ABSTRACT
By early November 1899 British forces in South Africa had positioned themselves to launch a three-pronged attack on the Boers. In the east, Sir Redvers Buller, the General Officer-in-Command, would lead one division to relieve General George White and his besieged troops in Ladysmith and to block further Boer penetration into Natal. In the centre, General William Gatacre was assigned to take his small force to the northern edge of the Cape Colony to prevent any Boer thrust into the Colony and to draw off Boers from the Ladysmith vicinity. In the west, Lord Methuen, commanding the 1st Division, would advance toward Kimberley to relieve the beleaguered garrison. After supplying the garrison with guns, ammunition and food, his plan was to return to the Cape with all non-combatants residing in and around Kimberley, including all Uidander women and children and the more than 10,000 Africans. Methuen was not expected to meet much resistance. This chapter will examine in particular the false expectations of the British, the decision to advance along the Western Railway, the 1st Division's three encounters with the Boers before the Modder River and Methuen's ability to command his division in set battles.
