On The 5th Ermelo Was Occupied, And
The Fresh Deep Ruts Upon The Veld Told The British Horsemen Of The
Huge Boer Convoy That Was Ahead Of Them.
For days enormous herds,
endless flocks, and lines of wagons which stretched from horizon to
horizon had been trekking eastward.
Cavalry and mounted infantry
were all hot upon the scent.
Botha, however, was a leader of spirit, not to be hustled with
impunity. Having several thousand burghers with him, it was evident
that if he threw himself suddenly upon any part of the British line
he might hope for a time to make an equal fight, and possibly to
overwhelm it. Were Smith-Dorrien out of the way there would be a
clear road of escape for his whole convoy to the north, while a
defeat of any of the other columns would not help him much. It was
on Smith-Dorrien, therefore, that he threw himself with great
impetuosity. That General's force was, however, formidable,
consisting of the Suffolks, West Yorks and Camerons, 5th Lancers,
2nd Imperial Light Horse, and 3rd Mounted Infantry, with eight
field guns and three heavy pieces. Such a force could hardly be
defeated in the open, but no one can foresee the effect of a night
surprise well pushed home, and such was the attack delivered by
Botha at 3 A.M. upon February 6th, when his opponent was encamped
at Bothwell Farm.
The night was favourable to the attempt, as it was dark and misty.
Fortunately, however, the British commander had fortified himself
and was ready for an assault. The Boer forlorn hope came on with a
gallant dash, driving a troop of loose horses in upon the outposts,
and charging forward into the camp. The West Yorkshires, however,
who bore the brunt of the attack, were veterans of the Tugela, who
were no more to be flurried at three in the morning than at three
in the afternoon. The attack was blown backwards, and twenty dead
Boers, with their brave leader Spruyt, were left within the British
lines. The main body of the Boers contented themselves with a heavy
fusillade out of the darkness, which was answered and crushed by
the return fire of the infantry. In the morning no trace, save
their dead, was to be seen of the enemy, but twenty killed and
fifty wounded in Smith-Dorrien's column showed how heavy had been
the fire which had swept through the sleeping camp. The Carolina
attack, which was to have co-operated with that of the
Heidelbergers, was never delivered, through difficulties of the
ground, and considerable recriminations ensued among the Boers in
consequence.
Beyond a series of skirmishes and rearguard actions this attack of
Botha's was the one effort made to stay the course of French's
columns. It did not succeed, however, in arresting them for an
hour. From that day began a record of captures of men, herds, guns,
and wagons, as the fugitives were rounded up from the north, the
west, and the south. The operation was a very thorough one, for the
towns and districts occupied were denuded of their inhabitants, who
were sent into the refugee camps while the country was laid waste
to prevent its furnishing the commandos with supplies in the
future. Still moving south-east, General French's columns made
their way to Piet Retief upon the Swazi frontier, pushing a
disorganised array which he computed at 5000 in front of them. A
party of the enemy, including the Carolina commando, had broken
back in the middle of February and Louis Botha had got away at the
same time, but so successful were his main operations that French
was able to report his total results at the end of the month as
being 292 Boers killed or wounded, 500 surrendered, 3 guns and one
maxim taken, with 600 rifles, 4000 horses, 4500 trek oxen, 1300
wagons and carts, 24,000 cattle, and 165,000 sheep. The whole vast
expanse of the eastern veld was dotted with the broken and charred
wagons of the enemy.
Tremendous rains were falling and the country was one huge
quagmire, which crippled although it did not entirely prevent the
further operations. All the columns continued to report captures.
On March 3rd Dartnell got a maxim and 50 prisoners, while French
reported 50 more, and Smith-Dorrien 80. On March 6th French
captured two more guns, and on the 14th he reported 46 more Boer
casualties and 146 surrenders, with 500 more wagons, and another
great haul of sheep and oxen. By the end of March French had moved
as far south as Vryheid, his troops having endured the greatest
hardships from the continual heavy rains, and the difficulty of
bringing up any supplies. On the 27th he reported seventeen more
Boer casualties and 140 surrenders, while on the last day of the
month he took another gun and two pom-poms. The enemy at that date
were still retiring eastward, with Alderson and Dartnell pressing
upon their rear. On April 4th French announced the capture of the
last piece of artillery which the enemy possessed in that region.
The rest of the Boer forces doubled back at night between the
columns and escaped over the Zululand border, where 200 of them
surrendered. The total trophies of French's drive down the Eastern
Transvaal amounted to eleven hundred of the enemy killed, wounded,
or taken, the largest number in any operation since the surrender
of Prinsloo. There is no doubt that the movement would have been
even more successful had the weather been less boisterous, but this
considerable loss of men, together with the capture of all the guns
in that region, and of such enormous quantities of wagons,
munitions, and stock, inflicted a blow upon the Boers from which
they never wholly recovered. On April 20th French was back in
Johannesburg once more.
While French had run to earth the last Boer gun in the
south-eastern corner of the Transvaal, De la Rey, upon the western
side, had still managed to preserve a considerable artillery with
which he flitted about the passes of the Magaliesberg or took
refuge in the safe districts to the south-west of it.
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