On the 5th De Wet made an audacious attempt upon Cape Colony, which, in spite of his marvellous acuteness and activity, proved a failure. He crossed the Caledon and moved towards Odendaal, which was held by the 1st Coldstreams. (It must here be noted that the Guards after their march to Komati Poort, and a brief rest in the Transvaal, were moved to their old hunting grounds on the Orange River, all the drifts of which they assiduously guarded.) At Commassie Bridge he was completely worsted by our troops and forced to trek to the north-east, and back over the Caledon, leaving behind him 500 horses, many Cape carts, and a long stream of dying and dead cattle. He was continually pursued and harassed by General C. Knox, who captured a Krupp gun and a waggon-load of ammunition, and kept up a running fight in the direction of Reddersburg; which was said to be one of the most exciting episodes in the whole war.
On the 8th a Boer gang near Barberton made a violent and indeed valiant lunge at the troops guarding the place. Though once repulsed by the Mounted Infantry they again returned to the attack, and succeeded in getting to very close quarters. The British lost three and had five wounded and thirteen taken prisoners. These, as too troublesome to feed, were afterwards released.
On 13th of December a grievous affair took place at Nooitgedacht on the Magaliesberg, where General Clements with his force of 500 mounted men and 400 Northumberland Fusiliers, while holding the tops of some kopjes was attacked by 2500 kharki-clad Boers under Delarey. The foe crept up without being recognised and seized vantage-points on the ridges, first overpowering the Northumberland Fusiliers (who fought for hours till ammunition was exhausted), and thereby rendering the position of the camp untenable. Under a heavy fire guns and transport were moved, and a second position one mile and a half to south-east taken, where till afternoon the troops remained. Then they retired on Rietfontein, sixty of the 12th Brigade of Mounted Infantry keeping the Boers at bay while the movement was accomplished. The fighting was very severe, and five officers and nine men were killed; eighteen officers and 555 men, most of them Northumberland Fusiliers, were missing. As the natives bolted, a considerable amount of transport was lost, though the Army Service Corps vigorously defended the waggons. A most popular officer, Colonel Legge, 20th Hussars, was hit by three bullets, but was seen to shoot five Boers with his revolver before he dropped. The other officers killed were Captain Macbean, Dublin Fusiliers; Captain Murdoch, Cameron Highlanders; and Captain Atkins, Wiltshire Regiment.
On the same day Colonel Blomfield (at this time in command of the Lancashire Brigade) achieved a great success in the neighbourhood of Vryheid. There, three days previously, the Boers had attacked and had been driven off with a loss of about 100 killed and wounded, to our six killed, nineteen wounded, and thirty missing. Unfortunately two gallant officers of the Royal Lancaster Regiment were killed, Colonel Gawne and Lieutenant Woodgate. Now the avenging Colonel swooped down on the Dutchmen at Scheepers Nek, and drove them off in confusion, securing a quantity of arms and stock, and inflicting heavy punishment. Two Naval Volunteers, whose corps behaved splendidly, were killed. Lord Methuen at the same time was helping to balance the Nooitgedacht account by attacking two Boer positions in the region of Ottoshoop, and taking unto himself fifteen ox waggons and Cape carts, 15,000 rounds of ammunition, 1460 head of cattle, and 2000 sheep. Unfortunately the roll of prisoners was small; for the art of running away is simpler than the art of holding on, and the chase ended, as chases usually ended, by the capture of a handful of prisoners and a prodigious haul of waggons and cattle.
In the Zastron district a party of the 2nd Division of Brabant’s Horse—mostly raw recruits—got into difficulties on the 13th. They became detached from the main body, were caught in a defile, and 120 of them were taken prisoners. The captain in command was wounded in several places, and the Colonials lost eight killed and eighteen wounded, three of whom since died. At this time De Wet was retreating north, flying towards the Thabanchu region from the pursuit of Knox, and struggling to break through the British cordon. After delivering several ineffectual assaults on the various British positions, on the 14th, he in person led a gallant attack—charged through the British lines, and, with the loss of thirty men killed and wounded, twelve prisoners, some waggons of ammunition, a 15-pounder gun (taken at Dewetsdorp), a “pom-pom,” and many horses and mules, succeeded once more in making his escape!
Parties of his dispersed force at different points had crossed the Orange River and commenced cutting railway lines, threatening communications between Cape Town and Buluwayo, their object being to possess themselves of De Aar Junction. But their movements were circumscribed. Burghersdorp, Stormberg, Rosmead, and Naauwpoort were all strongly held by the British, while the Orange River, as though vengefully, had risen at the back of the marauders and pressed them close to the British forces, hemming them round. Still, some 2000 of them on mischief bent caused considerable alarm and annoyance, holding up trains, capturing convoys, and calling on small garrisons to surrender, and fighting, till, on the approach of reinforcements, they deemed it advisable to decamp to fresh fields of diversion. Lord Kitchener promptly arrived at De Aar and adopted measures to quell the invasion and allay the apprehensions of those who found themselves at the mercy of the bandits. But the work was not to be accomplished without infinite patience, for, as one of the gay Colonials remarked, “Sport in these districts is no longer fox-hunting, but rat-catching!”
A new proclamation, dated 20th December, was issued by the Commander-in-Chief. It ran thus: “It is hereby notified to all burghers that if, after this date, they voluntarily surrender, they will be allowed to live with their families in Government laagers until such time as the guerilla warfare now being carried on will admit of their returning safely to their homes.
“All stock and property brought in at the time of surrender of such burghers will be respected and paid for if requisitioned by the military authorities.”
To ensure a more speedy termination of hostilities, active steps were taken to make up for the loss of the Colonial and other troops which had returned to their homes. The recruiting of Colonial Police to the number of 10,000 was being carried forward, 800 mounted infantry and two cavalry regiments from England were under orders to leave as soon as possible, and a sixth New Zealand Contingent consisting of 200 men (one-half Maoris) was preparing to sail.
A second band of marauders had now got across by Zandsdrift, the object of the Boer leaders being to run all over Cape Colony and there gather around them as many Dutch sympathisers as they could manage to stimulate with a belief in their ultimate success, and, if possible, to get access to the sea coast. A Gazette Extraordinary was therefore issued on the 20th proclaiming martial law in twelve additional districts of Cape Colony, and warning all persons of the risks incurred by those who had previously assisted the enemy and had been released. It was subsequently arranged that owing to the state of affairs the loyal inhabitants should be called upon to form a Colonial Defence Force in order to resist the invasion, protect communications, and preserve order in the disturbed districts. The term of service named was three months. The operations in the Colony were to be conducted by Generals Little, Jones, and MacDonald.