The hill was taken. The Boers had fled. Stumbling across the rock strewn crest of Spioenkop, still wet from the overnight rain, General Woodgate and his officers marked out the line for the defensive trench and stone breastworks. It was 06h00 when the Royal Engineers and men of the Lancashire Brigade set to work. A little to the north, Boers at the foot of the hill, were close to panic. There were “thousands of Tommies on the hill”. Perhaps they should abandon the Thukela line and withdraw to Ladysmith.
But, not for the first time, one man stood firm. The young General Louis Botha moved quickly to stop the rot. Then, using the misty conditions to the best advantage, began deploying his commandos and his artillery.
By 07h30 all was in readiness. Seven guns were within range of where the British soldiers, still hidden in the mist, were digging their trench. Members of several commandos - Carolina, Lydenburg, Ermelo, the German Corps and others – moved into position, some beginning their ascent of the north-eastern slopes of the hill.
On the summit, the trench was ready – not as deep as it should have been but as deep as it was going to get. The Lancashire men, as well as those of Thorneycroft’s Mounted Infantry, took up their positions and waited for the mist to lift.
Soon after 08h00 the mist melted away and the horrified General Woodgate obtained, for the first time, a true picture of the hill and its adjacent features.
He had not occupied the two nearby, and strategically vital, koppies – Aloe Knoll and Conical Hill. It was too late.
On both of them could be seen men wearing the trademark, slouch hats of the Boers. Men were hurriedly sent out from the trench to man the crest line and a strategic knoll to the south east. Soon the crackle of rifle fire told that they were engaged with Boers climbing the slopes.
Boer artillery began to drop their projectiles on the summit whilst, far away to the south, General Buller’s naval guns continued their bombardment of the Boer occupied Twin Peaks.
A little over an hour later, the fight for the crest line was over and the Boers were in possession. The British soldiers were driven back to the trench where they continued to fire disciplined volleys, keeping the Boers from making any further gains.
The stalemate was broken when a young Boer – a 19 year-old school teacher from the small East Transvaal town of Carolina – found himself on Aloe Knoll, some 200 metres from the British trench, where he spontaneously decided to direct the Boer artillery onto the portion of the battlefield that he could see.
The Boer artillery commander was quick to see the advantage of this and the Boer fire soon became focused on one small area of the battlefield – the acre of massacre! By this time, several senior officers, including General Woodgate, were either dead or wounded and it was left to Colonel Thorneycroft to try to hold things together.
Communication along the trench became impossible; the sun burned down and the artillery projectiles continued to rain down. Winston Churchill estimated, from his vantage point at Mount Alice, that at one time, 11 shells per minute were exploding on the summit.
The day dragged on. The casualties continued to mount. At one time a number of Lancashire Fusiliers, having endured as much as flesh and blood could stand, fled from the trench and were taken captive by the Boers.
British reinforcements saved the day in the nick of time by re-occupying the abandoned section of trench and the status quo was restored. The Boer artillery however did not relent and the horror continued. And so the day dragged on. A strategic rocky knoll was lost, then regained, lost again and finally re-occupied by the Scottish Rifles.
A successful attempt to scale and occupy the adjacent Twin Peaks by the King’s Royal Rifles promised to finally turn the tide in favour of the British – then the Rifles were ordered to withdraw from the peaks and the opportunity was lost.
Finally, with the coming of the night, the exhausted Colonel Thorneycroft – who had apparently received no replies to his regular signals, gave instructions for the survivors to withdraw. Leaving hundreds of their dead and dying comrades on the hill, the withdrawal was completed by 21h00.
Once again, the Boer line had held. General Buller was not dismayed, however, for had he not found the “Key to Ladysmith" in the low ridge called Vaalkrans?
Audio : Ron - "snapshots" on the Battle Of Spioenkop
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