SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 



797 



composed of troops that had been holding the 

 lines of communication. The army corps first 

 sent to South Africa was an army corps only in 

 name, and not only was it divided without re- 

 gard to co-ordinate action, but the divisions and 

 brigades were split up in defiance of all theories 

 of army organization, and of the remnants of 

 shattered units composite regiments and brigades 

 were formed. 



On Feb. 3 Sir Hector MacDonald, with the 

 Highland brigade, to the command of which he 

 succeeded after the death of Gen. Wauchope, a 

 regiment of lancers, and 2 batteries of artillery, 

 crossed the Modder, penetrated the Orange Free 

 State to Koodoesberg, and occupied kopjes on 

 both sides of Riet river. He was attacked on Feb. 

 7 by a force of Boers, who mounted guns on the 

 same ridge; but Gen. Babington arrived with a 

 regiment of cavalry and 2 batteries of horse artil- 

 lery, and the Boers were shelled out of their posi- 

 tions on the mountain and at Painter's drift. 

 The British lost 50 men. When Lord Roberts ar- 

 rived at the Modder river camp on Feb. 9 Sir 

 Hector MacDonald was recalled from his isolated 

 position, having made a useful reconnoissance. 



Already, in anticipation of Lord Roberts's plan 

 to attack the line of communication between 

 Jacobsdal and Bloemfontein, Gen. Cronje had be- 

 gun to remove his guns and the bulk of his troops 

 from Magersfontein and his stores from Jacobs- 

 dal, some eastward by the Modder river route, 

 some northward around by Kimberley. The Brit- 

 ish operations when begun were executed more 

 swiftly and thoroughly than the Boer leader ex- 



swiitly 

 pected. 



On Feb. 12 Gen. French seized Dekiel's drift on 

 Riet river, a detachment led by Col. Hanay hav- 

 ing on the previous day defeated a Boer force on 

 the way to Randam. On Feb. 13 3 brigades of 

 cavalry with mounted infantry and horse artil- 

 lery dashed northward to seize the drifts on the 

 Modder. The same day saw two British divi- 

 sions encamped in Orange Free State territory, 

 having moved, one after the other, across the 

 Riet to support the cavalry. Gen. French's cav- 

 alry seized Klip drift and occupied the hills north 

 of the Modder, capturing 3 laagers of the re- 

 treating Boers with supplies. Cpl. Gordon's 

 brigade was detached to make a feint on Ronde- 

 val drift westward. Encountering little opposi- 

 tion, it occupied this drift and another nearer 

 one, and captured 2 more Boer laagers. Gen. 

 French made his march of 25 miles on an in- 

 tensely hot day in a dust storm. Gen. Kelly- 

 Kenny's division moved after the cavalry from 

 Waterval drift on the Riet. 



Gen. French's division pressed on, fought two 

 engagements, and by forced marches entered Kim- 

 berley in the evening of Feb. 15. The seventh 

 division under Gen. Tucker occupied Jacobsdal. 

 The Boers in withdrawing from Magersfontein 

 had pressed the siege of Kimberley and drawn 

 their lines closer. When Gen. French arrived 

 a considerable force was still there. He manoeu- 

 vred south of the town, and they scattered with- 

 out offering much resistance. There were 14,000 

 white people and 19,000 blacks in the civil popula- 

 tion, and the garrison numbered about 6,000. 

 The meat ration was reduced to a quarter of a 

 pound months before, and since early in January 

 it had consisted of horseflesh. Typhoid fever, 

 dysentery, and typhus were raging, and among 

 the blacks scurvy also. The death rate was three 

 times as great as in normal times. Supplies of 

 provisions were brought up from Modder river as 

 soon as possible, and a force under Lord Methuen 

 occupied the place. When Gen. Kelly-Kenny's 



division reached Rondeval drift in the evening 

 of Feb. 15, scouts brought in the intelligence that 

 a large convoy was moving along eastward, and 

 a brigade started in pursuit. 



Gen. Cronje with the remainder of his force 

 evacuated Magersfontein, fell back on Jacobsdal, 

 loaded 1,000 transport wagons with the supplies 

 and ammunition, and retreated in all haste along 

 the Modder. By Feb. 15 the last of the Boers 

 had left Spytfontein and Magersfontein. The 

 British overtook the Boers, who formed a laager 

 on Drieput kopje, by the Klip drift, abandoning 

 78 wagons laden with stores and 2 laden with 

 Mausers, shells, and other munitions. Gen. 

 Cronje was compelled to go into laager, owing to 

 the fatigue of his oxen, and this gave time for 

 the rest of the sixth division to come up. The 

 seventh and the ninth divisions were brought up 

 also as soon as possible. The cavalry, which had 

 been engaged in dispersing the small force of 

 Boers around Kimberley, returned to take part in 

 the pursuit. Lord Kitchener assumed the com- 

 mand. The battle of Feb. 16 at the Klip drift 

 went on all day. The British field pieces were 

 overmatched. Naval guns were sent forward. 

 The Highland brigade came up- by a forced march, 

 while the Boers continued their retreat to Paarde- 

 berg, greatly hampered in their progress by the 

 ox wagons and harassed by Gen. French's cav- 

 alry. They occupied successive kopjes in order 

 to protect the slowly moving convoy, and kept 

 up a continual artillery fight with the British, 

 following in the rear. A convoy of 180 wagons 

 laden with provisions and ammunition and 2,800 

 oxen destined for the British forces was captured 

 by Commandant De Wet after a fight with the 

 guard in which the Boers took 58 prisoners. On 

 Feb. 18 Gen. Kitchener endeavored to surround 

 Gen. Cronje's laager near Paardeberg. He also 

 made repeated direct assaults, in all of which 

 the British were driven back with heavy losses, 

 while those of the Boers were trifling. The object 

 was to prevent the escape of the Boers and to 

 hold them there until the British forces should 

 be strong enough to complete the investment. 

 Every mile that Cronje won brought him within 

 easier reach of the re-enforcements that were 

 coming from Natal and the southern border and 

 farther from the British base. Commandant De 

 Wet, with his 1,800 men, was already impeding 

 the operation by driving parties from kopjes that 

 they had occupied. 



Gen. Cronje's laager was at Koodoosrand drift, 

 a defensible position which he had made every 

 effort to reach before being brought to a stop. 

 The mounted infantry came up with the Boer 

 rear guard in the night of Feb. 17 and drove it 

 up the river toward the main body, which was 

 laagered on the north bank. The main body of 

 Gen. Kelly-Kenny's division advanced on the 

 same side of the river to outflank the enemy, 

 while mounted infantry on the south bank 

 manoeuvred on the Boers' right front and flank, 

 thus inclosing their whole position and holding 

 the two drifts. The British troops advanced to 

 the attack early in the morning and were under 

 fire all day. They could only approach over 

 level ground on either bank, and the Boer force, 

 which had dwindled to a mere guard for the con- 

 voy, was able to check every advance in spite 

 of the vast numerical superiority of the assail- 

 ants, who were forced to retire or to lie down 

 flat. At night the positions remained unchanged. 

 The mounted infantry who harried their rear the 

 Boers kept off by means of intrenchments thrown 

 up during the night in the dry bed of the river. 

 The attack was begun early in the morning. The 



