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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