KROONSTAD TO THE VAAL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 182, 2 August 1900, Page 2

KROONSTAD TO THE VAAL.

THE TRANSVAAL AT

LAST

HARDSHIPS AND TRIALS OF. AH ARDUOUS MARCH.

'A MEMORABLE QUEEN'S

BIRTHDAY

' (By Telegraph from Wellington.)

VETRIEIS'IGING, S.A.R.,

May 27, 1900

■ After eight months of hard warfare, chequered by reverses and successes in our own dominions, followed by an irresistible advance in which "there has been no turning back," Lord Roberts has at last carried the war into the enemy's own country. In his message to the Queen, the Field Marshal ascribed his entry into Bloemiontein to "the grace of God and the bravery of Your Majesty's troops." To that he may add, in dealing with his invasion of the Transvaal the utter demoralisation oi the isoers. They now seem to have adopted as their motto Mr Dooley's dictum, that it ia "Better to be a live Boer than a dead hero." Or, as I heard an Irishman express himself, "He'd sooner be a coward- for five minutes than a corpse all the rest, of his life." The advance from Kroonstad has been made with practically no opposition. General Hamilton, who moved on the light flank through Lmdley and Heilbron, did what fighting there was v to -do, and when we got to the Vaal, artillery attached to the Fourth Mounted1 Infantry Corps cleared the ground with five shells. It is quite evident now that the Boers have no more stomach for fighting. All along the march from Kroonstad we heard of positions where they were going to make a determined stand, but m every case we had to take the will for the deed. The Free Staters, of course, are now practically done, In Kroonstad the. officials tyere

KEPT BUSY RECEIVING ARMS an I issuing passes to the hundreds of ■burghers who flocked in to submit. A la.rge patrol, including our Second Contingent, and some of the First, was sent out to scour a large tract of

country around Kro'onstad, and returned with about fifty prisoners and a quantity of arms and ammunition. They started away on a Wednesday evening, marching right through the night, much to the discomfort of some of the .men), who', found it difficult to I Bhake offthe embrace of sleep. They returned to' camp on the Saturday morning, and after ai very short stay the mounted infantry, under General Huttoii, moved off to support General French on the left flank.

The First, Second, and Third Contingents, and the Hotchkiss Battery, ore now. altogether in the Third, Mounted- Infantry Corps, Major Jowsey has given up the command of the Third Contingent, haying accepted a staff appointment. The First and Third Contingents are, therefore, united under the command of Major Robins . •' ';': ; The arms captured and surrendered by tine Free Staters were, of a very; mixed description, including Lee-Met-iords, Lee-Strongs, Westley, Richards, Winchesters, Martinis, and several of our own weapons, which have to§en captured in various places. The number of Mausers given up is remarkably small. Some people say that the bore of the, Mauser is too soft, and has ■worn out, while another story is that Oom Paul is not satisfied with the taortality caused by that gun, and has given orders that the Martini-Henry is to be used, so that every bullet that finds a mark will kill. However, there may be the same amount of truth in that as in the innumerable other rum-

ours that are spread by the camp liar. I Among the farms visited by the patrol abound ICroonstad was one owned by Botha, the son of a member of the . Free States Volksraad, and nephew of the Commandant. He told , Captai'lr McLeish, of the Victorian Mounted Rifles* that he estimated the

TOTAL LOSSES FROM ALL CAUSES of the .Federal Commandoes at 17,000. He was ■Very bitter against the Transvaalers, and expressed the hope that "they would continue the war, as he wished our troops to march through the .Republic, in order that the originators of the trouble might suffer as •heavily as the Free Staters have done. The burghers' of the Free State who aurrenderejj in.Kroonstad seemed to take- their fate very philosophically, and did not bother to cry over spilt milk. ; I talked to several who had

beep ■/ on commando from the com-

mencement of the war, and who all said .they were very glad to be done

with the business. As they come to; their farms in, the course of the retreat they slip ofE home, and take the first opportunity of surrendering. There is a widespread idea that they do not 'hand in their Mausers, and in. many cases this is no doubt the truth. Major Curri'e, of Nesbitt's Horse, told

me of a Free Stater near Bloemfontein /who surrendered to him and gave up several rifles, solemnly asserting that

he had no Mauser. The Major noticed a.plough' standing over some disturbed ground, and on digging up the spot 6am'e on a regular plant of new

rifles. The burgher was then severely 'dealt with, his stock being commandeered and, he himself beingl sent as a prisoner to Capetown. ""'. . ■As the: burghers stood round the'

Provost Marshal-in Kroonstad with their.motley collection* of arms and cartridge®, A they chatted away the: r£a.al abaut the war, while those who could talk English gave some. ol,the' British bystanders their views on tKe. war. Is asked one who had been; in' Natal why the B°.ers had not captured 'Ladysmith. '; Be replied that it was too strong a position, ard that they' would havVlbst too many men if they

had attempted to storm it. They trusted* Id starvation' and shejls. to reduce the garrison, but, as my informnnt said, found they harl met the "v.-rotipf sort of fry for that." Another Eoer told me that when tha

great assault of Ladysmith was planned a call was made for 500 Free Staters and 500 Transvaalers. When the assault was made the Free Staters rolled up in force, but only 250 Transvaalers were in evidence. However, the siege of Ladysmith is now almost a matter of ancient history. Coming to more recent events, the main column of Lord Roberts' army marched out of Kroonstad early on May 22. The enemy was reported to be in force at Rhenoster River, about 25 miles ahead, and a strong force of mounted infantry was thrown out in advance on both flanks. General French and General Button had left two days before, moving to the left. In spite of all reports we caught no sight of the enemy until we

