The Boer War took place between 1899 and 1902, just 15 years before the start of the First World War. Some 180,00 Britons, mainly volunteers, travelled 6,000 miles to fight and die in boiling conditions on the veld and atop 'kopjes'. Of the over 20,000 who died more than half suffered enteric, an illness consequent on insanitary water. This book will act as an informative research guide for those seeking to discover and uncover the stories of the men who fought and the families they left behind. It will look in particular at the kind of support the men received if they were war injured and that offered to the families of the bereaved. Some pensions were available to regular soldiers and the Patriotic Fund, a charitable organisation , had been resurrected at the beginning of the conflict. However for those who did not fit these categories the Poor Law was the only support available at the time.The book will explore a variety of research materials such as: contemporary national and local newspapers; military records via websites and directly through regimental archives; census, electoral, marriage and death records; records at the National Archives including the Book of Wounds from the Boer War, the Transvaal Widows' Fund and others.

When the Second Boer War erupted in South Africa in 1899, Great Britain was confident that victory would come quickly and decisively. Instead, the war lasted for three grueling years. To achieve final victory, the British government was forced to depend not only on its Regular Army but also on a large volunteer force. This book spotlights Britain's "citizen army" to show who these volunteers were, why they enlisted, how they were trained-and how they quickly became disillusioned when they found themselves committed not to the supposed glories of conventional battle but instead to a prolonged guerrilla war.In Volunteers on the Veld, Stephen M. Miller focuses on the connection between Britain's auxiliary forces-volunteers, militia, and yeomanry-and its imperial mission during the late Victorian era, looking especially at why the British war effort came to depend on their performance. Miller examines motivations for enlistment, the use of citizen-soldiers in guerrilla warfare, and the effects of combat on the soldiers themselves, weaving together the sense of national emergency, the influence of popular culture, and images of manhood that propelled so many Britons into the ranks of volunteers. By revisiting one of the most significant guerrilla wars of the modern age-and one of the earliest examples of the use of modern media to promote mobilization for a foreign war-Volunteers on the Veld lends fresh insight into British imperial warfare while suggesting unmistakable parallels between these citizen-soldiers and today's American volunteers in Iraq.

This richly colored memoir chronicles the exploits of a flamboyant Jewish family, from its bold arrival in cosmopolitan Alexandria to its defeated exodus three generations later. In elegant and witty prose, Andre Aciman introduces us to the marvelous eccentrics who shaped his life--Uncle Vili, the strutting daredevil, soldier, salesman, and spy; the two grandmothers, the Princess and the Saint, who gossip in six languages; Aunt Flora, the German refugee who warns that Jews lose everything "at least twice in their lives." And through it all, we come to know a boy who, even as he longs for a wider world, does not want to be led, forever, out of Egypt."

Even though the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 ended more than 110 years ago, no extensive study on the sites of remembrance of this war that covers the country as a whole and is based on methodological research has thus far been published.

This book is aimed at filling that void. This is a study of commemorative sites with a difference. The text guides the reader in two ways simultaneously. In the first place it provides information on the vast number (more than 1 200) and wide range of Anglo-Boer War places of remembrance in South Africa. These include monuments, memorials such as plaques and tablets, historical sites such as battlefields and concentration camp locations, buildings that have a specific connection with the war, statues, busts and bas-relief sculptures, historical paintings, museum collections and, of course, since it has to do with a war, cemeteries and graves.

Secondly, the book places all the sites that are included in their historical context. To simply indicate the approximate location of a war site, without providing a proper indication on how the site fits into the broad history of the event that it commemorates, is of limited value. For that reason the places of remembrance are introduced to the reader against the background of the history which they mirror. This means in effect that the reader acquires, together with information on the places of remembrance, a concise history of the war as a whole. As a result the book will not only be useful to readers who travel to the sites, but also to readers and users who are not actually travelling (virtual tourists).

