Battle of Talana Hill 1899 - Anglo Boer War (South Africa)
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- 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.
Disclaimer: All opinions and comments expressed in the 'Comments' section do not reflect the opinions of Chris Green Communication Ltd t/a The History Chap. All opinions and comments should contribute to the dialogue. Chris Green Communication Ltd does not condone written attacks, insults, racism, sexism, extremism, violence or otherwise questionable comments or material in the 'Comments' section, and reserves the right to delete any comment violating this rule or to block any poster from the channel.
My Grandfather was there...he was a military policeman...He died just before i was born...what great stories he could have told me...
Wow, wouldn’t it have been fascinating to listen to him?
Thank you,From an Irishman here in Svendborg,Denmark.
My pleasure. Best wishes from Chester.
Hi Thomas. As an Irishman you might be interested in the book "McBrides Brigade-Irish Commandos in the Anglo-Boer War" by Donal P. McCraken. It tells the story of the most famous foreign unit that fought with the Boers. It was actually commanded by Irish-American Colonel John Blake a former US Calvaryman and veteran of the Indian wars including the campaign against Geronimo.
Thank you so much for this. My maternal grandmother was a young kid in Dundee, in 1899, and she recalled the battle. My own High School was opposite Talana Hill. Really appreciate all your work and bringing awareness of the history of my great country, South Africa.
Glad you found it interesting. Thanks for watching
A great presentation as always!! The word "uitlander"meaning outlander may be pronounced eightlander. As a South African I your effort without bias and well presented. Keep them comming!!!
Very kind of you, thanks.
Thank you Chris.
My pleasure.
I have been to that battlefield and the museum. The stumps of those old eucalyptus trees still remain.
Thanks for sharing
Excellent presentation as ever. I always find myself drawn into your talks and wishing they were longer. Well done sir!
Thanks for your support.
@@TheHistoryChap Another interesting thing is that Jan Smuts was a legal advisor at Cecil John Rhodes's de Beers consolidated diamond mines until the Jameson raid when he resigned in disgust and left for the Transvaal where he became the Transvaal state attorney then a general in the Boer Transvaal army
Yet another RIPPING great video
Glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks a lot for sharing this with us big dog.
My pleasure.
Amazing presentation that was informative and captivating with your enthusiasm that is an inspiration to all of us who enjoy the battles that have shaped the British influence in the world militarily and politically to speak nothing of the discipline required of fighting men and women. You sir bring it all together...I thank you!
Thanks for your kind words.
same
once again,thanks so much
My pleasure.
good job Chris
Gerard, thanks for watching.
Thanks Chris - very interesting - cheers
My pleasure.
Fascinating. Thanks Chris. Good weekend.
Great weekend down in the Cotswolds. Thanks for watching.
Very well presented, the Boer war is not something that we were taught at school, so I'm really enjoying this catch up.
Glad you enjoyed it.
YOUR VIDEOS HAVE MADE ME A GREAT FAN OF YOURS,CHRIS!GOD BLESS YOU FOR MAKING THEM!
Thank you for those very kind words. Much appreciated.
@@TheHistoryChap Yours truly meant every word!Honestly,you deserve far more than 45.5Thousand subscribers!☺
Excellent once again.
My pleasure. Thanks for watching.
Brilliant! So interesting with all twists and turns, as per usual! 👍
Many thanks. Glad you enjoyed.
Stirling stuff as usual. Brilliant enthralling story told with your usual zest for history. Your enthusiasm is infectious. Thank you. :)
Thanks for your kind words of support.
Sterling!
But I do agree!
@@zen4men Thank autocorrect and my lack of proofreading for that! It should actually say "stirring"!
@@Matelot123
Easily done!
Another fascinating video as always
Thanks for watching.
Well Done!!! Thank You!!!
My pleasure. Glad you enjoyed.
Another absorbing and informative video. Thank You.
My pleasure. Thanks for watching.
That was extremely interesting. I thank you for these posts because they are teaching me so much. Love it!
Thanks for your kind words.
Another Great Story, well-researched. Thanks Chris
My pleasure. Thanks for watching.
My Friday lunchtime is now complete. Another winner from the History Chat. 😊
Glad you enjoyed.
