Anyone who stands on Gun Hill near Chieveley can see the whole of the Boer position about Colenso sweeping before him in a wide curve.  The mountain wall looks perfectly unbroken.  The river lies everywhere buried in its gorge, and is quite invisible.  To the observer there is only a smooth green bay of land sloping gently downward, and embraced by the rocky, scrub-covered hills.  Along this crescent of high ground runs—­or rather, by God’s grace, ran the Boer line, strong in its natural features, and entrenched from end to end.  When the map is consulted, however, it is seen that the Tugela does not flow uniformly along the foot of the hills as might be expected, but that after passing Colenso village, which is about the centre of the position, it plunges into the mountainous country, and bends sharply northward; so that, though the left of the Boer line might appear as strong as the right, there was this difference, that the Boer right had the river on its front, the Boer left had it in its rear.

The attack of the 15th of December had been directed against the Boer right, because after reconnaissance Sir Redvers Buller deemed that, in spite of the river advantage, the right was actually the weaker of the two flanks.  The attack of the 15th was repulsed with heavy loss.  It might, therefore, seem that little promise of success attended an attack on the Boer left.  The situation, however, was entirely altered by the great reinforcements in heavy artillery which had reached the army, and a position which formerly appeared unassailable now looked less formidable.

Let us now consider the Boer left by itself.  It ran in a chain of sangars, trenches, and rifle pits, from Colenso village, through the scrub by the river, over the rugged hill of Hlangwani, along a smooth grass ridge we called ‘The Green Hill,’ and was extended to guard against a turning movement on to the lofty wooded ridges of Monte Cristo and Cingolo and the neck joining these two features.  Sir Redvers Buller’s determination was to turn this widely extended position on its extreme left, and to endeavour to crumple it from left to right.  As it were, a gigantic right arm was to reach out to the eastward, its shoulder at Gun Hill, its elbow on Hussar Hill, its hand on Cingolo, its fingers, the Irregular Cavalry Brigade, actually behind Cingolo.

On February 12th a reconnaissance in force of Hussar Hill was made by Lord Dundonald.  On the 14th the army moved east from Chieveley to occupy this ground.  General Hart with one brigade held Gun Hill and Railhead.  The First Cavalry Brigade watched the left flank at Springfield, but with these exceptions the whole force marched for Hussar Hill.  The Irregular Cavalry covered the front, and the South African Light Horse, thrown out far in advance, secured the position by half-past eight, just in time to forestall a force of Boers which had been despatched, so soon as the general movement of the British was evident,