Battle of Magersfontein
Map of the battle
| date | December 11, 1899 |
|---|---|
| place | Magersfontein near Kimberley , Cape Colony , South Africa |
| output | Victory of the Boers |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 13,000 | 8,500 |
| losses | |
|
about 1000 |
70 dead |
Talana Hill - ElandslaAGEN - Modder River - Stormberg - Magersfontein - Colenso - Spion Kop - Paardeberg - Ladysmith - Sanna's Post - Mafeking
The Battle of Magersfontein was a battle in the Second Boer War . It took place on December 11, 1899 in Magersfontein on the border of the Cape Colony with the Orange Free State in what is now South Africa . Burian troops under Piet Cronjé and Koos de la Rey defeated British troops under Lord Methuen there . It was after the battle of Storm Mountain , the second of three major British defeat during the later so-called "Black Week" ( english Black Week ).
prehistory
The intention of the British was to relieve the besieged Kimberley with its diamond mines. Following the Cape Railway line, the British 1st Division under Lieutenant General Methuen had already driven the Boers out of their positions in Belmont, Graspan and on the Modder River , albeit with heavy losses of their own. On the Modder River, the retreat of the demoralized Free State Boers under Piet Cronjé had led to the abandonment of the otherwise well-prepared positions along the only serious natural obstacle for Methuen's troops. Between the Modder River and Kimberley there were now only a few ranges of hills that offered themselves as a new defensive position. The Boers originally planned to offer resistance in the hills near Spytfontein , but when Lord Methuen's exhausted troops were forced to rest in Modder River for several days , they advanced to Magersfontein, just a few miles north of the river. Instead of occupying the high Magersfontein Hill, the Boers dug themselves into the foot of the hill. This tactic developed by de la Rey enabled them to take far more advantage of the flat trajectory of their Mauser rifles. The excellently camouflaged trenches also offered a moment of surprise, as the British did not know the position of the trenches due to a lack of adequate clarification.
The Boers had received considerable reinforcements since the Battle of the Modder River, including some of the troops that had previously besieged Mafeking and several Transvaal Boer commandos. In addition, the President of the Free State of Martinus Steyn visited his troops at the beginning of December to motivate them. General Prinsloo, blamed for the previous defeats, had been demoted.
The British also received reinforcements, mostly in the form of guns, in which they were clearly superior to the Boers, and the Highland Brigade. The destroyed railway bridge over the Modder was provisionally restored and the supply thus ensured.
The battle
After an artillery bombardment the previous afternoon, which aimed at the actual hill and thus caused no casualties among the Boers, Methuen had the newly arrived Highland Brigade under Major General Wauchope advance during the night to attack the Boers in the morning. A night march in column formation, followed by a swarming out and an assault in open order with the bayonet mounted , had been the standard British tactic since the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir . At Magersfontein, however, this was hindered by adverse terrain, heavy rain and compass deviations due to ferrous rock. As a result, the brigade reached its intended attack position later than planned and was only just beginning to swarm when they were discovered by the Boers and taken under fire.
The dense British column quickly got into confusion, especially since General Wauchope was already killed by one of the first volleys. Parts of the Black Watch regiment nevertheless managed to attack the Boer trenches. Some of them began to climb Magersfontein Hill, being attacked by the Boers, while others got caught in barbed wire in front of the Boer trenches and shot there in a grim anticipation of the World War I trench warfare . The remaining three battalions of the Highland Brigade could neither advance nor retreat and had to take cover in the open.
Methuen tried, discovered by his observation balloons , about 1500 meters wide gap in the Boer positions east of the hill to use for a flank attack of the reserve guards brigade under Major General Colville . However, the Boers reacted quickly and closed the gap, the attack was unsuccessful. Methuen could not send any more help and the fire of the artillery remained largely ineffective, as it was still aimed at the hillside instead of the trenches.
In the afternoon, after lying for hours without water in the blazing summer heat, some Highlanders rose to retreat. The officers tried in vain to restore order and a general escape was the result. Many of the refugees were shot from behind. Parts of the guards and the Gordon Highlander closed the gap in the British center and thus prevented the loss of the front guns.
As a result, the Boers offered a temporary armistice so that the British could rescue their wounded. Methuen finally decided to break off the battle, as staying overnight in the immediate vicinity of the Boer trenches seemed impractical. During the night there was a partly disorderly retreat to the camp on the Modder River.
consequences
Methuen found himself unable to resume his advance on Kimberley due to the heavy losses, especially in the Highland Brigade , and lack of reinforcements. After General Buller's defeat at Colenso in Natal a few days after Magersfontein, the British government decided to appoint Field Marshal Roberts as a new commander in chief in South Africa and to send further troops with him. Kimberley was only freed from cavalry under Major General John French in the wake of Roberts' great offensive against the Free State in February 1900 .
Artistic processing
- The writer Etienne Leroux , who wrote in Afrikaans , wrote the novel Magersfontein, o Magersfontein, in 1976, which satirically portrays the attempt by a film crew to recreate the Battle of Magersfontein. This also calls into question the myth of the battle won. The novel was banned by the South African censorship authorities until 1980 .
- The Boer victory in battle is celebrated in the song Afrikanerhart (2009) by Boer singer Bok van Blerk .
Web links
- The Great Boer War Arthur Conan Doyle: The Great Boer War , Chapter VII: The Battle of Magersfontein (English)