For Seven Hours They Lay Helpless Under The
Shell-Fire, But Their Constancy Was Rewarded By The Arrival Of
Colonel
Brookfield with 300 Yeomanry and four guns of the 17th
R.F.A., followed in the evening by a larger
Force from the south.
The Boers fled, but left some of their number behind them; while
of the British, Major Hobbs and four men were killed and nineteen
wounded. This defence of three hundred half-armed men against seven
hundred Boer riflemen, with three guns firing shell and shrapnel,
was a very good performance. The same body of burghers immediately
afterwards attacked a post held by Colonel Evans with two companies
of the Shropshires and fifty Canadians. They were again beaten back
with loss, the Canadians under Inglis especially distinguishing
themselves by their desperate resistance in an exposed position.
All these attacks, irritating and destructive as they were, were
not able to hinder the general progress of the war. After the
battle of Diamond Hill the captured position was occupied by the
mounted infantry, while the rest of the forces returned to their
camps round Pretoria, there to await the much-needed remounts. At
other parts of the seat of war the British cordon was being drawn
more tightly round the Boer forces. Buller had come as far as
Standerton, and Ian Hamilton, in the last week of June, had
occupied Heidelberg. A week afterwards the two forces were able to
join hands, and so to completely cut off the Free State from the
Transvaal armies. Hamilton in these operations had the misfortune
to break his collar-bone, and for a time the command of his
division passed to Hunter - the one man, perhaps, whom the army
would regard as an adequate successor.
It was evident now to the British commanders that there would be no
peace and no safety for their communications while an undefeated
army of seven or eight thousand men, under such leaders as De Wet
and Olivier, was lurking amid the hills which flanked their
railroad. A determined effort was made, therefore, to clear up that
corner of the country. Having closed the only line of escape by the
junction of Ian Hamilton and of Buller, the attention of six
separate bodies of troops was concentrated upon the stalwart
Freestaters. These were the divisions of Rundle and of Brabant from
the south, the brigade of Clements on their extreme left, the
garrison of Lindley under Paget, the garrison of Heilbron under
Macdonald, and, most formidable of all, a detachment under Hunter
which was moving from the north. A crisis was evidently
approaching.
The nearest Free State town of importance still untaken was
Bethlehem - a singular name to connect with the operations of war.
The country on the south of it forbade an advance by Rundle or
Brabant, but it was more accessible from the west. The first
operation of the British consisted, therefore, in massing
sufficient troops to be able to advance from this side. This was
done by effecting a junction between Clements from Senekal, and
Paget who commanded at Lindley, which was carried out upon July 1st
near the latter place. Clements encountered some opposition, but
besides his excellent infantry regiments, the Royal Irish,
Worcesters, Wiltshires, and Bedfords, he had with him the 2nd
Brabant's Horse, with yeomanry, mounted infantry, two 5-inch guns,
and the 38th R.F.A. Aided by a demonstration on the part of
Grenfell and of Brabant, he pushed his way through after three days
of continual skirmish.
On getting into touch with Clements, Paget sallied out from
Lindley, leaving the Buffs behind to garrison the town. He had with
him Brookfield's mounted brigade one thousand strong, eight guns,
and two fine battalions of infantry, the Munster Fusiliers and the
Yorkshire Light Infantry. On July 3rd he found near Leeuw Kop a
considerable force of Boers with three guns opposed to him,
Clements being at that time too far off upon the flank to assist
him. Four guns of the 38th R.F.A. (Major Oldfield) and two
belonging to the City Volunteers came into action. The Royal
Artillery guns appear to have been exposed to a very severe fire,
and the losses were so heavy that for a time they could not be
served. The escort was inadequate, insufficiently advanced, and
badly handled, for the Boer riflemen were able, by creeping up a
donga, to get right into the 38th battery, and the gallant major,
with Lieutenant Belcher, was killed in the defence of the guns.
Captain FitzGerald, the only other officer present, was wounded in
two places, and twenty men were struck down, with nearly all the
horses of one section. Captain Marks, who was brigade-major of
Colonel Brookfield's Yeomanry, with the help of Lieutenant Keevil
Davis and the 15th I.Y. came to the rescue of the disorganised and
almost annihilated section. At the same time the C.I.V. guns were
in imminent danger, but were energetically covered by Captain
Budworth, adjutant of the battery. Soon, however, the infantry,
Munster Fusiliers, and Yorkshire Light Infantry, which had been
carrying out a turning movement, came into action, and the position
was taken. The force moved onwards, and on July 6th they were in
front of Bethlehem.
The place is surrounded by hills, and the enemy was found strongly
posted. Clements's force was now on the left and Paget's on the
right. From both sides an attempt was made to turn the Boer flanks,
but they were found to be very wide and strong. All day a
long-range action was kept up while Clements felt his way in the
hope of coming upon some weak spot in the position, but in the
evening a direct attack was made by Paget's two infantry regiments
upon the right, which gave the British a footing on the Boer
position. The Munster Fusiliers and the Yorkshire Light Infantry
lost forty killed and wounded, including four officers, in this
gallant affair, the heavier loss and the greater honour going to
the men of Munster.
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