Throughout December skirmishing continued in the Colesberg district of Dec. 11-13, 1899.] Fighting on Extended Lines. Cape Colony between General French's small army and the Boer commandos which had marched into the Colony in November by way of Norvals Pont, with the object of menacing or breaking Lord Methuen's communications with the sea. In Chapter VII. we left General French with just under 3,000 men, including the garrisons at Naauwpoort and Hanover Road; his headquarters on December 8 at Tweedale, twenty-six miles south of Colesberg Junction; and his outposts eighteen miles further north, near Rensburg. He had available for action against the Boers a wing of the Berkshires, the 6th Dragoon Guards, O and R Horse Artillery Batteries, a troop of New South Wales Lancers, the New Zealand Mounted Infantry, some companies of regular mounted infantry, and a few colonial scouts. The strength of the Boers was ascertained by reconnaissance to be about 2,000, and to deal with such a force more men were required. On December 8 and 9, the 10th Hussars and 6th Dragoons were sent forward to him from Capetown, and these were followed a day or two later by a squadron of the 2nd Dragoons, who were, however, shortly afterwards withdrawn and despatched north. General French, whose tactics were ceaselessly to harass the enemy, but not to allow himself to be drawn into a serious action before his strength was adequate, lost no time in making use of his reinforcements. On the 11th a reconnaissance was directed to Vaal Kop, a high ridge close to Rensburg, which was held by the enemy. For the first time the Horse Artillery came into action in South Africa, a section of R Battery shelling Vaal Kop and inflicting some loss upon the Boers. They abandoned the hill, which was at once seized and held by the British.
[Copyright 1900 by Underwood & Underwood.
Arrival in camp of a consignment of tobacco, cigarettes, and other luxuries.
[Photo by R. C. E. Nisson.
Engagements near Arundel and Rensburg.
Upon December 13 the Boers made an attempt to dislodge General French. Early in the morning some 1,800 of them were seen to be advancing towards Arundel in three parties. They drove in the British pickets, but, as soon as their intentions were perceived, Colonel Porter marched out with 1,000 cavalry and four guns of the Horse Artillery. The enemy brought up two guns, which, however, could do nothing against our Horse Artillery. They were shelled and driven back. Later in the day the British horsemen found the Boers in some force at Kuilfontein Farm, a little to the west of Rensburg, and ejected them by the summary process of artillery fire. The enemy lost no less than forty killed and wounded on this day; the British losses, including some casualties in a patrol skirmish on the day before, were only nine wounded and missing. All through the 13th, Vaal Kop was resolutely held by a tiny British garrison of 100 men and two guns. The fighting was remarkable for the enormous extent of country covered by the forces engaged. The Boers fought on a front of fully fourteen miles; the British, with a yet smaller strength of men, extended over an even longer line. The mobility of the cavalry and Horse Artillery proved to be such that the Boers were filled with uneasiness. They summoned reinforcements, which were at once despatched from the Free State.