With Roberts to Pretoria: A Tale of The South African War

by G. A. Henty

SETTLED

Although Pretoria was taken, Yorke felt that he could not as yet offer his resignation. The position was still a serious one. Botha had retreated but fifteen miles away, and had taken up an extremely strong position, with fifteen thousand men under his command. The line of railway ran through it, and from this he could obtain supplies from his rear, and if need be, send off heavy guns and stores. The army of General Roberts had dwindled as it advanced. Garrisons had had to be left at the bridges and important stations. A brigade garrisoned Johannesburg, and another Pretoria. The disease which had played such havoc at Bloemfontein had accompanied the army, and had thinned its ranks. He had but fifteen thousand men available for striking his blow, and the cavalry horses were again almost unfit for service.

In the Orange River Colony De Wet had some eight thousand or ten thousand mounted men under him, and was raiding the whole country, capturing towns and threatening lines of railway. The bright side of the picture was that Buller was now advancing, and might soon be expected to clear out the Boers opposed to him, enter the Transvaal, and relieve the pressure. On the 7th came the news that De Wet, with two thousand men, had cut the line of railway and telegraph to the north of Kroonstad. Fortunately, sufficient supplies had been found in the town to enable the army to subsist for a few days. Had Botha retreated to a greater distance, Lord Roberts would have waited, as he had done at Bloemfontein, for remounts, reinforcements, and stores. But with an enemy so strong, and able at any moment to take the offensive, the general felt that measures must be taken without delay to drive him away from the neighbourhood, and accordingly he went out with the troops on the 10th, and next morning attacked the Boers.

The position held by the enemy was on a long range of hills that could only be turned with extreme difficulty, and the cavalry were not in a condition to execute so extensive a movement. French, with two brigades and Hutton's Mounted Infantry, was to work round to the north-east of the enemy's position. Two other cavalry brigades under Broadwood, with Ian Hamilton's column, were to advance on the right. No attack was to be made on the centre, as the position there was so extremely strong that it would be impossible to carry it without great loss of life. As it turned out, the Boers had posted but a small force there, having determined upon adopting our tactics and falling upon both our flanks while we were engaged in an attack on their centre. Both armies, therefore, unknown to each other, massed a great force upon each flank.

The two cavalry columns first came into action with the enemy. French found himself speedily met by so formidable a force, that he was unable with the two thousand men under him to move forward. He was attacked in front, rear, and flank. The country was altogether too broken for the action of cavalry, and his men, therefore, fought dismounted and in open order, and, aided by the three horse-artillery batteries, they kept the enemy at a distance all day. Unable to advance, however, French made no attempt to retreat, knowing that, unless he held fast, the Boers would be able to throw their whole strength against the other wing, which, as could be heard by the distant firing, was hotly engaged. Night came on before the firing ceased, and the wearied men slept where they lay, and, renewing the fight in the morning, maintained their position all day.

On the other flank, Broadwood had been equally hotly engaged, and with difficulty held his own, being hardly pressed by a heavy artillery fire from front and left, while on his right rear a Boer commando attacked him fiercely. This force was with difficulty kept back by the fire of a battery of Royal Artillery, the same battery which had suffered so heavily at Sanna's Post; but as these assailants retired, another commando came up and pressed them hotly. These were charged in gallant style by the 12th Lancers, who, though their horses were weak, fairly rode over the mounted Boers and drove them to flight. The guns were saved, but when, after the charge, the cavalry re-formed, they were swept by a storm of bullets from the Boer marksmen. Lord Airlie, their colonel, with two officers and seventeen men, were killed or wounded, the former being shot through the heart.

Another threatened attack was repulsed by the Life Guards, and for a time the force was exposed only to the fire of the enemy's artillery. Hamilton's Infantry came up to the support of the brigade. As it was now late, Lord Roberts determined to postpone the general attack until the next morning. Although they had gained some ground, the day's fighting had not been attended with much valuable result, except that Lord Roberts had now thoroughly ascertained the nature of the Boer position, and had determined upon the point against which the decisive assault must be made the next day. This point was Diamond Hill. In the morning the Guards Brigade with two Naval twelve-pounders reinforced Hamilton, and its commander was ordered to move against Diamond Hill, and then down towards the railway to threaten the line of retreat should the Boers maintain themselves in other positions. Hamilton told off one of the cavalry brigades, with an infantry battalion, to guard his right rear, and the other brigade, with some mounted infantry, to cover his right flank, while with the Sussex and Derbyshire regiments, and the City Imperial Volunteers and the field-battery, he advanced about midday against the Boer position.

He was met by a heavy fire on both flanks, and a continuous infantry fire from the hill in front. The infantry moved steadily forward, with the Guards Brigade in close support behind, and by two o'clock the position was carried, the Boers falling back to a hill covering the railway. After two hours' fighting, the infantry won their way to the crest of the new position. Here they were exposed to a terrible fire, and with difficulty maintained their position. The Boer guns pounded their line, while a heavy rifle fire swept them with a storm of lead, and there was nothing to be done but to lie still and return the fire as best they could until aid came up. Meanwhile the artillerymen were working with might and main to get the guns up the precipitous hill. One battery at last succeeded, and although the men fell fast, the guns were unlimbered and opened fire upon the enemy's batteries. Not, however, until two other batteries had been got up the hill and brought into action did the combat become equal, and as the afternoon wore on, the accuracy with which our shrapnel burst began to keep down the Boer fire.

General Roberts decided that it was too late to undertake further offensive movements over unknown ground, and made his disposition for a final advance on the following morning. When day dawned, however, it was found that the enemy had withdrawn. The cavalry set out in pursuit, without much hope of success, as their wearied horses were scarce able to carry the weight of their riders and equipments. A hundred West Australians, however, better mounted perhaps than the rest of the cavalry, and more lightly equipped, followed the enemy up for twenty-five miles, and gained a kopje near which the Boers were retreating. As long as their ammunition lasted they kept up a constant fire, killing a number of men and horses. It was singular that this punishment was inflicted upon the Boers at the very spot where they had treacherously surprised and massacred a British regiment on the march nineteen years before.