The
Operation Was A Complete Success, The Town With Eighty Boers
Falling Into His Hands With Little Opposition.
On September 30th
Hart returned to Krugersdorp, where, save for one skirmish upon the
Gatsrand on November 22nd, he appears to have had no actual
fighting to do during the remainder of the year.
After the clearing of the eastern border of the Transvaal by the
movement of Pole-Carew along the railway line, and of Buller aided
by Ian Hamilton in the mountainous country to the north of it,
there were no operations of importance in this district. A guard
was kept upon the frontier to prevent the return of refugees and
the smuggling of ammunition, while General Kitchener, the brother
of the Sirdar, broke up a few small Boer laagers in the
neighbourhood of Lydenburg. Smith-Dorrien guarded the line at
Belfast, and on two occasions, November 1st and November 6th, he
made aggressive movements against the enemy. The first, which was a
surprise executed in concert with Colonel Spens of the Shropshires,
was frustrated by a severe blizzard, which prevented the troops
from pushing home their success. The second was a two days'
expedition, which met with a spirited opposition, and demands a
fuller notice.
This was made from Belfast, and the force, which consisted of about
fourteen hundred men, advanced south to the Komati River. The
infantry were Suffolks and Shropshires, the cavalry Canadians and
5th Lancers, with two Canadian guns and four of the 84th battery.
All day the Boer snipers clung to the column, as they had done to
French's cavalry in the same district.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 617 of 842
Words from 165095 to 165363
of 225456
