Field Ambulances Crossing the Vaal River

Field ambulances attempt a tricky crossing of the Vaal during the Boer War.

This is a fragment of a longer film showing field ambulances crossing the Vaal River, which served as the boundary between the Orange Free State and the Transvaal in South Africa. It is evidently a difficult river to cross, shown here and in other films Joe Rosenthal made for the Warwick Trading Company in late May 1900. As the campaign advanced some 60,000 of Lord Roberts’ troops had to make it across the Vaal.