Nothing daunted, De Wet made a new effort, and, alas! a successful one. On the 25th, in the direction of Tweefontein (nine miles west of Elands River Bridge), he turned up again where a covering force was watching the construction of the Harrismith-Bethlehem blockhouse line.
This force, temporarily commanded by Major G. A. Williams, 1st South Staffordshire Regiment, consisted of the 34th, 35th, 36th, and 53rd Companies Imperial Yeomanry, and one gun of the 79th Battery and a pom-pom. It lay that night on the slope of a lonely kopje; the outpost line held the crest, the camp being situated on a gentle slope to north. The south side was steep. From this steep and apparently unprotected side the Boers by night, at 2 A.M. on the 25th, delivered their attack, scrambling up the heights exactly in the swift and silent way they had mounted Wagon Hill on the 6th of January 1900, and rushed the piquets in overwhelming numbers. The ridge secured, there followed a dash through the camp, and so swift was the movement that many of our officers and men were shot down before they had become aware of what had happened. It was a deplorable affair, and Major Williams paid for what mistakes he may have made with his life. Five other officers were killed and also 51 men; 8 officers and 81 men were wounded. Lieutenant Harwich himself fired with the pom-pom, and was shot through the heart in the act. Lieutenant Watney (Imperial Yeomanry) was killed as he headed the gallant charge on the enemy. A Boer prisoner gave the following account of the fight: Commandant Mears on the previous day spied round the camp, noting the exact positions of the guns. After sunset De Wet assembled over six hundred men and moved on Colonel Firman’s camp, arriving within a thousand yards at two o’clock on Christmas morning unobserved. The Boers marched to the foot of the hill on which the camp was. There they left their horses, and scaled the precipitous height. When the sentry challenged them the Boers yelled madly, hoping thus to create confusion, and rushed into the British camp, shooting our men down point-blank as they came out of their tents. Our gunners, who were firing the guns at a range of forty yards, were overpowered, and the camp was captured after a fierce hand-to-hand conflict. Some Boers who lagged behind when the enemy charged the hill were sjamboked along by De Wet and Brand. The official casualty list of the Boers was fourteen killed, including Commandant Oliver, of Bethlehem, and Field-Cornet Lawrence, and thirty-two wounded.
At this time General Rundle, with a small column, was encamped some 2½ miles to the east of this lonely hill. Hearing the firing he despatched Colonel Tudway, D.A.A.G., and his Mounted Infantry to ascertain the cause, and at the same time summoned two regiments of Imperial Light Horse from the neighbourhood of Elands River Bridge. Quickly the Boers discovered their peril, and made off into the Langeberg, carrying with them the gun and pom-pom they had captured in their attack on the camp.
General Elliot, on hearing of this unfortunate affair, promptly started off on a series of chases after De Wet, which chases were fraught with much fatigue and considerable danger; but they failed in their main object, though many captures of more insignificant kind were made. As an idea of the distances covered in a week by General Elliot’s columns, the following table was given by Lord Kitchener:—On December 29, marched seventy miles in close pursuit of De Wet; on 31st December, twenty miles; on 4th January, sixty miles.
Before De Wet enjoyed the short-lived triumph of Christmas day, Wessels, in the neighbourhood of Tafel Kop, had distinguished himself on the 19th. The troops of Colonels Rimington and Damant were moving by night in a fierce thunderstorm by parallel roads three miles apart to cover an extension of the blockhouse line. Damant’s advance guard beheld suddenly a force approaching. This force was kharki clad, and affected the formation usual with regular mounted troops. They also, as they advanced, fired volleys in the direction of some Boers who were escaping across the front of two British forces. Naturally our men were deceived, and this clever ruse enabled the Dutchmen to seize the crest of a kopje which commanded the whole field and also the guns and the main body of our troops. But even in their inferior position Damant’s gallant fellows fought nobly and tenaciously to save the guns which accompanied the advance guard—so nobly, indeed, that every officer and man, except four, of the leading troops were shot down before reinforcements from the main body and Colonel Rimington’s column came to the rescue. When these loomed in the distance the Boers wisely relinquished their attack, and fled over the Wilge pursued for many miles by Colonel Rimington’s troops. Colonel Damant himself was wounded in four places, and many of his staff were killed and wounded as they fought gallantly with their revolvers till shot down. The casualties among officers were: Lieutenant R. G. Maturin, 39th Battery Royal Field Artillery (wounded); Captain H. J. P. Jeffcoat, Royal Field Artillery Pompoms (killed); Captain C. L. Gaussen, 91st Company Imperial Yeomanry (killed); Captain G. A. C. Webb, Royal Munster Fusiliers (attached Damant’s Horse) (wounded); Lieutenant C. H. A. Wilson, Damant’s Horse (wounded); Lieutenant W. J. Shand, Cameron Highlanders (attached Damant’s Horse) (wounded, since dead); Lieutenant L. W. Armstrong, 91st Company Imperial Yeomanry (wounded). Out of a total force of ninety-five in action, we had seventy-five killed and wounded, while of three officers and forty-two men of the 91st Yeomanry, one officer and fourteen men were killed, and one officer and sixteen men wounded. Some truly heroic deeds were performed. Captain Jeffcoat, D.S.O., continued gallantly to work his gun under close and heavy fire till he dropped dead. Lieutenant Maturin, although wounded, collected some men and got the limbers out of fire; while Captain Webb and Lieutenant Shand charged boldly forward to a ridge, which they held till all save two of their men were killed or wounded. Captain Gaussen (91st Company Imperial Yeomanry) and Lieutenant Diving, who commanded the escort to the guns, displayed almost reckless gallantry, and the same may be said of Lieutenant Clive Wilson. Dr. Wedderburn pursued his deeds of mercy to the wounded, regardless of the rain of bullets that overtook him.
