When The Stories Of The War Are Told
Round The Fires In The Lonely Veld Farmhouses, As They Will Be For
A Century To Come, This One Deserves An Honoured Place.
The victory, if such a word can apply to such an action, had cost
some fifty or sixty of the cavalry killed and wounded, while it is
doubtful if the Boers lost as many.
The finest military display on
the British side had been the magnificent marching of Kelly-Kenny's
6th Division, who had gone for ten hours with hardly a halt. One
9-pound Krupp gun was the only trophy. On the other hand, Roberts
had turned them out of their strong position, had gained twelve or
fifteen miles on he road to Bloemfontein, and for the first time
shown how helpless a Boer army was in country which gave our
numbers a chance. From now onwards it was only in surprise and
ambuscade that they could hope for a success. We had learned and
they had learned that they could not stand in the open field.
The action of Poplars Grove was fought on March 7th. On the 9th the
army was again on its way, and on the 10th it attacked the new
position which the Boers had occupied at a place called
Driefontein, or Abram's Kraal. They covered a front of some seven
miles in such a formation that their wings were protected, the
northern by the river and the southern by flanking bastions of hill
extending for some distance to the rear.
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