By Roxanne Reid
Spion Kop near Winterton in KwaZulu-Natal was the site of one of the most futile battles of the Anglo-Boer War. The Brits, frankly, made a bit of a hash of it. At the end of a long hot day of fighting, at least 380 people were dead but nothing much had been achieved. It’s a sad example of how to botch a battle.
Spion Kop near Winterton in KwaZulu-Natal was the site of one of the most futile battles of the Anglo-Boer War. The Brits, frankly, made a bit of a hash of it. At the end of a long hot day of fighting, at least 380 people were dead but nothing much had been achieved. It’s a sad example of how to botch a battle.
Imagine a skirmish in which the guy in command doesn’t even know he’s supposed to be calling the shots. Where a lot of energy goes into digging a trench at the top of a hill, only to find when the mist clears that you’re not really at the top; in fact, you’re being fired on by the enemy and are going to have to start all over again to dig another trench higher up.
The trenches and graves stretch on the Acre of Massacre at the top of the hill
We visited the site of the Spion Kop battle recently with Alastair Heron of Spion Kop Lodge. He and his father Raymond regularly take tours to the battlefields from their lodge nearby. Although you can visit Spion Kop on your own, I highly recommend going with a guide to make the day’s events, its sights, sounds and scents come alive.
Read about the miscommunication and cock-ups of the battle in my account of the tour on Getaway magazine's website.
Read about the miscommunication and cock-ups of the battle in my account of the tour on Getaway magazine's website.
The battlefield site has three monuments to those who fell at Spion Kop, this one to the British soldiers
Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
