Herbert Kitchener, upon succeeding Frederick Roberts as…

Herbert Kitchener, upon succeeding Frederick Roberts as commander-in-chief of the British forces in South Africa on November 29, implements a "scorched earth" policy under which they targeted everything within the controlled areas that could give sustenance to the Boer guerrillas with a view to making it harder for the Boers to survive.

As British troops sweep the countryside, they systematically destroy crops, burn  homesteads and farms and intern Boer and African men, women, children and workers in concentration camps.

Finally, the British also establish  their own mounted raiding columns in support of the sweeper columns.

These are used to rapidly follow and relentlessly harass the Boers with a view to delaying them and cutting off escape, while the sweeper units catch up.

Many of the ninety or so mobile columns formed by the British to participate in such drives are a mixture of British and colonial troops, but they also have a large minority of armed Africans.

The total number of armed Africans serving with these columns has been estimated at approximately twenty thousand.

The British Army also makes use of Boer auxiliaries who have been persuaded to change sides and enlist as "National Scouts".

Serving under the command of General Andries Cronjé, the National Scouts are despised as joiners but come to number a fifth of the fighting Afrikaners by the end of the War. 

The British utilize armoured trains throughout the war to deliver rapid reaction forces much more quickly to incidents (such as Boer attacks on blockhouses and columns) or to drop them off ahead of retreating Boer columns.