Battles
Doornkop
28-29 May 1900
In late May 1900, the British army was nearing the gold-mining centre
of Johannesburg. Across the army's route lay the formidable
Klipriversberg Range. In its midst was the position of Doornkop, which
the Boers had occupied in force. The British ran up against the Klip
River, which lay about four kilometers to the south of Doornkop on 28
May. In preparation for a direct assault, the commander of the cavalry
division gave the task of crossing the river and gaining a foothold on
the other side to the 1st Mounted Infantry Brigade, which included the
Royal Canadian Dragoons
and the
Canadian Mounted Rifles.
Once across,
the force fanned out, but then spent a long, unpleasant day and night
under Boer fire, in temperatures that fell below freezing after
dark.
In the meantime, the British commander-in-chief, Lord Roberts, came
to appreciate that there was an alternative to the frontal attack that
the Boers anticipated. Instead, he would seize a crossing further
down-river to the west and, from there, turn the Boer position from the
flank. Units of cavalry began to withdraw from the first position and
move to the west on the 29th. The two Canadian units remained
temporarily behind to draw Boer fire and deflect the enemy's attention
from the flanking manoeuvre taking place south of the river. After
enduring about three hours of heavy Boer fire, the Canadian Mounted
Rifles finally galloped back across the river, followed soon thereafter
by the Dragoons. The two units had played a vital part in the battle,
and suffered only light casualties.
The cavalry succeeded in seizing a new crossing of the river to the
west, but it was still be up to the infantry, including the
2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian
Regiment of Infantry, to advance and attack Doornkop (See map). As part
of the general attack, the Canadian infantry moved forward over a low ridge
and up a long slope under fire the whole way. The Boers had set fire to the
brush and for part of the distance the troops had to run through flames,
while the smoke made navigation and control difficult. By clever use of
the ground, aided by the aggressive support of the battalion machine gun
section, the Canadians captured their objective with losses of only
seven men wounded. The bulk of the fighting in taking Doornkop had been
undertaken by a British unit, the Gordon Highlanders, which sustained
heavy casualties.
The action at Doornkop was the only time during the war that units of
Canada's first and second contingents fought together. Their success
indicates the high level of efficiency the units had reached by this
stage of the war.