Relief of Ladysmith Relief of Ladysmith When the Second Boer War broke out on 11 October 1899, the Boers had a numeric superiority within Southern Africa. They quickly invaded the British territory and laid siege to Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking. Britain meanwhile transported thousands of troops both from the United Kingdom itself and from elsewhere in the Empire and by the time the siege of Ladysmith had been lifted, had a huge numeric superiority. The Colony of Natal was bisected from east to west by the Tugela River which rose in the Drakensberg (to the west) and flowed into the Indian Ocean to
Military history of Australia during World War II II cost thousands of Australian lives and consumed a large portion of the national income. During the war, 27,073 members of the Australian military were either killed, died of wounds or died while prisoners of war. Of these, 9,572 were killed in the war against Germany and Italy and 17,501 in the war against Japan. Prisoners of war held by the Japanese made up nearly half of Australia's deaths in the Pacific. At least 386 Australian civilian seamen were killed during the war. Total Australian war expenditure was £2,949,380,000 and at its peak in 1942–43, military costs accounted for 40.1