Siege of Kimberley - Siege

Siege

Kimberley Kraaipan Mafeking Cape Town Port Elizabeth Bloemfontein Ladysmith Pretoria

The conflict at Kimberley started on 14 October 1899. Colonel Baden-Powell, anticipating the inevitable onset of hostilities, encouraged all the women and children to leave the town. Some civilians left in a special train, escorted as far as Vryburg by an armoured train. On the return journey, the armoured train was captured in the first action of the war between Kimberley and Mafeking at Kraaipan by Boers under the command of fighting general De la Rey, the hero of the western Transvaal. On 12 October, the Jacobsdal Commando severed the railway line at the bridge over the Modder River south of Kimberley, whereafter the Boers entrenched themselves in the hills at Spytfontein. Meanwhile, the Boshof Commando severed the railway line 16 kilometres (10 mi) north of the town at Riverton Road, then shut off the primary water supply at Riverton on the Vaal River. For the first time, water in the mines became more precious than the diamonds in them. On 14 October the Boers cut the telephone line to the Cape. Heliograph and dispatch riders consequently had to make hazardous journeys through Boer lines to the Orange River and then to Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. On 15 October, martial law was declared in the town.

The cattle that usually grazed on the outskirts of the town presented a problem; if they were left, they would be lost to the Boers, but if they were slaughtered, the meat would perish quickly in the summer heat. The De Beers chief engineer, George Labram, provided a solution by building an industrial refrigeration plant to preserve the meat.

The Boer commander, Commandant Cornelius Wessels, presented Kekewich with an ultimatum on 4 November, demanding the town's surrender. Kekewich replied the same day, stating: "...you are hereby invited to effect the occupation of this town as an operation of war by the employment of the military forces under your command." When the siege of Kimberley itself began in earnest on 6 November, the situation favoured an attack. The Boers were in control of the railway from the Orange River to Mafeking, while arms and ammunition were in short supply in Kimberley. On 7 November, the Boers started shelling the town. Communication with the outside world was not seriously impeded however. The Boer strategy was not to attack the town in a full battle, but rather to wait for the defenders to capitulate, all the time wearing them down with shelling. The defenders tried to send the large contingent of migrant native labourers that was working in the mines home, but twice the Boers drove them back into the town in an apparent attempt to put pressure on the limited food and water supply.

Rhodes had his own agenda, which differed from the greater war goal of redressing wrongs in the Transvaal that had triggered the conflict. He used his position and influence to demand relief of the siege vociferously in both the press and directly of the government. However, Kekewich was a more cool-headed man, and was careful to let the authorities in Cape Town know that the situation was by no means desperate and that he would be able to hold out for several weeks. The feud between the two men escalated when the Diamond Fields Advertiser, the local newspaper which was under Rhodes' control, ignored the military censor and printed information that compromised the military. Kekewich obtained permission from his superior to place Rhodes under arrest if necessary.

The food and water supply was managed closely by the military authorities. Rationing was imposed as the food supply dwindled, with the inhabitants eventually resorting in the final states of the siege to eating horse meat. Vegetables could not be grown easily because of a shortage of water. The scarcity of vegetables took the hardest toll on the poorest people, notably the 15,000-strong indigenous population; a local doctor suggested that they eat aloe leaves to avoid contracting scurvy, while Rhodes organised a soup kitchen.

On 25 November, the British garrison launched an attack on the Boer redoubt at Carter's Ridge, west of the town. Kekewich's men held the belief that the action would assist Methuen's relief column at Magersfontein by keeping more Boers occupied at Kimberley. A detachment of 40 members of Cape Police and Light Horse under the command of Major Scott-Turner of the Black Watch set out at midnight and completely surprised their enemy in the early hours of the morning. Thirty-three Boers were captured at the cost of four killed. Scott-Turner tried to repeat the successful raid three days later, but it was a disaster for the British the second time round, with Scott-Turner amongst those killed.

The engineers of Rhodes' company, under Chief Mechanical Engineer George Labram were instrumental in the defence of the town. They manufactured fortifications, an armoured train, a watch tower, shells, and a gun, known as Long Cecil, for the defenders in order to supplement their inadequate weapons. Long Cecil was rifled with a bore of 100 millimetres (3.9 in) capable of propelling a 13-kilogram (29 lb) shell 6,000 metres (6,600 yd). The gun was completed on 21 January 1900, and successfully test fired against a previously untouchable Boer position north of the town.

The Boers countered on 7 February with a much heavier 100-pounder named "Long Tom"; it had been disabled by British saboteurs at Ladysmith, before being repaired at Pretoria, and brought to Kimberley. In addition to having larger shells than any of the siege guns used up to that point, its longer range meant that it could also target any location in Kimberley. The town's inhabitants had become accustomed to shelling by smaller guns and were to some extent able to take shelter and to carry on their daily lives. The new gun immediately changed the status quo, as terrified residents were no longer able to find sanctuary anywhere at ground level. Rhodes published a notice inviting people to take shelter in the Kimberley Mine in order to avoid its lethal shelling. Fortunately for the defenders, the gun did not use smokeless powder, so observers were able to give residents up to 17 seconds warning to take cover when a shell was incoming. Labram was the most notable civilian casualty, when he was killed within a week of the end of the siege, ironically by a Boer shell from the Long Tom gun brought to counter his own gun. Kekewich arranged a full military funeral for him, which was well attended, but took place after dark for safety reasons; the procession was targeted by Boer shelling with the help of a traitor inside the town who lit the area with a flare.

The Boers besieged the town for 124 days, shelling it on most days, except Sundays. Shelling abated somewhat during the Battle of Magersfontein when the Boer siege guns were temporarily brought to bear there. Throughout the siege, Kekewich mounted numerous armed reconnaissance missions outside the town's defences, sometimes using the armoured train. Some of these engagements were fierce, with casualties on both sides, however they did not change the status quo. In January 1900, the local Boer command passed from Commandant Wessels to General Ignatius S. Ferreira.