Battle of Spion Kop
Spion Kop, 38 km west-southwest of Ladysmith
What happened
British generals Redvers Buller and Charles Warren fought Boer forces led by Louis Botha. During the Second Boer War, the Boers had surrounded the British town of Ladysmith, and Buller's army was trying to break through to rescue it. British troops climbed the steep hill of Spion Kop at night in fog and drove off a small group of Boers. But in daylight they found their shallow trenches gave little cover, and Boer guns and riflemen on the surrounding hills fired down on them all day, until the British withdrew.
Why it matters
Result: Boer victory. Leaders: Redvers Buller / Charles Warren against Louis Botha / Schalk Burger. Why it matters: It was a painful British defeat in the effort to relieve Ladysmith.
What came next
Ladysmith was relieved later in the campaign.
Did you know?
Mohandas Gandhi was a stretcher-bearer at Spion Kop, in the Indian Ambulance Corps he had organised. Winston Churchill was also in South Africa, as a journalist and a lieutenant.
Timeline
- 23 January 1900British troops climb Spion Kop at night.
- 24 January 1900The British withdraw from the hill.