Battle of Driefontein
Part of Second Boer War
Date10 March 1900
Location
near Bloemfontein, Orange Free State
Result British victory
Belligerents
 United Kingdom  South African Republic
 Orange Free State
Commanders and leaders
United Kingdom Lord Roberts
United Kingdom Robert George Broadwood
United Kingdom Thomas Kelly-Kenny[1]		 Orange Free State Christiaan de Wet
Strength
~6000 men
2 Vickers guns[1]
Casualties and losses
82 killed
342 wounded[2]		 102 killed
22 POW[2]

The Battle of Driefontein on 10 March 1900 followed on the Battle of Poplar Grove in the Second Boer War between the British Empire and the Boer republics, in what is now South Africa. In the first half of 1900, the British made an offensive towards the two Boer republic capitals of Bloemfontein and Pretoria.

Battle

Original lithograph caption: A Gallant Feat. Private Martin Hanlon, C.I.V., getting water for the wounded during a fight near Bloemfontein. His horse was shot under him, and he had to make his way back - a distance of eight miles - on foot. From Forbes and Atteridge: Battles of the Nineteenth Century, 1901. C.I.V. means City of London Imperial Volunteers.

The Boer forces under the command of Christiaan de Wet were holding a 7-mile (11 km) line covering the approach to Bloemfontein. Lord Roberts subsequently ordered a division under Lieutenant General Thomas Kelly-Kenny to attack the position from the front, while Lieutenant General Charles Tucker's division moved against its left flank.[3] The Boers were subsequently forced to withdraw losing 124 men killed and captured, while the British lost 82 killed and 342 wounded.[2][4][5]

References

  1. 1 2 "THE BOER WAR". The Barrier Miner. 13 March 1900.
  2. 1 2 3 Micheal Clodfelter (9 May 2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015, 4th ed. McFarland. p. 212. ISBN 978-0-7864-7470-7.
  3. ↑ Laffin, John (1986). Brassey's Battles: 3,500 Years of Conflict, Campaigns and Wars from A-Z. London: Brassey's Defence Publishers. p. 150. ISBN 0080311857.
  4. ↑ Conan Doyle, A.C. (1902). "The Great Boer War, London, Smith, Elder & Co., 1902. CHAPTER XX Roberts' Advance on Bloemfontein". pinetreeweb.com. Smith, Elder & Co. Archived from the original on 10 February 2007. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  5. ↑ Rickard, John (2 March 2007). "Battle of Driefontein, 10 March 1900". historyofwar.org. Military History Encyclopedia on the Web. Retrieved 30 April 2023.

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