Editing Second Boer War (section)

== Second phase: The British offensive of January to September 1900 ==
{{more citations needed|section|date=October 2020}}

[[File:British casualties, Spionkop, 1900.jpg|thumb|British casualties lie dead on the battlefield after the [[Battle of Spion Kop]], 24 January 1900.]]
The British government took these defeats badly and with the sieges still continuing was compelled to send two more divisions plus large numbers of colonial volunteers. By January 1900 this would become the largest force Britain had ever sent overseas, amounting to some 180,000 men with further reinforcements being sought.<ref name=SAHonline/>

While watching for these reinforcements, Buller made another bid to relieve Ladysmith by crossing the Tugela west of [[Colenso, KwaZulu-Natal|Colenso]]. Buller's subordinate, Major General [[Charles Warren]], successfully crossed the river, but was then faced with a fresh defensive position centred on a prominent hill known as Spion Kop. In the resulting Battle of Spion Kop, British troops captured the summit by surprise during the early hours of 24 January 1900, but as the early morning fog lifted, they realised too late that they were overlooked by Boer gun emplacements on the surrounding hills. The rest of the day resulted in a disaster caused by poor communication between Buller and his commanders. Between them they issued contradictory orders, on the one hand ordering men off the hill, while other officers ordered fresh reinforcements to defend it. The result was 350 men killed and nearly 1,000 wounded and a retreat across the Tugela River into British territory. There were nearly 300 Boer casualties.

Buller attacked Louis Botha again on 5 February at [[Battle of Vaal Krantz|Vaal Krantz]] and was again defeated. Buller withdrew early when it appeared that the British would be isolated in an exposed bridgehead across the Tugela, for which he was nicknamed "Sir Reverse" by some of his officers.

=== Buller replaced ===

[[File:Peter de wet01.jpg|thumb|Boer General [[Piet de Wet]], 1900]]
By taking command in person in Natal, Buller had allowed the overall direction of the war to drift. Because of concerns about his performance and negative reports from the field, he was replaced as Commander in Chief by Roberts. Roberts quickly assembled an entirely new team for headquarters staff and he chose military men from far and wide: Kitchener (Chief of Staff) from the Sudan; [[Frederick Russell Burnham]] (Chief of Scouts), the American scout, from the Klondike; [[George Francis Robert Henderson|George Henderson]] from the Staff College; [[Neville Bowles Chamberlain]] from Afghanistan; and [[William Nicholson, 1st Baron Nicholson|William Nicholson]] (Military Secretary) from Calcutta.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} Like Buller, Roberts first intended to attack directly along the Cape Town–Pretoria railway but, again like Buller, was forced to relieve the beleaguered garrisons. Leaving Buller in command in Natal, Roberts massed his main force near the Orange River and along the Western Railway behind Methuen's force at the [[Modder River]] and prepared to make a wide outflanking move to relieve Kimberley.

Except in Natal, the war had stagnated. Other than a single attempt to storm Ladysmith, the Boers made no attempt to capture the besieged towns. In the Cape Midlands, the Boers did not exploit the British defeat at Stormberg and were prevented from capturing the railway junction at [[Colesberg]]. In the dry summer, the grazing on the veld became parched, weakening the Boers' horses and draught oxen, and many Boer families joined their menfolk in the siege lines and ''laagers'' (encampments), fatally encumbering Cronjé's army.

=== Roberts relieves the sieges ===

Roberts launched his main attack on 10 February 1900 and although hampered by a long supply route, managed to outflank the Boers defending [[Magersfontein]]. On 14 February, a cavalry division under French launched a major attack to relieve Kimberley. Although encountering severe fire, a massed cavalry charge split the Boer defences on 15 February, opening the way for French to enter Kimberley that evening, ending its 124 days' siege.

Meanwhile, Roberts pursued Piet Cronjé's 7,000-strong force, which had abandoned Magersfontein to head for Bloemfontein. General French's cavalry was ordered to assist in the pursuit by embarking on an epic {{convert|50|km|abbr=on}} drive towards Paardeberg where Cronjé was attempting to cross the Modder River. At the [[Battle of Paardeberg]] from 18 to 27 February, Roberts then surrounded Cronjé's retreating Boer army. On 17 February, a pincer movement involving both French's cavalry and the main British force attempted to take the entrenched position, but the frontal attacks were uncoordinated and so were repulsed by the Boers. Finally, Roberts resorted to bombarding Cronjé into submission. It took ten days, and when the British troops used the polluted Modder River as water supply, [[typhoid]] killed many troops. General Cronjé was finally forced to surrender at the [[Battle of Paardeberg]] with 4,000 men.

