Thus, as at Wepener, it became a game of
patience for the garrison, dissimilar only in this, that at Elands River
there was no promise of support to buoy up the garrison with hope.
However, on August 16, after eleven days' siege, De la Rey moved away on
the news of the approaching relief columns, and Lord Kitchener rode in
to set free the garrison.
This siege, like that of Wepener, was especially a Colonial triumph;
there the garrison had been chiefly Cape Colonials, here the majority
were Australians of Carrington's first Brigade, the rest being
Rhodesians, and it would be difficult to praise overmuch the
determination and fine spirit shown by these Colonials in their first
opportunity of distinguishing themselves as a corps. Every soldier who
saw the place afterwards expressed surprise that they could have held
out so long, and it is therefore the more creditable to them to have
done so when every hope of relief seemed entirely cut off; while, at a
time when surrenders and retreats were not sufficiently rare, the
example shown by these splendid men was even more important than the
position they held.
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