Episode 32 - The English swarm over South Africa

This is episode 32 - the English swarm over South Africa. I have borrowed the title from a Chapter in Christian De Wet’s book published in 1902 called "Three Years War" and this week we will prepare to march with British Army commander in chief Lord Roberts towards his goal, Pretoria. Its also a perfect moment to take a closer look at some of the international soldiers fighting on the side of the Boers and spend some time with Deneys Reitz in the saddle and sniping at the British as they roll across the veld. And a big shout out to thank all the listeners who’ve sent me messages of support and for your suggestions. There’re too many to mention all but in particular to Stoffel Nel for the background and research material, thanks for sharing its helped greatly. And Kevin Jackson who has sent photographs of a Boer War memorial in Nelson, New Zealand’s south island, I’ve loaded these on the website and Facebook page - thanks so much. To Mike in the U.S. who’s asked for more maps to be published on the website, I’ve scanned a few more and other interesting tit-bits including adverts of the time and you can find them at the ABWARPODCAST.COM website this week. To Jacques Holland’s who has been so supportive as well as Louw de Beer, thanks for the review and Bill Yeo, thank you for the wonderful words and messages. Chantal Geldenhuys, thank you too along with Daniel Cuevas Fisch. The interest in this series has gone global which is both surprising and heartwarming. It has had many downloads from places like Singapore and even Seoul in South Korea which was completely unexpected. In this week's episode, there’s a disconnect here between the goal and what really accounts for victory. As with other commanders, Lord Roberts who now leads a large army of 50 000 men believes once Pretoria is taken, the Boers will be beaten. While he was plotting his next moves, Lord Kitchener had not been idle, leading a column through April to De Aar which is in the Cape. Another column led by Sam Hughes an intelligence officer, had managed to make it all the way north to Upington on the edge of the Desert. During April and much of May 1900, small scale skirmishes dominate. Boer Commander Jooste who’d held Upington had made a strategic withdrawal to the Orange River through what’s known as Griqualand, and eventually into the Transvaal. It’s also time to investigate the lesser known stories around the war - with its international significance at the time, largely forgotten as we forge ahead in the 21st century. For example, Canadian troops were the main force known as the Karoo Expedition between March and April 1900 but disease continued to play havoc. On the way into the Karoo a dozen men fell ill and one died, but by the time they exited the semi-desert Karoo in March, fifty men were extremely sick with dysentry and enteric. A number of horses had given out and had to be shot, with many of the mounted infantry in the Canadian 1st Battalion mounted rifles preferring to walk alongside their emaciated horses and in some cases, feeding them hard tack biscuits and suffering hunger themselves.