Battle of Bergendal

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Bergendal


caption=
partof=Second Boer War
date=August 27, 1900
place=Belfast, South Africa
result=British victory
combatant1=flagicon|United Kingdom United Kingdom
combatant2=flagicon|Transvaal Transvaal
flagicon|Orange Free State Orange Free State
commander1=Lord Roberts
Redvers Buller
commander2=Louis Botha
strength1=19,000, 82 gunsPakenham, p.482]
strength2=7,000, 20 guns
casualties1=15 dead, 107 wounded or missingPakenham, p.483]
casualties2=14 killed, 19 prisoners, wounded: unknownThe Battle of Bergendal (also known as the Battle of Belfast) was the last set-piece battle of the Second Anglo-Boer War. It lasted from 21 to 27 August 1900 and took place at coord|25|44|4|S|30|5|36|E|type:landmark|display=inline,title 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 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 commandos. 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 Transvaal 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.

References

* Pakenham, Thomas. "The Boer War." New York: Avon Books, 1979. ISBN 0-380-72001-9
* [http://homepages.ucalgary.ca/~bclill/SMSS/pdf/jooste_smss2001.pdf The Battle of Bergendal: The Last Organized Battle of the Anglo-Boer War]

Footnotes