A Word As To The General Distribution Of The Troops At This Instant
While Roberts Was Gathering Himself For His Spring.
Eleven
divisions of infantry were in the field.
Of these the 1st
(Methuen's) and half the 10th (Hunter's) were at Kimberley, forming
really the hundred-mile-distant left wing of Lord Roberts's army.
On that side also was a considerable force of Yeomanry, as General
Villebois discovered. In the centre with Roberts was the 6th
division (Kelly-Kenny's) at Bloemfontein, the 7th (Tucker's) at
Karee, twenty miles north, the 9th (Colvile's) and the 11th
(Pole-Carew's) near Bloemfontein. French's cavalry division was
also in the centre. As one descended the line towards the Cape one
came on the 3rd division (Chermside's, late Gatacre's), which had
now moved up to Reddersberg, and then, further south, the 8th
(Rundle's), near Rouxville. To the south and east was the other
half of Hunter's division (Hart's brigade), and Brabant's Colonial
division, half of which was shut up in Wepener and the rest at
Aliwal. These were the troops operating in the Free State, with the
addition of the division of mounted infantry in process of
formation.
There remained the three divisions in Natal, the 2nd (Clery's), the
4th (Lyttelton's), and the 5th (Hildyard's, late Warren's), with
the cavalry brigades of Burn-Murdoch, Dundonald, and Brocklehurst.
These, with numerous militia and unbrigaded regiments along the
lines of communication, formed the British army in South Africa. At
Mafeking some 900 irregulars stood at bay, with another force about
as large under Plumer a little to the north, endeavouring to
relieve them.
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