycroft moved towards Winburg to deal with a minor concentration of the enemy in that neighbourhood. The rumour of his approach served to defeat the Boers’ object and disperse them, and he consequently returned to Brandfort.

General Sir Leslie Rundle remained indefatigable. In March he was still firmly holding his line—Ficksburg, Harrismith, Bethlehem, and Vrede. But he was minus the mobile column under General Campbell, which had temporarily reinforced the troops under General Wynne, and was furnishing an escort under Colonel Inglefield on the Utrecht-Luneberg line, whence General French (in the important operations which have been described) drew his supplies. General Campbell, after trying experiences (fighting perpetually in marsh and morass, floating waggons across rivers, and crossing on rafts, &c.) which delayed all his undertakings, returned to Harrismith on the 10th of April. Later, General Rundle, finding the Boers had again buzzed about Fouriesburg, left Harrismith for Bethlehem, reaching there on the 24th. The enemy, some 300, dogged his footsteps and hung round his flanks till it was necessary to whisk them off, which was accomplished after four days’ fighting. He was then able to move on viâ Retief’s Nek, which he passed on the 29th, entering Fouriesburg unopposed on the 2nd of May. He afterwards set about scouring the country in its remotest valleys with flying columns, while Colonel Harley from Ficksburg made similar excursions. These united activities were fraught with considerable excitement and corresponding success. On the 31st of May, Colonel Harley left Fouriesburg and seized the Slaapkrantz position without serious opposition, sending the Boers who were fleeing before him into the arms of General Campbell. This officer was moving from the direction of Bethlehem, and by a forced march managed to reach Naauwpoort Nek in time to intercept the enemy’s convoy. From this date to the 8th of June, when they joined hands at Elands River Drift, Colonels Harley and Campbell traversed the rugged region north and south of the Roodebergen range, while a small column from Harrismith watched the country to the east of Elands River Drift. The results of these difficult operations and excursions against Prinsloo’s, Rautenhach’s, and other commandos were as follows: 7 Boers killed, 19 wounded, 101 Krupp shells, 4800 rounds of ammunition, 21 rifles, 43 vehicles, and 1450 horses. Foodstuffs, stores, and forage in great quantities were captured or destroyed. The rest of June was spent in clearing the Langeberg, the only district south of the Harrismith-Bethlehem road which remained to be dealt with in the new scheme of operations. The enemy hung mosquito-wise around the flanks of the scouring columns, but they pursued their work and accounted for 15 Boers killed or wounded, 2770 horses, 56 vehicles, 4000 rounds of ammunition, 7 rifles, and quantities of stores and stock. On the conclusion of these operations, General Rundle returned to Harrismith, where he remained till he started to co-operate with General Elliot’s march from Springfield Drift to Frankfort. Of which anon.

During June, Generals Rundle and Campbell bade farewell to the “Old Yeomanry.” The chief took the opportunity to express his especial satisfaction with the excellent work done by them, saying that when they joined he was without cavalry, and did not know what he should have done without them.

An interesting incident, showing that the pluck and value of the Imperial Yeomanry cannot be overrated, may here be quoted. On the 23rd of June, the Harrismith Volunteer Light Horse and a few of the Imperial Yeomanry visited a farm and captured 1500 horses, sheep, and goats. While these were being driven in, Sergeant-Major Reid (11th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry), who with two men was handling a flock, was assailed by a party of twelve Boers. Reid promptly sent on the men with the animals and lay down alone in the open and covered their retreat.

CHAPTER V

COMBINED MOVEMENT FOR THE CLEARANCE OF THE NORTHERN TRANSVAAL.—MARCH AND APRIL

Lord Kitchener now engaged himself in preparing a new and immense combined movement for the clearance of the country to the north of Pretoria. The so-called seat of government of the Boers had been removed from Pietersburg to Roos Senekal, and its presence there naturally attracted all the Boers who, in consequence of General French’s clearance of the Swaziland border, had been forced into the difficult country of the Tautesberg and Bothaberg. In planning a movement against these bands from the line of Middelburg-Belfast-Lydenburg, precautions had to be taken to prevent the escape of the enemy into the Zoutpansberg and Waterberg districts. It therefore became necessary to hold Pietersburg and the drifts over Olifant’s River, and to chase the Boers from their snug retreats in the vicinity.

