Siege of Ladysmith the siege an agreement between George Stuart White and Piet Joubert led to the creation of the neutral "Intombi Military Hospital" some outside Ladysmith. This was run by Major General (later Sir) David Bruce and his wife Mary. During the siege, the number of beds in the hospital camp grew from the initial 100 to a total of 1900. A total of 10,673 admissions were received and treated at Intombi. One train per day was allowed to carry wounded from Ladysmith to Intombi. , Being a Regimental History of the 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment during the Boer War 1899–1902. Deals
Siege of Mafeking whose orders were to command a highly mobile field force of cavalry, made the mistake of allowing his overaccumulation of stores at Mafeking to dictate his actions. Consequently, he chose to immobilize half his force to hold Mafeking against a Boer attack. Baden-Powell later claimed his forces were barely trained and he was aware of the Boers' greatly superior numbers, commando tactics and the failure of the earlier Jameson Raid and decided that the best way to tie down Boer troops would be through defence rather than attack. However, contrary to Baden-Powell's claims, his forces that remained outside the besieged