[2] A 40,000-strong Army Corps under the command of General Sir Redvers Buller was dispatched to South Africa and arrived in early November 1899.

[6] As the British force departed Orange River station, the 9th Lancers and Rimington's Guides conducted a reconnaissance from Fincham's Farm of the Belmont area, spotting several hundred Boers climbing up a kopje.

Methuen reached Thomas' Farm, 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Belmont, a day later, where his vanguard was fired upon by the Boers.

Without detailed reconnaissance, Methuen planned to focus the attack on the Boer positions running 100 ft above and to the east of the railroad, parallel to the railway line.

After capturing both positions, the British force would advance to the east against the other Boer line running parallel to the railway, which included Sugar Loaf Hill and Razor Back to the south and Mount Blanc, which, 100 ft higher than Table Mountain, dominated the region.

As many historians of the period and since have pointed out, the reason for such great losses was due to a lack of mobility and poor intelligence in the field with virtually no detailed cartography at the scale needed.