Following on an introduction on the nature and scope of the commemorative places of the Anglo-Boer War, the sites are introduced in a thematic-chronological manner. The book is based on extensive research and field work. The author himself visited and photographed more than 90% of the sites that are included. A large number of sources were consulted to ensure the correctness of the information that is provided.

Even though the book is research-based, and will be useful to both scholars on the war and the general public, ideological issues are not discussed. The focus is on the physical places of remembrance as such. The book is written from a neutral point of departure – it is neither pro-Briton nor pro-Boer. Approximately 60% of the places of remembrance that are included in the book commemorate the British forces and 40% the Republican forces.

In early 1900, the paths of three British writers-Rudyard Kipling, Mary Kingsley and Arthur Conan Doyle-crossed in South Africa, during what's become known as Britain's last imperial war. Each of the three had pressing personal reasons to leave England behind, but they were also motivated by notions of duty, service, patriotism and, in Kipling's case, jingoism. Sarah LeFanu compellingly opens an unexplored chapter of these writers' lives, at a turning point for Britain and its imperial ambitions. Was the South African War, as Kipling claimed, a dress rehearsal for the Armageddon of World War One? Or did it instead foreshadow the anti-colonial guerrilla wars of the later twentieth century? Weaving a rich and varied narrative, LeFanu charts the writers' paths in the theatre of war, and explores how this crucial period shaped their cultural legacies, their shifting reputations, and their influence on colonial policy.

The Honoris Crux (Cross of Honour) was South Africa's premier gallantry decoration awarded to members of the SA Defence Force between 1952 and 2003. The stories behind over 300 of these awards and other medals for bravery are graphically told - ranging from outstanding valour in all types of warfare to exceptional heroism displayed in saving lives. For these soldiers, sailors and airmen the common denominator was courage. One reads of a SAAF helicopter pilot who noticed that a friend's gunship was under heavy fire, so switched on his lights to attract fire away from his comrade. The same pilot was later to land in an enemy camp to rescue the crew of a downed helicopter who were being chased by a patrol. A jet pilot whose Buccaneer was out of ammunition dive-bombed enemy tanks to keep them from overrunning his forces. The heroism of the Special Forces, or Recces, became legendary. We read the unbelievable but true stories of two-man teams who crept into enemy camps, sometimes hundreds of kilometres from their bases, to gather vital information. If discovered they had to extricate themselves from impossible situations, such as the frogman team which attacked an enemy bridge then fought their way out - against small-arms fire and hand grenades, as well as crocodiles. The naval heroes range from the seaman who remained inside the sinking SAS President Kruger to rescue friends, to the frogmen who went inside the sinking MV Oceanos to ensure that no one was left behind. The author has interviewed many of the medal recipients and invariably found them to be modest about their heroic exploits. He has included some of the events in which the SA Police were involved, acting as part of the country's security forces in combating terrorism. In many cases he has recorded the subsequent lives of the medal recipients. The awards were made irrespective of race, colour or creed, despite most of the events taking place during the apartheid years. Men from diverse backgrounds learned to live and fight together, especially among the Special Forces, where their lives often depended on each other. The award of the HC Gold to a black Recce attests to that. During a period of five months on five occasions he approached the enemy on his own and fought to the death, thereby displaying total disregard for his own safety. This new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated, to include not only new information but additional photographs, too.

