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The Forgotten Wars, Phoenix, AZ (2024)

03/07/2022

~In The Wake of Surrender: The Battle of Poplar Grove fought on this calendar day~

Just days after the Boers suffered what may have been their most crippling defeat of the Anglo-Boer War at the Battle of Paardeberg, the British closed in on a Boer force that included the South African Republic’s president … Paul Kruger. Some British leadership gravely misinterpreted what happened at the Battle of Poplar Grove.

But what happened on March 7, 1900 cannot be understood fully without painting a picture of what led to that battle. At the cost of around 1,500 casualties, almost all on February 18th while Kitchener wielded his men recklessly, the British dealt the Boers a crippling defeat. General Christiaan de Wet remembered the surrender like this: QUOTE “‘No pen can describe… the effect on the burghers. On every face there was dejection and despair to be seen. The demoralization—I cannot reiterate it enough—prevailed right through until the end of the war.”
Just like that ... 4,000 Boers prisoners sent into exile to an island over 1,000 miles away. Just like that … 10% of the existing Boer forces … removed from the field. Hundreds and hundreds more would return home. Many of the Boer progressives in both republics who had been reluctant to go to war in the first place now appeared prophetic. The whole of the Boer war effort looked like it could crumble completely. With Piet Cronje on his way with 4,000 others to St. Helena and Piet Joubert near death, Free State president Marthinus Steyn and Transvaal president Paul Kruger had little choice now to turn over the waging of war to younger leaders. Louis Botha took the title of commandant general of the Transvaal, … Christiaan De Wet in the Orange Free State. “Koos” De La Rey gained more authority, and the Transvaal State Attorney … Jan Smuts got the chance to prove himself as a leader of men in the field. Nasson writes QUOTE “De la Rey and De Wet had the biblical inspiration of a fundamentalist Christian warriorhood … zealous in belief ‘that by opposing British imperialism they were on a crusade for the Lord.’ Both veterans of the 1880s conflict with Britain, they had already demonstrated a flair for running swift movements in the field.” This war … would be over … if this new crop of leaders ...didn’t deliver. This new crop of Boer warrior leaders faced Boer morale that lay at an all time low. Kruger grew so desperate that he threatened to use police reserves to shoot Boer deserters if necessary. So what were the Boers to do now?
What the Boers were to do now depended on what Lord Roberts was going to do. And Lord Roberts wanted to take a knife to where he believed the Boer hearts were … the capitals of their republics. The Boer republics appeared as other European opponents had appeared to the British … with defined capitals at their center. Lord Roberts believed that bringing Bloemfontein and Pretoria to their knees would finish off the Boers. But Lord Roberts’s 40 years of experience came … in India. General Redvers Buller had fought alongside Boers some 20 years before and anticipated something very different from Lord Roberts. Buller believed the Boers would engage in guerrilla warfare like American colonists had over 100 years before. Buller thought the republican territory covered too much ground dotted by too many rural communities to fold … when their capitals fell. It was only a matter of time before one of these generals was proven right. As Roberts closed in on Bloemfontein, Christiaan De Wet decided to disrupt the British horde as much as possible. He managed to entrench between 5,000 & 6,000 commandos
at Poplar Grove. They dug in along a 10-mile front on both sides of the Modder River… about 30 miles east of Kimberley. Lord Roberts, with 30,000 men and over 100 guns, tried to immediately implement what he learned at Paardeberg. He sent French’s cavalry and other mounted infantry to make a 17-mile loop around the Boers east flank and then attack the Boers from the rear … from where Roberts believed the Boers would make an escape through. After French’s mounted men made this loop, 3 infantry divisions would attack using creeping barrage tactics … meaning the artillery would strike just enough ahead of the British infantry to keep Boer heads down as much as possible until British infantry had almost closed in on the Boers. As a side note, I had previously read that these creeping barrage tactics first emerged in WWI and … then I taught this to my sophomore world history students. Turns out these creeping barrage tactics emerged at least as early … as 1900 when Buller successfully used these against the Boers in the Battle of Pieters’ Heights aka Tugela Heights.
