OCR Text |
Show BOERS DRIVEN BACK AFTER HARD BATTLE London, Feb. S. The Standard has the following from Spearman's Camp, dated Feb. 7: "The force under Gen- j eral Buller is again advancing to the j relief of Ladysmith, and after two days of severe fighting it may fairly be said to have made a good first step on the road to the besieged town. "The movement was begun at an early hour on Monday morning by way of Potgieter's Drift. The Eleventh brigade, forming a part of the Fifth division, under General Warren, made a feint attack upon the kopjes on our front. The assault was delivered at the outset under cover of naval guns tn Mount Alice, and subsequently under un-der that of field batteries. "The infantry advanced steadily toward to-ward the Boer entrenched position at Biakfonte n. and kept the enemy busily bus-ily employed. While this diversion was being made the remainder of the iitfan-try, iitfan-try, who had bivouacked Sunday night under Mount Alice, moved along at the foot of Z 'Tarts Kop in the direction of our right. "A j.or.tcon bridge va; thrown "across the Tugela by the engineers under te fire of the enemy. The first battalion to move across in the forenoon was the Durham light infantry of General Lyt-, tlefon's infantry. They advanced acainst Vaal Krants., which lie3 on the most direct road to Lad;'?mith, and after af-ter two hours' splendid work they gt)t within charging distance of the Boers. "The first of the kopjes was. carried by them at . the point of the bayonet by the utmost gallantry. Almost simultaneously sim-ultaneously the battalion rifle brigade 'cleared the second kopje, and affrr moving across the long ridge they biv- ' ouacked on the spot. "The feint attack at Potfieter's having hav-ing served its purpose in preventing the concentration of the enemy at the crucial point, the Eleventh brigade fell back to the river. "In the course of the operation both the infantry and the artillery had een subjected to a severe shell fire. "Yesterday (Tuesday) at 4 in the afternoon, af-ternoon, the enemy, encouraged, doubtless, doubt-less, by their success at Spion Kop, endeavored en-deavored to recapture the position taken ta-ken by us at Vaal Krantz. They were beaten back, however, with los3. "The work accomplished so far has been magnificently done. The shell and Maxim fire poured in by the BopVs has been extremely severe, but n;r losses are, comparatively speaking, small. "The Durham light infantry took a few prisoners in the course of their charge. "The enemy, as usua f0Ught with the utmost stubbornness The British maneuvering and the accuracy of aim on the part of the British artillery during dur-ing the fighting on Monday were beyond be-yond praise Then- is not the slightest likelihood that the Boers will succeed in dislodging us from the positions we have gained and the projects of the relief of Ladysmith are decidedly hope- |