The Battle of Talana Hill, also known as the Battle of Glencoe, was the first major clash of the Second Boer War. A frontal attack by British infantry supported by artillery drove Boers from a hilltop position, but the British suffered heavy casualties in the process, including their commanding general Sir William Penn Symons.
Reinforcements sent to Natal by Britain immediately before the outbreak of war had moved into the northern path of the province of Natal, but not far enough forward to occupy the passes of the Drakensberg Mountains. As a result, the Boers could invade Natal from three sides.
Lieutenant-General Sir George White in command of forces in Natal requested that forces at Glencoe (Dundee) be withdrawn to concentrate his forces at Ladysmith where he held the bulk of the British garrison. The Governor of Natal considered it necessary to hold the position for political and economic reasons, so he dispatched Lieutenant-General Sir William Penn Symons to take control of the troops at Glencoe. War was declared at 5pm on 11 October; the Boers invaded on 12 October.[3]
Symons commanded a brigade (four infantry battalions, part of a cavalry regiment and three companies of mounted infantry, three field artillery batteries) which occupied the coal-mining town of Dundee. Coal was strategically important to the British war effort, for it was needed to power the British steam locomotives. On the evening of 19 October, two Boer forces from the independent South African Republic, each numbering 4,000 men under General Lucas Meyer and General "Maroela" Erasmus closed in on Dundee.
The British 16th and 69th Field Batteries galloped to within range and opened fire. Leaving the 1st Battalion Leicestershire Regiment and the 67th Field Battery to guard the camp, the British infantry, led by the 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers and supported in succession by the 1st Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) and the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers (RIF), moved forward to make a frontal attack, and reached the foot of the hill where they were to advance through a small wood. However, they were pinned down by heavy rifle fire from the top of Talana Hill. Symons went forward to urge them on, and was mortally wounded in the stomach – although he was able to mount his horse and ride back into Dundee, where he later died. Under Symons' successor, Brigadier-General James Yule, the KRRC managed to reach a small stone wall at the foot of Talana Hill, where the Dublin Fusiliers were pinned down by Boer fire. With the Royal Artillery laying down accurate fire on the summit, the KRRC supported by the RIF were able to proceed up the hill. When they reached the top, they suffered casualties from their own supporting artillery. The Boers abandoned their positions on the hill. Despite the British artillery being repositioned to harass the Boer retreat, they declined to fire, worried that they might hit their own troops again.[3]
General Lukas Meyer's forces mounted their ponies and made off. A squadron of the 18th Hussars and the British mounted infantry tried to cut off their retreat, but most of the British horsemen strayed onto the slopes of Impati. General Erasmus's men, who had so far played no part in the battle due to Impati being shrouded in fog, surrounded the British mounted detachment and forced them to surrender.
Aftermath
The British had won a tactical victory, but at a high cost – and a copy of the British Intelligence Notes on the Dutch Republics (which underestimated the Boer numbers and armament) fell into the hands of the Boers.
Yule's men were unable to contemplate attacking Impati Hill, which held Dundee's water supply. They marched and countermarched beneath the hill for two days under intermittent shellfire. Other Boer forces had cut the British line of supply and retreat. Finally, the British force retreated across country at night. After an arduous four-day march of 64 miles (103km) they reached Ladysmith, where they reinforced the garrison.
The 4th Infantry Division was a regular infantry division of the British Army with a very long history, seeing active service in the Peninsular War and Waterloo Campaign, the Crimean and Boer Wars and both World Wars. It was disbanded after the Second World War and reformed in the 1950s as an armoured formation before being disbanded and reformed again and finally disbanded on 1 January 2012.
The coal mining town of Dundee is situated in a valley of the Biggarsberg mountains in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is part of the Endumeni Municipality, Umzinyathi District. It is very rich in coal deposits. More populous than the town of Dundee is its adjacent township named Sibongile. This township is now being extended with many residing zones, e.g. Lindelani.
