History of the War in South Africa 1899-1902 V. 1 (of 4)

Volume I

LONDON

HURST AND BLACKETT LIMITED

1906

All rights reserved

PREFACE.

The decision of His Majesty's late Government, mentioned on the first page of this history, was not finally given till November, 1905. It was, therefore, not till December 12th, 1905, that I was able to obtain approval for the form in which the political facts connected with the war are mentioned in the first chapter. Since then the whole volume has necessarily been recast, and it was not possible to go to page proof till the first chapter had been approved. Hence the delay in the appearance of the volume. I took over the work from Colonel Henderson in July, 1903. He had not then written either narrative of, or comments on, the military operations.

F. MAURICE.

May 22nd, 1906, London.

CONTENTS.

Volume I.

CHAP. PAGE

I.--Preparation for War 1 II.--The Outbreak of the War 35 III.--The Theatre of War 54 IV.--The Boer Army 68 V.--The British Army 87 VI.--The Navy in the Boer War 96 VII.--Talana Hill 123 VIII.--The Retreat from Dundee, and the action of Rietfontein 142 IX.--Elandslaagte 157 X.--Lombards Kop 172 XI.--The Arrival of Sir Redvers Buller 196 XII.--Advance from the Orange River 211 XIII.--Belmont 218 XIV.--Graspan 229 XV.--The Battle of the Modder River 243 XVI.--The Raid on Southern Natal 261 XVII.--Operations round Colesberg up to the 16th December 275 XVIII.--Stormberg 285 XIX.--Halt on the Modder River before Magersfontein 304 XX.--The Battle of Magersfontein 316 XXI.--Sir Redvers Buller in Face of Colenso 332 XXII.--Colenso, December 15th, 1899 351 XXIII.--Lord Roberts' Appointment to the Command in South Africa 376 XXIV.--Operations Round Colesberg--December 16th, 1899, to February 6th, 1900 389 XXV.--Lord Roberts at Capetown; reorganises 408 XXVI.--The Army Moves Forward 428

APPENDICES.

No. PAGE

1. Reinforcements sanctioned on 8th September, 1899 453 2. Distribution of British Forces on 11th October, 1899, in Cape Colony 455 3. Distribution of British Forces on 11th October, 1899, in Natal 456 4. Strengths of the Forces of the Transvaal and Orange Free State 457 5. List of H.M. Ships and Vessels serving on the Cape Station, October 11th, 1899, to June 1st, 1902 460 6. Approximate Strength and Casualties at Various Engagements described in Volume I 462 7. The Expeditionary Force as originally organised and sent to South Africa 471 8. The Composition and Distribution of British Troops in Southern Natal, 23rd November, 1899 477 9. Reinforcements Landed in South Africa up to the 13th February, 1900, other than those given in Appendices 1 and 7 478 10. Distribution of Troops in South Africa on 11th February, 1900, when the March from Ramdam began 485

Glossary 492

Index 497

LIST OF MAPS AND FREEHAND SKETCHES.

(In separate case.)

MAPS.

General Map:--South Africa. Special Maps:-- No. 1. INDEX MAP. No. 2. RELIEF MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA, to show Topographical Features and Theatre of War. No. 3. NORTHERN NATAL. No. 4. SOUTHERN NATAL. No. 5. TALANA. October 20th, 1899. No. 6. ELANDSLAAGTE. October 21st, 1899. No. 7. RIETFONTEIN. October 24th, 1899. No. 8. LOMBARDS KOP. October 30th, 1899. Situation before 7 a.m. No. 8 (A). LOMBARDS KOP. October 30th, 1899. Situation from 7 a.m. to Close of Action. No. 9. NORTH CAPE COLONY and PART of the ORANGE FREE STATE. No. 10. BELMONT. November 23rd, 1899. Situation prior to Capture of Gun Hill. No. 10 (A). BELMONT. November 23rd, 1899. Situation prior to Capture of Mont Blanc. No. 11. GRASPAN. November 25th, 1899. Situation at 9 a.m. No. 12. MODDER RIVER. November 28th, 1899. Situation at about 3.30 p.m. No. 13. MAGERSFONTEIN. December 11th 1899. Situation at 4.30 a.m. No. 13 (A). MAGERSFONTEIN. December 11th 1899. Situation at 8 a.m. No. 13 (B). MAGERSFONTEIN. December 11th, 1899. Situation at 3.30 p.m. No. 14. STORMBERG. December 10th, 1899. No. 15. COLENSO. December 15th, 1899. Situation at 8 a.m. No. 15 (A). COLENSO. December 15th, 1899. Situation at 11 a.m. No. 16. OPERATIONS AROUND COLESBERG. No. 17. SOUTH AFRICA. Map showing the approximate situation on the 31st December, 1899.

FREEHAND SKETCHES.

Talana. Rietfontein. Modder River. Magersfontein. Stormberg. Colenso.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED ON THE MAPS.