Accordingly, General Plumer was moved from Orange River Colony and directed to hold Pietersburg, and prepare to co-operate in the combined movement just described.

At this time, 26th March, Pienaars River was the most advanced garrison on the Pietersburg line. For this place General Plumer started, there to be joined by the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders and “C” Section Pom-Poms.

Beyond Pienaars River repairs to the line had to be effected, which caused delay, then the troops advanced from Warmbad, Nylstroom, to Piet Potgietersrust over a clear line. Here the enemy meant mischief, for they had blown up one of the smaller railway bridges, but this was soon repaired, and on the 8th of April the advanced troops reached Pietersburg, the average distance covered being fifteen miles a day. The town had been evacuated in the night. Here provisions, supplies, and remounts had to be collected, in order that the attack, once begun, might be carried on without a hitch, and that the Boers, chased from one quarter, might not be sent trekking into Rhodesia, but be enveloped and swept up en masse as they had been at Paardeberg and at Fouriesburg. The projected advance was full of difficulties and the preliminaries were endless. It was impossible to begin till men, horses, and supplies had been deposited at Pietersburg by rail from Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, or Delagoa Bay. It must be remembered that the columns were preparing to march some 150 miles across the veldt, where the greatest of all enemies, the tsetze fly, harassed every inch of the road. In addition to this deadly foe to horses, there were now the wintry nights, following grilling days, to be encountered, and chilly shocks which bring enteric and other diseases in their train.

At Pietersburg forty-six Boers voluntarily surrendered, and the following captures were made:—one Krupp gun, thirty rifles, 1000 rounds 7-pounder ammunition, 210,000 small-arm ammunition, 8300 lbs. gunpowder, 480 lbs. dynamite. Two truck-loads of ammunition had been blown up by the Boers on their departure. The occupation of the place now made the scheme for the opening of railway communication from the Cape to Cairo (hitherto thought to be a visionary’s dream) perfectly feasible. The line from Warmbaths to Pietersburg was now placed in charge of Colonel Hall, the posts being occupied by the Northamptonshire and Wiltshire Regiments, together with the 12th Battalion Mounted Infantry. This left General Plumer’s mounted troops free to hold the line of the Olifant’s River. Having established an adequate garrison at Pietersburg, General Plumer proceeded to post Major Colvin’s column to secure the drift at Bathfontein, while to Colonel Jeffreys was assigned the task of occupying a lower drift at Blaauwbloemje’s Kloof. General Plumer himself was at Commissie Drift. Schalk Burger at this time was said to have deposited himself at Tolesburg, west of Middelburg, where he still endeavoured to carry on the parody of government.

Colonel Jeffreys on the 18th, while operating with his mobile column along the Olifant, came on a party of Boers east of Druehoek. He captured eleven and seized their ammunition. Soon after, Lieutenant Reid (Imperial Bushmen) with some twenty Australians, who had been detached from General Plumer’s post at Commissie Drift, performed a valiant act. While in charge of his patrol he located a Boer laager some fifteen miles east of the drift. Under cover of night he and his handful of Colonials crept towards the camp, surrounded it, and at dawn on the 24th boldly attacked it. The enemy, doubtless imagining that young Reid’s hardihood was backed by a large reserve at his elbow, promptly surrendered, and the gallant British band had the honour of recording a haul of forty-one prisoners, including the commandant, Schroeder, and one excellent Maxim, together with horses, mules, waggons, and ammunition. The Boers, on their side, scored slightly elsewhere. On the day following this brilliant episode, while Major Twyford, with a small escort, was moving from Machadodorp to Lydenburg, there to join the Royal Scots, the enemy lay in ambush near Badfontein, a valley on the Crocodile River. Their plans were successful, for it was not difficult in this shelving and dipping region to surprise a small party moving over a vast tract of difficult country. The tussle that followed was a tough one, the men fighting desperately and refusing to surrender. At last Major Twyford was killed and his band overpowered.

DEFEAT OF A NIGHT ATTEMPT TO CROSS THE RAILWAY
Drawing by Allan Stewart

The results of General Plumer’s operations between the 14th and 28th of April were ninety-one prisoners, twenty surrendered, one Maxim, 20,360 rounds ammunition, twenty-six waggons and carts, and forty-six mules.