COLENSO, a village on the Tugela river in Natal, 16m. S. of Ladysmith, was the scene of a battle in the South African War (q.v.) on Dec. 15, 1899, between the Boers and the British force under Gen. Buller, which was endeavouring to relieve Lady smith (q.v.). Buller, having assembled 20,000 men at Chieveley, moved forward, after two days' preliminary bombardment, to at tack about an equal force of Boers under Louis Botha, who had entrenched themselves in a strong position on the north bank of the Tugela. Little was known by the British of the enemy posi tions or of the country they were to fight over. Two brigades were engaged, the one in a frontal attack at Colenso, the other 2m. far ther west in what was intended to be a flank attack, but eventually also became frontal. The artillery supporting the right attack, coming into action within close range of the Boer positions, was quickly silenced; the infantry advance did not take place, and ten guns, despite repeated gallant attempts to bring them off, fell into Boer hands. The left brigade early lost direction and coming under concentric fire in a loop of the river suffered considerably and had to be withdrawn. Although little more than half his force had been engaged, Buller before mid-day issued orders to break off the action and return to camp. The so-called battle had, in fact, been little more than a reconnaissance in force, in which practically no loss had been inflicted on the Boers; but its moral effects, coming immediately after two other British defeats in the same week at Stormberg and Magersfontein, were consider able ; Britain and the empire for the first time realized the true difficulty of effectively subduing the resistance of the South Afri can republics, and were roused to efforts commensurate with the task.