Anyway … Lord Roberts planned to use these creeping barrage tactics to avoid atrocious losses that his chief-of-staff Lord Kitchener recklessly reaped on February 18th at Paardeberg. Lord Roberts hoped to score another big bag of Boer captives through this encirclement. What Lord Roberts didn’t know was that President Paul Kruger showed up in his top hat to the Boer camp to inspire them to fight on. What Lord Roberts also did not know is something that De Wet could only have vaguely anticipated … but hoped against. At 3AM on March 7th, the British mounted men made their move. Boers all along their defensive line began to withdraw as the Boers realized that the British were trying to encircle them, as withdrawals at some positions made holding other positions impossible. De Wet was busy meeting with President Kruger while all these retreats unfolded. Nothing De Wet did could stop his left flank from running for Bloemfontein … so De Wet sent Kruger on the run as well to avoid capture. But Lord Roberts’s own men didn’t stick to the plan either. Major-General French decided his mens’ horses were too weary to make the full loop behind Boer lines, so French broke off their loop early and sent his force careening towards where the main body of the Boers … was. French also pulled Brigadier-General Robert Broadwood’s cavalry from their advanced positions behind Boer lines for this attack at the center. This … initiative by French left a whole wide enough for fleeing Boers to run through … toward Bloemfontein. Boer snipers also slowed French’s weary cavalry enough to prevent the capture of any Boers. French also slowed his cavalry himself by having them advance at a walk, even dismounted … so French had many of his cavalrymen fight on foot making it much easier for De Wet’s ad hoc rearguard snipers to slow their advance. The Boer force didn’t wait to be surrounded and captured. They lived to fight another day.
Lord Roberts was furious. Blame went back and forth between him and his officers. Roberts said this about Major-General French: QUOTE “We should have had a good chance of making the two Presidents prisoner if French had carried out my orders of making straight for Modder River, instead of wasting valuable time going after small parties of the enemy.” Roberts also accused French of running his horses into the ground. French was furious. He blamed the breakdown of his horses on Roberts’s disruptive changes to the transport system. French’s Chief of Staff, one Douglas Haig, said QUOTE “I have never seen horses so beat as ours that day. … They have been having only 8 pounds of oats a day and practically starving since … February 11th.” Haig blamed this on Roberts diverting some of their allotted feed to other colonial cavalry corps that Roberts raised. Roberts also blamed Lieutenant-General Kelly-Kenney for moving his infantry too slowly against the Boers. But Kelly-Kenney in turn blamed the dehydration and near starvation brought by De Wet’s earlier capture of 200 British supply wagons on … Roberts’s mismanagement. Since then, Kelly-Kenney’s men only had one water cart for each battalion to share. The British “won” the battle of Poplar Grove, but the Boers only suffered 50 … or only 2 casualties … depending which historian you ask. Regardless, Pretorius writes that QUOTE “The seeds of the future guerrilla warfare had been sown.” Pakenham wrote this about the Battle of Poplar Grove’s aftermath: QUOTE “Whoever was to blame, the effects of the Battle of Poplar Grove were disastrous and long-lasting for the British. Not only did Roberts fail to catch Kruger and the rest. He also made the crucial deduction from the panic-stricken way the Boers had fled … that the Boers’ morale was broken, and the war nearly over.”

