At this time the colonel, two majors, and four other officers of the Light Horse were hit.

It was to this resolute tenure of the key of the situation by a handful of men that Sir George White referred in a speech at Belfast.

"On January 6th, which has been alluded to as a tight day, had it not been for the Imperial Light Horse, Joubert might have been spending his Sunday (January 7) where I spent mine.

I think I may say of them they were the bravest men I ever had under my command." Colonel Ian Hamilton, the brigadier in command on the ridge, also wrote of them, "It will be made quite clear in my despatch that the Imperial Light Horse were second to none.

No one realizes more clearly than I do that they were the backbone of the defence during that long day's fighting."[30] In other parts of the field also the British loss of officers at this moment was heavy.
[Footnote 30: Burleigh's "Natal Campaign," p.