Amidst victory.... retreat. A long with great leadership and a mediocre junior commanders. Yet British forces prevail against all odds. However the Boers fought well, and generally speaking were well led . However implementing faulty tactics . The retreat by Britain's Army of South Africa is the most galling. Having to abandoned wounded and the dead and supplies to enemy hard to accept. But in the end Britain prevailed against all odds. This indeed is the best presentation of the forgotten battle of Talana Hill . Thank you Sir.👏👊👍🙏
I agree, that the retreat must have been galling. Thanks for posting your comment.
@@TheHistoryChap thank you Sir for being gracious.
They prevailed, but not against all odds. All the odds were in their favor in terms of military might.
This was fabulous!! Thank you! [I listened while marking exams!]
Glad you enjoyed.
Thanks again Chris, excellent video. I did pop out to watch the Yorkshire Vet briefly. But raced back so as not to lose track of the story. Just brilliant piece of storytelling, and a piece of the Boer War that I was not familiar with. Cheers
Andrew, thanks for your kind words.
Congratulations! I enjoy your knowledge and talent to produce such interesting videos.
Thank you for watching.
Interesting opening to the Second Boer War a mix of bravery, and incompetence by Lt Col Mollar of the 18th Royal Hussars, though I believe only A Squadron was captured. Great presentation, keep up the good work!
My pleasure. Thanks for your support.
Thanks for this one, Chris, I wasn't aware that there had been a British victory so early on in the war... But talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory! Just what would we have done without Colonel Moller?
Strangely enough he never commanded the Hussars again!
Great info. Portugal received between 1901 and 1902 some 1300 boer refugees, women, children, some of whom were born in Portugal, and men, many if whom firstly had escaped to Moçambique, and then found their way to Portugal, where they lived until peace came. Thanks for sharing.
Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.
excellent!!
Thanks.
Great history lesson!
Thanks for watching.
Thanks for explaining the background to the Boer War.
My pleasure thanks for watching
The British high command, like some of their American counterparts, thought the Mauser would encourage soldiers to waste ammo, and thus resisted it's introduction into the British Army. As the History Chap mentioned, the British learned from the Boer war, and soon made sure all army units had the new Lee-Enfield rifles which had been first issued in 1888 to some units. In fact, by WW1 the British soldiers were accomplished riflemen superior to any in Europe and the Army still used it into the 1960s. Though the Boers had good artillery they were not as well drilled as the British who had ammo to spare for constant practice.
Grateful for your contribution.
Thank you for another very interesting video
Glad you enjoyed it.
I feel so bad for the boers
Shame they then adopted Apartheid. South African history could have been so different.
I read somewhere that some of those Irishmen serving with the Boer Irish Brigade knew some of those Irishmen they captured who were serving with the Royal Dublin Fusiluers! By the way I loved your documentary about Sir William Robertson DSO. Churchill wanted Sir William to command the British army in Ireland in 1919/1920 but due to the latter's estranged relations with Lloyd George the PM appointed General Neville McCready for the role due to his experience of police and military duties.
John, thanks for both your kind comments and your additional information about Robertson and Ireland.
I really enjoy your historic recounts of various British battles of the past even though they include death and desrtuction and loss of human life but I guess thats war , nobody survives a war even the winners .
Glad you are enjoying. Thanks for watching.
Doesn't it piss you off as an Englishman and alliances from our islands scots and french plus here the Irish joining in ,we took on any foe proud to be a Brit and Englishman nobody's done more than our armed forces 👊🇬🇧
Thanks for taking the time to comment
@@TheHistoryChap your very welcome Chris ,my time and effort is nothing to your great efforts to bring it to us ,and we all love it because we love history especially our own rich and noble history ,we've done more good for this world than bad god save the king 🇬🇧
super documentary and narration.
Very kind of you, thanks
Never underestimate your enemy. A lesson that is often forgotten...Vladimir!
Indeed. Thanks for giving that modern perspective.
How about doing a video on the only cadet unit to have it’s own battle honour….the KRRC cadets who have “South Africa” as their battle honour (they still wear the old black Maltese cross cap badge with “South Africa” on it despite now being part of the Rifles)
Will add to my list.
