Military History of Australia During The Second Boer War - Guerrilla Warfare Phases

Guerrilla Warfare Phases

The loss of the capitals did not deter the Boers. Instead, they moved their campaign into a phase of guerrilla warfare, in which Boer commandos operating in small groups, picked off men through sniping, disrupted troop movements and supply lines, and launched ambush attacks on individual or isolated units, or launched larger-scale raids against important targets.

Realising the campaign had been progressing well for the British, the Boer commanders had earlier met in secret in Kroonstad, and planned out their guerrilla campaign against British supply and communication lines. The first major attack of this new phase was the attack at Sanna's Post on 31 March 1900, in which Boer commander Christiaan de Wet led a force of 2,000 commandos from the former Orange Free State in a major attack on Bloemfontein’s waterworks system 23 miles (37 km) east of the city. In the same attack they also ambushed a British convoy killing 155 British soldiers, and capturing seven guns, 117 wagons and 428 prisoners.

To sustain their guerrilla campaign, the Boers needed a regular supply of food, ammunition and equipment. In an effort to obtain such supplies, Koos de la Rey led a 3,000 strong Boer attack on the British post at Brakfontein on the Elands River in Western Transvaal on 4 August 1900. At the time, it was lightly defended by 300 Australians, comprising 105 New South Wales Citizens' Bushmen, 141 3rd Queensland Mounted Infantry, 2 Tasmanian Bushmen, 42 Victorian Bushmen, and 9 West Australian Bushmen, as well as an additional 201 Rhodesian Volunteers. De le Rey’s force surrounded the outpost, but magnanimously offered to deliver the Australians to the nearest British position unharmed if they surrendered the supplies they were guarding. The commanding officer of the Australians, Colonel Charles Hore, replied to de la Rey:

The Boers proceeded to bombard the Australian position with artillery fire. In two days they fired over 2,500 shells at the Elands River outpost. The defenders suffered 32 casualties, but continued to repulse any attempt to seize the outpost. The Boers turned back a relief force sent to assist the Australians, but were unable to take the position itself. After 11 days without success, and with the prospect of further reinforcements arriving, the Boers broke their siege and withdrew. The Australians and Rhodesians had successfully defended the Elands River outpost, and were eventually relieved on 16 August. The Boer commander, Koos de la Rey, was quoted as saying:

In response to the Boers desperate need of supplies, the British command changed tactics, adopting a counter-insurgency approach. They established heavily defended blockhouses along supply-lines, and used a scorched earth policy, burning houses and crops, and interning Boers in concentration camps. This caused the costs of the campaign to rise dramatically, and began to have a negative impact on the popularity of the campaign amongst ordinary Australians. Some even started to feel sympathy for the Boers.