Some Rolling Stock, One Small Gun, And
Something Under A Hundred Prisoners Were The Trophies Of The
Capture, But The Boer Arsenal And The Printing Press Were
Destroyed, And The Government Sped Off In A Couple Of Cape Carts In
Search Of Some New Capital.
Pietersburg was principally valuable as
a base from which a sweeping movement might be made from the north
at the same moment as one from the south-east.
A glance at the map
will show that a force moving from this point in conjunction with
another from Lydenburg might form the two crooked claws of a crab
to enclose a great space of country, in which smaller columns might
collect whatever was to be found. Without an instant of unnecessary
delay the dispositions were made, and no fewer than eight columns
slipped upon the chase. It will be best to continue to follow the
movements of Plumer's force, and then to give some account of the
little armies which were operating from the south, with the results
of their enterprise.
It was known that Viljoen and a number of Boers were within the
district which lies north of the line in the Middelburg district.
An impenetrable bush-veld had offered them a shelter from which
they made their constant sallies to wreck a train or to attack a
post. This area was now to be systematically cleared up. The first
thing was to stop the northern line of retreat. The Oliphant River
forms a loop in that direction, and as it is a considerable stream,
it would, if securely held, prevent any escape upon that side. With
this object Plumer, on April 14th, the sixth day after his
occupation of Pietersburg, struck east from that town and trekked
over the veld, through the formidable Chunies Pass, and so to the
north bank of the Oliphant, picking up thirty or forty Boer
prisoners upon the way. His route lay through a fertile country
dotted with native kraals. Having reached the river which marked
the line which he was to hold, Plumer, upon April 17th, spread his
force over many miles, so as to block the principal drifts. The
flashes of his helio were answered by flash after flash from many
points upon the southern horizon. What these other forces were, and
whence they came, must now be made clear to the reader.
General Bindon Blood, a successful soldier, had confirmed in the
Transvaal a reputation which he had won on the northern frontier of
India. He and General Elliot were two of the late comers who had
been spared from the great Eastern dependency to take the places of
some of those Generals who had returned to England for a
well-earned rest. He had distinguished himself by his systematic
and effective guardianship of the Delagoa railway line, and he was
now selected for the supreme control of the columns which were to
advance from the south and sweep the Roos-Senekal district. There
were seven of them, which were arranged as follows:
Two columns started from Middelburg under Beatson and Benson, which
might be called the left wings of the movement. The object of
Beatson's column was to hold the drifts of the Crocodile River,
while Benson's was to seize the neighbouring hills called the
Bothasberg. This it was hoped would pin the Boers from the west,
while Kitchener from Lydenburg advanced from the east in three
separate columns. Pulteney and Douglas would move up from Belfast
in the centre, with Dulstoom for their objective. It was the
familiar drag net of French, but facing north instead of south.
On April 13th the southern columns were started, but already the
British preparations had alarmed the Boers, and Botha, with his
main commandos, had slipped south across the line into that very
district from which he had been so recently driven. Viljoen's
commando still remained to the north, and the British troops,
pouring in from every side, converged rapidly upon it. The success
of the operations was considerable, though not complete. The
Tantesberg, which had been the rallying-point of the Boers, was
occupied, and Roos-Senekal, their latest capital, was taken, with
their State papers and treasure. Viljoen, with a number of
followers, slipped through between the columns, but the greater
part of the burghers, dashing furiously about like a shoal of fish
when they become conscious of the net, were taken by one or other
of the columns. A hundred of the Boksburg commando surrendered en
masse, fifty more were taken at Roos-Senekal; forty-one of the
formidable Zarps with Schroeder, their leader, were captured in the
north by the gallantry and wit of a young Australian officer named
Reid; sixty more were hunted down by the indefatigable Vialls,
leader of the Bushmen. From all parts of the district came the same
story of captures and surrenders.
Knowing, however, that Botha and Viljoen had slipped through to the
south of the railway line, Lord Kitchener determined to rapidly
transfer the scene of the operations to that side. At the end of
April, after a fortnight's work, during which this large district
was cropped, but by no means shaved, the troops turned south again.
The results of the operation had been eleven hundred prisoners,
almost the same number as French had taken in the south-east,
together with a broken Krupp, a pom-pom, and the remains of the big
naval gun taken from us at Helvetia.
It was determined that Plumer's advance upon Pietersburg should not
be a mere raid, but that steps should be taken to secure all that
he had gained, and to hold the lines of communication. With this
object the 2nd Gordon Highlanders and the 2nd Wiltshires were
pushed up along the railroad, followed by Kitchener's Fighting
Scouts. These troops garrisoned Pietersburg and took possession of
Chunies Poort, and other strategic positions. They also furnished
escorts for the convoys which supplied Plumer on the Oliphant
River, and they carried out some spirited operations themselves in
the neighbourhood of Pietersburg.
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