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Military History – South Africa – Europe – England 19th Century
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control of the next battle, Vaalkrans, and halted that before it became a repeat of Spioenkop.
However, the partial success in the latter engagement was the foundation for Buller’s new tactics.
The infantry were given precise, limited objectives, the artillery was carefully deployed in support of
the infantry, and the cavalry was held in reserve for use when the Boer line was broken. In the
successive fights that made up the Battle of the Tugela Heights, the losses were painful and resulted
largely from limitations in the knowledge available about Boer dispositions; however, the steady
accumulation of modest victories smashed the Boer defence and led to the relief of Ladysmith.
Buller’s appreciation of the importance of concentrating his artillery in support of an infantry
charged with achievable and precise objectives was demonstrated with outstanding success at
Botha’s Pass in June 1900, the Battle of Bergendal in August and the final dispersal of the Boers east
of Lydenburg beyond Long Tom Pass in September 1900. He returned to England at the end of the
year, his task completed, only to meet a wall of non-comprehension and general condemnation of his
performance, led by the correspondent of The Timesnewspaper, Leo Amery. Amery went on to edit
the opinion-forming Times History of the War in South Africawhich consolidated the view that
Buller was unequal to the responsibilities placed upon him.
Many of the faults of which Buller is accused can be seen as strengths: the self-doubt as lack of
arrogance, and the willingness to break off an action as prudent husbandry of his men and resources.
His greatest strength was his ability, at over sixty years of age, to learn. Perhaps his adversaries
should be given the final word. Chief-commandant Christiaan De Wet pointed out that “whatever his
own people have to say to his discredit, Sir Redvers Buller had to operate against stronger positions
than any other English general in South Africa”. The American Colonel J. Y. F. Blake, commander of
the Boers’ Irish Brigade, wrote, “the Boers generally acknowledge General Buller as by far the
ablest commander the English had in the field”.
See also:
Bergendal, Battle of; Botha’s Pass, Action at; Colenso, Battle of; Spioenkop, Battle of; Tugela
Heights, Battle of; Vaalkrans, Battle of.
Reference:
Pakenham, Thomas, The Boer War (London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1979; Abacus, 1992); Powell,
Geoffrey, Buller: A Scapegoat? (London, Leo Cooper, 1994).
Burger, Vice-President Schalk,
1852–1918
Schalk Willem Burger, a land surveyor, was born near Lydenburg in the Transvaal, served in the First
Boer War in 1881 and was in command of the Lydenburg Commando on the Swaziland border at the
beginning of the Second. He was censured for his neglect in permitting the successful British raid on
Gun Hill outside Ladysmith in December 1899. He then served on the Tugela River line and was
present at the Battle of Spioen-
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