Britain marched into the South African war in the spring of 1899 – The war lasted three years and was to become the most costly Britain had ever fought, not only from a monetary point of view but from the number of men she was to lose. History regards Buller's foray as the most bloody and futile of all his attempts to relieve the beleaguered town of Ladysmith… with 500 fatalities in hilly terrain around Winterton. This was the desperate Battle of Spioenkop… from which the Boer emerged relatively unscathed. The now quiet grasslands belie this turbulent past. Astoundingly, there were three men on Spionkop that day, who were to influence the course of world history. Gen. Louis Botha, Winston Churchill and Mahatma Gandhi.
The monument located atop Spionkop which commemorates the British soldiers who died at Spionkop. The British trench can clearly be seen, as well as the magnificent view from the summit of this most historic of battlefields.
Burgher memorial on the summit of Spionkop commemorating all of the Boer's who died there. |
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| a monument for British soldiers who died at Spionkop |
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