DE WET’S ATTEMPT TO CROSS THE RAILWAY.
Blockhouse and Armoured Train at work.
The following particulars of this gallant fight were obtained from the men engaged in it by the correspondent of the Central News:—
“The columns under Colonel Damant and Colonel Rimington left Frankfort on the 19th inst. and proceeded in the direction of Vrede. The force trekked all night through a most severe thunderstorm, during which three of our men were struck by lightning and killed.
“On reaching the neighbourhood of Tafelkop, Damant rushed a Boer piquet, killing one man and capturing Commandant Gyter.
“At daybreak the transport waggons were laagered, and were left behind in charge of a small escort, while Damant with two guns of the 39th Battery, and one pom-pom and ninety-five men all told, rushed forward. The little force deviated on the left flank, where a number of Boers had been located.
“On reaching a ridge Colonel Damant observed a party of seventy men dressed in British uniform busily engaged driving cattle in his direction. The strangers were at first taken to be a part of Rimington’s column which had gone out on the right flank. The mistake was soon discovered, however, and almost immediately another body of the enemy was located further to the left of the British laager.
“Our guns were speedily unlimbered, and quickly came into action. We had only been able to fire two shots when the Boers in charge of the cattle abandoned them and galloped boldly forward towards the British position.
“The enemy opened a galling fire on the gunners at a range of two hundred yards, and simultaneously another party of 150 Boers who had remained carefully concealed in ambush in the long grass at the foot of the ridge enfiladed the position.
“A large number of the gallant defenders fell at the first few volleys, but the survivors fought tenaciously, and the enemy were only able to rush and capture the position after all the men on the ridge had been either killed or wounded except three.
“Previous to this, however, some of the gallant gunners and the escort had succeeded in getting away the limbers of the guns, notwithstanding the heavy fire. The only gunner who had escaped the bullets then effectually destroyed the breech-blocks of the guns and rendered them utterly useless to the enemy. Out of a total force of 95 in action we had 75 killed and wounded, while of the 91st Yeomanry, one officer and 14 men were killed and one officer and 10 men wounded.
“The Boers, who were under Commandants Wessels, Ross, and M. Botha—the latter the son of the Commandant-General—also lost heavily. They had Commandant Vandermerwe and 30 men killed. Three of the Boer dead were buried by our men, and the remainder were carried away.
“Later in the day a Boer came in under a flag of truce and asked for an armistice in order to allow the enemy to attend to their wounded and bury their dead.
“The survivors on our side state that the Boers behaved badly to our wounded on the ridge after the position had been rushed. Every one who made a movement while lying on the ground was fired at. An officer of the Yeomanry asked permission from a Boer dressed in kharki to get water for our wounded. For reply the Boer discharged his Mauser point blank at the officer’s head, but fortunately missed him.
“Several more of the enemy robbed and stripped our wounded and dead, and were only restrained from perpetrating further outrages by their commandants, who used sjamboks freely.
“The Boers were terribly angry when they discovered they were unable to move or use the guns which they had captured.
“Meanwhile Captain Scott had got together a small force and came up to the assistance of Damant’s men.
“Scott prepared to charge the position, when the enemy, mistaking his men for Rimington’s column, hastily retreated. The fleeing Boers, however, fell right into the arms of Rimington’s force, which was coming up to Damant’s support. Rimington opened fire, and the enemy lost a few killed, while five were captured.
“Rimington, with the remainder of Damant’s force, chased the flying enemy across the Wilge River.
“There appears to have been lately a large concentration of the enemy under De Wet at Tafelkop. Large parties of determined fighters under the immediate command of M. Botha, Meintjes, Tallvaard, Steenkamp, and Bucknill are now laying in ambush about the district, waiting to attack small columns.”