To learn more about the events surrounding Poplar Grove, check out episode 1.34 of the Forgotten Wars Podcast almost anywhere podcasts are provided. To get a fuller picture of the Anglo-Boer War, you can start at episode 1.22; to get a fuller picture of all the preceding conflicts, start at episode 1.3.

Episode 1.34 on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-1-34-the-road-to-bloemfontein-in-this/id1535351938?i=1000522496549m
Episode 1.34 on Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9KM09KV0xIeQ/episode/MWY5MmUzOGYtZDc0My00MmQzLWIxZmUtMjk0NzY2YTVhYmNi?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjI2p7un7T2AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQCg&hl=en-MX

03/07/2022

~A General Is Taken: The Battle of Tweebosch on this calendar day~

It was March 7, 1902. The Boers and the Brits would clash again at Tweebosch as the Anglo-Boer War wound down. One side would carry away one of their enemy’s leading generals. Would this put a nail in the coffin of the Boer war effort or bring British Parliament to call for peace, as soon as possible? This battle of Tweebosch or De Klipdrift followed months of the British unsuccessfully chasing De Wet all over southern Africa … or so it must have felt to a frustrated Kitchener. De Wet and Steyn managed to escape entrapment again! This time breaking through at least 3 block house lines and out of the Orange Free State. They even met De La Rey briefly in the Western Transvaal. No blockhouse system could corral Boers in this region … a region too devoid of water to plant blockhouses. So Kitchener left 9 different column commanders with extra mobile forces at their disposal. Their job? Get De la Rey … wherever he was lurking between Mafeking and the Magaliesburg.
On February 24th, 1902, De La Rey struck a wagon convoy that was part of this effort to catch him. De La Rey’s men killed, wounded, or captured nearly 400 Brits. Then vanished again. The Lord Methuen from early on in the war … the general who first led the British war effort in the Cape Colony and Orange Free State, but then was disgraced and nearly stripped of his command after Magersfontein… that Lord Methuen led one of those 9 columns on March 7th when … De La Rey struck again. Methuen led about 1,300 inexperienced yeomanry and other irregulars from Tweebosch at 3AM with his main force of 900 leading the way, and the rest trailing with his ox wagon convoy. At 5AM, General van Zyl led part of De La Rey’s 750 men in an attack … on the wagon convoy. Methuen tried to pull his two forces together, but couldn’t in the chaos. His artillery guns focused on the Boer attack on the wagon convoy. So then the main Boer force attacked the right flank of Methuen’s main force and the right rearguard. Three times Boer horsemen galloped close to British forces and fired, not showing any fear of inaccurate artillery and rifle fire coming from the raw British recruits. Then De La Rey rode along on the fourth charge … this time they rode through the terrified, main British forces contingent and then attacked the British ox wagon convoy from a third side. At one point, De La Rey rode into a pack of British combatants … thinking they were his own Boers … and then had to beat a narrow escape. Remember, a lot of De La Rey’s men wore British khakis when their own clothes fell apart. Methuen fared much worse. First, he took a bullet to the leg while riding horseback. Then … Methuen’s horse got shot out from under him and then … rolled over Methuen’s wounded leg and broke the leg. But that wasn’t the worst of it for Methuen. De La Rey-with General Jan Kemp and General Johan Celliers-annihilated Methuen’s force. Many of Methuen’s men panicked and fled the battle. In the end, the Boers suffered 34 casualties while killing & wounding nearly 200 Brits and … capturing 500 horses & mules, 120 supply wagons with ammunition, and ... 859 prisoners .. including Methuen. De La Rey kept characteristically classy and released Methuen back to the British so that Methuen could get better medical attention … you know, for his bullet wound and broken leg. This kindness of Koos actually forged a friendship that would last a lifetime between he and Lord Methuen. .... So did capturing Methuen ultimately matter? … no. Kitchener reverted to sending tens of thousands of Brits to steam roll the area, but yielded little.

To hear more about the winding down of the Anglo-Boer War, check out episode 1.44 of the Forgotten Wars Podcast almost anywhere podcasts are provided.

Episode 1.44 on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-1-44-the-omega-of-the-anglo-boer-war/id1535351938?i=1000530387555
Episode 1.44 on Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9KM09KV0xIeQ/episode/NzQ3MzM3M2YtMTI3OS00YTJjLTk2NjAtNWE5NTU2OGRlYTVi?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwiY1Zqkq7T2AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQCg&hl=en-MX

02/28/2022

~The Breaking Leads To Relief on this calendar day~

British Lieutenant-General Sir George White watched in battered disbelief as British forces entered the town of Ladysmith.

Early in the war, the Boers invaded the British colony of Natal scoring some early victories. Then the Boers laid siege to Ladysmith just days into the Anglo-Boer War. Because of a combination of extremely poor tactics on White’s part–and even other leaders both Boer and British–Ladysmith remained under siege for 118 days. Ladysmith residents were living off horses and oxen and other odd food concoctions towards the siege’s end. Through many humiliating early defeats, General Redvers Buller would not stop fighting to relieve Ladysmith. Then with the Boers losing over 4,000 of their forces in the field back in Paardeberg and losing the Battle of Tugela Heights, their circle around Ladysmith vanished to fight another day.

To hear more about this siege and the Anglo-Boer War, check out episode 1.22 onward of the Forgotten Wars Podcast on almost any podcast provider.

Episode 1.22 on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-1-22-how-the-south-african-war-anglo-boer-war/id1535351938?i=1000509665006
Episode 1.22 on Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9KM09KV0xIeQ/episode/ZTQ4NjEzZDEtYjVjYy00YTkxLThiOGQtNTFhMDYyNzkzZTRl?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjQ--i5taL2AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQCg&hl=en

02/27/2022

~The Nail in the Coffin: The Battle of Majuba~

On this calendar day 140 years ago, the Boers triumphed over British occupiers in the last battle of the First Boer War. What happened in this battle would be remembered nearly twenty years later in the South African War.

