Lord Roberts’ plan for the movement on the Transvaal was an advance in line, on a front which extended from Ladysmith to Kimberley.  It soon became an echelon owing to the slow movements of Buller in Natal.  In the centre at Bloemfontein were the troops under the immediate orders of the Commander-in-Chief; on the left at Kimberley were Methuen, and Hunter with the Xth Division which had been brought round from Ladysmith.  Between the centre and the right the intervention of Basutoland and the Drakensberg prevented the effective co-operation of the Natal Army with Lord Roberts; and a portion of the interval was occupied by the enemy.

The centre columns under Lord Roberts were about 43,000 strong.  Hunter and Methuen in the west had each under his command about 10,000 troops, while Buller’s force, which was much nearer to the Transvaal objective than the centre, and which was still lingering on the banks of the Klip River two months after the relief of Ladysmith, numbered about 45,000.  Ian Hamilton, who had done so well in the Elandslaagte and Caesar’s Camp affairs, was not allowed to waste himself in the Natal lethargy.  He was recalled from Ladysmith, and after taking part from the Bloemfontein side in the Wepener operations, was given command of a column which was sent on, a few days before the general movement, in the direction of Winburg to protect the right flank of the central advance and to fend off from it the hovering Boer commandos which had been pressed northwards by the April operations.  He started from Thabanchu on April 30 and was soon in action with the Boer force a Houtnek under P. Botha.  The battle lasted until nightfall and was renewed next day, when, with the help of reinforcements from French and Colvile, Ian Hamilton forced the Boers to retire on Clocolan.

Meanwhile there was energy on the left.  Methuen had been for some time in occupation of the Boshof district, where he was in a position to threaten Kroonstad as well as the commandos at the Vaal bridge at Fourteen Streams between Kimberley and Mafeking.  The relief of the latter was to be undertaken by a flying column under Mahon supported by Hunter’s division.  On May 3 Lord Roberts left Bloemfontein for the north.  Kelly-Kenny’s Division remained in charge of the Free State capital, while Chermside’s policed the railway and the country in rear.  Rundle at Thabanchu was instructed to prevent the enemy from regaining a footing in the districts east and south of Bloemfontein, and Methuen to push on towards the left bank of the Vaal beyond Hoopstad.  No definite orders were sent to Buller, but for two months there had been a constant interchange of suggestions, counter-suggestions, plans, and projects for co-ordinate action.

Lord Roberts’ objective was now Pretoria.  The country in front of him was not difficult and he had a railway behind him.  The line of communication with the south was fairly safe, and it was estimated that not more than 12,000 Boers with twenty-eight guns, under Delarey and L. Botha, who had been brought round from Natal to take chief command during the crisis, barred the way into the Transvaal; not including the loosely associated commandos operating on the right flank under the general control of De Wet, the Prince Rupert of the Boer War.