Natal

Summit Disaster

Gerard Hannan 3 hours ago

For Limerick, whose city and county belonged to the recruiting region of the Royal Munster Fusiliers, reports from Spion Kop carried immediate human significance even though that regiment did not fight upon the summit. During the night of 23–24 January 1900, British troops commanded by Major-General Edward Woodgate climbed the steep hill in Natal as part of Sir Redvers Buller’s renewed attempt to relieve besieged Ladysmith. The attackers surprised a Boer outpost and secured part of the summit before dawn, but mist and darkness concealed the true shape of the ground and the stronger positions lying beyond them.

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Ladysmith Assault

Gerard Hannan 4 hours ago

Boer commandos launched a major assault upon the British defensive line south of besieged Ladysmith before dawn on 6 January 1900. Their principal targets were Wagon Hill and Caesar’s Camp, two positions on the ridge known locally as the Platrand. Advancing through darkness and broken ground, the attackers surprised several forward posts and gained parts of the crest before the defenders could organise effective resistance. Confused close-range fighting followed, with British and colonial troops struggling to distinguish friend from enemy among rocks, scrub and unfinished defensive works.

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