Battles of the nineteenth century . the Presidents house and established hisheadquarters there. All through the eveningthe troops and the townsfolk were rejoicingtogether, and men were saying that the FreeState was now done with the war, which wouldsoon be carried into the Transvaal, and that itwould not be many weeks until the flag whichhad just been hoisted at Bloemfontein would beflying at Pretoria. So the first stage of the war ended. It wasnot five weeks since Lord Roberts had arrived atModder River camp. During that time he hadrelieved Kimberle\-, captured Cronje, cleared theroad to Bloe
Battles of the nineteenth century . the Presidents house and established hisheadquarters there. All through the eveningthe troops and the townsfolk were rejoicingtogether, and men were saying that the FreeState was now done with the war, which wouldsoon be carried into the Transvaal, and that itwould not be many weeks until the flag whichhad just been hoisted at Bloemfontein would beflying at Pretoria. So the first stage of the war ended. It wasnot five weeks since Lord Roberts had arrived atModder River camp. During that time he hadrelieved Kimberle\-, captured Cronje, cleared theroad to Bloemfontein, and occupied the FreeState capital. And the indirect result of hisvictorious march had been the withdrawal of theBoer invaders from the north of Cape Colony,the collapse of the resistance to Buller, and therelief of Ladysmith. It is no wonder that, seeingsuch great successes obtained in so short a time,many thought that a few weeks more wouldsuffice for the old Field-Marshal • to bring thewar to a victorious CHAPTER XXXI. A PERIOD OF anxiety:. WHEN the Boer leaders in the northof Cape Colony heard of Cronjessurrender at Paardeberg, and real-ised that Lord Roberts would soonbe at Bloemfontein, they became anxious aboutsecuring the. retreat of their own forces were alread\ weakened b}- the largenumbers of men they had sent northwards underDe Wet and Delarey. They feared that if theyheld on much longer on the Orange River theymight be caught between the main arm}- underRoberts on the one hand and the forces underGatacre and Clements on the other. So,abandoning Colesberg, Grobler made for NorvalsPont bridge, crossed it and blew it up behindhim, wrecking the tall masonry piers andthrowing the huge iron girders into the east Olivier abandoned Burghersdorp and retreated across the road and railwaybridges at Bethulie. Burghersdorp was promptlyoccupied by a party of ^Montmorencys Scoutsunder Captain McNeil, an Irish Colo
Size: 2552px × 979px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1901
