the fog of war." Owing to the difficulty and danger of the operations
and the extended front on which they were carried out, any newspaper
correspondent present could hope to chronicle only a sub-section of
the action. The public, therefore, was without any complete record of
what happened.[11] To the man in the street the British general and his
forces seemed to spend three months in perpetual dodging in and about
some thirty square miles of kopjed veldt.

[Page Heading: THE "INEFFICIENT" GENERAL]

Yet French's column was the pivot on which the whole British plan
turned. This campaign in miniature gave French his chance finally to
disprove the fallacies of the critics at home. Before his appointment
in October, he had actually been described by some of his opponents as
"inefficient to command in the field." This is the tragedy of many a
brilliant cavalry leader--it is impossible for him to demonstrate his
ability save in actual warfare.

When French went down to Cape Town to consult with General Buller, he
found his Chief oppressed by serious misgivings. Sir George White and
his force were surrounded in Ladysmith; Mafeking and Kimberley were
both invested by the enemy; and a great invasion was threatened along
the whole northern boundary of Cape Colony. To deal with all these
difficulties Buller had only one army corps. One column, under Lord
Methuen, was advancing to the relief of Kimberley; another, under
General Gatacre, was attempting to stem the Boer invasion of Cape
Colony; while a third, to be led by Buller himself, was massing at
Chieveley, prior to advancing to the relief of Ladysmith. French was
given command of a fourth column with which he was to harass the Boers
around Colesberg. A Boer commando under Schoeman had seized a passage
on the Orange River at Norval's Pont on November 1. On the 14th the
Boers entered Colesberg; and a proclamation was issued declaring the
district to be a Free State territory.

[Page Heading: WORRYING TACTICS]

From the first no striking victories were anticipated for French's
little force. It was to act as a dam, rather than as a weapon of
destruction. It was a rather flimsy dam at that. Buller's
instructions, which at first spoke of a "flying column," soon declined
to suggestions of "a policy of worry without risking men." In
particular it was to stop raids on the railway line which might impede
Methuen's advance on Kimberley.

Collecting a part of his force at Cape Town