A. & S. Highrs. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Art. Artillery. Art. Pos. Artillery position. B.M.I. Bethune's Mounted Infantry. Bn. Battalion. Border. Border Regiment. Br. Brigade. Car. Carabineers. Cav. Cavalry. Cold. Gds. Coldstream Guards. Co. Company. Devon. Devonshire Regiment. D.G. Dragoon Guards. Dns. Dragoons. Durh. L.I. Durham Light Infantry. E. Surr. East Surrey Regiment. Fus. Fusiliers. Glouc. Gloucester Regiment. Gordon., or Gordon Highrs. Gordon Highlanders. Gren. Gds. Grenadier Guards. Gds. Guards. Highrs. Highlanders. Hosp. Hospital. How. Howitzers. Hrs. Hussars. I.L.H. Imperial Light Horse. King's King's Liverpool Regiment. K.O.Y.L.I. King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. K.R. Rif. King's Royal Rifle Corps. Lrs. Lancers. L.I. Light Infantry. Liv'rp'ls King's Liverpool Regiment. Manch. Manchester Regiment. M.B. Mountain Battery. M.I. Mounted Infantry. N. Car. Natal Carabineers. N.F.A. Natal Field Artillery. N.M.R. Natal Mounted Rifles. North'd Fus. Northumberland Fusiliers. North'n. Northamptonshire Regiment. N. Lan. Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. Prs. Pounders (e.g., Naval 12-prs.). Queen's Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment. R.E. Royal Engineers. R.F.A. Royal Field Artillery. R.H.A. Royal Horse Artillery. Rif. Brig. Rifle Brigade. R.I. Rif. Royal Irish Rifles. R. Irish Fus. Royal Irish Fusiliers. R. Innis. Fus. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. R. Fus. Royal Fusiliers. R. Muns. Fus. Royal Munster Fusiliers. R. Sc. Fus. Royal Scots Fusiliers. R. Welsh Fus. Royal Welsh Fusiliers. S.A.L.H. South African Light Horse. S. Gds. Scots Guards. Sco. Rif. Scottish Rifles. T.M.I. Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry. W. Yorks Prince of Wales's Own West Yorkshire Regiment.

MAPS TO VOLUME I.

Pains have been taken to embody in the maps all topographical information existing up to date. A very considerable amount of valuable triangulation has been executed over portions of South Africa, but no systematic detailed survey has ever been made by any of the South African colonies or states. Maps have, however, been compiled by both Cape Colony and Natal. The former has prepared and published a map extending north as far as Lat. 26° 30'; this includes the Bechuanaland Protectorate and the Orange River Colony, but the topographical detail shown over these two areas is exceedingly scanty. The scale of the map is one inch to 12.62 miles.

The Natal Government have a map similarly prepared and drawn in the office of the Inspector of Schools, and published on a scale of one inch to five miles. Both these maps are very fair general maps, and show with rough accuracy the railways, main roads and large rivers, but the delineation of hills is little more than suggestive.

Of the Orange Free State and Transvaal the only general maps published are based on the farm surveys. As these surveys show only those topographical features which serve to fix the farm boundary, omitting all other features, the map resulting from their compilation is not of much use, especially for military purposes.

Of the north of Natal there exists a series of one inch reconnaissance surveys of the communications from Ladysmith to the Orange Free State and Transvaal frontiers, with sketches of the whole of the Biggarsberg and Laing's Nek positions, made in 1896 by Major S. C. N. Grant, Royal Engineers, assisted by Captain W. S. Melville, Leicestershire regiment, and Captain H. R. Gale, Royal Engineers.

It is from these sources, as modified here and there by special surveys made during or since the war, that the general maps 1, 3, 4, and 9 have been compiled.

Of the site of the battle of Talana no special survey has been made since the war, and map 5 is a reproduction of a portion of Major Grant's reconnaissance sketch before referred to.

Maps 6, 7, and 8, of the battles of Elandslaagte, Rietfontein and Lombards Kop, are prepared from surveys made since the events occurred, by No. 4 Survey section, Royal Engineers, working under Captain H. W. Gordon, R.E., and maps 14 and 16, of Stormberg and Colesberg, have been prepared also from sketches made by the same section.

Maps 10, 11, 12 and 13, of Belmont, Graspan, Modder River and Magersfontein, are from sketches made by Nos. 2 and 3 Survey sections, under Captain P. H. Casgrain, R.E. The two sections on map 12 are from drawings by Lieut. J. Cuthbert, Scots Guards.

Map No. 15, of Colenso, is from a sketch made immediately after the relief of Ladysmith by Major S. C. N. Grant, R.E., assisted by Captain P. McClear, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, and Lieut. S. A. Wilkinson, The King's (Liverpool) regiment, and the sections from a sketch by Lieut. M. G. Pollock, R.E.

In most instances the special survey of the site of the battle has had to be extended by enlarging portions of the general maps on smaller scales. This sometimes causes a difference in the amount of detail shown in different areas of the same map, but this is unavoidable if the map be made to illustrate, not only the action itself, but also the preceding and subsequent movements.

The six panoramic sketches embodied in this Volume are facsimile reproductions of a selection made from a number executed by the late Captain W. C. C. Erskine, Bethune's Mounted Infantry.

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