When the Boer Republics invaded Natal on the north-east coast of what is now South Africa in 1899, they could have been driven out with nominal casualties. Instead Britain was to lose nearly 9,000 men killed in action, more than 13,000 to disease and a further 75,000 wounded and sick invalided back to Britain. The war ended in 1902 with an unsatisfactory Peace Treaty. The Boer commandoes represented a new challenge to the British Army, practicing a mobile form of warfare equipped with smokeless Mauser rifles and modern European field and siege artillery. Boer farmers placed a high value on horsemanship and marksmanship, skills that would serve them well. By contrast, the British forces did not have the training to deal with this new form of warfare. Perhaps the greatest blunder was the failure to take advantage of local advice, opinion and capability. The inhabitants of the two British Colonies knew how the Boer Republics coveted their land and the training of locally raised Volunteers was designed specifically to meet this threat. Although armed with obsolete rifles, they soon demonstrated how the Boers might be defeated and when finally given their heads, they chased the invaders out of Natal at the gallop, while suffering only nominal casualties. The lessons of that war, that due regard should be paid to local advice and that a government should ensure its army is equipped to carry out its obligations, are as relevant today as they were 100 years ago. When the Siege of Ladysmith was finally raised by Imperial forces at the end of February 1900, the relieving force found the garrison and civilian population suffering from the effects of malnutrition and diseases such as enteric fever or typhoid. This book uses diaries, letters and other primary source material to chronicle for the first time the experiences of the people of Natal as soldiers and civilians, black and white, men, women and children at Ladysmith and in the other battles of the Natal Campaign.
