Battle of Bergendal The Battle of Bergendal ( also known as the Battle of Belfast or Battle of Dalmanutha ) was the last set - piece battle of the Second Anglo - Boer War . It lasted from 21 – 27 August 1900 and took place on the farm " Bergendal " ( Hill and Dale ) near the town of Belfast . The 5 , 000 Boers were under the command of General Louis Botha and the 20 , 000 British Empire forces were led by General Sir Redvers Buller under the overall command of Lord Roberts . Plans and positions . Advancing from the direction of Pretoria along the main railroad line , the main aim of Lord Roberts ' forces were to occupy the temporary South African Republic ( ZAR ) government seat of Machadodorp . Their line of advance would lead right across the farm " Bergendal " where the ZARPs - members of the " Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek Politie " or South African Republic Police - was positioned . Roberts left the tactical direction of the battle to Buller . The British plan was to send Sir John French and the cavalry on a flanking move to the north . Meanwhile , Major General Neville Lyttelton would strike the middle of the Boer front with two brigades . " It was a big red kopje near a farm called Bergendal , a jumble of fantastic boulders , spread across three acres , whose own great natural strength belied its fatal weakness in relation to Botha ' s defence line . Like a miniature Spion Kop , it jutted out in a salient from the centre of Botha ' s twenty - mile front . Unlike Spion Kop , it could not be supported by sides or rear , owing to the ground that screened Botha ' s view but gave Buller ' s massed artillery a field day . " Battle . There were several other clashes during the battle , but the battle ' s climax occurred on 27 August , when 74 men of the Johannesburg section of the ZARPs faced an attack on foot by 1 , 500 men of the Rifle Brigade , 2nd Battalion , Inniskilling Fusiliers , 1st Battalion , the Devonshire Regiment and Gordon Highlanders after a heavy artillery bombardment . Despite a tenacious defence by the ZARPs of the " kopje " ( knoll ) where they had dug in , they were eventually defeated by the British forces . Twenty of the ZARPs force had been killed and nineteen ( including their leader , Commandant Oosthuizen ) were taken prisoner . Other wounded had been removed by the Boers . The rest of the ZARPs force escaped and joined the other retreating Boer commando s . British losses were three officers killed and seven wounded , 12 rank and file killed and 100 wounded . Aftermath . As a result of this defeat , the Boer line of defence was breached and on 28 August Buller ' s troops marched into Machadodorp . The ZAR government , meanwhile , had decamped to Nelspruit . A few days later , on 1 September , Lord Roberts proclaimed the entire South African Republic British territory . However , the capture of Machadodorp and Roberts ' proclamation did not end the war . Although the British had won the battle Botha ' s main force had managed to stay intact . The Boer commandos subsequently dispersed to Lydenburg and Barberton and the next phase of the war - guerrilla warfare - started . This second phase would last even longer than the first , conventional , phase and peace would eventually only be declared at the end of May 1902 . War Memorial . A memorial was erected in honour of those who died in this battle . The first memorial erected in memory of the twelve Zarps who died in the Battle of Berg - en - dal on 27 Augustus 1900 where erected in 1935 . The second memorial unveiled on 29 Augustus 1970 .