REACHED THE VAAL RIVER, although General Hamilton's rear was harassed by the Boers lor some days between Lindley and Heilbron. Indeed, a rearguard, consisting1 of the Royal Irish, was badly surprised and cut up by the Boers, wjio suddenly galloped up and fired off horseback into the men as they lay about on the ground. ' After this mishap the West Australians furnished the rearguard, and prevented a repetition of such an occurrence. This, however, was the extent of the fighting, for a panic had plainly seized the Boers. They were tilled with the same spirit as an old Basuto, whose hut I visited. He caught sight of Lord Roberts' column advancing over the veldt, and asked, "Wat is det baas wat daar on komen?" (what is that master coming on there). _ My companion explained that, in addition to the cavalry and mounted infantry, he could see there were regiments of infantry moving on; "voetgangers," said the Basuto. (Voetgangers are locusts, which travel on foot before their wings are developed). Then after a pause the native said, "Die Englische, die Englische, die Englische, det is een groot natie" (ah, these English they are a great nation). Our only anxiety on the march now was to get well ahead, and secure supplies from the houses, which all had white flags flying from conspicuous places. Unless you kept well up with the most advanced scouts you stood little chance of getting any milk, bread or,eggs,'which lighten the burden of travel in South Africa. AH the inhabitants were very anxious to sell to the troops whenever they had anything", as they appeared in terror of their lives. One of my companions remarked on the ALTERED- ATTITUDE OF THE BOERS. He hafl been a refugee from Johannesburg, and before leaving the Transvaal he was told that if the Boers won the English would have "to take off their hats to the burghers, and if the English won the Boers would take off their hata to the English." As a matter of Jact, even the men folk did take off their hata to us when we rode up to their houses, but all the same they charged exorbitant prices for their produce. ■■ •■' •' Along the railway line we saw the usual traces of the Boer retreat, in the shape of wrecked bridges and blownup rails. The country also vbore other traces that one is accustomed to associate with war. The Boers had fired the grass over a large extent of country, and the blackened ground seemed to impress one with a great sense of the reality of our business. As we approached the Rhenoster River, the scouts""began to move with ■ extra caution, for it '.was reported that the kopjes, on the far side-'.were held by between eight and twelve thousand Boers, but

THE POSITION WAS EMPTY, for the. enemy had wisely decided that, it was impossible to stand against the approaching army. They had made extensive preparation for a defence, as we found trenches dug along the river bank, and schauzes built along the ridges of the kopjes. - In the Boer laager behind the hills I found some recent papers printed in. English on one side, and in Dutch on the other. Some of these gave a fairly accurate account of the British advance, while others attempted to bolster up the failing courage of the burgher. > I re'atl an account of the battle of the Zand River, which credited us. with having suffered "appallmg losses," and with being beaten? back. ; A short telegram was added at the end of the, account stating that we had crossed the river,..and . were threatening ICroonstad. Another telegram was headed, "Still they come," and gave news of the despatch of further Australian Bushmen. A Kaffir to whom I spoke near the laager told me that the Boers had no chance, as we had guns placed like a horseshoe all round them.

The next break in the monotony of the >march ,was the

CELEBRATION OF THE QUEEN'S

BIRTEfcPAY, • when we were due in Pretoria. Instead,of being in Oom Paul's capital we were camped on the Free State veldt, which at night rang with the strains of the National Anthem, and the hearty cheers of the troops. An extra allowance of rum had been issued, but this was not needed to stir the men's enthusiasm for their venerable sovereign. ' On May 25 we passed through as little tin township called Wolvehock, where the dynamitards had again; been at work.

The Irish Brigade and the American Cowboy Club, burned down the goods shed containing forage in order, they said, to keep it from the "khakis." These foreign mercenaries are said to be the people who do most damage in passing through the' country, and I have been told that they are RESPONSIBLE FOB PROLONGING ,';.' . THE WAR. They upbraid the Boers for cowardice',, and urge them to keep on. They themselves are.fighting for what they can: make out of it. One person toldl me, he asked a member of the Irish Brigade if he was not ashamed to be fighting1 against the British. "Oh, no!" replied the other. "I'm fighting for 25 bob, a day."'' • The owner of a house in which a 1 riumbei' of correspondents, spent a: night told us the same story of the Dutch being, tired of the war, some of his greatest enemies approaching' him; aa .a British; s.uboecb . . TO INTERCEDE FOR THEM. "Mynheer," they would say, "you must please put in a word for me

with the English, so that they wont send me off to St. Helena. ]Next morning1 we trekked early to be in good time for the historic events of the crossing of . the Vaal River. About 10 o'clock in the morning I HEARD. A FEW SHOTS, and rode on to see what was going on- Only one gun was in action, and it fired only five shells, which cleared the Boers out of Viljoen's drift. From Viljoen's drift was but a short distance to the Vaal, and every one hastened on filled with excitement at being so close to the promised land. The going was heavy, but tired as the horses were, they were urged on. Some guns crossed and shelled the Boers as they retired across the flat to some hills in the distance, and the passage of the Vaal was *clear. So much for Boer threats that the Vaal River would flow with blood before the Rooinek invaded the fatherland. Had we 4 been a little sooner, .we might have saved the bridge. As it was we saw the explosion which wrecked the middle span, and saw their train steaming off from Vereeniging. We had disturbed them in the process of looting. Viljoen's drift, and they had no time to. do much damage to Vereeniging, beyond burning down the^ goods shed with 'its stores of forage and mealies. Lord Roberts and the Infantry pushed up and crossed the river, and some of the mounted infantry then hurried on to keep the Boers on the run.