The gallant South African Light Horse led the way,
and fought hard at one point to clear a path for the army, losing
six killed and eight wounded in a sharp skirmish. On the morning of
the 12th the flanking movement was far advanced, and it only
remained for the army to force Alleman's Nek, which would place it
to the rear of Laing's Nek, and close to the Transvaal town of
Volksrust.
Had the Boers been the men of Colenso and of Spion Kop, this
storming of Alleman's Nek would have been a bloody business. The
position was strong, the cover was slight, and there was no way
round. But the infantry came on with the old dash without the old
stubborn resolution being opposed to them. The guns prepared the
way, and then the Dorsets, the Dublins, the Middlesex, the Queen's,
and the East Surrey did the rest. The door was open and the
Transvaal lay before us. The next day Volksrust was in our hands.
The whole series of operations were excellently conceived and
carried out. Putting Colenso on one side, it cannot be denied that
General Buller showed considerable power of manoeuvring large
bodies of troops. The withdrawal of the compromised army after
Spion Kop, the change of the line of attack at Pieter's Hill, and
the flanking marches in this campaign of Northern Natal, were all
very workmanlike achievements.