Once again engaging engaging engaging
Glad you enjoyed it.
Do you know what happened to the captured cavalry? Once again a great story told.
They ended up in Pretoria but not sure what subsequently happened to them
I wonder will there ever be a time when we’re not inadvertently drawn into somebody else’s war?
Interesting question.
I own 2 Mauser 8mm rifles. Those weapons in the hands of the Boers were formidable.
It was actually a 7 mm and yes they were formidable.
Thanks for sharing.
Yes, the "8mm Mauser" is the 7.92x57mm, used in the M1898 of WW1 era on into WW2 with the K98s. A lot of unregistered K98s came back to the US after WW2 and are still being used as hunting rifles here. It's basically a perfected version of the 7x57mm.
Hmm I was under the impression the red coat-British uniform was out of use by the 2nd boer war.
They were but Victorian painters still preferred to depict red uniforms rather than dull khaki. They did the same at the Battle of Omdurman.
Well done, as always. Gold, diamonds and greed, that's what the Brits were all about, nothing more...a pyrrhic victory, no?...
Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Mr History Chap; a question.
Do you think the large number of VCs bestowed on the soldiers who defended Rorke’s Drift May ha e to do with the British military leadership trying to make up for their terrible defeat the same day?
In one word: “Yes” 😁
@@TheHistoryChap That reason frankly dawned on me only the other day and that is long after the movie Zulu introduced me to the Zulu War when I was a kid of 14 some 58 years ago. I otherwise just thought, oh, what a bunch of real heroes that happened to come to the attention of the leadership only because of the heroic stand they made. The other day I finally realized that there must have been literally hundreds of other soldiers, sailors and airmen who have acted even more courageously and under just as overwhelming odds but never got the recognition. And, I asked myself, so what so many from this one fight. I'm not trying to take away from any person who faught at Rorke's Drift but some of the feats were not actually that impressive except for the fact that they were under such heavy attack. I am enjoying your reports. Well done; informative and with some dry British humor if I may say.
As a South African I enjoyed that, many years ago I went to Talana Hill museum and Fort Durnford but had forgotten the history
Glad it served as a reminder.
"Friendly fire is not" - Murphy's Military Laws
Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Even though he was mortally wounded at Talana Hill in the beginning days of the Boer War, Symonns demonstrated he was one of the most competent officers in the British Army. I find it surprising that despite their shooting prowess, the Boers lost a few of their guns to the British. What I also find surprising is that Symonns and White were both lieutenant generals at the time of the Boer War yet at Talana Hill, Symonns commanded a brigade sized force of 4,000 men and White commanded a division of 12,000 men though Lord Chelmsford did command 6,600 men in the initial invasion of Zululand in the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879, a force which grew in the second invasion. Ewing should have been court- martialed for leaving all his wounded and supplies at the battlefield. In a later battle in the war, Smith-Dorrien had been ordered to leave his wounded behind but got them out in a skilled withdrawal. The Boers were a most honorable people for paying their respects to the opposing commander and burying him. I would like to mention through research I have done on the guns used, the Boers had quick firing Krupp guns, but they fired 9 and 10 pound shells. the British possessed guns that couldn't fire as fast but fired 15 pound shells thus giving them a slight advantage. Also, though the Boers had smokeless Mauser rifles, the British were starting to carry smokeless Lee-Enfield rifles which combined with it's 10 round magazine would have put them on almost equal footing with the Boers, though that ended up not being the case. Perhaps it's safe to say Talana Hill was a hollow tactical victory for the British which turned into a strategic defeat. Very pitiful. Hey Chris, wanted to know, besides Mons, would the skirmish at Landrecies be worth a video?
Nathan, thanks for taking the time to contribute to the discussion.
Could you do a video on breaker morant.
Between the wars and the diseases it is amazing that any of us are here
Laughing 🤣
I've been trying to get something on the battle of Tugela on TH-cam. But only got a 1hl hour long video. I'd like it if you could make a video of it.
Thanks for the suggestion. I will add it to my ever-growing list of requests.
Watch this space, or better still subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss future videos
An absolute pleasure to learn from you videos.
My question is: Did the 69th Regiment of Foot fight in this battle?"
I'm glad you are enjoying them.
