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Military History – South Africa – Europe – England 19th Century
.Article – Online Historic Information | Military
.Page 102
Graspan (or Enslin), Battle of,
25 November 1899
After forcing the Boers to withdraw at the Battle of Belmont, the British under Lord Methuen engaged
them two days later near Graspan, ten miles (16km) further along the road towards Kimberley, where
the British were besieged. Before withdrawing once more, some of the Boers were forced down from
the hills facing the British left and, from the foot of the kopje, fired on the advancing Royal Naval
Battalion. The effectiveness of high-velocity rifle fire over flat ground was demonstrated in the
number of casualties the British suffered. Nonetheless, the positions were taken and the Boers fell
back to the Modder River.
The British reconnaissance of the positions to which the Boers fell back after the Battle of
Belmont was mistaken in concluding that only some 400 men held the position. More than five times
that number occupied the line of hills or kopjes that lay across the railway line between the little
settlements of Graspan and Enslin. De la Rey with his Transvaal commandos had been joined by men
of the Winburg, Bloemfontein, Jacobsdal, Hoopstad and Fauriesmith commandos. The plan was to
engage the Boers with artillery before rolling up their positions from east to west.
While the shells poured down on the hills, the Naval Brigade and the King’s Own Yorkshire
Light Infantry made the long flanking march to the east in the increasing heat of the day. They turned to
attack and immediately came under heavy fire when they were about 500 yards (450m) from the base
of the kopjes. This came not only from their front, but also from their left where some Boers had been
driven off the hilltops by the artillery and were down amongst the rocks at the base of the hill, firing
over the flat ground. It was not until the British had got close to the hill to their front that a spur
sheltered them from this fire and the steepness of the hill prevented the Boers above from bringing
their rifles to bear.
The hills were taken in a series of short rushes, giving the high ground on the Boer left, the east,
to the British and thus rendering the rest of the Boer positions to the west untenable. The Boers
retreated and the British cavalry and mounted infantry were too few to successfully pursue and take
them. Of a total of five officers and 190 men, the Marines lost two officers and nine men, and one
officer and seventy-two men were wounded, while the sailors lost two officers and two men, and
another six were wounded. The Marines had suffered 44 per cent casualties, partly the result of Boer
rifle fire and partly because they failed to stay in open formation; bunching up made them easy targets.
The commander of the Naval Brigade, Captain R. C. Prothero, was severely wounded.
Vecht-General Joos de la Rey was not slow to learn and would use the chance positioning of
Boer rifleman on a level with their targets as a basic principle of deployment in future battles.
See also:
Belmont, Battle of; Modder River, Battle of; Rifles.
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