THE SECOND BRITISH OFFENSIVE Lord Roberts, with his chief-of-staff lord Kitchener, arrived in South Africa in January 1900. Their first aim was to relieve Kimberley and then capture Bloemfontein with a large force. Learning from the mistakes of their predecessors, they concluded that frontal attacks had to be avoided as far as possible and that mobility was essential. To achieve the desired mobility the cavalry had to be used more and a large number of horses were therefore imported to South Africa. In February 1900 Roberts and Kitchener left for Modder River where they had assembled 30 000 men. THE WESTERN FRONT The relief of Kimberley Lord Roberts decided to use his cavalry, under the command of Gen. French, to relieve Kimberley. The cavalry swiftly moved around Cronje's (whose forces were completely inactive since the battle of Magersfontein) left flank towards Kimberley. On the 15th February 1900 the Boer hold on Kimberley was finally broken. The Boers hastily retreated northwards while thousands of British troops moved into the Free State and threatened to cut off Cronje's forces. Paardeberg The new British offensive made Cronje's positions at Magersfontein unsafe and he therefore had to move. His move was considerably hampered by the hundreds of wagons his burghers had with them. The wagons moved very slowly and restricted the direction of retreat to the Modder River, where there was enough water available for man and beast. (A lot of the burghers had brought their wives and children along) The British soon caught up with Cronje who refused to leave the slow moving wagon laager behind. On 17 February, near Paardeberg, Cronje realised that his way of retreat was cut off. On all sides he was surrounded by the British. His burghers subsequently dug themselves in on the banks of the Modder River. Although their situation became more desperate every day, the burghers kept up a brave defence and beat the British back with heavy casualties when they attacked on the 18th February. The British then began a relentless bombardment of the Boer position. Eventually on the 27th February 1900 Cronje with his 3000 men surrendered to Roberts. Bloemfontein Cronje's surrender was a demoralizing blow to the Boer forces. After his victory at Paardeberg, Roberts continued with his advance towards Bloemfontein. At Poplar Grove and again at Abrahamskraal the Boers were forced to retreat. On the 13th of March 1900 Robert's forces occupied Bloemfontein unhindered. Roberts decided to stop in Bloemfontein for a few weeks, giving his troops time to recover and allowing for the railway connection with the Cape to be repaired. THE CAPE FRONT Roberts' march to Bloemfontein held the threat to the burghers at Colesberg and Stormberg that they could easily be cut off and surrounded by the British. As a result they retreated to the Free State. On 28 February 1900 the British occupied Colesberg and on 5 March Stormberg too. THE NATAL FRONT The relief of Ladysmith On 17 February 1900 Buller began his fourth attempt to relieve Ladysmith. He succeeded in outflanking the Boers to the left and drove them back from Hlangwane Hill. This led to the battle of Pieters Plateau on 23 February. Initially the Boers succeeded in halting the British advance, but the British superiority in numbers meant that the Boers eventually had to fall back. On 1 March Ladysmith was relieved. With the occupation of Bloemfontein and the relief of Ladysmith the first part of the British offensive came to an end. Both Buller and Roberts now let their forces rest a few weeks.