My understanding is that the 69th Regiment of Foot amalgamated with the 41st Regiment to form the Welsh Regiment in 1881 (later re-named the Welch Regiment). Whilst two battalions of the Welsh Regiment fought in the Boer War neither was present at Talana.
A TACTICAL "victory"....a grand tactical defeat
Not a bad way to sum it up.
Why didn't they leave those people alone. All those people dying in prison must've left a terrible and sinful stain on the Empire. Look how soldiers died on the prison ships in the Revolutionary War with America. Shame on them
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Not exactly related, but is there any other army, with such a variety of headgear...?
Not sure. The French have some cracking uniforms over the years.
@@TheHistoryChap True. I suppose many nations have.
McBride's execution was depicted in the film Michael Collins.
Thanks for your feedback
19:33 how many civilians!!!
Over 40,000 counting both Boers and black Africans
At school they never taught about this rich history , they taught us how teeth does a dog have ,
how many legs does lizard have , etc.
The miseducate us so severely.
Thanks for watching my video.
Love your videos. Just one point. 6 000 Boer women and children? The number is closer to 26 000
Not sure you hear correctly.
What I said was: "A War that would drag on for another 3 years, costing the lives of of 26,000 british and imperial soldiers (including those from Canada, Australia and new Zealand) and 6, 000 Boer fighters.
A further 26,000 Boer civilians would die in British Concentration camps along with 20,000 Africans."
@@TheHistoryChapMy mistake. Great series.
It would have been interesting if the Boarers would have united with the Zulu's to deal with the British ? Enemy of my Enemy theory .
Could have been interesting but there was no love lost between those two peoples.
The boars hated the Zulus with a vengeance, way more than they hated the British. They seen the British as being too soft on the black peoples of southern Africa. Remember it was the Boars who originally occupied and colonised Africa.
As it happened the local chieftains tended to side with the British though not to any real degree.
This principle carried on right into WW2 with the Germans taking over the Bad Guys mantel with a minority of Boars supporting them.
One thing people who had to fight the British back then don't realize is that the leadership of the empire didn't care how many of their underclass soldiers you killed or wounded. Eventually they would wear you down.
Thanks fr watching my video & taking the time to comment.
"Outlanders" is pronounced "ate-lander"
Thanks for your help.
Trust us Irish to be fighting for both sides lol , Boer war ,American war of independence and civil war, American Mexican war , Spanish civil war, our own independence war and of course for the French against the British European conflicts.
Made me laugh :)
Don't forget the Norman Invasion of Ireland. Instigated by and Irish King asking the Normans to Invade his own country for him.
This is what real history does. The Boer wars must be the most glossed-over of all Britain's colonial wars. This is showing the nasty side of a truly lousy series of engagements and political obfuscation.
Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Interesting figures tell the tale of how good the ‘rag tag ‘ Boer army really was . British strength 550,000 v Boer 60,000 . British KIA 26000 , Boer 6000 . British casualties 125,000 v Boer 30,000 . Conclusion , the Rag Tags sure knew how to fight ! Bit like Russia and Ukraine .On this occasion we all pray for Ukraine 🇺🇦 victory .
Your figures are incorrect. The British and Empire troops had over 9,000 KIA and the vast majority of British and Empire troops died of disease.
Mute point John the British Forces still outnumbered Boers 9 to 1 . British KIA & DOW . 7880 v Boer 4914 despite their inferior numbers . Three of my uncles served with The Seventh Australian Commonwealth Horse with LtC Chauvel in that war . However a soldier knows when you go to war and don’t come home the result matters little . I like this fellows posts very interesting and well presented .
Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Grant grant father's place.
Thanks for watching my video & for sharing your family story.
Interrupting a General's breakfast? [0:14] Is nothing sacred? How boorish.
Thanks for watching my video and for taking the time to comment
How bad was that cavalry's luck to somehow run into Fenians in Africa?
Ha ha.
FULL STOP, not "period"!
Please don't pander to the Americans. We are, after all, divided by a shared language.
😉
Thank you for sharing.
Am I the only one noticing an increasing anti British stance in these stories?
Probably
Makes you wonder how lame the rest of the world was back then to be run over by the lunkheaded British empire.
Interesting point