This article or sectionis in a state of significant expansion or restructuring. You are welcome to assist in its construction by editing it as well. If this article or sectionhas not been edited in several days, please remove this template. If you are the editor who added this template and you are actively editing, please be sure to replace this template with{{in use}} during the active editing session. Click on the link for template parameters to use.This article waslast edited byCitation bot(talk |contribs) 45 seconds ago.(Updatetimer)
TheSecond Boer War began on 11 October 1899 when the governments ofTransvaal and theOrange Free State, under their PresidentsPaul Kruger andMartinus Theunis Steyn, declared war on theBritish Empire. Transvaal had issued an ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of British troops from the border regions ofNatal and the two Boer republics;[1] an additional demand was that British troopsen route to South Africa must not disembark. The ultimatum was rejected, because British policy in South Africa was unification under imperial rule, so that Britain could fully exploit the recently-discoveredWitwatersrand gold mines nearJohannesburg. The two Boer republics were determined to remain independent.[2]
Despite the Transvaal ultimatum, Britain had already sent reinforcements to Natal, mostly from India. General SirGeorge White, who arrived inDurban on 7 October, was appointed to command the British forces in Natal. White's initial view was that Britain should withdraw from the northern part of Natal, but he was dissuaded by the colony's governor, SirWalter Hely-Hutchinson, who feared political repercussions. The governor was supported by General SirWilliam Penn Symons, who said that a small force based atGlencoe, north-east ofLadysmith, would suffice to defend the region. Hely-Hutchinson agreed and Symons garrisoned Glencoe with three battalions of infantry, a brigade division of theRoyal Artillery, the18th Hussars, and other units.[3]
A total of 21,000 Boers advanced into Natal from all sides.[4] White had been advised to deploy his force far back, well clear of the area of northern Natal known as the "Natal Triangle", a wedge of land lying between the two Boer republics.[5] Instead, he chose the garrison town of Ladysmith as his base.[6] Symons' force, stationed at Glencoe and the nearby coal-mining town ofDundee, fought theBattle of Talana Hill on 20 October. The British won a tactical victory there, but Symons was mortally wounded and died later in Dundee. GeneralJames Yule took command.[7]
While Talana Hill was fought, the Boers captured the railway station atElandslaagte, roughly midway between Glencoe and Ladysmith, severing all communication between the two. White responded by ordering his cavalry, under Major GeneralJohn French, to clear the railway line and reconnect the telegraph.[8] TheBattle of Elandslaagte was fought on 21 October. French's cavalry were victorious but gained no strategic advantage.[8] Fearing an invasion of Boers from the Orange Free State, White decided to withdraw all his forces to Ladysmith.[7]
Learning of the situation at Elandslaagte, Yule decided to abandon Dundee and Glencoe on 22 October, and retreat across country. They reached Ladysmith on 26 October, and reinforced White's garrison.[7]
As the Boers surrounded Ladysmith, White ordered a sortie by his entire force to capture the Boer artillery.[citation needed]
The result was the disastrousBattle of Ladysmith, in which the British were driven back into the town having lost 1,200 men killed, wounded, or captured.[citation needed]
White knew that large reinforcements were arriving, and could communicate with British units south of theTugela River by searchlight andheliograph.[citation needed]
He expected relief soon. Meanwhile, his troops carried out several raids and sorties to sabotage Boer artillery.[citation needed]
Louis Botha commanded the Boer detachment which first raided Southern Natal, and then dug in north of the Tugela to hold off the relief force.[citation needed]
Temporarily unnerved, the relief force commander, GeneralRedvers Buller, suggested that White either break out, or surrender after destroying his stores and ammunition.[citation needed]
White could not break out because his horses and draught animals were weak from lack of grazing and forage, and he refused to surrender.[citation needed]
The Boers around Ladysmith were also growing weak from lack of forage.[citation needed]
With little action, many fighters took unauthorised leave or brought their families into the siege encampments.[citation needed]
Eventually, with the Tugela in flood, preventing Buller from giving any support,[9] some younger Boer leaders persuaded GeneralPiet Joubert to order a storming attempt on the night of 5 January 1900, before another relief attempt could be made.[citation needed]
The British line south of Ladysmith ran along a ridge known as the Platrand.[citation needed]
The occupying British troops had named its features Wagon Hill to the west, and Caesar's Camp (after features nearAldershot, well known to much of the British army) to the east.[10]
Under ColonelIan Hamilton, they had constructed a line of forts,sangars and entrenchments on the reverse slope of the Platrand, of which the Boers were unaware.[citation needed]
In the early hours of 6 January 1900, Boer storming parties under General C. J. de Villiers began climbing Wagon Hill and Caesar's Camp.[citation needed]
They were spotted and engaged by British working parties who were emplacing some guns.[citation needed]
The Boers captured the edge of both features, but could not advance further.[citation needed]
At noon, de Villiers made another attack on Wagon Hill.[citation needed]
Some exhausted defenders panicked and fled, but Hamilton led reserves to the spot and recaptured some empty gun pits.[citation needed]
Late in the afternoon, a terrific rainstorm broke, and the Boers withdrew under cover of it.[10]
The British suffered 175 killed and 249 wounded. 52 dead Boers were left in the British positions, but their total casualties were not recorded.[citation needed]
Rejoicing in St. Andrews, Canada upon receipt of the news of the relief of Ladysmith.
