Vale of White Horse being removed to show the white chalky soil beneath. This figure gives name to the hill, the range and the Vale. It is 114 m (374 ft) long and highly stylised, the neck, body and tail varying little in width. The origin of the figure is unknown. Tradition asserted it to be the monument of a victory over the Danes by King Alfred, who was born at Wantage, but the site of the Battle of Ashdown (871 CE), has been variously located. Moreover, the figure has been dated to the Bronze Age, so it pre-dates the battle by many centuries.
Battle of the Cunene but not yet under control. At Cunene River they were confronted with the resistance of two Ovambo peoples, the Cuamato and Cuanhama, led by their king Tchetekelo. When an advanced unit composed of 500 Portuguese soldiers and Humbi auxiliaries under captain Luís Pinto de Almeida crossed the river, about 300 men were massacred in an ambush. The Portuguese defeat was followed by a punitive expedition in 1905 and 1907, but not before 1916 Southern Angola was "pacified". Battle of the Cunene In the Battle of the Cunene River, Portuguese Colonial forces were defeated by Angolan Ovambo warriors on 25 September,