Elandslaagte

Elandslaagte had an important railway station close to Ladysmith which the Boers occupied when the Boer War began. This threatened to sever communications for the Boers from Ladysmith with their detachment at Dundee. The battle that ensued was almost the only time in which a British cavalry charge made contact with and managed to cut down the Boers. It was one of their few early successes and included leadership from later famous British officers like Ian Hamilton (who lead the Gallipoli campaign) and Sir John French (who went on to become Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) during WW1).