One of the most entertaining of the online True Believers is a fellow called John Elsegood. This figure of fun can always be relied on to provide a bit of hilarity and, somewhat remarkably, his qualifications for holding forth about the Boer War...
We had fired our salvo, and the Finns had replied with artillery fire of their own. De facto, the war had begun. There is, of course, another version of the facts: it’s said that the Finns started shooting first and that we were compelled...
The National Party Myth True Believers are an endlessly entertaining crew, and I recently stumbled across this perfect exemplar of their trademark combo of dishonesty and stupidity: Given that, in the real world, I rely on ‘official Brit data’ to...
I was recently made aware of a rather flattering ‘review’ of Eating Bananas which appeared on Facebook, and which was written by one of the most well-respected experts on South African military history: My military history interest...
I was recently made aware of a crackpot letter which has apparently appeared on one of the Boer War battlefield discussion groups. It is so completely beyond ridiculous and, indeed, Pythonesque, that it is difficult to believe it is genuine, but...
‘Some 1,700 men were to assault the hill … in the centre of the Boer position, and the rest of Buller’s 20,000 men were to look on and do nothing.’[1] Lieutenant-Colonel Charles à Court[2] sums up the folly of how Spion Kop was fought Fought on...
I recently read Barry Gregory’s ‘A History of the Artists Rifles, 1859 – 1947’. It is a book which has been out for a while, and offers an interesting insight into this peculiarly British regiment – a part-time, reserve unit, initially formed...
Most people have a naïve – perhaps, even, starry-eyed – notion about academia. For many, it is a place where loads of egg-heads wear cardigans and smoke pipes as they do research and experiments, where fresh, independent thinking is encouraged...
A well-known, and highly respected, expert on the Boer War recently penned a short review of my new book, ‘Eating Bananas in Durban’. He endeavoured to post this on a couple of the various Facebook Boer War discussion groups, but was surprised...
Fought on 15 December 1899, the Battle of Colenso was Buller’s first attempt to break through and relieve Ladysmith, which had been besieged by the invading Boers. As is well known, things went wrong almost from the start: on the British left, a...
Though the myths of the Boer War would have one believe the British were humiliatingly hammered in all the opening battles, the reality is pretty much the reverse. On the Western Front, the earliest three battles (Belmont, Graspan, and Modder...
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