some time been in favour of it, but he had intended that it should be more than a mere turning operation.  His advance from Bloemfontein had driven many of the commandos into the N.E. corner of the Free State, and he asked Buller to cross the Drakensberg and take them in rear by passing into the Transvaal by way of Vrede; but Buller could not be persuaded to remove himself so far from the railway.  He had already missed an opportunity of co-operating with the main advance by a westward movement from Ladysmith to Van Reenen’s Pass along the railway to Harrismith, where the presence of a division of the Natal Army would have been of the greatest use.  The relations between Lord Roberts and Buller during the Natal campaign were rather those of leaders commanding the armies of allied nations than of superior officer and subordinate.

Thus the westward movement, instead of being a helpful operation at large in support of the main advance, was whittled down to the turning of Laing’s Nek.  Between Botha’s Pass and Laing’s Nek the dominant contours roughly assume the outline of a sickle and its handle, the Pass being at the end of the handle and the Nek near the point of the blade.  Within the curve of the blade stands the high Inkwelo Mountain facing Majuba Hill, and at the upper end of the handle is a mountain of less elevation called Inkweloane.  The Ingogo River, which rises near the Pass, is flanked on its right bank by Van Wyk’s Hill, which commands the eastern approach to the Pass, and on its left bank by Spitz Kop, a detached hill of the main range.

Inkwelo had been held for some days by a portion of Clery’s Division.  The Boers occupied Spitz Kop and the ridge from Inkweloane to the Pass and a short section beyond it, but their line was thin.  The Vryheid and Utrecht affairs had deceived them into the belief that an eastward turning movement was in contemplation.  On June 6 Van Wyk’s Hill was occupied by Hildyard and held against the enemy on Spitz Kop, who attempted to dislodge him; and by the following morning artillery had been brought up, and the Pass and the enemy’s position on the adjacent crestline were commanded.  These on June 8 were carried by an infantry movement in echelon with loss of two men killed.  Spitz Kop offered no resistance.  A fusillade broke out on Inkweloane, but Dundonald’s brigade soon quenched it by a determined ascent up alpine slopes to the crestline As at Helpmakaar the enemy set fire to the grass and passed away behind a veil of smoke.

The capture of Botha’s Pass was an affair which did credit to Buller.  It showed that since Colenso he had learnt how to use artillery, and his disposition of his guns was admirable.  They rendered the enemy’s position untenable and left little but hard climbing to the infantry.  It can hardly be termed a battle, it was rather an autumn manoeuvre engagement, conducted on Lord Roberts’ principles.  A very important position was won and the enemy driven back with scarcely the shedding of a drop of blood on either side.  Hildyard was in executive charge of the operations.