It Included A
Brigade Of Guards (The 1st Scots Guards, 3rd Grenadiers, And 1st
And 2nd Coldstreams), The 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry, The 2nd
Northamptons, The 1st Northumberlands, And A Wing Of The North
Lancashires Whose Comrades Were Holding Out At Kimberley, With A
Naval Brigade Of Seamen Gunners And Marines.
For cavalry he had the
9th Lancers, with detachments of mounted infantry, and for
artillery the 75th and 18th Batteries R.F.A.
Extreme mobility was aimed at in the column, and neither tents nor
comforts of any sort were permitted to officers or men - no light
matter in a climate where a tropical day is followed by an arctic
night. At daybreak on November 22nd the force, numbering about
eight thousand men, set off upon its eventful journey. The distance
to Kimberley was not more than sixty miles, and it is probable that
there was not one man in the force who imagined how long that march
would take or how grim the experiences would be which awaited them
on the way. At the dawn of Wednesday, November 22nd, Lord Methuen
moved forward until he came into touch with the Boer position at
Belmont. It was surveyed that evening by Colonel Willoughby Verner,
and every disposition made to attack it in the morning.
The force of the Boers was much inferior to our own, some two or
three thousand in all, but the natural strength of their position
made it a difficult one to carry, while it could not be left behind
us as a menace to our line of communications.
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