The guard over these costly and essential supplies seems to have been a dangerously weak one.

Between Orange River and De Aar, which are sixty miles apart, there were the 9th Lancers, the Royal Munsters, the 2nd King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, and the 1st Northumberland Fusiliers, under three thousand men in all, with two million pounds' worth of stores and the Free State frontier within a ride of them.

Verily if we have something to deplore in this war we have much also to be thankful for.
Up to the end of October the situation was so dangerous that it is really inexplicable that no advantage was taken of it by the enemy.

Our main force was concentrated to defend the Orange River railway bridge, which was so essential for our advance upon Kimberley.

This left only a single regiment without guns for the defence of De Aar and the valuable stores.