THE HISTORY OF THE WAR

Otago Witness, Issue 2516, 4 June 1902, Page 45

THE HISTORY OF THE WAR

A BRIEF EPITOME

On May 30, 1699, President Kruger and Sir Alfred Milner met in conference at Bloemfontein to discuss the franchise question, but on June 5 the conference ended without any progress towards a settlement having been made. By the end of August, owing to the menacing attitude of the Boers, Uitlauder families began to leave Pretoria. During September 6000 troops from India arrived at Durban. On September 28 the I'arliament of the Orange Free State resolved, in accordance with a 'ire\ious secret agreement between the two Presidents, to ec- operate with the Transvaal in the event of war with England. Un October 2 Boer troops began to mobilise on the- Natal frontier, and two days later about half a million in gold was seized on a mail train pioceeding from the Transvaal to the Cape. On the 9th of October the Boer ultimatum was sent to tho British Government demanding thnt all the British troops on the border-* of the South Af)i<-an Republic should be. withdrawn; that all reinforcements which had arrived in South Africa since June 1. 1F99, should be sent back within a reasonable time to be agreed upon; and that any British troops on the high seas should njt Le allowed to land. Non-compliance wi f h these demands befoie 5 p m. on October 11 wculd be regarded as a formal declaration or war. That same, night the British Agent quitted Pretoria, placing British subjects there under the protection of the American Consul. Sir Alfred Milner promptly issued a proclamation declaring all who should aid or abet the enemy in a state of war against Great Bntaiu as guilty of high treason. At the commencement of the war the British foices in South Africa totalled 15,000. whilo the Boer army has been variously estimated at between 50,000 and 80,000 well-armed burgher?. On October 11 the tram proceeding from Ladyriinith was seized in the afternoon, or Lffore the expiry ot the ultimatum. That same c\ oning the Boers invaded Natal, and s..i/.ed Laing's Nek On the 12th the Free Svutcra cro&sed the frontier into Cape Colony uiid occupied the railway in strong force between Mafoking and Vryburg. The lir^t ->hots between the Boeis and Kntish were exchanged at Kraipan siding, (•bout 40 mi'es south of Mafeking, where a." armoured tmin was derailed by the Brer* tcaiing up the line. The fight lasted hum midnight tjil 5 np\t morning, w'len the British di« fen tiers of the tram surrendered. By October 13 the Boers were near Newcastle and within a few miles of Du'i- &£«*.** iifttal. Su Lieoige Whit.ej virjtfi

t'COO troops, was at Ladysmith. That same day General Joubert's column occupied the> undefended town of Newcastle, and hoisted the Transvaal flag. On the 18th General White's outpost came into contact with the Free Staters at Acton Homes. The Boers., in overwhelming numbers, were successfully held in check, and the British retired at night. On the 20th iuajor-general Sir William Perm Symons, with a force of 4000 men, inflicted a sharp defeat upon the invading Boers at Dundee. The General was mortally wounded, and died shortly afterwards. Colonel Yule, who assumed command, successfully fell back upon Lady=mith. By the time Yule joined White the Boer force around Glencoe numbered 13,000, and reinforcements were rapidly pouring in. On the 21st General French delivered a crushing blow at Eiandslaagte, his troops driving thorn out of their trenches at the point of the bayonet. At Nicholson's Nek on October 50 Lieutenant-colonel Carletor, suffered a re-verse, owing to the mules of the mountain battery stampeding with the ammunition waggons, and lost 250 men in action, while £50, including 45 officers, were captured. By this time the investment o f Ladysinith was practically completed. On the 31?t of October General Sir Redvers Buller arrived at the Cape to assume the supremo command, but found himself without an army with a most difficult situation to face. The War Office decided to despatch an army corps, consisting of 28,600 infantry, 4200 mounted troops, 3500 artillerymen, 114 horse and field-guns, and 47 machineguns. The investment of Ladysmith. Kimberley, and Mafeking had thrown White's "ormy out of action; but the colonial Governments did all in their power to save the situation. With the troops a\ailable Buller sent a force, under Methuen, to relieve Kimberley : a mixed force, consisting of cpvalry and colonial troops, under French, t~> Colesberg ; while Gatacre le>d a third force to oppose the invaders on the Queenstow n-Sterkstroom line of railway. On November 23 the Boers were defeated at Belmont by Methuen's force after a sharp ■ fight of an hour and a-half. at a cost of 20J officers and men. The Boers also suffered severely. Two days later Mothuen gave the Boers another drubbing at Graspan. Dt.ring the fight the Naval Brigade lost six officers and 99 men. On the 28th the battle of Modder River was fought, when General Cronje, with about 800 burghers, received such an experience of British pluck and dash that he withdrew hi* force in the night. Methuen was wounded in the thigh, and the command devolved upon General Colville. The British loss was 68 killed and '61 f wounded. The Beers suffered hca\ily. but hid their dead in the Modder River and elsewhere. On December 9 General Gatacre marched to Stormberg with a force of 4000 t~> make reconnai.-a nee in force, but his column was surnri»ed in a night march and nine officers and 600 men captured Following close upon Stormberg came Mager=fontein. With a force of 10,000 men Methuou determined to attack the Boer position. A night attack was led by General Wauchope ni<h the Highland Brigade; but at 3 o'clock on the morning of December 11 they were ine-t full in the- face with a terrific rifle fire a' point blank range. They fought for 13 houi'3, till darkness set in, but by that time were practieallv annihilated. Methuen fell back, but the Boer? displayed no disposition ti follow up their sucres-.. The British loss was nearly 900. of which 650 had fallen in the Highland Brigade. Meanwhile Buller advanced to the Tugela River. Reinforcements were arriving from England, and Buller had 23,000 men under him. On December 15 the battle of Colenso was fought. Bulh-rV frontal attack failed after severe loss on the British hide. Ten of Colonel Long's guns were captured : the Colonel was severely woundpd. ami Lieutenant Roberts (only son of Lord Roheits) <!ied of his wounds while trying to save the guns The British loss was 137 killed, 702 wounded, and 203 missing

