Battle of Majuba Mountain

Battle of Majuba
Part of First Boer War
The Battle of Majuba, drawn by Richard Caton Woodville for the Illustrated London News
Date 27 February 1881 Location Majuba Hill, near Volksrust, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa 27°28′36″S 29°51′02″E / 27.4768°S 29.8505°E / -27.4768; 29.8505 (Battle of Majuba Hill)Coordinates: 27°28′36″S 29°51′02″E / 27.4768°S 29.8505°E / -27.4768; 29.8505 (Battle of Majuba Hill) Result Decisive Boer victory
Belligerents
South African Republic	United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Nicolaas Smit Stephanus Roos Danie Malan Joachim Ferreira	Sir George Pomeroy Colley †
Strength
400-500 men	405 infantry
Casualties and losses
1 dead 5 wounded	92 dead 134 wounded 59 captured

The Battle of Majuba Hill (near Volksrust, South Africa) on 27 February 1881 was the final and decisive battle of the First Boer War. It was a resounding victory for the Boers and the battle is considered to have been one of the most humiliating defeats of British arms in history. Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley occupied the summit of the hill on the night of 26–27 February 1881. His motive for occupying the hill remains unclear. The Boers believed that he may have been attempting to outflank their positions at Laing's Nek. The hill was not considered scale-able by the Boers for military purposes and thus it may have been Colley's attempt to emphasize British power and strike fear into the Boer camp.

The bulk of the 405 British soldiers occupying the hill were 171 men of the 58th Regiment with 141 men of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders, and a small naval brigade from HMS Dido. Besides the Gordons, most of these troops were inexperienced and their regiments had not seen action since the Crimean War. General Colley had brought no artillery up to the summit, nor did he order his men to dig in against the advice of several of his subordinates, expecting that the Boers would retreat when they saw their position on the Nek was untenable. However, the Boers quickly formed a group of storming parties, led by Nicolas Smit, from an assortment of volunteers from various commandos, totalling at least 450 men, maybe more, to attack the hill.

By daybreak at 4:30, the 92nd Highlanders covered a wide perimeter of the summit, while a handful occupied Gordon's Knoll on the right side of the summit. Oblivious to the presence of the British troops until the 92nd Gordon Highlanders began to yell and shake their fists, the Boers began to panic fearing an artillery attack. Three Boer storming groups of 100-200 men each began a slow advance up the hill. The groups were led by Field Cornet Stephanus Roos, Commandant D. J. K. Malan and Commandant Joachim Ferreira. The Boers, being the better marksmen, kept their enemy on the slopes at bay while groups crossed the open ground to attack Gordon's Knoll, where at 12:45 Ferreira's men opened up a tremendous fire on the exposed knoll and captured it. Colley was in his tent when he was informed of the advancing Boers but took no immediate action until after he had been warned by several subordinates of the seriousness of the attack.

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Wikipedia