With the Boer attack in Natal in October 1899 leading to the siege of Ladysmith, the British authorities recruited the "Natal Volunteer Ambulance Corps" (NVAC) of about 1,100 local White men. At the same time Gandhi pressed for his Indian stretcher bearers to be allowed to serve. At the Battle of Colenso on 15 December, the NVAC removed the wounded from the front line and the Indians then transported them to the railhead. At the Battle of Spion Kop on 23–24 January, the Indians moved into the frontline.