[[File:The Relief of Ladysmith by John Henry Frederick Bacon.jpg|thumb|The Relief of Ladysmith. Sir [[George White (British Army officer)|George Stuart White]] greets Major [[Hubert Gough]] on 28 February. Painting by [[John Henry Frederick Bacon]] (1868–1914).]]
In Natal, the [[Battle of the Tugela Heights]], which started on 14 February was Buller's fourth attempt to relieve Ladysmith. The losses Buller's troops had sustained convinced Buller to adopt Boer tactics "in the firing line—to advance in small rushes, covered by rifle fire from behind; to use the tactical support of artillery; and above all, to use the ground, making rock and earth work for them as it did for the enemy." Despite reinforcements his progress was painfully slow against stiff opposition. However, on 26 February, after much deliberation, Buller used all his forces in one all-out attack for the first time and at last succeeded in forcing a crossing of the Tugela to defeat Botha's outnumbered forces north of Colenso. After a siege lasting 118 days, the [[Relief of Ladysmith]] was effected, the day after Cronjé surrendered, but at a total cost of 7,000 British casualties. Buller's troops marched into Ladysmith on 28 February.{{sfn|Pakenham|1991a|p=573}}

After a succession of defeats, the Boers realised that against such overwhelming numbers of troops, they had little chance of defeating the British and so became demoralised. Roberts then advanced into the Orange Free State from the west, putting the Boers to flight at the [[Battle of Poplar Grove]] and capturing Bloemfontein, the capital, unopposed on 13 March with the Boer defenders escaping and scattering. Meanwhile, he detached a small force to relieve Baden-Powell. The [[Relief of Mafeking]] on 18 May 1900 provoked riotous celebrations in Britain, the origin of the Edwardian slang word "mafficking". On 28 May, the Orange Free State was annexed and renamed the Orange River Colony.

=== Capture of Pretoria ===
{{Main|Advance on Pretoria}}
After being forced to delay for several weeks at Bloemfontein by a shortage of supplies, an outbreak of typhoid at Paardeberg, and poor medical care, [[Advance on Pretoria|Roberts finally resumed his advance.]]<ref>{{Cite book|last=Paterson|first=Andrew Barton|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vEV1AAAAMAAJ|title=From the Front: Dispatches from the Boer War|publisher=[[Pan Macmillan]]|year=2000|isbn=978-0-7329-1062-4|editor-last=Droogleever|editor-first=R.W.F.}}</ref> He was forced to halt again at Kroonstad for 10 days, due once again to the collapse of his medical and supply systems, but finally captured Johannesburg on 31 May and the capital of the Transvaal, Pretoria, on 5 June. The first into Pretoria was Lt. William Watson of the New South Wales Mounted Rifles, who persuaded the Boers to surrender the capital.{{sfn|Wilcox|2002|pp=84–85}} Before the war, the Boers had constructed several forts south of Pretoria, but the artillery had been removed from the forts for use in the field, and in the event they abandoned Pretoria without a fight. Having won the principal cities, Roberts declared the war over on 3 September 1900; and the South African Republic was formally annexed.

[[File:PACronje CHM VA2863.jpg|thumb|right|General [[Piet Cronjé]] as a prisoner of war in [[Saint Helena]], 1900–02. He was captured, along with 4,000 soldiers, after the loss of the [[Battle of Paardeberg]].]]

British observers believed the war to be all but over after the capture of the two capital cities. However, the Boers had earlier met at the temporary new capital of the Orange Free State, [[Kroonstad]], and planned a guerrilla campaign to hit the British supply and communication lines. The first engagement of this new form of warfare was at [[Sanna's Post]] on 31 March where 1,500 Boers under the command of [[Christiaan De Wet|Christiaan de Wet]] attacked Bloemfontein's waterworks about {{convert|23|mi|km|order=flip}} east of the city, and ambushed a heavily escorted convoy, which caused 155 British casualties and the capture of seven guns, 117 wagons, and 428 British troops.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Speed, Neil G.|title=Born to fight : Major Charles Joseph Ross DSO, a definitive study of his life|date=2002|publisher=Caps & Flints Press|isbn=0-9581356-0-6|location=Melbourne|oclc=61567917}}</ref>

After the fall of Pretoria, one of the last formal battles was at [[Battle of Diamond Hill|Diamond Hill]] on 11–12 June, where Roberts attempted to drive the remnants of the Boer field army under Botha beyond striking distance of Pretoria. Although Roberts drove the Boers from the hill, Botha did not regard it as a defeat, for he inflicted 162 casualties on the British while suffering only around 50 casualties.

=== Boers retreat ===

The set-piece period of the war now largely gave way to a mobile guerrilla war, but one final operation remained. President Kruger and what remained of the Transvaal government had retreated to eastern Transvaal. Roberts, joined by troops from Natal under Buller, advanced against them, and broke their last defensive position at [[Battle of Bergendal|Bergendal]] on 26 August. As Roberts and Buller followed up along the railway line to [[Komatipoort]], Kruger sought asylum in Portuguese East Africa (modern [[Mozambique]]). Some dispirited Boers did likewise, and the British gathered up much war material. However, the core of the Boer fighters under Botha easily broke back through the Drakensberg Mountains into the Transvaal highveld after riding north through the bushveld.

