03 Jan Spionkop Battle – January 24/25, 1900 – assaulted by Kings Royal Rifles.
Posted at 14:03h
in KZN Photo Record Blog
Kings Royal Rifle Regiment monument between Twin Peaks at Spionkop. The battle (125 anniversary this year) was fought 24 January 1900. This monument requires a good climb.
Twin Peaks , Boer artillery positions during battle of Spionkop, January 1900. Spionkop battlefield is behind the left peak.
I have photographed most of Spionkop battlesight, a battle fought at the end of January 1900. The one monument I hadn’t seen was that in memory of the Kings Royal Rifles. Access is an arduous climb up one of two knolls (Twin Peaks) held by Boers and their artillery, enfilading the British positions, lower down on Spionkop. At the point of victory and upon reaching the knolls, Gen Buller ordered them (KRR) to retreat. The desperate men on the crest of Spionkop, lost their much needed relief and also withdrew and the battle was lost. The Boers had snatched victory (temporarily), from the jaws of defeat. I made the climb with Mark Mark Patrick Bland on 31 December 2023. The views are amazing with Spionkop Dam and the Drakensberg, a backdrop to this site of the bloody and bitter battle.
The effort to scale these heights was a of a victory for this nearly 70 year old ‘bullet’.