Any Serious Danger
To The Railway Behind Them Would Leave The British Army In A Very
Critical Position, And Precautions Were Taken For The Protection Of
The More Vulnerable Portions Of The Line.
It was well that this was
so, for on the 8th of December Commandant Prinsloo, of the Orange
Free State, with a thousand horsemen and two light seven-pounder
guns, appeared suddenly at Enslin and vigorously attacked the two
companies of the Northampton Regiment who held the station.
At the
same time they destroyed a couple of culverts and tore up three
hundred yards of the permanent way. For some hours the Northamptons
under Captain Godley were closely pressed, but a telegram had been
despatched to Modder Camp, and the 12th Lancers with the ubiquitous
62nd Battery were sent to their assistance. The Boers retired with
their usual mobility, and in ten hours the line was completely
restored.
Reinforcements were now reaching the Modder River force, which made
it more formidable than when it had started. A very essential
addition was that of the 12th Lancers and of G battery of Horse
Artillery, which would increase the mobility of the force and make
it possible for the General to follow up a blow after he had struck
it. The magnificent regiments which formed the Highland
Brigade - the 2nd Black Watch, the 1st Gordons, the 2nd Seaforths,
and the 1st Highland Light Infantry had arrived under the gallant
and ill-fated Wauchope. Four five-inch howitzers had also come to
strengthen the artillery. At the same time the Canadians, the
Australians, and several line regiments were moved up on the line
from De Aar to Belmont. It appeared to the public at home that
there was the material for an overwhelming advance; but the
ordinary observer, and even perhaps the military critic, had not
yet appreciated how great is the advantage which is given by modern
weapons to the force which acts upon the defensive. With enormous
pains Cronje and De la Rey were entrenching a most formidable
position in front of our advance, with a confidence, which proved
to be justified that it would be on their own ground and under
their own conditions that in this, as in the three preceding
actions, we should engage them.
On the morning of Saturday, December 9th, the British General made
an attempt to find out what lay in front of him amid that
semicircle of forbidding hills. To this end he sent out a
reconnaissance in the early morning, which included G Battery Horse
Artillery, the 9th Lancers, and the ponderous 4.7 naval gun, which,
preceded by the majestic march of thirty-two bullocks and attended
by eighty seamen gunners, creaked forwards over the plain. What was
there to shoot at in those sunlit boulder-strewn hills in front?
They lay silent and untenanted in the glare of the African day. In
vain the great gun exploded its huge shell with its fifty pounds of
lyddite over the ridges, in vain the smaller pieces searched every
cleft and hollow with their shrapnel. No answer came from the
far-stretching hills. Not a flash or twinkle betrayed the fierce
bands who lurked among the boulders. The force returned to camp no
wiser than when it left.
There was one sight visible every night to all men which might well
nerve the rescuers in their enterprise. Over the northern horizon,
behind those hills of danger, there quivered up in the darkness one
long, flashing, quivering beam, which swung up and down, and up
again like a seraphic sword-blade. It was Kimberley praying for
help, Kimberley solicitous for news. Anxiously, distractedly, the
great De Beers searchlight dipped and rose. And back across the
twenty miles of darkness, over the hills where Cronje lurked, there
came that other southern column of light which answered, and
promised, and soothed. 'Be of good heart, Kimberley. We are here!
The Empire is behind us. We have not forgotten you. It may be days,
or it may be weeks, but rest assured that we are coming.'
About three in the afternoon of Sunday, December 10th, the force
which was intended to clear a path for the army through the lines
of Magersfontein moved out upon what proved to be its desperate
enterprise. The 3rd or Highland Brigade included the Black Watch,
the Seaforths, the Argyll and Sutherlands, and the Highland Light
Infantry. The Gordons had only arrived in camp that day, and did
not advance until next morning. Besides the infantry, the 9th
Lancers, the mounted infantry, and all the artillery moved to the
front. It was raining hard, and the men with one blanket between
two soldiers bivouacked upon the cold damp ground, about three
miles from the enemy's position. At one o'clock, without food, and
drenched, they moved forwards through the drizzle and the darkness
to attack those terrible lines. Major Benson, R.A., with two of
Rimington's scouts, led them on their difficult way.
Clouds drifted low in the heavens, and the falling rain made the
darkness more impenetrable. The Highland Brigade was formed into a
column - the Black Watch in front, then the Seaforths, and the other
two behind. To prevent the men from straggling in the night the
four regiments were packed into a mass of quarter column as densely
as was possible, and the left guides held a rope in order to
preserve the formation. With many a trip and stumble the ill-fated
detachment wandered on, uncertain where they were going and what it
was that they were meant to do. Not only among the rank and file,
but among the principal officers also, there was the same absolute
ignorance. Brigadier Wauchope knew, no doubt, but his voice was
soon to be stilled in death. The others were aware, of course, that
they were advancing either to turn the enemy's trenches or to
attack them, but they may well have argued from their own formation
that they could not be near the riflemen yet.
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