The Battle of Spion Kop was a military engagement between British forces and two Boer Republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, during the campaign by the British to relieve the besieged city Ladysmith during the initial months of the Second Boer War. The battle was fought 23–24 January 1900 on the hilltop of Spioen Kop(a), about 38 km (24 mi) west-southwest of Ladysmith and resulted in a Boer victory.
The siege of Ladysmith was a protracted engagement in the Second Boer War, taking place between 2 November 1899 and 28 February 1900 at Ladysmith, Natal.
The Royal Dublin Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army created in 1881 and disbanded in 1922. It was one of eight 'Irish' regiments of the army which were raised and garrisoned in Ireland, with the regiment's home depot being located in Naas. The regiment was created via the amalgamation of the Royal Bombay Fusiliers and Royal Madras Fusiliers, two army regiments stationed in India, with militia units from Dublin and Kildare as part of the Childers Reforms. Both battalions of the regiment served in the Second Boer War.
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The Battle of Stormberg was the first British defeat of Black Week, in which three successive British forces were defeated by Boer irregulars in the Second Boer War.
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The Relief of Ladysmith consisted of multiple efforts to relieve the city of Ladysmith by General Sir Redvers Buller. Buller and the Natal Field Force attempted to relieve the city through multiple offensive actions. The city had been under siege since 2 November, 1899, and Britain had sent General Buller to relieve the city. After consolidating his Forces at Estcourt through most of November and early December, he began his relief of the city. The attempts to relieve the city started on 15 December at the Battle of Colenso, in which the British forces were repelled by the Boers on the Tugela River. The next two attempts were repulsed by the Boers, however at the Battle of Pieters Hill in February 1900, the Boers were eventually beaten from the city and forced to withdraw to Botha's Pass near Newcastle. Buller and his Forces entered the city on February 28, 1900, officially ending the Siege of Ladysmith.
The Battle of Ladysmith was one of the early engagements of the Second Boer War. A large British force which had concentrated at the garrison town of Ladysmith launched a sortie on 30 October 1899, against Boer armies which were slowly surrounding the town. The result was a disaster for the British. The main body was driven back into the town, and an isolated detachment of 800 men was forced to surrender to Commandant De Wet. The Boers did not follow up their advantage by proceeding towards the strategically important port of Durban, and instead began a siege of Ladysmith, which was relieved after 118 days. John Norwood was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during the battle.
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Lieutenant-General Sir William Penn Symons KCB was a British Army officer who was mortally wounded as he commanded his forces at the Battle of Talana Hill during the Second Boer War. While his forces won the battle, they had to abandon their position and fall back to Ladysmith. Symons and the more severely wounded were left to the Boers; he died three days later.. A monument to his valour was raised in Victoria Park, Saltash, Cornwall, UK.
21st Brigade was an infantry formation of the British Army first organised in the Second Boer War, when it took part in Ian Hamilton's March from Bloemfontein to Pretoria. Reformed in World War I it served under the command of first 7th Division and then 30th Division, fighting in most of the major battles on the Western Front from the First Battle of Ypres to the Armistice. It was briefly re-raised in the Sudan early in World War II before being transferred to the Indian Army.
The Natal Field Force (NFF) was a multi-battalion field force originally formed by Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley in Natal for the First Boer War. It was later re-established for the Second Boer War (1899–1902) and commanded by Major-General Sir Redvers Buller VC GCB GCMG.
The South African Light Horse regiment of the British Army were raised in Cape Colony in 1899 and disbanded in 1907.
Major-General Sir John George Dartnell KCB, CMG was a British soldier and police officer who was the founder and first Commandant of the Natal Mounted Police. A veteran of the Indian Mutiny, he saw action in every campaign in South Africa from 1879 including the Zulu War and the First and Second Boer Wars.
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The Battle of Graspan, also known as the Battle of Enslin, was an engagement in the Second Boer War near the Enslin railway station at Graspan kopje. The battle took place on November 25, 1899, between British forces led by Lord Methuen and Boers led by Koos de la Rey.
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