One distinguished officer who led men in Majuba (Mah-chew-baw), said that Majuba stood as the only battle he knew of where both sides gave the same story. Colley, Stewart, and Fraser led a combination of 58th Regiment companies, 3/60th Rifle Companies, 92nd Highlander Companies, a company sized contingent of the Naval Brigade, and smaller contingents from several other units on a 10PM march on February 26th. Colley, Stewart, and Fraser did not tell these marching men even then where they were going. Stirring this mixed force of almost 600 together stands as a huge mistake to Boer war experts with the advantage of hindsight. This force didn’t bring a single Gatling gun or any artillery because Colley believed they faced too steep of a climb. Colley ordered various detachments to secure nearby hills and plateaus and to build some fortifications. Early February 27th morning, Colley’s main column scaled Majuba’s steep slopes over the course of nearly two hours in the dark hours before sunrise.
Just as dawn broke at 5:30AM, the main force all reached Majuba’s triangular summit … but men milled all over the mountaintop trying to find their officers they’d lost track of in the pitch black. Colley carried confidence that his 383 men could secure this summit’s ¾ mile rocky perimeter. Daybreak shook this security when Colley realized the 92nd Highlanders thought to be holding the northern perimeter were actually hundreds of yards from that section of Majuba’s summit. They were ordered forward from a position that provided ample natural cover to a position that was featureless, flatter, and much more easily attacked. This thinned the British line even more. Field regulations mandated that a soldier be capable of digging a trench 1 and a half feet deep and 2 and a half feet wide to provide cover from rifle fire … in 30 minutes. Colley decided though that these recently moved men on the northern perimeter were too exhausted to dig entrenchments. This wasn’t the last of his mistakes. Some junior officers at least took the initiative to make their men dig trenches or stack stones to provide some sort of cover, but it wouldn’t be enough.
Though Colley gathered intelligence for days before the Battle of Majuba, his scouts did not reconnoitre the Majuba’s slopes that dropped steeply outside what would become the British perimeter. Not only did these steep slopes angle in a way that made it impossible for British defenders to see Boers until Boers had climbed two thirds of the way up the slopes. The British also didn’t learn until it was too late that these slopes swelled with dead ground--with ravines and folds fortified by thick brush that would provide perfect cover for any ascending Boers. At sunrise, the British Highlanders in kilts and all announced their presence by shouting and pumping their fists at the three previously unaware Boer laagers below. Most of the Boers were preparing for their Sunday service. At first, Commandant General Joubert brimmed with panic. Joubert expected an artillery bombardment at any moment, … but that never came. Joubert called a war council where people argued over whose fault it was for not having a night watch on Majuba.
But before long, the Boers sprung into action. Nicolas Smit secretly led 150 mounted men to cut off British withdrawal and British reinforcements. 450 Boers scaled Majuba’s slopes. The British couldn’t see them. Towards the base of Majuba, older and less physically fit Boers laid down covering fire that kept the British from peaking over their perimeter. The more active assault groups took turns laying down covering fire for each other as their counterpart rushed for covered positions further ahead. Whether or not Major G. Tylden is correct to say that these covering fire tactics were “unknown to the British army” is one question. What is not a question is that the Boers employed these cover fire tactics to perfection. Meanwhile, many of the British ate breakfast behind their perimeter. Many napped. Colley signaled Mount PRospect at 8AM to announce via telegraph to the War Office that he had occupied Majuba. Colley signaled again via flag for reinforcements and rations. Then at 9:30AM he signalled “All very comfortable. Boers wasting ammunition. One man wounded in the foot.”
Colley didn’t consider constructing defenses … until 10:30AM as Boer fire increased! Colley gazed from over the south-western perimeter with Commander Romilly his second in command when … Commander Romilly was shot … from 900 yards below. Romilly died from that wound. Colley grew gloomy afterwards. Little of a leap to think he was remembering all the other officers shot dead under his command. Even then, things didn’t look so bad because the British still couldn’t see most of the Boers ascending Majuba. They did see Boer wagons below riding away. At 11:00AM, Colley sent his final signal by flag. “Boers still firing heavily on the hill, but have broken up laager and begin to move away. I regret to say Commander Romilly dangerously wounded; other casualties, three men slightly wounded.”
General Colley’s wife had a brother. Her brother was Lieutenant Ian Hamilton, the man managing the northern sector of the British perimeter. Lieutenant Hamilton is the same “distinguished officer” who talked earlier about both sides telling the same story about Majuba. Anyway, about 100 Boers pinned down Lieutenant Hamilton and his 17 men with more effective fire and movement techniques. Hamilton immediately realized he needed more help and tried to report this personally to General Colley. Running back to Colley put Hamilton in the line of Boer fire. But Hamilton made it to the hollowed out position where Colley and the reserve ate, smoke, or slept. Colley couldn’t see the problem from this position, so he sent Hamilton back. Hamilton returned to see about 200 Boers trying to storm his 17 men’s position. Hamilton ran back from cover to Colley pleading for more reinforcements. Colley generously sent his brother in law back with one officer … and five more soldiers. When Hamilton thought he saw around 400 Boers trying to overcome his British forces, he ran back to Colley only to find Colley asleep. Colley’s next in command, Major Hay, refused to wake Colley and sent Hamilton back empty handed.
