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Military History – South Africa – Europe – England 19th Century
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the Boers since 14 October 1899 and, with Cecil Rhodes caught in the town and making a great
fuss to be rescued, it was deemed a matter of urgency to relieve the town. The Commander-in-Chief,
Sir Redvers Buller, therefore divided his forces and sent Lieutenant-general Lord Methuen up the
railway via De Aar and Orange River Station with 1st Infantry Division.
The 1st Division comprised 1st Guards Brigade (3rd Grenadiers, 1st and 2nd Coldstreams and
1st Scots), 9th Brigade (1st Northumberland Fusilers, 1st Loyal North Lancashire, 2nd
Northamptonshire and 2nd Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry – KOYLI), 18th and 75th Field
Batteries, Royal Artillery and the Naval Brigade, and some 400 men from HMS Powerful,HMS
Dorisand HMS Monarch,with four 12-pounder guns on improvised carriages. The small cavalry
presence consisted of 9th Lancers and, attached to them, a squadron of the New South Wales Lancers.
In addition, there were about 100 Mounted Infantry and 200 Rimington’s Guides, a locally-raised
force under Lieutenant-colonel M. F. Rimington.
At 2.30 a.m. on the morning of 23 November the 9th Brigade moved off to march the two miles
(3km) over the railway towards Table Mountain on the northern flank while the Guards Brigade made
for Gun and Grenadier Hills to the south. The Guards were first into action and, after a fierce
struggle, took their objectives from the Boers. The 9th Brigade, with further to go, were still some
1,000 yards (915m) from Table Mountain when the firing started and they were forced to advance
into a storm of lead. A company of 1st Scots Guards moved left to assist and Table Mountain was
taken. They all moved forward against the next ridge, Mont Blanc, except for the Coldstreams who
had to quell interference from a few Boers on hills on their southern flank. The combination of
artillery fire and infantry assault had now become too much for the Boers and they took to their
horses, retreating in order to fight another day. Lieutenant C. W. Barton of the 2nd Northamptonshires
(formerly the 58th Regiment of Foot) wrote: “The Grenadiers seem to have had some very hard
fighting & had a terrible loss. A number of the 58th were with them but we had drummed it into the
men that they must keep widely extended so that they kept about 6 or 10 paces apart while the
Grenadiers were crowded to 1 pace apart & suffered accordingly.”
See also:
Artillery, British; Graspan, Battle of; Documents: The Battle of Belmont, C. W. Barton.
Reference:
Baker, Anthony, Battles & Battlefields of the Anglo- Boer War 1899–1902 (Milton Keynes, The
Military Press, 1999); Jeans, T. T., The Naval Brigades in the South African War 1899–1900
(London, Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1901; reprinted by the London Stamp Exchange Ltd.);
Marix Evans, Martin, The Boer War: South Africa 1899–1902 (Oxford, Osprey Publishing,
1999); Pakenham, Thomas, The Boer War (London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1979; Abacus,
1992).
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