1. The raid on Surprise Hill, 10/11th December 1899

On the night of 10th December 1899 the 2nd Battalion of the
Rifle Brigade launched an attack on a troublesome Boer gun on Surprise Hill, to
the north of Ladysmith. This followed a successful foray by the Colonial
troops, the Imperial Light Horse, Natal Carbineers and the Border Mounted
Rifles on three Boer guns on Gun Hill three nights previously.

2. Original Rifle Brigade monument

Some time after Ladysmith was relieved, the Rifle Brigade erected a monument at the foot of
Surprise Hill to commemorate their feat, inscribed with the names of those who
were killed and buried nearby in a mass grave. Lieutenant Gilbert Ferguson’s
name is included even though his body was taken into Ladysmith for burial in
the Borough cemetery. Some years ago the monument was vandalised by people
digging for artefacts. It collapsed into a heap of stones. Only later was the
white marble plaque with the names of those Riflemen who died in the attack,
smashed into fragments.

3. The rebuilt monuments

In 2009 the monument was rebuilt. Jan Human, on whose farm the monument is sited, and Eugene Campher,
who is passionate about anything connected with Ladysmith’s history, worked for some years to achieve this result.

9. Tin Town cemetery

Those buried at the foot of Surprise Hill were reinterred at Tin Town cemetery but only recently was a plaque with their names placed there.

19. Krupp howitzer

A Krupp 12cm howitzer weighed close to a ton and was drawn by a team of twelve mules. To succeed in dragging it up the reverse slope of Surprise Hill was a considerable feat. The reverse slope of the hill is considerably less steep than the front but nevertheless it took considerable resource and ingenuity to get it up onto the fairly flat but very rocky summit. It was done without the British realising, until it opened fire, that there was even a gun on Surprise Hill. Several redoubts were built out of the rock existing on the hilltop and the gun may have fired from at least two positions. The provision of ammunition was a serious difficulty. Each round weighed 35 pounds and would have to be brought from Modderspruit Station and carried up to the hilltop. Possibly local black people were employed for this laborious task. This clearly explains why the gun fired only intermittently even though it could easily hit any target in Ladysmith.

35. Surprise Hill

This is Surprise Hill, a steep hill to the north west of Ladysmith. It had born the name of Mdaka (or Vaalkop in Afrikaans) until, to the surprise of the British, the Boers dragged their gun to the summit and opened fire. Henceforth the hill was called Surprise Hill. It was almost 3½ miles from King’s Post and rose 700 feet above the valley between Thornhill’s Kop and Bell’s Kop.

36. Gunners of the ZAR Staatsartillerie on Surprise Hill

Its flat summit was a superb position for one of the best Boer artillery pieces, a 12cm Krupp howitzer. This gun outranged all of the British field guns in Ladysmith, except for their 4.7 inch Naval gun for which there was very little ammunition.. It was mounted low on its carriage which had relatively small, sturdy wheels. Although intended as a siege weapon, the Boers managed to transport it easily over rough terrain. It was a quick-firing gun which used a brass cartridge case.

38. Lt Col S.P.E. Trichardt and Gen Daniel Erasmus

After the Gun Hill attack, surprisingly, the Boers did not step up their watchfulness nor increase the number of men guarding their gun positions. Only on 10th December did Lieutenant Colonel S.P.E. Trichardt address a letter to General Daniel Erasmus remonstrating about the weak force guarding the howitzer on Vaalkop (Surprise Hill). He said that while there were 30 men in the guard detail, only 2 of them remained on guard while the rest went to sleep to the rear of the emplacement. Trichardt required Erasmus to urgently increase the guard to 50 so that at least 10 of these should remain awake and watchful. An extra picquet had been placed at the foot of Vaalkop under the command of Corporal Tossel, formerly a detective in the Z.A.R.P., but this was the only extra measure put in place by General Erasmus. It was too late – Metcalfe and his men were shortly to be on their way to attack the hill.

44. Robin Smith's map of the attack

At the foot of Surprise Hill ‘B’ and ‘G’ companies formed outwards to try and prevent the Boers working round the flanks. Captain Johnny Gough and ‘A’ Company had been chosen to lead the attack. His company advanced straight up the hill but with a gap in their line in case the Boer gun should open fire. Clearly, the British believed their climb would be detected long before they reached the top. British army footwear from the Victorian era until 1958 was so-called ‘ammunition boots’ – BGS or Boots General Service. They were unlined ankle-boots with leather uppers and sides, iron heel-plate and toe-plate, and an iron-studded leather sole. They were designed to be hard-wearing and
long-lasting rather than comfortable. By the time they were half way up, any idea of not being heard seemed out of the question, as the noise of ammunition boots on the rocks, and the constant clatter of men slipping and stumbling sounded terrific to their ears. Only very near the top was there a challenge from a Boer sentry – “Wer da?” repeated twice and followed by a shot from his rifle. Metcalfe, as had been pre-arranged, shouted out “Fix bayonets!” and the
Riflemen gave wild cheer and charged over the crest.