When about 70 Boers finally rushed across open ground to attack the five British holding Gordon’s Knoll, the five defenders couldn’t survive nor could they hold their helpless position. The remaining 21 men holding the northern perimeter faced a heavier hail of covering fire as the Boers advanced the remaining 100 yards below their position. This attack caught Colley and his officers napping, his reserve confused, half-dressed, and half-awake. These troops rushed hectically to the northern perimeter to fire erratically at the advancing Boers. This stopped the Boers… but only for a few moments. A Boer officer Roos ran up the remaining 50 yards of slope with about 50 Boers. Roos urged his men on with lies--that the British were already retreating. But the British did retreat when Roos and his men killed 16 of the reserves. Both Highlander and reservist ran for their lives away from the northern perimeter towards the path back to Mount Prospect. General Colley and his officers did shine bravely at this point, coolly rallying most of their men back towards the rocky ridge behind the northern perimeter. Colley brought calm. The Brits now held the original rocky ridge they thought was the northern perimeter in the middle of the previous night. Their position still defensible.
Lieutenant Hamilton begged his immediate senior officer to led him lead a charge. The officer said too many men had already died. Hamilton sprinted to his brother-in-law and begged to lead a charge, but Colley gave ... the same answer. Far too many of this already mixed force saw no officer or comrade from their original squads whose words of encouragement they so desperately needed. The sound of gunfire on the northern perimeter led many along the southern perimeter to leave their posts and move further into the security of the rocky ridge. Another Boer contingent served as a “horn”, like the horns of the Zulu bull horn formation, and attacked the British eastern perimeter. The British here snapped on their bayonets before even laying down a standard volley. What’s more, the British rifles at this sector were sighted for 400 yards, much too far for the Boers who’d crept up on them.
An average soldier would have been crushed by a sense of hopelessness, a sense that they were damned if they did just charge the Boers with bayonets and damned if they instead tried to fire at the Boers. More and more men fell back to the rocky ridge. More and more ignored orders from officers they didn’t recognize. Major Hay warned Colley that if the eastern sector broke … the Boers would have a clear shot at the rocky ridge’s rear. Colley drew his revolver and shifted more men to help hold Hay’s Kop. Then the dam broke.
Brits at the head of the gulley ran terrified towards the southern side of Majuba … to the path back to Mount Prospect. They ran and ran past officers threatening to shoot them. Then more Brits ran and ran as the Boers seized the rocky ridge and Hay’s Kop and fired furiously into the fleeing British. They ran and threw themselves over the southern summit, bouncing and tumbling down the slopes strewn with boulders. Only 30 minutes passed after the Boers attacked the northern perimeter at Gordons’ Kop before the Boers took the whole of Majuba. Hamilton sustained a wound. One bullet pierced Colley’s helmet and pierced Colley’s skull above his right eye. No one knows for sure how that bullet found Colley’s brain. Some say he shot himself. Some say he was shot trying to rally his men to fight. Some say he was shot trying to walk towards the Boers with a white flag. Some say a 12-year old Boer boy shot Colley at close range. Some say that he was shot by Roos. Sir Evelyn Wood reported to Colley’s wife that the evidence showed that Colley died facing his foe. She replied hotly that she already knew Colley had an excess of personal courage.
The Boers looted dead Brits for ammo. In contrast to recent battles, British troops had hardly spent any bullets at all. After collecting this ample ammunition, the Boers continued to fire on retreating Brits. Then Boers rounded up the Brits who hid behind bushes or rocks hoping to escape at nightfall. One exception, British Major Fraser did manage to slip through the Boers back to Mount Prospect on February 28th. The 3/60th Rifle companies distant from the Boer attack retreated without even providing covering fire for other retreating British. However, other British elements from Fort Prospect did advance and lay down artillery and machine gun fire to cover retreating British. Then a thick mist literally descended. Many Boers believed God was telling them not to go any further. Joubert though quickly determined too that British defences were too strong to chase further.
Burials began on Majuba. Five officers buried. 15 more officers wounded or taken prisoner. Only 29% of Colley’s officers escaped unscathed. 87 soldiers buried. 123 soldiers wounded with 52 missing or taken prisoner. Only 54% of the soldiers returned unscathed. Only the worst British defeats in battle made numbers like this. What also struck British pride?? Only 1 Boer killed and 6 wounded… 1 Boer killed and 6 wounded compared to 92 British killed and 190 British wounded or taken prisoner. The colonial men of the Natal Mounted Police watched in amusement as the British’s “superior” regiments accused each other of retreating first.

