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He seems to have underrated both the British numbers and the
British activity.
On the night then of Friday, February 16th, Cronje lay upon the
northern bank of the Modder, with his stores and guns still intact,
and no enemy in front of him, though Knox's brigade and Hannay's
Mounted Infantry were behind. It was necessary for Cronje to cross
the river in order to be on the line for Bloemfontein. As the river
tended to the north the sooner he could cross the better. On the
south side of the river, however, were considerable British forces,
and the obvious strategy was to hurry them forward and to block
every drift at which he could get over. The river runs between very
deep banks, so steep that one might almost describe them as small
cliffs, and there was no chance of a horseman, far less a wagon,
crossing at any point save those where the convenience of traffic
and the use of years had worn sloping paths down to the shallows.
The British knew exactly therefore what the places were which had
to be blocked.


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