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Military History – South Africa – Europe – England 19th Century
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.Page 153
he was appointed Assistant-Adjutant-general to Lieutenant-general Ian Hamilton and was later
given command of a mounted infantry column in the hunt for Christiaan De Wet. He nearly caught De
Wet and President Steyn at Bothaville on 6 November 1900, when the Boers were taken entirely by
surprise. Le Gallais himself was killed in the engagement. De Wet said his adversary was “without
doubt one of the bravest English officers I have ever met”.
See also:
Bothaville, Action at.
Reference:
De Wet, Christiaan, Three Years War (London, Archibald Constable, 1902; Wilson, H. W., With the
Flag to Pretoria (London, Harmsworth Brothers, 1900).
Leliefontein, Action at,
6–7 November 1900
In an attempt to secure control of the country south of the Delagoa Bay railway line east of Pretoria in
November 1900, a British column under Major-general Smith-Dorrien moved towards Carolina and
attacked the Boers on the Komati (Nkhomati) River. A Boer counter-attack the next day forced SmithDorrien to make a fighting withdrawal, which was successful because of the courage of his Canadian
troops.
After the last set-piece battle at Bergendal on 27 August 1900 the Boer forces scattered to form
roving bands and the guerrilla phase of the war began in earnest. British tactics at first involved the
use of cumbersome columns of infantry, artillery and mounted infantry, in this instance the Gordon
Highlanders and the Shropshire Light infantry as well as the Royal Canadian Dragoons, Canadian
Mounted Rifles and two guns of the Royal Canadian Artillery. The capture of the Boer positions at
Leliefontein was costly and Smith-Dorrien, aware of his vulnerability to counter-attack, decided to
withdraw. As he did so the Boers attempted to envelop his flanks. The guns of D Battery, Royal
Canadian Artillery, withdrew turn and turn about, each holding the Boers off while the other, together
with the column, pulled back. These guns, and a Colt machine-gun, kept the Boers at bay. Lieutenants
Cockburn and Turner and Sergeant Holland of the Canadian Dragoons were awarded Victoria
Crosses. On the Boer side Assistant Commandant-general J. C. Fourie and Commandant H. F.
Prinsloo were killed. The action demonstrated that the traditional British column was woefully
vulnerable to mobile Boers.
See also:
Bergendal, Battle of; Drives.
Reference:
Jones, Huw M. and Meurig G. M. Jones, A Gazetteer of the Second Anglo-Boer War 1899–1902
(Milton Keynes, The Military Press, 1999); Marix Evans, Martin, The Boer War: South Africa
1899–1902 (Oxford, Osprey Publishing, 1999); Reid, Brian A., Our Little Army in the Field:
The Canadians in South Africa 1899–1902 (St Catharines Ontario, Vanwell, 1996).
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