At The End Of
April, After A Fortnight's Work, During Which This Large District
Was Cropped, But By No Means
Shaved, the troops turned south again.
The results of the operation had been eleven hundred prisoners,
almost the same number
As French had taken in the south-east,
together with a broken Krupp, a pom-pom, and the remains of the big
naval gun taken from us at Helvetia.
It was determined that Plumer's advance upon Pietersburg should not
be a mere raid, but that steps should be taken to secure all that
he had gained, and to hold the lines of communication. With this
object the 2nd Gordon Highlanders and the 2nd Wiltshires were
pushed up along the railroad, followed by Kitchener's Fighting
Scouts. These troops garrisoned Pietersburg and took possession of
Chunies Poort, and other strategic positions. They also furnished
escorts for the convoys which supplied Plumer on the Oliphant
River, and they carried out some spirited operations themselves in
the neighbourhood of Pietersburg. Grenfell, who commanded the
force, broke up several laagers, and captured a number of
prisoners, operations in which he was much assisted by Colenbrander
and his men. Finally the last of the great Creusot guns, the
formidable Long Toms, was found mounted near Haenertsburg. It was
the same piece which had in succession scourged Mafeking and
Kimberley. The huge gun, driven to bay, showed its powers by
opening an effective fire at ten thousand yards. The British
galloped in upon it, the Boer riflemen were driven off, and the gun
was blown up by its faithful gunners.
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