The total British armament now gathered on the south side of the
Tugela has been variously stated at from 20,000 to 23,000 of all arms.
The smaller figure seems the more probable. As regards the number of
their opponents, there is no certain information. Nothing is known,
however, to reduce the estimate previously given--30,000. Allowing for
the necessity of holding in check the garrison at Ladysmith, the Boers
could very well meet Buller in force numerically equal, without taking
account of the passive advantages of a defensive position unusually
strong.

That night were distributed the British orders for forcing the passage
of the Tugela. They were issued by Sir Francis Clery, as commanding
the South Natal Field Forces; but Sir Redvers Buller, by the language
of his subsequent report, has left no doubt that the plan embodied his
own ideas, as Commander-in-Chief in {p.220} South Africa generally,
but present on this scene. This report is the guide in the following
account, the narratives of others having been by the writer used to
supplement or, where necessary, to elucidate.

The general line of the Tugela, for a half-dozen miles above Colenso,
is nearly due east, but its course is extremely winding. In this
section two or three bends of nearly a mile in bulge occur, one of
which had quite an influence in the action. The town itself lies in a
bight of this kind, just west of the railroad, which crosses the river
by a bridge, at that time destroyed. Immediately above it, however, an
iron road-bridge still remained. The latter is the centre of a
semicircle of hills, which surround it to the northward, their crests
being on an average some 1,400 feet high and distant four and a half
miles. The bridge was also the centre of battle, as planned by the
British. Near it, on the north side, are "four small, lozenge-shaped,
steep-sided, hog-backed hills," the one nearest the water, on which
Fort Wylie stands, being the lowest, the others rising in succession
behind. {p.221} They were all "strongly entrenched, with well-built,
rough stone walls along every crest that offered, there being in some
cases three tiers." It was upon these that Buller designed to make his
principal effort. "It was a very awkward position to attack," he says,
"but I thought that if I could effect a lodgment under cover of Fort
Wylie the other hills would to a great extent mask each other, and
shell-fire and want of water would clear them out in time.