Background
Buller's army had made three earlier attempts to raise the Boer siege of Ladysmith. The battles of Colenso, Spionkop and Vaal Krantz each resulted in embarrassing British defeats at the hands of Botha's army of Boer irregulars. In three months, British casualties rose to 3,400 men while Boer losses were much lower. On 12 February, Buller ordered a fourth attempt to relieve Ladysmith. He hoped to exploit his ten-to-one superiority in artillery and four-to-one advantage in numbers.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of The Tugela Heights
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