To hear more about the political situation and military strategy immediately preceding Majuba (and some memorable notes about the aftermath), check out episode 1.12 of the Forgotten Wars podcast.

Apple podcast link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1-12-majuba/id1535351938?i=1000498321373

Google Podcast link: https://bit.ly/3dSaZsM

01/16/2022

~British veteran of two Boer Wars, Ian Hamilton Born On this calendar day~

The veteran of many British wars almost took up a completely different career after things went completely wrong at the battle of Majuba.

As a lieutenant, Hamilton’s brother in law Major-General George Colley was shot through the head as the Boers triumphed over the British at Majuba Hill. During the battle, a bullet shattered Lieutenant Hamilton’s left wrist. The Boers captured Hamilton. After the Boers triumphed and regained their independence, Hamilton considered pursuing a completely different career … as a writer. But less than five years later, Hamilton served on British campaigns in Sudan. Less than two decades after that, Hamilton fought Boers again during the South African War of 1899-1902 (Anglo-Boer War) and almost won himself a Victoria Cross in the Battle of Elandslaagte. But the British War Office ultimately decided that what Hamilton did in this battle was far too reckless to be rewarded. To hear more about Hamilton’s courage during the First Boer War (Transvaal Rebellion) and the South African War of 1899-1902 (Anglo-Boer War), and to hear what he did so recklessly at Elandslaagte, check out episodes 1.12 and episodes 1.24 of the Forgotten Wars Podcast on most podcast providers.

Episode 1.12 on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1-12-majuba-in-this-installment-of-the-south-african/id1535351938?i=1000498321373
Episode 1.12 on Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9KM09KV0xIeQ/episode/NWU1ZjU0OWEtZDQyNi00MGY3LWJmNGUtOGIyNjU1YzcyYTVk?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjIpLyV7rT1AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQCg&hl=en

01/08/2022

~The Founder of the Boy Scouts Dies on this calendar day~

Was he a hero? Was he a villain? Was he a military genius? Colonel Baden-Powell (or if you prefer, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell) has been called all these things.

At the turn of the 20th century, many optimistic British officials predicted victory in weeks over the Boers of South Africa. The British were wrong. General, after colonel, after officer met their reputation’s demise in defeat after disaster after disgrace in this Anglo-Boer War. In a gold- and diamond-riddled South Africa that British leadership had desperately longed to influence (& control on some level) for decades, the British delivered no knockout blow in 1899.

But over several months, Colonel Baden-Powell did something unprecedented in the war to that point. He defied long odds and held off Boer forces that greatly outnumbered his Mafeking outpost. All this while keeping morale in MAfeking very high with enginuity and humor, even dawning drag at one point in the town’s theatre. His defense of Mafeking had both brilliant and brutal aspects. The brutal aspects not fully emerging for several decades. Baden-Powell outlasting the Boers at Mafeking gave the British a huge shot of self-confidence and dealt a blow to the Boer psyche.

To learn more about Colonel Baden-Powell, his role in the Anglo-Boer War, the good and the ugly, check out episode 1.1 and episode 1.36 of the Forgotten Wars Podcast on almost anywhere podcasts are provided.

Episode 1.1 on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1-1-colonel-baden-powell-mafeking-boy-scouts-in-this/id1535351938?i=1000494291049

Episode 1.1 on Youtube: https://youtu.be/xZZO5s8vHkc

Episode 1.1 on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/25tDnZE0vOGYZ6DpgGlkiO?si=gRS58q_lQgSmAvk-ScqQCg

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