Episode 60 - The heroic Canadians of Lieliefontein and Boer hero General Fourie falls

Episode 60 - The heroic Canadians of Lieliefontein and Boer hero General Fourie falls

We’re still riding with the Canadians in the area around Belfast in the Eastern Transvaal, which is a short distance away from South Africa’s all important coal mines. Last week we heard how the icy rain had lashed Smith-Dorrien’s 1200 strong column as it tried to rid the region of a large Boer commando based at the nearby town of Carolina. That was a column of various English, Scots and Canadian units. He’d been forced to retreat after the effects of weather and Boer firepower at Witkloof and buried one of his top officers called Chalmers, but that didn’t deter Smith-Dorrien. A few days after his men arrived back in Belfast, bedraggled and ragged, he was planning a new offensive against the Boers. The first tragic expedition was merely a dress rehearsal for the battle of Liliefontein. The purpose of the second expedition was identical to the first. To destroy all the farms suspected of harbouring the Boer commandos who had been blowing up railway lines and committing other acts of sabotage. The British also wanted to lure the large Boer Carolina commando out of their lair along the Komati River and into battle. On the 6th November Smith-Dorrien once again set out under cover of darkness as he did last week but unlike the first expedition, there was no icy rain, no fog, no mist. It was in perfect weather that his column set off with temperatures even in the early evening in the mid-20s centigrade. There was one important difference this week. Smith-Dorrien had learned his lesson when it came to splitting up his force and the 1200 men moved as one unit.

Episoder(143)

Episode 127 -A treacherous spy meets his Nemesis and Jan Smuts heads for the beach

Episode 127 -A treacherous spy meets his Nemesis and Jan Smuts heads for the beach

We’ll kick off where we left off last week – where Jan Smuts’ commando was near Calvinia in the northern Cape evading the English. But its also where commandant Bouwer was surprised by a mounted infan...

23 Feb 202019min

Episode 126 - Jan Smuts makes a remarkable speech & we meet the treacherous colonial Lambert Colyn

Episode 126 - Jan Smuts makes a remarkable speech & we meet the treacherous colonial Lambert Colyn

This week we’ll find out what happened to Jan Smuts and his commando as they combine forces with Kommandant van Deventer who is in the middle of a major skirmish with the British near Calvinia in the ...

16 Feb 202020min

Episode 125 - A sleepy blockhouse stymies Kitchener’s New Model Drive & Jan Smuts leaves Kakamas

Episode 125 - A sleepy blockhouse stymies Kitchener’s New Model Drive & Jan Smuts leaves Kakamas

February 1902 is full of surprises, not least for Lord Kitchener who has designed his great Drives which are similar to hunting Grouse on the moors of England. Lines of men walk side by side, twenty y...

9 Feb 202018min

Episode 124 -The incredible tale of the seven foot tall Coenraad de Buys and his independent clan

Episode 124 -The incredible tale of the seven foot tall Coenraad de Buys and his independent clan

This week we’ll concentrate on surely one of the more unique southern africans of the 18th Century, who’s descendents feature as a small independent people in modern South Africa, and who found themse...

2 Feb 202019min

Episode 123 - Major Vallentin eats his last lunch & General Botha fights his last Transvaal battle

Episode 123 - Major Vallentin eats his last lunch & General Botha fights his last Transvaal battle

This is episode 123 and its January 1902. The war has four months to run, and there are still a few big shocks. One would be Lord Methuen’s capture by General Koos de la Rey. More about that in just...

26 Jan 202018min

Episode 122 - The dishonourable ex-fiancé Karel de Kock & the Witwatersrand Rifle Regiment

Episode 122 - The dishonourable ex-fiancé Karel de Kock & the Witwatersrand Rifle Regiment

This is episode 122 and we will take a close look at the love-life of a Boer spy – who’s tale is laced with an unusual irony that involves a regiment called the Witwatersrand Rifles. The nature of the...

19 Jan 202019min

Episode 121 - – The Kenyan Trek Boers of Eldoret & Smuts goes swimming

Episode 121 - – The Kenyan Trek Boers of Eldoret & Smuts goes swimming

General Jan Smuts is making merry in the Cape, trying to stoke uprisings, while Lord Kitchener’s been more successful in clearing the Eastern Transvaal, forcing General Louis Botha to shift towards Vr...

12 Jan 202022min

Episode 120 - Reitz meets a Swiss Family Robinson & Kitchener rethinks the Concentration Camp system

Episode 120 - Reitz meets a Swiss Family Robinson & Kitchener rethinks the Concentration Camp system

Its new year – the first week of January 1902 and we continue to ride, or rather walk, with Deneys Reitz as he and seven other colleagues have been separated from General Jan Smuts who is on a mission...

5 Jan 202018min

Populært innen Fakta

fastlegen
dine-penger-pengeradet
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem
treningspodden
rss-strid-de-norske-borgerkrigene
foreldreradet
jakt-og-fiskepodden
rss-sunn-okonomi
merry-quizmas
gravid-uke-for-uke
fryktlos
sinnsyn
hverdagspsyken
rss-mann-i-krise-med-sagen
smart-forklart
generasjonspodden
rss-kunsten-a-leve
dopet
sovnlos
hr-podden-2