The British reverses roused the nation, and further reinforcements were promptly oruerod. Al the same time the servie&s *f colonial trooos from New Zealand, Aus tialia, and Canada were accepted. FieHmarchal Lord Roberto- was summoned from Ireland to" take the command-in-chief, while Lord Kitchener wa« recalle-cl from Egypt .o be Chief of Staff. Meanwhile Buller's force were encamned at Frere.

On January 10, 1900, a second attempt was mad© to relieve Ladysmith. After tcourging the enemy's position for several days with shell and shrapnell, an attempt was made to capture Spion Kop, which was considered the key to the enemy's position. The attack failed after Spion Kop had been actually won. By some mischance the position wa.-i abandoned in the night following ths battle, and Buller withdrew a second time across the Tu<rela. The looses on our side were 1500, including 243 killed on the Spion Kop range alone. With his army reinforced to a strength of over 1000 more than that which fought at the Tugela early in January, Bull^r i»»*olved to make a third attempt. The attack commenced at 7 o'clock on the morning of February 5. Although some advantage w.is gained, Buller oidered his foice to retire on the night of February 7.

Lord Roberts arrived in Capetown on January 11. 1900, and, together with his chief of btaff. Lord Kitchener, commenced organising his forces. On February 9 he arrived at the Modder River camp. Next day French was dr-watched with a flying column for the relief of Kimberley, which entered the beleaguered town at 7 p.m. on the 15th of February, after a cavalry rush throuerh the enemy's lines of inve=tment. Fiench's success was <.^r>pdi!v followed by Cronies withdiawal from Magersfontein. At 3.30 a.m. on the 17th Frepr-h set out to intercept Cronje at tho Koodoos Rand drifts on the Modder River, 40 miles from Kimberley. and at 12 15 n.m. the firot ehell fiom French's guns struck the leading waggon of Cronje's convoy a» it was about to descend to the river. Tho surprise was complete, and C'ronje f-pepdily laagered in the bed of the Modder River, where he made a determined but vain rpsistar.ee. All reinfoirements were beaten back, and after enduring a terrible shell fire for 10 davp Cronje surrendered unconditionally, with 4000 rren. It was February 27— the annnersary of Maiuba.

The withdrawal <>f Cronje from Magrr= fontein relieved the pressure on "Ladysmit'i, and Buller fought his way through in a most determined manner A heavy engagement on February 27 rrsuhed in tlio retreat of the Boers on the 23th. and on March 1, I'j'X). Dundonald's cavalry entered LadvsiiMth The capture of Cronje and the defeat of .Joubcit— both on Majuba Day — kiotk'-'l the keystone out of the South Afiican con=piracy. Lord Roberts followed up the fall of fironje by ft rftgid march upon Bloemfoa*

tcin, which was entered on March 13. Halting to reorganise his force, preparations were made for the march upon Pretoria. But before that began a good deal of fighting occurred around Bloemfontein in order to clear the lines of communication. After that was accomplished the march upon Pretoria was hurried forward, and on June 5 Lord Roberts occupied the capital of the Transvaal. Mafeking, which was invested on October 14-, 1899, was relieved on May 18, 1900, by a flying column under Colonel Mahon, despatched from Kimberley.

