Battle of the Tugela Heights Battle of the Tugela Heights The Battle of Tugela (or Thukela) Heights, consisted of a series of military actions lasting from 14 February through 27 February 1900 in which General Sir Redvers Buller's British army forced Louis Botha's Boer army to lift the Siege of Ladysmith during the Second Boer War. Buller's army had made three earlier attempts to raise the Boer siege of Ladysmith. The battles of Colenso, Spion Kop and Vaal Krantz each resulted in embarrassing British defeats at the hands of Botha's army of Boer irregulars. In three months, British casualties rose to 3,400 men while Boer
Battle of Ladysmith town, which would require a major effort to overcome. They recovered morale through some small-scale raids at night which sabotaged some of the Boer artillery. Thereafter the siege became a long drawn-out blockade, except for a single storming attempt. After several failures, a force under General Redvers Buller, who was later known as "Sir Reverse" and the "Ferryman of the Tugela", broke through the Boer forces defending the Tugela to effect the Relief of Ladysmith on 28 February 1900. Britain then went on to regain control of South Africa Battle of Ladysmith The Battle of Ladysmith was one of the