Black Week
Michael Enright IB Diploma 2005
In general, Black Week was a period, in 1899, of crushing defeats for the British who were very accustomed to frequent victories. During this period, the Boers won several significant battles against the British.
General Events of Black Week, Three Major Losses:
Britain had committed more military resources to the Boer War than any other war in their history. In fact, there had even been public funds, which British civilians contributed to. Needless to say, with all of this effort, Britain expected victory.
The Battle of Stromberg:
The British lost this battle because the circumstances were quite simply against them. General Gatacre was in charge of the British Army and found that his troops for this task consisted of only 900 men of the Royal Irish Rifles, about 600 of the 2nd Berkshire Regiment, very small detachments of the Royal Garrison Artillery and Royal Engineers, and a few hundred local volunteers. Later more troops were sent but they were new to the war and not familiar with South Africa. This limited fighting force was now about to face the Boers who had assembled 3,000 men.
As the battle ensued, the Boers cut railway lines, which the British had relied on. Despite this, Gatacre decided to proceed with the attack. The task looked to be a difficult one as can be imagined; however, Gatacre had much endurance and pressed on, unfortunately, he assumed that his men had just as much, which they did not.
The final problem was that the guide to the British troops got them lost and led them past the very spot where Gatacre had ordered the attack be started. The extra miles of marching made the already weak troops even more tired and when the battle finally came they had to scramble up steep hills, the troops grew too weary to win and the battle was lost.
This battle accomplished nothing for the British and resulted in 25 killed, 110 wounded, and the loss of nearly 600 soldiers as prisoners of war. On the Boer side, only 8 men were killed and 26 were wounded.
The Battle of Magersfontein:
The British troops in the Battle of Magersfontein were headed by Lord Methuen who whished to advance their position and get British troops closer to Kimberly. His troops had been strengthened for this task; he had 100 mounted infantry and new artillery. At the same time, the Boers had strengthened their troops and when the battle occurred it began to storm. To add to the problem, it was a night march as well. The Boers were snugly entrenched in front of a hill when the British approached and could easily win.
The Battle of Colenso:
Black week ended with the Battle of Colenso, during this battle, the Boers were so well hidden that they were virtually invisible to British troops. The casualty list was more than one thousand names long. 136 were killed, 47 officers and 709 soldiers were wounded, and 23 officers and 220 men were taken prisoner or reported missing.