Siege of Ladysmith
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| Siege of Ladysmith | |||||||
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| Part of Second Boer War | |||||||
 The town hall at Ladysmith, showing shell damage to the tower. |
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Great Britain | Boers | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| George Stuart White Sir Redvers Buller |
Petrus Jacobus Joubert Louis Botha |
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| Strength | |||||||
| about 15,000 men | max 20,000 men | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Second Boer War |
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| Talana Hill – Elandslaagte – Belmont – Modder River – Stormberg – Magersfontein – Colenso – Spion Kop – Bloody Sunday – Paardeberg – Ladysmith – Sanna's Post – Mafeking |
The Siege of Ladysmith was a protracted engagement in the Second Boer War, taking place between 30 October 1899 and 28 February 1900.
Contents |
[edit] The outbreak of war
As tension grew between Britain and the Boer republics, Britain sent a substantial army detachment to Natal. In spite of contrary advice, Lieutenant General George White deployed around Ladysmith in northern Natal, with a detachment thrown forward to Dundee.
Northern Natal was surrounded on three sides by Boer territory, and when war broke out, Boer horsemen rapidly seized most of the railway and road junctions. The British had to fight several battles before all their troops could fall back to Ladysmith. Some units were exhausted, others had already suffered heavy casualties.
[edit] "Mournful Monday"
On October 29, the Boers were clearly visible as they surrounded the town. They could be seen emplacing heavy Creusot howitzers (nicknamed "Long Tom") on Pepworth Hill four miles to the north.
White intended a dawn attack to disrupt the attackers and capture their artillery. The main attack under Colonel Ian Hamilton would capture Pepworth Hill. A brigade under Colonel Grimwood would support him by seizing Long Hill to Hamilton's right, supported by the mounted troops under Major General John French and six batteries of field artillery. Meanwhile, a detachment of two battalions and a mountain battery under Colonel Carleton would occupy a pass known as Nicholson's Nek west of Ladysmith, to prevent Boers from the Orange Free State intervening.
[edit] Long Hill, Pepworth Hill
As dawn broke on October 30, Grimwood's column was furiously attacked from its own right flank by Boers under Louis Botha. Hamilton had to break off his own attack to support him. The British guns pounded Pepworth Hill, but themselves took casualties from Boer guns carefully emplaced and concealed in the surrounding hills.
As the sun rose, White could see that the attack had failed and ordered a withdrawal. Under heavy fire, the retirement soon became a disorderly retreat. Two British field batteries covered the retreat, and were nearly captured by Boers. The Boers might have followed up even more closely, but most of their leaders were elderly, cautious men such as General Joubert. Also, a Royal Navy detachment with long-range 12-pounder guns arrived by train in Ladysmith, and went straight into action. Their fire temporarily suppressed the Boer heavy guns and encouraged the British.
[edit] Nicholson's Nek
Meanwhile, Carleton's detachment suffered an early setback when the mules carrying their mountain guns and reserve ammunition bolted. The column had been unable to reach Nicholson's Nek during the night, and occupied a hill known as Tchrengula to its south instead. In the dark they mistakenly occupied a lower false summit. When the sun rose, Boers under Christiaan de Wet rushed forward to capture the true summit of Tchrengula, and pressed on to surround the British.
By mid-afternoon, British casualties were increasing, ammunition was running out, and the rest of White's army could be seen falling back into Ladysmith. Small parties began surrendering. Eventually, the whole force of 800 men gave itself up.
In the main action, British casualties were 400. The Boer casualties for the day were 200. It was clear that British tactics designed to face an undisciplined rush by tribesmen were inadequate against expert Boer marksmen using initiative and fieldcraft.
[edit] The siege
The Boers then proceeded to surround Ladysmith and cut the railway link to Durban. Major General French and his Chief of Staff, Major Douglas Haig escaped on the last train to leave, which was riddled with bullets.
This town was then besieged for 118 days. White knew that large reinforcements were arriving, and could communicate with British units south of the Tugela River by searchlight and heliograph. He expected relief soon. Meanwhile, his troops carried out several raids and sorties to spike Boer artillery.
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. On December 15, the first relief attempt was defeated at the Battle of Colenso. Temporarily unnerved, the relief force commander, General Buller, suggested that White either break out or destroy his stores and ammunition and surrender. White could not break out because his horses and draught animals were weak from lack of grazing and forage, but also refused to surrender.
[edit] The storming attempt
The Boers around Ladysmith were also growing weak from lack of forage. With little action, many fighters took unauthorised leave or brought their families into the siege encampments. Eventually, some younger leaders persuaded Joubert to order a storming attempt on the night of January 5, 1900, before another relief attempt could be made.
The British line south of Ladysmith ran along a ridge known as the Platrand. The occupying British troops had named its features Wagon Point, Wagon Ridge and Caesar's Camp (after features near Aldershot, well known to much of the British army). Under Ian Hamilton, they had constructed a line of forts, sangars and entrenchments on the reverse slope of the Platrand, of which the Boers were unaware.
In the early hours of January 6, Boer storming parties under General C.J. de Villiers began climbing Wagon Ridge and Caesar's Camp. They were spotted and engaged by British working parties who were emplacing some guns. The Boers captured the edge of both features, but could not advance further. British counter-attacks also failed.
At noon, de Villiers made another attack on Wagon Point. Some exhausted defenders panicked and fled, but Hamilton led reserves to the spot and recaptured some empty gun pits. Late in the afternoon, a terrific rainstorm broke, and the Boers withdrew under cover of it.
The British suffered 175 killed and 249 wounded. 52 dead Boers were left in the British positions, but their total casualties were not recorded.
[edit] The later siege and relief
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, mainly enteric fever. The Boers had long before captured Ladysmith's water supply, and the defenders could use only the polluted Klip River. The situation was reportedly made worse by maladministration and peculation by senior medical and supply officers.
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 better known beef extract commercially named "Bovril").
Eventually, Buller broke through the Boer positions on February 27. Following their succession of reverses, his troops had developed effective tactics based on close cooperation between the infantry and artillery. After the protracted struggle, the morale of Botha's men failed and they and the besiegers retreated in disorder, covered by another huge thunderstorm. Buller did not pursue, and White's men were too weak to do so.
The first party of the relief column, under Major Hubert Gough, arrived on February 28. White reportedly greeted them saying, "Thank God we kept the flag flying".
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- Goodbye Dolly Gray, Rayne Kruger, New English Library, 1964
- The Boer War, Thomas Pakenham, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1979, ISBN 0-7474-0976-5
[edit] External links
- The Record of a Regiment of the Line Being a Regimental History of the 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment during the Boer War 1899-1902, by M. Jacson, from Project Gutenberg. Deals extensively with the Siege of ladysmith
- Four Months Besieged, by H. H. S. Pearse, 1900, from Project Gutenberg
- free ebooks uk
