Battles of the nineteenth century . the waggon bridge; on his left hecovered the approach on the north-east of thetown to the Nervals Pont railway bridge. Thesituation may best be described by saying thatthe Boer position was now a huge wedge point-ing towards the British centre. Colesberg, sur-rounded by its chain of kopjes, was the somewhatblunted point of the wedge. The two sides of itwere formed by lines of kopjes stretching awaynorth and north-east, two towards the twobridges. The British occupied a long, semi-circular Hne curving round the point of thewedge. In the next two weeks French,
Battles of the nineteenth century . the waggon bridge; on his left hecovered the approach on the north-east of thetown to the Nervals Pont railway bridge. Thesituation may best be described by saying thatthe Boer position was now a huge wedge point-ing towards the British centre. Colesberg, sur-rounded by its chain of kopjes, was the somewhatblunted point of the wedge. The two sides of itwere formed by lines of kopjes stretching awaynorth and north-east, two towards the twobridges. The British occupied a long, semi-circular Hne curving round the point of thewedge. In the next two weeks French, asreinforcements arrived, extended the horns ofthis crescent and tried to work round the Boerflanks. The enemy were also reinforced, andmet and foiled these efforts by extending thesides of the wedge towards the river. They hadthroughout the great advantage of working oninner lines, and they could thus reinforce anythreatened position in the wedge rapidly andeasily from other parts of it. The telegrams sent home by the correspond-. 138 THE BOER WAR. ents on the evening of January ist were somisleading that it is a wonder the censorshipallowed them to be put on the wires. Theyannounced that Colesberg was captured, thatthe Boers were in full flight, that their line ofretreat on the waggon bridge was cut, and therewas a prospect of cutting the line towards the Boers had not been turned out of heavy train, laden with supplies, was standingin a siding at Rensburg. From the station theline runs down a long incline to the OrangeRiver. According to one account by accident,according to another as the result of treacheryon the part of one of the railway men, the train
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1901
