Identifier: battlesofninetee06forb (find matches)
Title: Battles of the nineteenth century
Year: 1901 (1900s)
Authors: Forbes, Archibald, 1838-1900 Atteridge, A. Hilliard (Andrew Hilliard)
Subjects: Battles Military history, Modern
Publisher: London New York : Cassell and Company
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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. They haddone 223 miles ineleven da3-s, and forthe last three dayshad been marchingthrough a waterlesscountry. Before de-scribing the advanceof the combined re-lief force to Mafeking.we must tell of whatwas happening in thetown during the lastanxious days of thesiege. On the Satur-day before Mahon andPlumer united theirforces at Janmasibithe Boers made a desperate attempt to captureMafeking, and very nearly succeeded. Be-tween 3 and 4 a.m. Commandant Eloff stoleclose up to the town along the hollow of theMalopo River at the head of a force variouslyestimated at from 250 to 700 men. Probablythe former estimate is nearer the truth. Theywere a mixture of many nationalities. Some ofthem were Boers of the Transvaal and the FreeState, but a great many were European volun-teers—Frenchmen, Hollanders, Germans, andRussians. Having got close up to the works,Eloff and his storming party lay quietly hiddenin the gully of the river bed, ready when thetime for action came to dash into the native
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-?^o THE BOER WAR. ,\l(i(H and tlv; work close to it known as theBritish South African Police Fort. The firing came from the Boer lines facingthe eastern front of Mafeking, and was intendedto divert the attention of the garrison from thereal point of danger. In the town everyoneturned out, but the general impression was thatthe fusillade would end not in a real attack but,-as on some previous occasions, in a half-heartedshow of attacking. We hung about in thecold, says Major Baillie. After about anhour and a half the firing on the eastern frontbegan to slacken. Jokes were freely bandi,ed,and we kept saying,When are they going tobegin ? Suddenly on the west a conflagrationwas seen, and betting began as to how far outit was. I got on the roof of a house, and sawa very magnificent sight. Apparently the wholestadi was on fire, and with the sunrise behindus and the stadt in flames in front, the combina-tion of effects was magnificent, if not exactlyreassuring. However, nobody seemed to min

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