HEAVY.BRITISH LOSSES.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10589, 24 February 1900, Page 7

HEAVY.BRITISH LOSSES.

It is feared the British losses, which 00* . curcced chiefly on Sunday, total 1100. DETAILS OF THE FIGHTING, THE ENEMY. SURROUNDED. » ENTRAPPED! IN THE RIVER, BED. A FIERCE ENCOUNTER. LONDON, February 23. . The details of the battle of Koodosrand show that Major-General Kelly-Kenny's, column enveloped the Boers on both banks of the Modder River, compelling the main body to hide in the river-bed, where they entrenched themselves. Tho British artillery and infantry, enclosing the bed, formed a death-trap. The Seafort-h Higldanders, Black Watch, and Argyle Highlanders, advanced on Sunday from the south bank of the river, and the Essex and- Yor_Mre regiments and Welsh* Fusiliers, formed a line whose left rested on the river bank, with the Welsh " Fusiliers on the extreme right. The' Fusiliers seised Koodosrand Drift, and the firing soon became deadly on the open ground, the Boers fighting with des*. perate courage. T_ey occupied a splendid position --icing the Highlanders, who advanced partly on the river-bed, partly in the open, and were compelled to lie shooting all day.amid thunderstorms and terrible heat. Lieutenant-Colonel Smith-Dorrien's ?orce, including the Canadians, attacked a laager to the north, encountering a vigorous shellfire from the e_emy, who, with VickersMaxims and other guns, held a kopje on the fiouth bank of the iiver between the attacking British forces. The British batteries caused great havoc in the enemy's laager. Their ammunition waggon.-- were set on fire by shells. The.jenemy in the river bed are now enclosed in a limited area. Tha musketry fire on both sides during the engagement was fierce. x