hich they were unable to
reply with any effect, as the Boers, perfectly protected by their
trenches or concealed by the vegetation which lined the river bank,
suffered little from the shrapnel of the supporting British guns, and
could not be seen by the infantry.

[Footnote 175: A few groups of officers and men were able to
win their way three or four hundred yards nearer to the Boer
defences, but with heavy loss.]

[Sidenote: 18th and 75th batteries support Guards.]

[Sidenote: Naval guns engage Boer guns.]

The 18th and 75th batteries came into action to the east of the
railway, and after various short duels with Boer guns which appeared
and disappeared on different parts of the field, they covered the
movements of the brigade of Guards. The 75th battery was to the left
rear of the 2nd Coldstream, first at 1,700, then at 1,200 yards,
range. There it remained till 4 p.m. when, owing to casualties and
want of ammunition, it was ordered to fall back a few hundred yards.
The 18th battery, two hundred yards to the left rear of the 75th,
opened fire at 1,400 yards range; the targets for both batteries were
the buildings and enclosures stretching eastward for a mile from the
railway bridge. The Naval brigade, about 250 strong, under the command
of Major A. E. Marchant, R.M.L.I., had been brought up by rail from
Enslin under the escort of an armoured train. At about 7 a.m. their
four 12-pr. 12-cwt. guns began to engage the enemy's artillery from a
knoll, a little to the west of the line, distant 4,800 yards from the
broken bridge.

[Sidenote: The 9th brigade advance.]

While the Guards, covered by the fire of the artillery, were preparing
for the already described movements, Major-General Pole-Carew, as
ordered by Lord Methuen, led the 9th brigade towards the broken
railway bridge, the point assigned as his object. The Northumberland
Fusiliers and the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry were ordered to
advance along the railway, the former on its east, the latter on its
west, each supported by half a battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland
Highlanders, while the half-battalion of the Loyal North Lancashire
was to prolong the line to the left, and if possible cross the river
and threaten the enemy's right. But Pole-Carew speedily realised that
by the time the first line of the Guards' brigade had fully extended,
their left would almost reach the railway, and would therefore overlap
his right.