Bloody Sunday (1900)

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Bloody Sunday

Date	February 18, 1900
Location	Modder River
Result	British victory

Combatants

Great Britain, Canada

Boers

Commanders

Horatio Kitchener

Piet Cronje

Strength

6,000

5,000

Casualties

1,100 total, including;
280 dead

1,000 dead
4,000 captured

Second Boer War
Talana Hill – Elandslaagte – Belmont – Modder River – Stormberg – Magersfontein – Colenso – Spion Kop – Bloody Sunday – Paardeberg – Ladysmith – Sanna's Post – Mafeking

Bloody Sunday of February 18, 1900, was a day of high Imperial casualties in the Second Boer War.

It occurred on the first day of the Battle of Paardeberg. A combined British-Canadian force of 6,000 finally trapped a group of 5,000 Boer soldiers and some civilians, under Piet Cronje, in a bend of the Modder River, having advanced from Ramden on the 11th. The Boers defended a series of trenches on Paardeberg Hill.

The Imperial commander, Kitchener (temporarily replacing the unwell Roberts), began the battle by ordering a charge straight at the Boer trenches. The land sloped down to the Boer position and lacked any cover for 800 metres or more. The Highland Brigade and the 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, led the attack.

The Boer soldiers withheld fire until the British soldiers were within 100 metres. The British were pinned and the exchange of fire continued until nightfall when the British withdrew. The Highlanders took almost 300 casualties; the Canadian losses were 18 dead and 60 wounded. Attacks elsewhere along the line resulted in a total 1,100 casualties, with 280 killed - the worst single day loss for the Imperial forces.

After the first assault Roberts retook command that evening. With the Boers trapped he ordered the digging of trenches and a bombardment, which continued for nine days. On February 27, after a confused night attack, the surviving Boer soldiers surrendered - around 4,000 in total.

A further 2,000 Imperial soldiers died or were invalided at Paardeberg from illness, mostly due to drinking the water of the Modder River, downstream from where the Boer were throwing horse and cattle corpses killed by the artillery fire.