The British Army’s “Black Week”, Part II: Stormberg and Colenso

Part 1 of this article dealt with the 1st Division’s march to relieve Kimberley, which ended in defeat at Magersfontein. Almost simultaneously, the commander of British forces in South Africa and the public at home received news of a second reverse, suffered just a day earlier on another front of the war against the Boers – on 10 December 1899 at Stormberg, in the eastern part of Cape Colony. Five days later, the strongest British force in South Africa, hurrying to relieve besieged Ladysmith, attempted to break through the Boer defences on the Tugela River. The result was the Battle of Colenso, which crowned “Black Week”.