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
Geoffrey Barton of Ladysmith on 1 March. Barton was injured during the action on 27 February. After Ladysmith and Mafeking had been relieved, Major General Barton was sent to the Weston Transvaal, where he commanded in the Krugersdorp and Pretoria districts until the end of the war in early June 1902. He left Cape Town on the SS "Canada" and returned to Southampton in late July 1902. For his service in the war, he was mentioned in despatches (including by Lord Kitchener dated 23 June 1902), and appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG). Geoffrey Barton