Ladysmith - Chisholm

1979 First Edition hardcover with dust jacket in good condition, 224 pages. Illustrated throughout with B&W photos and drawings. R60 postage in SA.  Anglo-Boer War, Anglo-Boereoorlog.

War: The Boer War

Date: 2nd November 1899 to 27th February 1900.

Place: Ladysmith in northern Natal in South Africa.

Combatants: British against the Boers.

Generals: Lieutenant General Sir George White against Generals Joubert and Botha.

Size of the armies:  From the end of the year 1899 the garrison outnumbered the besieging Boers.

Uniforms, arms and equipment: The Boer War was a serious jolt for the British Army. At the outbreak of the war British tactics were appropriate for the use of single shot firearms, fired in volleys controlled by company and battalion officers; the troops fighting in close order. The need for tight formations had been emphasised time and again in colonial fighting. In the Zulu and Sudan Wars overwhelming enemy numbers armed principally with stabbing weapons were easily kept at a distance by such tactics; but, as at Isandlwana, would overrun a loosely formed force. These tactics had to be entirely rethought in battle against the Boers armed with modern weapons.