On the morning of February 21, the second day after the occupation of Hlangwane, a pontoon bridge was thrown at a point between that hill and Colenso.

By midday of the 22nd nearly five brigades of infantry had crossed, and immediately afterwards the advance began.

That day and the two following were marked by extremely severe fighting, attended with alternate success and repulse, but the end was failure after very heavy losses.

The series of incidents is instructive as a military lesson on warfare in an intricate mountain region; but to follow it would require care and {p.297} attention, with elaborate maps, and even so would possess sustained interest only for the professional reader.
On the afternoon of February 20, Buller had telegraphed the fall of Hlangwane, adding, "the enemy seem to be in full retreat, and are apparently only holding a position which they occupy across the Colenso-Ladysmith railway, where it is close to the angle of the Tugela, with a weak rear-guard." The mention of the railroad shows that this impression of retreat concerned the enemy west of the bend and north of the river, but it proved to be entirely mistaken.

On the 24th of February, it is true, the Boers packed their wagons and moved them north of Ladysmith.[39] The fact testifies to the vigour of the assault and their consequent anxiety; but in the evening of that same day it had become apparent to the British that the resistance was still so strong that they could not get through by the direction taken, which, speaking generally, was that of the railroad.