Hardly A Day Elapsed That
The Line Was Not Cut At Some Point.
The bringing of supplies was
complicated by the fact that the Boer women and children were
coming more and
More into refugee camps, where they had to be fed
by the British, and the strange spectacle was frequently seen of
Boer snipers killing or wounding the drivers and stokers of the
very trains which were bringing up food upon which Boer families
were dependent for their lives. Considering that these tactics were
continued for over a year, and that they resulted in the death or
mutilation of many hundreds of British officers and men, it is
really inexplicable that the British authorities did not employ the
means used by all armies under such circumstances - which is to
place hostages upon the trains. A truckload of Boers behind every
engine would have stopped the practice for ever. Again and again in
this war the British have fought with the gloves when their
opponents used their knuckles.
We will pass now to a consideration of the doings of General Paget,
who was operating to the north and north-east of Pretoria with a
force which consisted of two regiments of infantry, about a
thousand horsemen, and twelve guns. His mounted men were under the
command of Plumer. In the early part of November this force had
been withdrawn from Warm Baths and had fallen back upon Pienaar's
River, where it had continual skirmishes with the enemy. Towards
the end of November, news having reached Pretoria that the enemy
under Erasmus and Viljoen were present in force at a place called
Rhenoster Kop, which is about twenty miles north of the Delagoa
Railway line and fifty miles north-east of the capital, it was
arranged that Paget should attack them from the south, while
Lyttelton from Middelburg should endeavour to get behind them.
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