There were seven of them, which were arranged as follows: Two columns started from Middelburg under Beatson and Benson, which might be called the left wings of the movement.

The object of Beatson's column was to hold the drifts of the Crocodile River, while Benson's was to seize the neighbouring hills called the Bothasberg.

This it was hoped would pin the Boers from the west, while Kitchener from Lydenburg advanced from the east in three separate columns.

Pulteney and Douglas would move up from Belfast in the centre, with Dulstoom for their objective.

It was the familiar drag net of French, but facing north instead of south.
On April 13th the southern columns were started, but already the British preparations had alarmed the Boers, and Botha, with his main commandos, had slipped south across the line into that very district from which he had been so recently driven.