The Boer War 1899–1902

Extract from Essential Histories 52: The Boer War 1899–1902.The fighting: Briton Vs. BoerTaking advantage of the darkness, they rode off a few miles and occupied a new position, along a low ridge that cut across the railway line, as before, blocking the British advance to Kimberley. This was Magersfontein.

At Magersfontein, Koos de la Rey made masterful use of trenches, excavating not on the kopjes themselves, but on the plains to their front. These trenches, dug with straight sides about 1 m (1 yard) in width and the same in depth – much narrower and deeper than their British counterparts – enabled the defenders to stand upright and fire over the breastworks while concealed by camouflage fashioned from branches and grass. The Boers partially covered some trenches, providing themselves with a degree of protection against shells. While the trench had featured in both the Crimean War and the American Civil War (1861–65), it had been relegated almost exclusively to siege operations. In recognition of the increasingly lethal nature of small arms and artillery fire, trenches were now to be employed on an ordinary battlefield – presaging the new style of warfare which was to become so familiar during the First World War only 15 years later.