So Wide Was The Scene Of Action That The Attack And The
Resistance In Each Flank And In The Centre Constituted, On June
11th, Three Separate Actions.
Of these the latter was of least
importance, as it merely entailed the advance of the infantry to a
spot whence they could take advantage of the success of the
flanking forces when they had made their presence felt.
The centre
did not on this as on several other occasions in the campaign make
the mistake of advancing before the way had been prepared for it.
French with his attenuated force found so vigorous a resistance on
Monday and Tuesday that he was hard put to it to hold his own.
Fortunately he had with him three excellent Horse Artillery
batteries, G, O, and T, who worked until, at the end of the
engagement, they had only twenty rounds in their limbers. The
country was an impossible one for cavalry, and the troopers fought
dismounted, with intervals of twenty or thirty paces between the
men. Exposed all day to rifle and shell fire, unable to advance and
unwilling to retreat, it was only owing to their open formation
that they escaped with about thirty casualties. With Boers on his
front, his flank, and even on his rear, French held grimly on,
realising that a retreat upon his part would mean a greater
pressure at all other points of the British advance. At night his
weary men slept upon the ground which they had held.
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