When was the siege of ladysmith

In India the care of ammunition had been so hammered into the men that it had become second nature to preserve and account for every round. One man at the height of the fight asked me if he should pick up his empty cases, and another asked me what he should do with two packets of ammunition he had just picked up. Sir George White prepared Ladysmith for a siege, and the Gloucesters were digging in and sandbagging with the rest.

The Boers were closing in on the town, and bringing up heavy artillery and on 29th October the British attacked them at several points, With Sir George White committing the majority of his force of 12, Three and a half companies of the Gloucesters were left behind on outpost duty, together with some sick from the other four and a half companies of the battalion.

The attack was poorly executed and failed miserably. The advanced parties holding the salients were driven back on the main body in the centre of the plateau, and the Boers gained the crest line of the hill, whence they brought a converging fire to bear from all sides on our men crowded together in the centre, causing much loss.

Eventually it was seen that this position was hopelessly untenable, and our force hoisted a white flag, and surrendered about The battle that followed was confused and bloody. If the British were pushed off the ridge, then the Boers would be able to fire their rifles into the town itself, making its surrender inevitable. In this video, Christian Parkinson redcoathistory takes up the story, walks the ground and brings the engagement to life.

Buller and his relief force continued their attempts to break through. Repulsed again and again, the British commander began to develop new tactics based on artillery and infantry co-operation.

Suddenly, on 27 February, Boer resistance broke and the way to the city was open. News of the relief, after a string of embarrassing defeats, was celebrated wildly all across the British Empire.

It also represented a turning point in the war, for by March the Boer capital of Pretoria had been taken. TV A new online only channel for history lovers. The central Boer position was on Pepworth Hill, around 4 miles north of Ladysmith. The Boers advancing from the Orange Free State threatened Ladysmith from the west but were still some distance from the town. The Boers brought up a number of their newly acquired European guns and positioned them on Pepworth Hill. Other pieces were brought up during the battle.

On the other hand the Boers lacked trained gunners and relied upon high explosive shells rather than the shrapnel used almost exclusively by the British RFA. It was the experience of the war that high explosive shells were largely ineffective and that casualties were inflicted with air burst shrapnel. While at times frightening to the inexperienced British soldiers and particularly to the civilian inhabitants of Ladysmith the Boer guns did little damage.

The Boers dug entrenchments on Pepworth Hill and occupied its lower extension to the east, Long Hill. The whole Boer position extended for a considerable distance along the semi-circle of hills some four miles to the north of Ladysmith.

The British force in Ladysmith was substantially outnumbered and a counsel of caution would have caused White to entrench and hold off the Boers until the Army Corps that was being shipped by sea from Britain to Durban arrived and came to his assistance.

For whatever motive White determined to attack the Boer forces gathering in front of him which he seriously underestimated. General White resolved to attack the Boer positions using much the same tactics that had been used at Talana and Elandslaagte, an artillery bombardment followed by a frontal and a flanking infantry attack.

On 29th October a newly arrived balloon from England, crewed by the Royal Engineers, was sent up, to the amazement of the inhabitants of Ladysmith, to observe the Boer dispositions. White appears to have considered he would be able to defeat the Boers in much the same way that his subordinates had beaten them at Talana Hill and Elandslaagte.

The difference now was that the Boers were present in substantially greater strength than was available to White and were commanded by an effective and resourceful general in Erasmus.

White had made his name and won the Victoria Cross in the Second Afghan War of , twenty-five years before. He had spent his military career since then in India and had no experience of fighting a sophisticated well armed army such as that fielded by the Boers.

In addition he was probably too old and exhausted after a lifetime in the field and a serious leg injury. No training he had received or any previous experience made him ready to deal with the highly mobile and skilled marksmen of the Boer army. White divided his army into three forces. Two of these would mount attacks on the Boer positions on Pepworth and Long Hills. White assumed the Boers would remain in position while he advanced on them. A major difficulty for the British that does not seem to have been given its due weight was that Ladysmith was known to be riddled with Boer spies.

It was very unlikely that any movement of troops could be undertaken without the Boers becoming aware of it. General Yule was sick after his harrowing march from Dundee. Command of his brigade fell to the senior battalion commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Grimwood. Colonel Ian Hamilton led the central brigade comprising the battalions he had commanded at Elandslaagte; 1st Devons, 1st Manchesters and 2nd Gordon Highlanders.

The battle was to begin with an artillery bombardment of Long Hill and Pepworth Hill. Hamilton would mount the attack frontally on Pepworth Hill from Ladysmith while Grimwood worked his way along the ridge from the right. Royal Irish Fusiliers in From there he was expected to cut off the retreat of the Boers from Pepworth Hill in expectation of a successful attack on the main Boer positions on Pepworth and Long Hills and to prevent a junction with the Orange Free State Boers approaching from the west.

He had not grasped the mobility of the Boers, all mounted and skilled horsemen, as against the slowness of his infantry and he continued to underestimate the impact of Boer marksmanship equipped with the most modern magazine rifles. In addition the Boer artillery was a surprise. With recently acquired guns the Boers were still novices in their use and many of the Boer gunners were simply burghers in arms lacking the training and discipline of the British gunners.

But the Boers were equipped with the most modern guns Europe could provide, made in France and Germany, and several of them were large guns with a range greater than the outdated British field guns, firing from the concealment provided by the broken ground on Pepworth Hill against the British guns deployed in the open plain.