Episode 96 - Blundering into a British blockhouse, the Dirty Dozen break up
The Anglo-Boer War21 Heinä 2019

Episode 96 - Blundering into a British blockhouse, the Dirty Dozen break up

It’s the third week of July 1901 and this winter has been cold even by the standards of South Africa’s high plains. As I’m writing this, snow has blanketed parts of the semi-desert known as the Karoo and it was no different then. And Deneys Reitz is close to this region. He had found a bolt hole near the Lesotho border where he’d been hiding out with a handful of fellow travellers and his German colleagues. They’d been able to bathe for the first time in months having found a copper cistern. Reitz recovered during his short stint of R&R and was itching to rejoin the war. By the end of June the small band led by Field Cornet Botha started back down the mountains heading towards the Orange River which is the border between the Free State and the Cape Colony. AS they descended they saw a rider approaching. It was a young man named Jacobus Bosman. He would have been shot as a traitor. But Mr Bosman said it was worth the risk, so Reitz and his German troop enlisted him. Unfortunately for Bosman, he should have listened to the advice for as we’ll see, his is not a happy ending. After three days of progress the Quixotic group, or the dirty dozen as Dutch historian Martin Bossenbroek calls them, are back on the flat open plains within sight of the Johannesburg-Bloemfontein railway line. By now Lord Kitchener’s blockhouse system is causing the Boer guerrilla army some problems because these are close together and crossing the railway line has become very difficult during the day.

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Episode 15 - Ladysmith and the Music of the Guns

Episode 15 - Ladysmith and the Music of the Guns

The last six weeks have been a short sharp shock for our British friends who’ve visited the veld and the semi-desert in the Northern Cape and the green hills of Natal. Things have moved apace since wa...

31 Joulu 201724min

Episode 14 - The end of Black Week

Episode 14 - The end of Black Week

It’s December 1899 and the British have already registered 3 000 casualties in various battles across South Africa. The latest we heard about was the Battle of Colenso on 15th December in Natal where...

24 Joulu 201717min

Episode 13 - The Battle of Colenso

Episode 13 - The Battle of Colenso

So here we are, the battle of Colenso, December 15th 1899. Four Victoria Crosses were awarded in this clash but it also led to defeat for the British who stumbled repeatedly under the command of th...

17 Joulu 201728min

Episode 12 - Buller, Botha, Gandhi and Colenso

Episode 12 - Buller, Botha, Gandhi and Colenso

We heard last week how General Methuen had been roundly defeated at the battle of Magersfontein in the Northern Cape and had withdrawn his force back to the Modder River. North east across South Afri...

10 Joulu 201720min

Episode 11- Magersfontein and Black Week

Episode 11- Magersfontein and Black Week

The Battle of Magersfontein destroyed a Highland Brigade and taught the English a lesson they'd forget almost immediately. Do not launch a frontal attack on a hidden enemy unless you do proper reconn...

3 Joulu 201724min

Episode 10 - the Battle of Modder River

Episode 10 - the Battle of Modder River

The Battle of Modder River took place after two other skirmishes which are called soldiers’ battles. These are bloody affairs where men die in droves, The battles of Belmont and Graspan then elicit...

28 Marras 201719min

Episode 9 -Kimberley and the dreaded Rhodes

Episode 9 -Kimberley and the dreaded Rhodes

Our view shifts to the Western reaches of South Africa - the south western to be specific. Last week we watched how Winston Churchill as captured at Chieverly south of Colenso on the main line to Lad...

19 Marras 201721min

Episode 8 - The Boers move south and Winston Churchill is captured

Episode 8 - The Boers move south and Winston Churchill is captured

It’s just over a month since hostilities were declared formally on 10th October 1899, a number of battles have been fought that dispelled British notions of a quick and easy war. Thousands of casual...

12 Marras 201723min

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