Buller's first attempt at crossing the river was the Battle of Colenso. From the British point of view, the battle was a fiasco. On the western flank the British forces suffered considerable losses when the Irish Brigade were trapped in a loop in the river upstream for Colenso. In the centre they lost six guns while on the eastern flank, Buller ordered his men to retreat after the Boers had abandoned Hlangwane hill. Victoria Crosses were awarded to William Babtie, Walter Norris Congreve (whose son also won a VC), George Ravenhill (VC later forfeited), Hamilton Lyster Reed, Freddy Roberts, son of Lord Roberts VC (posthumous) and Harry Norton Schofield for gallantry during the battle. Many of the British dead from the Battle of Colenso are now interred in the Ambleside Cemetery close to the point where the Irish Brigade were trapped.