Part 5 (2/2)
It ent by Lord Roberts There are those who have suggested that the presence of the uered city was responsible for the authorities' energy in the estion, however, refutes itself For Rhodes was the one man who did ht into a state of some sort of efficiency The fact is that there was discontent a the civil population and a constant peril of surrender For this the great hundred pound shells which hurtled destruction across the town's streets frohts were chiefly responsible
On the face of it, French's proht then have been taken for a piece of reckless bravado The caether was over a hundred miles from Kimberley
The commander-in-chief had proht thousand five hundred ht hundred men, with seven batteries of Horse Artillery at his disposal Between his cae as French's own Add to this that the ground to be covered consisted largely of arid and well-less veldt, affording neither food nor drink for man or beast The time too was the African sulish troops to be faced The task before French and his eous leader
[Page Heading: DECEIVING CRONJE]
Guile as well as daring had much to do with the success of the enterprise The vast concentration cae blind Through its bustle and publicity French meant Cronje to conclude that he was about to force the Pass of Magersfontein, and thence to relieve Ladysmith For this Cronje prepared himself with customary care Meantime, French proceeded, as ever, to belie the very justifiable expectations he had aroused
The 's Drift towards the west Accordingly Macdonald's Highland Brigade spent a strenuous day in threatening the Drift and returned to caain ready for the field
On Sundaycolumn filed silently out of ca the farmhouse of Ramdam By that time Cronje's outposts had probably realised that the ca at the Modder River was simply a city of canvas from which the inhabitants had departed
Next day the force was again on the march at 30 a on the Riet River Its goal was Waterval Drift But so intense was the darkness that after an hour of difficult movement the General ordered a halt, until dahen he ordered the division to make the feint on Waterval He was not certain whether the Drift was held in force by the enemy or not But very soon conviction came in a shell nicely aimed at the General in person It burst between French and his staff ”There are too ether,” was his only coround from the top of the nearest kopje
Very soon the Horse Artillery had the gun silenced, and the whole division swerved to the right just as the Boers drew off down strea I for De Kiel's Drift further up stream The banks proved to be steep and difficult, but a ford was discovered As the cavalry neared the bank a party of Boers saw the ruse, and a neck-to-neck race for the Drift began By a piece of daring horseot home first, and the Boers arrived too late to dispute their passage
By ht bank, pending the arrival of the baggage train, left far behind
[Page Heading: DELAYED TRANSPORT]
The Riet River is by notorrent; it winds its sloay in muddy melancholy to the cleanly water of the Vaal But at least it contained water in which both et the heat of the veldt All day the weary cavalrymen waited for the supplies, which did not co to snatch a few hours of sleep The transport horses stumbled and strained their way up the banks in the early hours of the
There was pleasant excitement in caratulate French on his progress, and wished hiood luck” for the rest of the journey But the delay in transport was annoying to French Neither theell advanced And the sun was already scorching the veldt before the division was ready to advance That delay was to be paid for in sweat and suffering On that day alone over one hundred horses died or fell out froe across the veldt at what pace they could, or to find ignominious relief in the ammunition carts
Shortly after mid-day, however, a welcoht the parched and foot-sore ain they were doomed to disappointment It is one of French's characteristics that he practises an exquisitely perfect loyalty both to the ar water was destined for the infantry tra on behind Reluctantly the troopers turned aside on their tedious way Not a drop of the water was touched
By this tis from thirst and dust were intense
At two o'clock they neared Klip Drift, where they were fiercely attacked by a large body of Boers The guns of the first brigade, however, quickly put the eneht it well to make certain alterations in the order of his advance These changes were only accoreatest difficulty So tired were the horses that even the General's gallopers, ere continually traversing the column's half- better than a walk Very quickly the eneht Realising his peril, he changed his course suddenly and headed away from the Klip Kraal Drift Naturally, the enemy rushed off to block his way
For an hour and a half the Drift appeared to be the division's urgent objective Then, without warning, he as suddenly turned about and swung back to Klip Drift
[Page Heading: THE BOERS FLEE]
These e of exhaustion Many of them fell dead by the way But at last the river was reached Still the actual crossing was not yet Once again French showed his extraordinary mastery of finesse He ordered preparation to beat Klip Drift and Rondeval Drift
Having thrown Gordon to the left to effect one crossing and Broadwood to the right to effect another, French advanced so rapidly that Cronje was utterly nonplussed Gordon opened a heavy shell fire which couns could co the river in pursuit The Boers fled, in spite of the natural strength of their positions and the utterly exhausted state of our ht, was satisfied withBoth went in pursuit of the enemy towards Kimberley The result was a coons, fell entirely into our hands
The rout was not without spasmodic touches of hued into the river and caught soauntlet through the cahter, even from the serious General--of lances, bayonets, knives, sticks, boots, water-bottles, anything to hand, and at length was caught by a lucky trooper, who shared his feast that night with his friends A wagon of fresh fruit was taken, sufficient to rapes were sour”[12]
The next day was perforce spent in ca the arrival of supplies The baggage was not on the scene until late in the afternoon, ht before Lord Kitchener and his Staff were near the camp One of French's aides-de-camp, Captain J Laycock, rode out in solitary peril, and although continually sniped at by the Boers, was able to lead Lord Kitchener and his Staff safely into ca theand feints French is said to have admitted that had any of their attacks been driven hoht have been seriously disconcerted ”Could the Boers learn to attack they would be a most fore Heading: THE ROAD BLOCKED]
At 930 on February 15 the colue of their journey French, with the idea of putting the enemy off the track, led his men towards Bloeht for Ki the eneersfontein, where Methuen's force could hold hiun, however, when a murderous fire broke out from the river on the south-west, followed almost instantaneously by a cross fire from a line of kopjes on the north-west The road to Bloemfontein was blocked; and the road to Kimberley was exposed to a cross fire from the eneeance It was thought that some two thousand Boers held the kopjes ahead of French At once he ordered the guns into position and boldly replied to the ene a plain severalfrom north to south, and on the other by a hill The Boers held both hill and ridge in force So that whatever the guns ht do, the position was difficult--if not impossible By all military rules French was ”hemmed in” To a lesser h disastrous Once again it was French _v_ The I the horizon with his glass, while riderless horses fronacious jaw, ”They are over here to stop us from Bloemfontein and they are there to stop us froh” In an instant his decision was taken He would attee in the teeth of the ene: A TERRIFIC CHARGE]