Natal and the Anglo Boer War - Spioenkop

Under cover of the mist and the early half-light, Louis Botha, in command of the Boer forces, rapidly deployed his guns and men onto the hills on either side of Spioenkop – Thabanyama Hills, Green Hill, Conical Hill, Aloe Knoll and Twin Peaks. Thus, when the mist dispersed, a veritable curtain of shell and rifle fire descended upon the British soldiers, atop Spioenkop, sheltering in inadequate trenches. The battle raged all day, both sides taking a heavy toll, neither line giving an inch, when the Boer, demoralised by their dead and wounded, began to slip away into the gathering dusk and the British commander, sickened by the carnage amongst his own men, ordered a retreat.

And so, in the early hours of the following morning, when several Boers returned to the mountain to search out relatives, they were utterly amazed to discover the summit deserted except for the dead and the dying and the British column, in the plains below, winding its way back across the Tugela River. Spioenkop, once more, was theirs.

Anglo-Boer War - The leadup to the battle of Spioenkop

In October 1899, President Paul Kruger of the Transvaal issued an ultimatum to the representative of the British Empire which demanded the removal of British troops from the borders of the Transvaal and Orange Free State and the return to Britain of troops en route to South Africa. By 11 October, Britain had not acceded to Kruger’s demands and so, on the next day, some 21 000 Boers streamed across the border into Natal. “As far as the eye could see the plain was alive with horsemen, guns, and cattle, all steadily going forward to the frontier. The scene was a stirring one, and I shall never forget riding to war with that great host.” Deneys Reitz (1929).

At this stage, Britain had only about 12 000 troops in the Natal colony – 8000 in Ladysmith under Lt-Gen Sir George White and 4000 further north in Dundee under Maj-Gen Sir William Penn Symonds. Both officers were confident of their troops’ superior abilities against the rabble of peasant farmers who had had the temerity to challenge the might of the British empire.

It wasn’t long before these very same peasants began a series of battles against the superior might of the British army, some of which they lost, some of which they won, but which ultimately culminated with all 12000 British soldiers, plus 4000 civilians, besieged in Ladysmith by 2 November 1899. Sir William Penn Symonds had been killed and Sir George White was badly shaken.

The Boers, under the overall command of Comd-Gen Piet Joubert, made themselves comfortable on a ring of hills encircling Ladysmith, thus commencing a siege, which was to last four months. About 4 000 Boers,
under the charismatic leadership of Louis Botha, later to become a general, went south from Ladysmith and entrenched themselves along the banks and in the hills on the north side of the Tugela River, there to await the arrival of further British troops.

Thus the matter stood when Gen Sir Redvers Buller arrived in Cape Town on 30 October 1899. He was to take charge of the whole British army in South Africa. Considering the debacle in Natal, he decided to take personal
command of the troops there and by early December had arrived at Frere, just outside Estcourt, where the recently arrived British re-enforcements of 20 000 men were encamped.

It was Buller’s mission to breach the Boer defenses along the north bank of the Tugela River and rescue White in Ladysmith. It was to cost him four bloody battles and his overall command before Ladysmith was relieved on 28 February 1900.

1. Battle of Colenso, 15 December 1899 – a Boer victory
2. Battle of Spionkop, 24 January 1900 – a Boer victory
3. Battle of Vaalkranz, 5 – 7 February 1900 – a Boer victory
4. Battle of Tugela Heights, 14 – 27 Febrary 1900 – a British victory