Tugela River
The Boers crossed the border into the Colony and after battles at Talana Hill, Elandalaagte and the surrender of a large number of British troops at Nicholsons Nek, White set about defending his position at Ladysmith, some 20 km north of the Tugela river. Winston Churchill asserts that the British Government plan, to which he became privy in later life, was for White to fall back to a position south of the Tugela River.