Battle of Talana Hill
Boers before Dundee
| date | October 20, 1899 |
|---|---|
| place | Dundee , Natal , South Africa |
| output | British victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 4,000 | 8,000 (approx. 3,000 involved) |
| losses | |
|
546 |
150 |
Talana Hill - ElandslaAGEN - Modder River - Stormberg - Magersfontein - Colenso - Spion Kop - Paardeberg - Ladysmith - Sanna's Post - Mafeking
The Battle of Talana Hill was the first major battle of the Second Boer War . A British frontal attack drove the Boers from their position on a hill, but the attack caused heavy British losses and did nothing to change the poor strategic position of the British.
prehistory
British reinforcements sent to Natal just before the war broke out had not advanced far enough north to occupy the passes over the Drakensberg . As a result, the Boers were able to invade Natal from three sides and the British forces were in isolated and vulnerable positions.
Major General Penn Symons and a brigade of about 4,000 men (four infantry battalions , parts of a cavalry regiment , some mounted infantry and three batteries of field artillery) occupied the mining town of Dundee. He failed to retreat to Ladysmith in order to unite with the main British power there. On the evening of October 19, two Boer contingents - each with 4,000 men under General Erasmus and Lukas Mayer - approached Dundee.
The battle
Early in the morning of October 20th, Erasmus' forces occupied the Impati Mountains , north of Dundee. Mayer's men occupied the low Talana hill east of town and pulled some Krupp field guns up the hill. When morning came and the British noticed the Boers on the hill, these guns opened fire, but with no effect.
Thereupon the British field artillery was brought into position and returned fire; around 1,000 Boers then fled. The British infantry made a head-on attack and reached the base of the hill. There, however, she was held in place by heavy gunfire from a eucalyptus plantation. Symons went forward to urge his men on and was fatally wounded in the process. Under his deputy, Yule, the infantry stormed the hill with the bayonet , taking additional losses from their own artillery.
Lukas Mayer's troops mounted their ponies and withdrew. Some British horsemen tried to cut off their retreat, but most of the British cavalry advanced into the Impati Mountains. Erasmus had not yet played a role in the previous battles (partly because the Impati Mountains were still partly in the fog), now he intervened, his troops surrounded the British detachment and forced it to surrender.
After the battle
The British had achieved a tactical victory at a high cost. Had Mayer and especially Erasmus not been such cautious commanders and weak decision-makers, the British could have experienced a disaster.
Yule's men had failed to secure the Impati Mountains, which provided water for the city. The British marched back and forth below the hill for two days under constant Boer rifle fire. Other Boer forces had meanwhile cut off British lines of supply and retreat. Ultimately, the British withdrew to the temporary safety of Ladysmith in a four-day cross-country march.