ANGLO BOER WAR 1899-1902
THE BATTLE OF TALANA 20 OCTOBER 1899
Maj.Gen. Penn Symonds had 4 000 men under his command. He had told Lt.Gen. White that in his opinion the Natal Government’s decision that Dundee should be held in the event of a Boer invasion of Northern Natal was right.
To the north of Dundee is Talana Hill, a long flat topped ridge-like feature. To the east of Talana is Lennox Hill. Both rise about 600 feet above the town of Dundee and are separated by Smith’s Nek. To the north-west is Impati Hill. Between Dundee and the bottom of Talana is a wooded area of eucalyptus trees. The town of Dundee lies one mile to the south of Talana. The British garrison was encamped one mile east of the town on a slight slope called Riley’s Hill.
On the night of the 19th October, Gen. Lucas Meyer with 3,000 men of the Utrecht and Wakkerstroom Commandos occupied the Talana Hill with three 75 mm Creusot Guns and one PomPom and 1,000 men of the Middleburg and Vryheid Commandos occupied Lennox Hill and General Marolla . occupied part of Mpati Hill with 1500 men of the Utrecht and Wakkerstrom Commandos.
At 5.40am the British troops were dismissed from muster parade when the first 75mm Creusot shell landed behind the 69th artillery battery’s tent, galvanizing the British troops into action.
THE BATTLE OF ELANDSLAAGTE 21 OCTOBER 1899
On the 19th of October 1899, Gen. Kock’s Commandos captured Elandslaagte Station, a British goods train and cut the telephone lines between Dundee and Ladysmith. On the 20th, Kock’s Commandos occupied the station. Col. Shiel patrolled west of the station and Maj. Erasmus positioned two 15 pound guns on a rocky hogsback ridge three miles east of Elandslaagte.
The station was of prime importance to the British, linking Ladysmith by rail and telephone to Dundee.
On the 21st October, Brig. Gen. Ian Hamilton launched an infantry attack on the Boer position. This was to be a British victory and was described by the Germans as the only classic battle of the war.
THE ANGLO BOER WAR 1899-1902
‘By Christmas the war would be over’, were the confident cries of the British public and soldiers in 1899, at the start of the Anglo Boer War which was to prove the longest, bloodiest and most costly war since 1815 for Queen Victoria’s proud British army.
Today’s KwaZulu-Natal was not only the location of the Anglo Zulu War of 1879 but of many of the great Anglo Boer War Battles such as: Talana, Elandslaagte, Ladysmith, Colenso, Spioenkop. and Vaal Krantz.
Future world leaders would come to the fore: Winston Churchill, Jan Smuts, Louis Botha and Mohandas Ghandi.
Isandlwana Lodge is well situated for visits to these historic battlefields
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