"While Lord Roberts was driving the Boers before him, right through to Pretoria, Buller was performing a like oervice in Natal. On June 6 a division of Buller' s army under General Hildyard crossed Botha's Pass. Finding their flank turned, the Boers under Botha evacuated their almost impregnable position at Laing's Nek. As soon as the tunnel through the nek was reopened and the railway repaired, Buller pushed on to Standerton, which was reached on June 22. At Standerton Buller and Lord Roberts joined hands, and the main campaign was bi ought to a successful issue. Meanwhile Kruger transferred his, movable capital down the De-lagoa railway line, while the Boer forces were scattered at Koomati Poort, on the Portuguese frontier.

The Boer debacle at Koomati Poort broke the Boer army up into guerilla bands, which operated in scattered commandos over a very wide area of country.

On October 19 Kruger secretly embarked on the Dutch steamer Gelderland at dawn, fearing the Beers at Delagoa. He sailed for Europe, and became the guest of the Queen of Holland. On October 24 Buller sailed for England, and Lord Roberts followed on December 12. The supreme command thereupon devolved upon Lord Kitchener.

Towards the end of December the Boers invaded Cape Colony, and one commando pushed down to Calvinia, and threatened the Capetown waterworks. The declaration of martial law deterred the Cape Dutch from rising, as the Boers had hoped. The raid failed, and the Boers were eventually driven lxack. De Wet"s activity in the Orange River Colony compelled the British to fail back upon Bloemfontein early in February. 1901. Large reinforcements were therefore sent out by the British, and a mora systeir.atic pursuit of the Boers was initiated. We need not refer to the many striking incidents of the guerilla waifare waged by the Beers ever «ince. With the view to effectually clearing districts of the enemy Lord Kitchener adopted a system of blockhouses, against which th.-* Boer commandos wpre driven by wide, sweeping movements of our troops. The system has proved wonderfully successful, and has resulted in numerous captures and surrenders.

In February, 1901, Lord Kitchener had a conference with Louis Botha, but as the Boer demands could not be complied with the negotiations were broken off. Independence and an amnesty for the rebels were demanded by the Boers, and promptly- declined by the British. Since then a more determined effort on the part of the British wa° made to bring the war to a close. The first of Lord Kitchener's great sweeping movements, or "drives," concluded on February 10, when the British force, extending over a tract of country 70 miles by 50 in extent, encircled De Wet's commando, and captured several hundred Boers, besides killing and wounding many more. De Wet himself escaped through the barbed wire entanglements in the midst of a herd of cattle. Boers captured a British convoy at Fraserburg on the following d;iy. but retired on the approach of General Crabbe's column. As a set-off to this reverse the British caplured the same day Commandant Potgieter and 36 of his men. On February 17, at Ruckerboschrand, on the Klip River, Major Dowel and 10 men were killed and 54 men wounded by Grobelaar's commando. On February 23 another great "drive" was concluded at Bothasberg. De Wet and his men fought, as before, to rush the barbed wire enclosures. They were checked by an outpost consisting chiefly of colonials, including New Zealanders of the Seventh Contingent and the New South Wales troops. After desperate fighting, the enemy were beaten back, but at a cost to the gallant New Zealanders of two officers and 21 men killed and five officers and 35 men wounded. The Commander-in-Chief warmly congratulated this colony on the splendid services of her men. De Wet escaped, as usual, but the British took £00 prisoners and a great herd of cattle.

While these drives have been eminently successful they have not been attained without considerable loss of life and occasional reverses. Perhaps the most serious of the latter were the capture by De la Rey near the end of February of Colonel yon. Donop's convoy, in which the British 'casualties totalled over -100, while 16 officers and 451 men were made prisoners. This was followed by the reverse to General Lord Methuen, in which the General was himself wounded and made prisoner, but almost at one restored to liberty by De la Rey. These re-vtjrse? caused Lord Kitchener to turn his attention to the Eastern Transvaal, and -as the result of wide, sweeping drives De la Rev's force was reduced by nearly 900 — killed, wounded, or taken prisoners.

The utter hopelessness of the position appears to have been at length made manifest to the so-called Transvaal Government, and Mr Schalk Burger ftht- Actimr-Piemier) and some of the generals and leaders went into the British line* at Balmoral on March 22 under a flag of tn;c», and, .it theii own request, were granted a " - :l fe conduct " to confer with Mr Stcyn, the late President of the Orange Frpe Slate. (ienerals Botha, Da Wet, and De la Rc-y. The delegates passed through Pretoria to Krooustad, and eventually got into communication with the other loaders. The result of the conference on May 15 and subsequent days at "Wreeniging of delosates from all the commandos in Hie field. The details of th«* negotiations that followed have only transpired in an unofficial wnv. For the present it i« <.iifliPn»Tit to «r,y that they have resulted satisfactorily, and BOER AND BRITOX ARE Al PEACE.