Rohann’s rubbish

I was recently made aware of an especially stupid and ill-considered outburst made on one of the various Boer War Facebook groups. This time, the culprit was a chap called Rohann Schoombie, and he happily leapt online to make a complete and utter fool of himself:

It is always remarkable to me that Defenders of National Party myth are completely unaware of the inconvenient fact that the Boer War was started by the Boers invading British territory. The power of propaganda on the simple-minded should never be underestimated.

But what is even more ridiculous is the way that True Believers so often pretend that the Boers were ‘winning’ until the nasty British put everyone in concentration camps. Of course, not only is this total nonsense, but it is also utterly illogical: if the Boers were winning, how were the British able to put anyone in a concentration camp?

In reality – and as upsetting as it might be for one as fanatical and ignorant as Rohann to accept – the Boers had been thoroughly defeated in only about 9 months of Conventional War. Their invasions of Natal and Cape Colony had ended in defeat and disaster. They had surrendered en masse at Paardeberg and again at the Brandwater Basin. The capitals of the two republics had been captured, and Kruger – who had started the whole thing – had run away to Europe, like the coward he was. Outfought in the conventional war, the last ragtag bands of Boers had no choice but to resort to a aimless terrorist campaign – one which saw them being rounded up at the rate of 1,500 a month.

So by what possible standard, one wonders, does Rohann really think the Boers were ‘winning’?

It is also entertaining to see that the hapless Rohann declares the Boer War – which Great Britain won – to have been ‘the worst defeat the Brits endured in its existence’. If Rohann genuinely thinks that swiftly winning a war 8000 miles from home is the worst the British army has ever managed, that’s something of a compliment (though one that clearly demonstrates his complete lack of knowledge of military history).

But poor old, hopelessly blinkered Rohann made the mistake of making these silly comments to the estimable Tony Scott – a man who has forgotten more about the Boer War than the likes of Rohann will ever know (not that that is saying much!).

True to form, Mr Scott’s response was a slap-down of epic proportions: