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Military History – South Africa – Europe – England 19th Century
.Article – Online Historic Information | Military
.Page 215
R
Railway System
The immense distances – Cape Town to Kimberley is 650 miles (1,045km) and the Cape to Pretoria
is 1,000 miles (1,600km) – and the hostile environment for animal-drawn transport made the railway
system a central consideration in British strategic planning and a principal target for Boer
commandos in the guerrilla phase of the war. The first part of the system was built in Cape Colony in
the 1850s and, under the influence of the discovery of great mineral wealth, lines were built from
Cape Town to Kimberley and on from there to Mafeking by 1894 and to Rhodesia in 1897. The Cape
line was connected to Johannesburg by 1892. Other lines snaked up from the coast of British territory,
from Port Elizabeth to Bloemfontein and on to Johannesburg, Pretoria and north to Pietersburg. This
line was joined by others originating at Port Alfred and East London, with crossconnecting lines from
De Aar on the Kimberley line, through Naauwpoort on the Port Elizabeth line to Rosmead and
Stormberg Junctions on the Port Alfred and the East London lines. These all originated in Britishcontrolled Cape Colony.
In Natal a line ran north from Durban via Pietermaritzburg to Lady-smith and on northwards to
the coalfields at Elandslaagte and Glencoe. From there it passed over Langs Nek on its way to
Johannesburg. A branch from Ladysmith went over Van Reenen’s Pass to Harrismith. This was also
controlled by the British.
To have rail access to a seaport free of British influence was one of the Boers’ dearest wishes
and an agreement with the Portuguese led to the building of the Delagoa Bay line in Portuguese East
Africa (now Mozambique) which was completed in 1895. It was along this railway that the massive
importation of armaments was brought prior to the war and this was the route taken by President
Kruger and his peripatetic government after the fall of Pretoria in June 1900. The importation of
munitions of war by this route had ceased well before that as a result of British pressure on the
Portuguese, and once the British held this railway the Boers had to supply themselves by taking
weapons, ammunition and clothing as booty of war.
However, the British control of the railways was incomplete during the guerrilla phase of the
war. Bridges were blown up, rails sabotaged and trains ambushed. In retaliation the British
Commander-in-Chief, Lord Roberts, proclaimed on 16 June 1900
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