Episode 38 - Roberts marches into Pretoria but de Wet assaults Roodewal
The Anglo-Boer War10 Juni 2018

Episode 38 - Roberts marches into Pretoria but de Wet assaults Roodewal

For those who’ve followed this story from our start in October you know that we’re tracking the weeks of the war itself, and it’s now the first week of June 1900. This moment is what Lord Roberts has been waiting for - the triumphant march into the Transvaal Capital Pretoriathus putting an end to the uppity Boers. But there’s more bad news mixed with the good for the British. Christian de Wet, Koos de la Rey and Louis Botha along with other Boer leaders, are going to make the English lives a misery over the next 24 months, so Roberts and his men may as well enjoy the Indian Summer while they can. In the traditional mode of warfare in Europe, the army arrives at the capital, destroys the opposing army, the generals hand over their swords, the monarchy or political leadership kow tows and the war is over. Reparations and various modes of punishment follow. As Napoleon found out when he ransacked and burnt Moscow, its not that simple. And in Africa, things are far more complex. Often there’s no capital, there’s no proper army, there’s just an vague hint of force - then its gone. Its like a myth, a legend and momentarily it appears to cut your throat or knock your commander from his horse at a distance of 2 kilometers. For proper soldiers brought up on dignified marches and saluting, parade ground discipline, stratified leadership, court martials and empire states, the war in Africa is still infuriating and mysterious. General Christian de Wet was about to attack Roodewal Station in the Free State, way behind British lines, in an incident which shook the British and caused the loss of half a million pounds of goods - which in 1900 was a real fortune.

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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

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