A Body Of
Mounted Infantry Followed Up The Boers, Who Numbered Eighty, And
Succeeded In Killing And Wounding Several Of Them.
On July 21st the Boers made a determined attack upon the railhead
at a point thirteen miles east of Heidelberg, where over a hundred
Royal Engineers were engaged upon a bridge.
They were protected by
three hundred Dublin Fusiliers under Major English. For some hours
the little party was hard pressed by the burghers, who had two
field-pieces and a pom-pom. They could make no impression, however,
upon the steady Irish infantry, and after some hours the arrival of
General Hart with reinforcements scattered the assailants, who
succeeded in getting their guns away in safety.
At the beginning of August it must be confessed that the general
situation in the Transvaal was not reassuring. Springs near
Johannesburg had in some inexplicable way, without fighting, fallen
into the hands of the enemy. Klerksdorp, an important place in the
south-west, had also been reoccupied, and a handful of men who
garrisoned it had been made prisoners without resistance.
Rustenburg was about to be abandoned, and the British were known to
be falling back from Zeerust and Otto's Hoop, concentrating upon
Mafeking. The sequel proved however, that there was no cause for
uneasiness in all this. Lord Roberts was concentrating his strength
upon those objects which were vital, and letting the others drift
for a time. At present the two obviously important things were to
hunt down De Wet and to scatter the main Boer army under Botha. The
latter enterprise must wait upon the former, so for a fortnight all
operations were in abeyance while the flying columns of the British
endeavoured to run down their extremely active and energetic
antagonist.
At the end of July De Wet had taken refuge in some exceedingly
difficult country near Reitzburg, seven miles south of the Vaal
River. The operations were proceeding vigorously at that time
against the main army at Fouriesberg, and sufficient troops could
not be spared to attack him, but he was closely observed by
Kitchener and Broadwood with a force of cavalry and mounted
infantry. With the surrender of Prinsloo a large army was
disengaged, and it was obvious that if De Wet remained where he was
he must soon be surrounded. On the other hand, there was no place
of refuge to the south of him. With great audacity he determined to
make a dash for the Transvaal, in the hope of joining hands with De
la Rey's force, or else of making his way across the north of
Pretoria, and so reaching Botha's army. President Steyn went with
him, and a most singular experience it must have been for him to be
harried like a mad dog through the country in which he had once
been an honoured guest. De Wet's force was exceedingly mobile, each
man having a led horse, and the ammunition being carried in light
Cape carts.
In the first week of August the British began to thicken round his
lurking-place, and De Wet knew that it was time for him to go. He
made a great show of fortifying a position, but it was only a ruse
to deceive those who watched him. Travelling as lightly as
possible, he made a dash on August 7th at the drift which bears his
own name, and so won his way across the Vaal River, Kitchener
thundering at his heels with his cavalry and mounted infantry.
Methuen's force was at that time at Potchefstroom, and instant
orders had been sent to him to block the drifts upon the northern
side. It was found as he approached the river that the vanguard of
the enemy was already across and that it was holding the spurs of
the hills which would cover the crossing of their comrades. By the
dash of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and the exertions of the
artillery ridge after ridge was carried, but before evening De Wet
with supreme skill had got his convoy across, and had broken away,
first to the eastward and then to the north. On the 9th Methuen was
in touch with him again, and the two savage little armies, Methuen
worrying at the haunch, and De Wet snapping back over his shoulder,
swept northward over the huge plains. Wherever there was ridge or
kopje the Boer riflemen staved off the eager pursuers. Where the
ground lay flat and clear the British guns thundered onwards and
fired into the lines of wagons. Mile after mile the running fight
was sustained, but the other British columns, Broadwood's men and
Kitchener's men, had for some reason not come up. Methuen alone was
numerically inferior to the men he was chasing, but he held on with
admirable energy and spirit. The Boers were hustled off the kopjes
from which they tried to cover their rear. Twenty men of the
Yorkshire Yeomanry carried one hill with the bayonet, though only
twelve of them were left to reach the top.
De Wet trekked onwards during the night of the 9th, shedding wagons
and stores as he went. He was able to replace some of his exhausted
beasts from the farmhouses which he passed. Methuen on the morning
of the 10th struck away to the west, sending messages back to
Broadwood and Kitchener in the rear that they should bear to the
east, and so nurse the Boer column between them. At the same time
he sent on a messenger, who unfortunately never arrived, to warn
Smith-Dorrien at Bank Station to throw himself across De Wet's
path. On the 11th it was realised that De Wet had succeeded, in
spite of great exertions upon the part of Smith-Dorrien's infantry,
in crossing the railway line, and that he had left all his pursuers
to the south of him. But across his front lay the Magaliesberg
range. There are only three passes, the Magato Pass, Olifant's Nek,
and Commando Nek. It was understood that all three were held by
British troops.
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