Battle of Talana Hill 1899 - Boer War


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Fought just 9 days into the 2nd Anglo Boer War, the Battle of Talana Hill had all the hallmarks of a tragic comedy:

British Cavalry getting lost in the mist, and getting captured by Irish soldiers fighting for the Boers.
British infantry under a barrage of friendly fire, which killed a colonel.
And a general who accused the Boers of impudence for disrupting his breakfast!

And a hollow victory that somehow resulted in the victorious British being forced to into a full-blown, 40 mile retreat.

Welcome to yet another story from the Boer War…

The Battle of Talana Hill, 1899

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The Boer War (also known as the Second Boer War, the Anglo Boer War or the South Africa War) was was fought from 1899-1902 in South Africa between the British Empire and the Afrikaner Boer republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State.

For Britain, it was the biggest military entanglement between the Crimean War and World War 1.
It cost the lives of of 26,000 British imperial soldiers and 6,000 Boer fighters.
A further 26,000 Boer civilians would die in British Concentration camps along with 20,000 Africans.

After years of tension between the two sides, the Boers finally declared war on the British on the 11th October 1899.


A Boer army under General Piet Joubert invaded the British colony of Natal and headed for the British, under General Penn Symons, based at Dundee, not far from Talana Hill.

General Penn Symons army consisted of the 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers, the 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers, the 1st Leicesters and the Kings Royal Rifles,.
They were accompanied by the 18th hussars and a couple of hundred mounted infantry and 3 batteries (13th, 67th, & 69th) from the Royal Artillery consisting of 18 field guns.

On the morning of Friday 20th October the Boers captured Talana Hill and started to shell the British Army.

General Penn Symons snapped: “How impudent of the Boers to start shelling before breakfast”
With breakfast ruined, the general immediately set about dislodging the Boers.

Having bombarded the enemy positions, Penn Symons ordered his infantry to storm the hill.
The battle of Talana Hill had started.
The 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers, the Kings Royal Rifles, and the 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers advanced up the 600 foot hill in close order - as if they were on parade at Aldershot.
They were sitting ducks for the Boer marksmen above.

With the British attack stalling, General Penn Symons rode to the front line to urged his men forward. As they charged he was mortally wounded by a bullet to his stomach.

The British stormed Talana Hill with a bayonet charge only to find that the Boers had silently vacated their positions and were riding away.

At that moment of victory, disaster struck when the Royal Artillery now started shelling their own men.

Meanwhile, the cavalry under Colonel Moller got hopelessly lost in the mist and ended up surrounded by the Boers. Out numbered and out-gunned his force of 150 British cavalrymen surrendered.

The Battle of Talana Hill was a hollow victory for the British.

Whilst the Boers had been pushed off the hill and lost around 200 men killed or wounded, the British had lost 51 men killed and 203 wounded.
They had also lost 150 men from Moller’s cavalry who had been captured.

To compound the sense of hollow victory, the British were ordered to evacuate Dundee and repeat to Ladysmith just 2 days later.

The next day, General Penn Symons died. His last words were: “Tell everyone I died facing the enemy.”

#battleoftalanahill #talanahillbattle #boerwar


Chapters

0:00 Introduction
0:39 The Boer War
4:27 General Penn Symons
6:58 Breakfast ruined
10:38 Talana Hill Battle
13:46 Friendly Fire
14:22 Moller gets lost
16:08 Casualties
18:33 Death of Penn Symons
20:25 The History Chap

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My name is Chris Green ("The History Chap") and I am on a mission to share the amazing history of Britain so that we can appreciate where we have come from and why we are here.

Just for the record, I do have a history degree and continue to have a passion for the subject I studied.

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