Battles of the nineteenth century . vity meant. Then there was a burst ofsmoke in the middle of the bridge, a bright flashthrough it even in the sunlight, a dull roar, anda resounding series of crashes as the latticegirders and roadway of the central span fell intothe river bed. But meanwhile the mounted infantry with acouple of pom-poms were moving towards thedrift. They crossed it without being fired upon,but as they advanced towards the coal mines capture was that of three big stacks of foragenear Vereeniging. They had been left un-burned by the Boers of the rearguard, who, asthey rode awav
Battles of the nineteenth century . vity meant. Then there was a burst ofsmoke in the middle of the bridge, a bright flashthrough it even in the sunlight, a dull roar, anda resounding series of crashes as the latticegirders and roadway of the central span fell intothe river bed. But meanwhile the mounted infantry with acouple of pom-poms were moving towards thedrift. They crossed it without being fired upon,but as they advanced towards the coal mines capture was that of three big stacks of foragenear Vereeniging. They had been left un-burned by the Boers of the rearguard, who, asthey rode awav to the northwards, set fire to thebush and herbage of the veldt in all directions. By evening on Sunday, the 27th, LordRoberts had his main body across the river atViljoens Drift, and the engineers were busyrepairing Vereeniging railway bridge. On theSaturday morning, as soon as he had news of theseizure of the drift and the prompt retreat of theBoer rearguard, he had sent a message to IanHamilton at Lindeques telling him that the. 350 THE BOER WAR. enemys resistance along the Vaal had ever)--where collapsed, and ordering him to push onas quickly as possible from the nortli bank ofthe river. Hamilton marched eighteen milesthat day, though both men and horses wereshort of supplies, and so long a march could nothave been made had not a little forage beenseized at some abandoned farms. Marchingagain on the Sunday morning, Ian Hamiltonthat afternoon joined hands with French, whohad come up from the south-westward. Bvevening Lord Robertss army was concentratedin two masses—the main body on the Vaal atVereeniging ; and Frenchs cavalry and Hamil-tons column thrown well forward on the lefttowards the hills tliat lie to the south ofJohannesburg. On Monday, the , Lord Roberts advancedalong the railway to the Klip River. The Boersfell back before him without doing any seriousdamage to the line. Up to the Vaal bridge atVereeniging they had thoroughly wrecked itwith a lavish use of
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1901