While Buller made repeated attempts to fight his way across the Tugela, the defenders of Ladysmith suffered increasingly from shortage of food and other supplies, and from disease, mainlyenteric fever (typhoid), which claimed many lives.[citation needed]
The Boers had long before captured Ladysmith's water supply, and the defenders could use only the muddyKlip River.[citation needed]
Towards the end of the siege, the garrison and townsfolk were living largely on their remaining draught oxen and horses (mainly in the form of "chevril", a meat paste named after the commercial beef extract "Bovril").[citation needed]
Eventually, Buller broke through the Boer positions on 27 February.[citation needed]
Following their succession of reverses, his troops had developed effective tactics based on close co-operation between the infantry and artillery.[citation needed]
After the protracted struggle, the morale of Botha's men at last broke and they and the besiegers retreated, covered by another huge thunderstorm.[citation needed]
Buller did not pursue, and White's men were too weak to do so.[citation needed]
The first party of the relief column under MajorHubert Gough, who was accompanied by war correspondentWinston Churchill, rode in on the evening of 28 February.[11] Soon afterwards, as the townspeople celebrated, White made a speech at the town's post office to thank them for their fortitude, and reportedly said: "but, thank God, we kept the flag flying".[12]
Sir George White had no doubts about the need to hold Ladysmith, describing it as "a place of primary importance" because of its railway junction, which would have enabled the Free State and Transvaal armies to unite.[16] Churchill commented that Ladysmith was an essential component of the Boer campaign strategy because "they scarcely reckoned on a fortnight's resistance; nor in their wildest nightmares did they conceive a four months' siege terminating in the furious inroad of a relieving army".[16]
The British artistJohn Henry Frederick Bacon depictedThe Relief of Ladysmith in a painting which shows people celebrating on 28 February 1900, as White shakes hands withColonel Dundonald (representing Buller) at Pieter's Hill, just outside the town. Bacon's work became known as theBovril War Picture after its photogravure was sponsored by the company, and offered free to anyone who collected a sufficient number of coupons from each jar of the product.[17]
Early in the siege, an agreement between White and Joubert led to the creation of the neutralIntombi Military Hospital some 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) outside Ladysmith. It was run byMajor-General David Bruce and his wife Mary.[18] During the siege, the number of beds in the hospital camp grew from an initial 100 to over 1,900. A total of 10,673 admissions were received and treated at Intombi.[19]
One train per day was allowed to carry wounded from Ladysmith to Intombi.[citation needed]
Arthur Stark, English author ofThe Birds of South Africa, was resident in the town's Royal Hotel. On the evening of 18 November 1899, when he was standing on the hotel's veranda, he was hit by shellfire from Pepworth Hill and suffered serious leg injuries. He died soon afterwards while undergoingsurgery, and was buried in Ladysmith.H. W. Nevinson attended his funeral, and recorded the irony of Stark having been vociferously opposed to British war policy.[20]
George Warrington Steevens, British author and war correspondent, died ofenteric fever on 15 January 1900. He had been attached to Sir George White's force, and had sent many articles back to Britain. These were published posthumously inFrom Capetown to Ladysmith.[21]
^Symons, Julian (1963), "10 – Spion Kop",Buller's Campaign, London: The Cresset Press, p. 191
^abcSpiers, Edward, ed. (2010),Letters from Ladysmith: Eyewitness Accounts from the South African War (illustrated ed.), Frontline Books, pp. 77–84,ISBN978-1-8483-2594-4
Breytenbach, J. H. (1969–1996).Die Geskiedenis van die Tweede Vryheidsoorlog in Suid-Afrika, 1899–1902 [The History of the Second War of Independence in South Africa, 1899–1902] (in Afrikaans). Pretoria: Die Staatsdrukker.
Breytenbach, J. H. (1969).Die Boere-offensief, Okt. – Nov. 1899 [The Boer Offensive, Oct. – Nov. 1899]. Die Geskiedenis van die Tweede Vryheidsoorlog in Suid-Afrika, 1899–1902 (in Afrikaans). Vol. I. Pretoria: Die Staatsdrukker.OCLC798106662.
Breytenbach, J. H. (1971).Die eerste Britse offensief, Nov. – Des. 1899 [The first British offensive, Nov. – Dec. 1899]. Die Geskiedenis van die Tweede Vryheidsoorlog in Suid-Afrika, 1899–1902 (in Afrikaans). Vol. II. Pretoria: Die Staatsdrukker.OCLC768446219.
United Kingdom
Transvaal
Orange Free State
