Battle of Poplar Grove
Battle of Poplar Grove (Slag van Abrahamskraal) | |||||||
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Part of Second Boer War | |||||||
Sketch of positions at Poplar Grove, March 7, 1900 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
South African Republic Orange Free State | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Lord Roberts | Christiaan de Wet | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
5,000[1] 7 guns[1] | 5,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
8 killed 49 wounded[1] |
1 killed 1 wounded[1] |
The Battle of Poplar Grove (
Background
The
Battle
French's plan was to make a wide sweep around the six thousand Boers' left flank, without making contact, and then attack them from the rear. The infantry and the artillery would then attack them from the right. French, the cavalry division, some mounted infantry units and the horse artillery with 42 guns, carried out their order. But the Boers "did not behave like well-bred pheasants".[3]: p. 374. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote of it: "The plan of action was based, however, upon one supposition which proved to be fallacious. It was that after having prepared so elaborate a position the enemy would stop at least a little time to defend it."[4]
Aftermath
A panic had seized the Boers. When they saw the cavalry at a distance, they all fled. De Wet and his officers tried in vain to stop them. They eventually stopped at Abraham's Kraal, some 18 miles from Poplar Grove.[2]: p. 69. There they resisted the advance quite bravely the next day, but that night they fled to Bloemfontein.[2]: p. 70. Again the commandos were placed in defensive positions, ready to prevent Roberts from taking the capital. That night De Wet visited all the commandos. "An excellent spirit prevailed among them", De Wet was to write later. When he reached the southern positions, it was a different matter. One of the commandos had simply abandoned their position.[2]: p. 72.
When the fighting started the next day, the Boers once again abandoned their positions and fled northwards.[2]: p. 73.
Notes
- ^ a b c d André Wessels, The Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902: White Man's War, Black Man's War, Traumatic War, 2011, p.52. google books
- ^ a b c d e f De Wet, Christiaan Rudolf, Three Year War, Archibald Constable & Co, Ltd, 1902.
- ^ a b Thomas Pakenham, The Boer War, George Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1979. Abacus, 1992. ISBN 0 349 10466 2. Pages 373-375, and 381.
- ^ Doyle, AC The Great Boer War, p.78
References
- Pakenham, Thomas, The Boer War, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1979.
- De Wet, Christiaan Rudolf, Three Year War, Archibald Constable and Co Ltd, 1902.
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Great Boer War, Kindle edition.