On 11th December 1899, after victory at the Modder River, 15,000 British troops under the command of Lord Methuen advanced North to relieve the Siege of Kimberley.
Having spotted Boer forces but conducting poor reconnaissance, Methuen believed the Boers to be entrenched on the slope of the hill, which was the standard military tactic of the Boers at that time.
However, Generals Cronje and De La Rey, who led the 8,500 strong Boer force, had instead ordered his men to entrench at the bottom of the hill, allowing the men to use the flat trajectory of their Mauser rifles to great effect. This meant that they survived the initial artillery bombardment, which
was aimed at the side of the hill, where the British believed the Boers to be.
Methuen then ordered all available artillery to open fire, including a 4.7 inch Naval Gun, but again most of it was directed at the hill itself instead of the Boer trenches at the bottom. After suffering terrible losses and being pinned down for most of the day, the Highland Brigade stood and fled back toward the British lines.
The Boers magnanimously organised a ceasefire, allowing the British to send ambulances to collect the dead and wounded. Methuen subsequently ordered a full retreat. It was a massive victory for the outnumbered Boer forces and was the second defeat out of the three that would make up the Black Week, where the British lost over 2000 men and crushed any hopes of a swift victory. The British suffered 948 casualties with the Black Watch taking the most in 303 men killed or wounded. The Boers took 236, with the braveScandinavian Volunteer Corps virtually wiped out.
The Boers succeeded in halting the British advance, but the Black Week prompted Britain to send large reinforcements to South Africa. Cronje's army was forced to retreat and was surrounded and forced to surrender at the Battle of Paardeberg 2 months later. The Boers continued to fight a guerrilla war from March 1900 until a peace treaty was signed in 1902.
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