On 15 December 1899 General Sir Redvers Buller sent his army against the Boer line along the Tugela River at Colenso, on the road to the besieged town of Ladysmith. Louis Botha's burghers, dug in on the far bank, trapped an Irish brigade in a loop of the river and shot down the crews of two field batteries pushed too far forward. Buller called off the attack, leaving ten guns behind. It was the third British defeat in a single week.
The line of the Tugela
Buller had about 18,000 men by J. Rickard's count, or some 20,000 with 44 guns according to C. J. Barnard in the South African Military History Society's journal. Botha had about 4,500 men on paper, of whom Barnard reckons fewer than 3,000 were actually engaged, with only a handful of guns. He dug them in along the river on a front of some seven miles from Hlangwane Hill to the slopes of Red Hill, kept them hidden, and hoped the British would try to cross by the railway bridge into the trap.1
Buller planned a three-pronged attack. Hart's Irish Brigade was to cross at a drift on the left, Hildyard's brigade was to attack down the railway in the center, and Dundonald's mounted brigade was to take Hlangwane on the right, with Lyttelton's and Barton's brigades in reserve.2
The loop and the guns
Hart's guide led the brigade into a loop of the river lined with Boer trenches, where the Irish were pinned down; Rickard counts 532 casualties in under two hours, Barnard about 550. In the center, Colonel Long took his two field batteries forward so fast that by 6 a.m. they were within 1,300 yards of the Boer trenches, with the infantry more than a mile behind. Under heavy rifle fire the gunners kept firing for about an hour, until most of their ammunition was gone, and then took cover, leaving the guns in the open.3
Buller's aide, Captain Harry Schofield, led volunteers out to bring the guns back, and they saved two of the twelve. Among them was Lieutenant Frederick Roberts, the only son of Field Marshal Lord Roberts; he was mortally wounded, died the next day and was awarded the Victoria Cross after his death. A second attempt saved none, and Buller broke off the battle.4
Black Week
The British official figure, Barnard writes, was 1,139 casualties, among them 143 killed and some 250 missing; Rickard gives 145 killed, 762 wounded and 220 missing or captured. Both put the Boer losses at about 38, eight of them killed. The Boers took ten guns, twelve ammunition wagons and about 150 prisoners.5
Colenso was the third of three British defeats in what became known as Black Week. Buller sent a message to General White in Ladysmith suggesting that he destroy his guns and surrender, which White refused. On 17 December the government superseded Buller in command in South Africa with Lord Roberts, with Kitchener as his chief of staff. Barnard notes that Roberts received the news of his son's death on the day he was given the command.6
Also on this day
- 1745: Battle of Kesselsdorf. A Prussian army under Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau attacked the Saxon army of Field Marshal Rutowsky at Kesselsdorf near Dresden in the Second Silesian War.
