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.
