Waterless deserts and rugged mountain
ranges divided the two scenes of action. In the case of the British
there could be no connection between the two movements, but the
Boers by a land journey of something over a hundred miles had a
double choice of a route by which Cronje and Joubert might join
hands, either by the Bloemfontein-Johannesburg-Laing's Nek Railway,
or by the direct line from Harrismith to Ladysmith. The possession
of these internal lines should have been of enormous benefit to the
Boers, enabling them to throw the weight of their forces
unexpectedly from the one flank to the other.
In a future chapter it will be recorded how the Army Corps arriving
from England was largely diverted into Natal in order in the first
instance to prevent the colony from being overrun, and in the
second to rescue the beleaguered garrison. In the meantime it is
necessary to deal with the military operations in the broad space
between the eastern and western armies.
After the declaration of war there was a period of some weeks
during which the position of the British over the whole of the
northern part of Cape Colony was full of danger.
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