As Roberts's army occupied Pretoria, the Boer fighters in the Orange Free State retreated into the [[Brandwater Basin]], a fertile area in the south-east of the Republic. This offered only temporary sanctuary, as the mountain passes leading to it could be occupied by the British, trapping the Boers. A force under General [[Archibald Hunter]] set out from Bloemfontein to achieve this in July 1900. The hard core of the Free State Boers under De Wet, accompanied by President Steyn, left the basin early. Those remaining fell into confusion and most failed to break out before Hunter trapped them. 4,500 Boers surrendered and much equipment was captured but as with Roberts's drive against Kruger at the same time, these losses were of relatively little consequence, as the hard core of the Boer armies and their most determined and active leaders remained at large.

From the Basin, Christiaan de Wet headed west. Although hounded by British columns, he succeeded in crossing the Vaal into western Transvaal, to allow Steyn to travel to meet their leaders. There was much sympathy for the Boers on mainland Europe. In October, President Kruger and members of the Transvaal government left Portuguese East Africa on the Dutch warship ''[[De Gelderland]]'', sent by the Queen [[Wilhelmina of the Netherlands]]. Paul Kruger's wife, however, was too ill to travel and remained in South Africa where she died on 20 July 1901 without seeing her husband again. President Kruger first went to Marseille and then on to the Netherlands, where he stayed for a while before moving finally to [[Clarens, Switzerland]], where he died in exile on 14 July 1904.

=== Prisoners of war sent overseas ===
[[File:Green Point - Cape Town - Boer War - Transit Camp.jpg|thumb|right|A Transit camp for [[Prisoners of War]] near [[Cape Town]] during the war. Prisoners were then transferred for internment in other parts of the [[British Empire]].]]

The first sizeable batch of Boer prisoners of war taken by the British consisted of those captured at the [[Battle of Elandslaagte]] on 21 October 1899. Initially, these POWs were held on troopships in [[Simon's Bay|Simons Bay]] until POW camps in [[Cape Town]] and [[Simon's Town|Simonstown]] were completed. In total, six prisoner of war camps would be set up in South Africa during the war.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Changuion |first=Louis A. |title=Vasgevang! Die lewe van die Boere in die Suid-Afrikaanse krygsgevangenekampe gedurende die Anglo-Boereoorlog, 1899–1902 |publisher=Kraal Uitgewers |isbn=9781990915116 |location=Centurion, South Africa |publication-date=2022 |pages=12 |language=af}}</ref> As numbers grew, the British decided they did not want them kept locally. The capture of 4000 POWs in February 1900 was a key event, which made the British realise they could not accommodate all POWs in South Africa.<ref name="collint">{{cite web|url=http://www.boerwarsociety.org/Interests.cfm|title=Anglo–Boer War Philatelic Society: Collecting Interests|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051210040529/http://www.boerwarsociety.org/Interests.cfm|archive-date=10 December 2005}}</ref> The British feared they could be freed by sympathetic locals. Moreover, they already had trouble supplying their own troops in South Africa and did not want the added burden of sending supplies for the POWs. Britain therefore chose to send many POWs overseas.

Around 31 prisoner of war camps were consequently set up in British colonies overseas during the war.<ref name=":0" /> The first overseas (off African mainland) camps were opened in [[Saint Helena]], which ultimately received about 5,000 POWs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sainthelenaisland.info/boerprisoners.htm|title=Saint Helena Island Info: All about St Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean • Boer Prisoners (1900–1902)|publisher=Burgh House Software}}</ref> About 5,000 POWs were sent to [[Sri Lanka|Ceylon]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://libcom.org/library/pow-camps-ceylon-during-boer-war|title=POW camps in Ceylon during the Boer war|last=Harman|first=Mike|date=6 March 2017|website=libcom.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630213209/https://libcom.org/library/pow-camps-ceylon-during-boer-war|archive-date=30 June 2019|access-date=2020-04-08}}</ref> Other POWs were sent to [[Bermuda]] and [[India]].<ref name="collint" />

In all, nearly 26,000 POWs were sent overseas.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.geni.com/projects/Anglo-Boere-Oorlog-Boer-War-1899-1902-Prisoners-Of-War/12770|title=Anglo Boere Oorlog/Boer War (1899–1902) Prisoners Of War genealogy project|website=geni_family_tree|access-date=2020-04-08}}</ref>

=== Oath of neutrality ===

On 15 March 1900, Lord Roberts proclaimed an amnesty for all [[Burgher (Boer republics)|burghers]], except leaders, who took an oath of neutrality and returned quietly to their homes.{{sfn|Cameron|1986|p=207}} It is estimated that between 12,000 and 14,000 burghers took this oath between March and June 1900.{{sfn|Blake|2010|p=46}}