TOPIC:

Rob,

I might be able to help a little with this one.

I visited the site on 15 July 1978, with Welly Hyde as tour guide. It was a very different place back then, accessible only with a serious 4x4.

My diary for that day states "we first saw what looked like a trench grave for the I.L.H. [sic - I.L.I.]. However, Welly was quick to tell us that there had never been a trench here, and that it was in fact a large communal grave". The photograph I took on the day shows our truck parked close to the "trench" you refer to in your post, confirming that Mr Hyde's comments relate to the same feature.

As I believe you are aware, Mr Hyde used his position on the War Grave's Board as an excuse to ferret about where ever he felt fit. He would therefore have known very well whether the linear feature contained human remains or not. From my diary it would seem that the answer to this is that it did.

Smail 1971 describes it as a mass grave to the Royal Lancasters, whereas I believe Welly told us it was the resting place for men of the Imperial Light Infantry. The length of the grave seems rather too long for thirty corpses (the number of I.L.I. casualties). Perhaps men from both regiments were buried here.








Smail 1971, p. 88





Smail 1971, p. 89. This map appears to be based on sketches made on the ground and is is extremely inaccurate.





Smail 1971, p. 86


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On close examination, this rather uninteresting photograph taken by Middlebrook appears to show an earthwork or sangar behind the main British trench.

The rubble in the foreground suggests that this was taken in front of the newly erected main memorial, and the orientation of the I.L.I. monument in the left distance seems to confirm this (see below).

Assuming Middlebrook used a lens with a c. 50-degree angle of view, the photograph depicts an area of ground that is now featureless. However, in the middle distance on the right, extending across about one third of the picture, what appears to be an earthwork is just discernible. The approximate location of this feature is marked in green on the aerial photograph below.






"The Exposed Top (No 2) - Battle ground of Spion Kop where the T.M.I., I.L.I., Lanc. Fusiliers and Middlesex Regt suffered so severely - Jan 24th 1900" (Photographed by Middlebrook, Durban).
What appears to be an earthwork or sangar can be seen in the middle distance on the right. The lower image is a close-up of the western end of this feature (about half of what is visible in the photograph).





These two images show the different viewing angles of the I.L.I. Monument. The first is a photograph taken from the northern end of the eastern arm of the main British trench, where the memorial is seen face on. The second is a close-up of the Middlebrook photograph. The angle of view indicates that this was taken from a position roughly 22.5 degrees to the west of the first image. This places the photographer on a line that passes directly through the main Spion Kop memorial (see below).




Image from Google Maps, showing the approximate position of the photographer, the angle of view (in red) and the location of the earthwork (in green).


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Neville, I think you are correct. There are several large schantzes south of the main trench, where reinforcements sheltered as there was no room for them in the forward positions, and the approach to the forward positions was swept at close range (200-400m) by concealed Boers on the perimeter to the north and northeast. I wonder if your featture is recogniseable from satellite as A in Google Earth? I have marked other obvious large schantzes on the satellite image. In reality most cover would have been behind the usual small schantzes made of football-sized stones which have fallen down under so many visitors' feet, or large boulders which couldn't be moved into a line under fire.
Both The Times history and the Official History show men sheltering in schantzes south of the main trenches.

I'm finding this thread very interesting gentlemen. Thank you for sharing your knowledge here.

Looking forward to your talk Rob. I've booked an online place.

Ian

Another early photograph.

"SACRED / TO THE / MEMORY OF / THE / OFF’s NCO’s & MEN / OF THE / 2ND BATT. / MIDDLESEX RGT. / KILLED / HERE"




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This photograph seems to predate the one shown above. The shield is yet to be affixed to the Middlesex Regiment cross and he grave fill appears freshly dug.
By contrast, the earth in the image above is compacted, and plants have begun to grow on the grave surface.




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