The Boer War: How Britain Lifted the Siege at Ladysmith (and Moved Toward Victory)
For 119 days, the British garrison at Ladysmith held out as Boer gunners hammered them from the hills beyond.
Here s What You Need to Know: In the early hours of October 12, 1899, Commandant-General Piet Joubert and 15,000 Boers crossed the border between Transvaal and Natal near Laing’s Nek in southern Africa. Joubert’s main force, led by General Daniel Erasmus’s 2,000-man commando, followed the railway line south through Newcastle toward the township of Dundee. Paralleling him on his left was General Lucas Meyer’s 3,000-man commando. General Johannes Kock, with his Johannesburg commando and German and Dutch volunteers, came in from the corner of the Orange Free State south of Majuba and advanced on Dundee.