Battle of the Tugela Heights The Battle of Tugela ( or Thukela ) Heights , consisted of a series of military actions lasting from 14 February through 27 February 1900 in which General Sir Redvers Buller ' s British army forced Louis Botha ' s Boer army to lift the Siege of Ladysmith during the Second Boer War . Background . Buller ' s army had made three earlier attempts to raise the Boer siege of Ladysmith . The battles of Colenso , Spionkop and Vaal Krantz each resulted in embarrassing British defeats at the hands of Botha ' s army of Boer irregulars . In three months , British casualties rose to 3 , 400 men while Boer losses were much lower . On 12 February , Buller ordered a fourth attempt to relieve Ladysmith . He hoped to exploit his ten - to - one superiority in artillery and four - to - one advantage in numbers . Geography . The direct route to Ladysmith lay along the railroad , which ran mostly north and south . The railroad crossed the Tugela River at Colenso , ran along the north bank of the river , snaked between Railway Hill and Pieters Hill and continued to Ladysmith . While their main defences were north of the river , the Boers also held a number of ridges south of the river and east of Colenso . The Tugela runs generally east to Colenso , but near the railroad bridge the river turns north , then northeast . Along the northeasterly stretch , the river and railroad are commanded by a series of hills which represented the Boer main line of defence . A high ridge named Hlangwane rose northeast of Colenso on the south bank and overlooked the railroad . During the Battle of Colenso , a British attack on Hlangwane was repulsed . Since that time , the Boers had greatly strengthened the ridge . With Hlangwane in his possession , Buller could dominate the Boer positions at Colenso , and safely cross there . To capture Hlangwane , Buller realized that he would first have to rout the Boers from all their positions south of the river , but even with the south bank in his possession , Buller would still have to fight through the Boer - held hills to the north on the river . Battle on the south bank . On 12 February , Lieutenant - Colonel Julian Byng led a reconnaissance in force to Hussar Hill , a position southeast of Colenso . The position fell on 14 February to Colonel the Earl of Dundonald ' s mounted brigade , and 34 artillery pieces soon crowned Hussar Hill . With the support of the guns , Major - General Neville Lyttelton ' s 4th Infantry Division struck to the northeast on 15 February . Cingolo Hill , to the northeast of Hussar Hill , fell next . On 18 February , while , hundreds of miles to the west , General Kitchener ' s army was fruitlessly attacking Piet Cronjé ' s surrounded army , an event known as Bloody Sunday , Major - General Henry J . T . Hildyard ' s 2nd Brigade captured the height of Monte Cristo , and Major - General Geoffrey Barton ' s 6th Brigade cleared Green Hill . The outflanked Boers abandoned Hlangwane and the south bank entirely on 19 February . Immediately , the British installed heavy artillery on the summit of Hlangwane . Battle on the north bank . Buller preferred to avoid the obvious route north along the railroad , but his intelligence officer informed him that an advance north across the river from Monte Cristo was impracticable . Therefore , the British were forced to find a way to overcome the main Boer positions . British infantry occupied Colenso on 19 February and the railhead was advanced to Colenso Station . On 21 February , the pontoon bridge was positioned under the western brow of Hlangwane and the army began to cross . Major - General Arthur S . Wynne ' s 11th Brigade captured Boer positions at Horse - shoe Hill and Wynne ' s Hill north of Colenso on the evening of 22 February . Major - General Fitzroy Hart ' s 5th ( Irish ) Brigade attacked the next high ground to the northeast , Hart ' s Hill on 23 February . Not waiting for all his battalions to arrive , Hart sent his troops up piecemeal and they were repulsed with almost 500 casualties . Two battalions of reinforcements arrived in time to prevent a rout . Two colonels were among the dead and the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers lost 72 % of their officers and 27 % of their rank and file . During this engagement Edgar Thomas Inkson carried a young officer , who was severely wounded and unable to walk , for three or four hundred yards , under very heavy fire , to a place of safety for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross . On 25 February , a six - hour armistice was arranged to recover the British wounded on the upper slopes of Wynne ' s and Hart ' s Hills . On one section of hillside , 80 dead and only three survivors were recovered . Buller began to look for another way to flank the Boers . It turned out that in front of the Boer positions , the Tugela entered a gorge . The pontoon bridge was moved north to the mouth of the gorge so British soldiers could cross and move to the northeast along the riverbank , unseen by the Boers . Meanwhile , a trail was located by which the British artillery was moved into supporting distance on the south bank . Lieutenant - General Sir Charles Warren ' s 5th Infantry Division was directed to attack the Boer left flank . The brigades would strike from east to west , first at Pieters Hill , then Railway Hill and finally Hart ' s Hill . Meanwhile , Lyttelton ' s division would threaten the Boer center and right flank . For once , Botha failed to anticipate Buller ' s moves . Barton ' s brigade attacked Pieters Hill shortly after noon on 27 February . Behind an early use of the creeping barrage by field artillery pieces as heavy as 4 . 7 - inch naval guns , the 6th Brigade ' s advance was rapid at first . Then , about 14 : 00 , as the British infantry moved out of artillery observation and Botha reinforced his threatened flank , the attack stalled . The reserve was put in at 14 : 30 and repulsed due to tough Boer resistance and enfilading fire from Railway Hill to the west . At 15 : 00 Colonel Walter Kitchener ' s 5th Brigade attacked Railway Hill . After working their way slowly uphill , the soldiers carried the " nek " ( saddle ) between Hart ' s and Railway Hills in a brilliant bayonet charge , capturing 48 Boer prisoners . The last to move forward , Major - General Norcott ' s 4th Brigade , began its assault on Hart ' s Hill . The close artillery support proved decisive , as trench after trench was overwhelmed by direct fire . A final infantry charge cleared the crest , compelling a Boer retreat . As Botha ' s men fell back from the heights , the British infantry gave out a cheer . Aftermath . On 28 February , the besieged defenders of Ladysmith observed a great column of Boer horsemen and wagons moving rapidly north , just outside artillery range . Some time after 5 : 00 pm , two squadrons of British mounted infantry commanded by Major Hubert Gough from Buller ' s army rode into Ladysmith and ended the siege . Botha retreated to a new defensive line 60 miles to the north .