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Reverting edit(s) by 102.68.120.66 (talk) to rev. 1245319996 by DuncanHill: Vandalism (RW 16.1) |
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The middle of December was disastrous for the British Army. In a period known as [[Black Week]] (10–15 December 1899), the British suffered defeats on each of the three fronts. On 10 December, General Gatacre tried to recapture Stormberg railway junction about {{convert|50|mi|km|order=flip}} south of the [[Orange River]]. Gatacre's attack was marked by administrative and tactical blunders and the Battle of Stormberg ended in a British defeat, with 135 killed and wounded and two guns and over 600 troops captured.
At the [[Battle of Magersfontein]] on 11 December, Methuen's 14,000 British troops attempted to capture a Boer position in a dawn attack to relieve Kimberley. This too turned into a disaster when the [[Highland Brigade (Scottish)|Highland Brigade]] became pinned down by accurate Boer fire. After suffering from intense heat and thirst for nine hours, they eventually broke in ill-disciplined retreat. The Boer commanders, [[Koos de la Rey]] and Cronjé, had ordered [[trench]]es to be dug in an unconventional place to fool the British and to give their riflemen a greater firing range. The plan worked, and this tactic helped to write the doctrine of the supremacy of the defensive position, using modern small arms and trench fortifications.<ref>'Historical Overview' in Antony O'Brien, ''Bye-Bye Dolly Gray''</ref>{{citation needed|date=February 2017}} The British lost 120 killed and 690 wounded and were prevented from relieving Kimberley and Mafeking. A British soldier said of the defeat:
[[File:Cape Town QE4 138.jpg|thumb|Lord Roberts's arrival at Cape Town]]
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== Second phase: The British offensive of January to September 1900 ==
{{more citations needed|section|date=October 2020}}
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[[File:British casualties, Spionkop, 1900.jpg|thumb|British casualties lie dead on the battlefield after the [[Battle of Spion Kop]], 24 January 1900.]]
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Many of the Boers referred to the war as the second of the ''Freedom Wars''. The most resistant of Boers wanted to continue the fight and were known as "''[[Bittereinder]]s''" (or ''irreconcilables'') and at the end of the war a number of Boer fighters such as [[Deneys Reitz]] chose exile rather than sign an oath, such as the following, to pledge allegiance to Britain:{{sfn|Swardt|1998|p=97}}
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{{Quote box|width=50%|align=none|quote=The bearer, ''<prisoner name>'' has been released from prison of war camp ''<Camp name>'' on signing that he acknowledge terms of surrender and becomes a British subject.▼
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Over the following decade, many returned to South Africa and never signed the pledge. Some, like Reitz, eventually reconciled themselves to the new ''status quo'', but others did not.
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