This is the first general history of the concentration camps of the Anglo-Boer or South African War in over fifty years, and the first to use in depth the very rich and extensive official documents in South African and British archives. It provides a fresh perspective on a topic that has understandably aroused huge emotions because of the great numbers of Afrikaners, especially women and children, who died in the camps. This fascinating social history overturns many of the previously held assumptions and conclusions on all sides, and is sure to stimulate debate. Rather than viewing the camps simply as the product of the scorched-earth policies of the war, the author sets them in the larger context of colonialism at the end of the 19th century, arguing that British views on poverty, poor relief and the management of colonial societies all shaped their administration. The book also attempts to explain why the camps were so badly administered in the first place, and why reform was so slow, suggesting that divided responsibility, ignorance, political opportunism and a failure to understand the needs of such institutions all played their part. Since the original research arose from a project on the medical history of the camps, funded by the Wellcome Trust, there is a particularly strong focus on health and medicine, looking not only at the causes of mortality in the camps, but at the ideas which shaped the culture of the doctors and nurses ministering to the Boers. The author has also used material derived from a database of the camp registers to argue, somewhat controversially, that the camp inmates were primarily landless bywoners, rather members of the middle classes, as people like Emily Hobhouse implied, and that the rather numerous men in the camps were young and able-bodied rather than the old men suggested in the conventional literature.

Wednesday 22 January 1879 was one of the most dramatic days in the long and distinguished history of the British Army. At noon a massive Zulu host attacked the 24th Regiment in its encampment at the foot of the mountain of Isandlwana, a distinctive feature that bore an eerie resemblance to the Sphinx badge of the outnumbered redcoats. Disaster ensued. Later that afternoon the victorious Zulus would strike the tiny British garrison at Rorke's Drift. How Can Man Die Better is a unique analysis of Isandlwana - of the weapons, tactics, ground, and the intriguing characters who made the key military decisions. Because the fatal loss was so high on the British side there is still much that is unknown about the battle. This is a work of unparalleled depth, which eschews the commonly held perception that the British collapse was sudden and that the 24th Regiment was quickly overwhelmed. Rather, there was a protracted and heroic defence against a determined and equally heroic foe. The author reconstructs the final phase of the battle in a way that has never been attempted before. It was to become the stuff of legend, which brings to life so vividly the fear and smell the blood.

Wars always generate stories and everybody loves a story. Rob Milne has compiled this selection of Anglo-Boer War stories from all over South Africa and recounts them in a book that saddens, mystifies, but most of all entertains. There's the devotion of the English fiancee who for 60 years sent a sprig of heather to the Chrissiesmeer Post Office for her beloved's grave; the tale of the lone Boer sniper who held off the entire Guards Brigade for more than a day after the battle of Bergendal; the story of the soldier who, caught illegally bayoneting a sheep, looked severely at the prostrate beast and remarked, "That'll teach you to try and bite a British soldier!" Read about Sergeant Woodward's two graves in Heidelberg, and the ghosts of the British officers that still haunt the Elands river valley. During the past 12 years since the publication of the first edition of this book, Milne has relentlessly followed up on his stories and sometimes the stories have followed him ... with unexpected results! There's a photo of the ghosts of the Bergendal farm girl and her British soldier lover who appeared in broad daylight on the battlefield while Milne was investigating the story in 2011. There's the unnamed Welshman who found the long-lost British paymaster's gold 60 years after the military train was ambushed and looted near Greylingstad. Learn the truth of how Churchill and his fellow officers received the daily war news in Morse code while they were prisoners of war in the State Model School in Pretoria; why Prime Minister Botha was sued after the war for stealing the 'Kruger Millions' when entrusted to his care as Commandant-General during the retreat to the Mozambican border. And there's the love story, 'The Legend of the Flowers', about Martha, a Boer girl, and a British soldier, George, which unfolded in Ventersdorp and how Martha involved the author in her story from beyond the grave. A unique and delightfully refreshing read.

The only account of this seminal trial, written by Mandela's defence lawyer and with a new foreword by Denis Goldberg, accused alongside Mandela and sentenced to life imprisonment. On 11 July 1963, police raided Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia near Johannesburg, arresting alleged members of the high command of the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). Together with the already imprisoned Nelson Mandela, they were put on trial and charged with conspiring to overthrow the apartheid government by violent revolution. Their expected punishment was death. In this compelling book, their defence attorney, Joel Joffe, gives a blow-by-blow account of the most important trial in South Africa's history, vividly portraying the characters of those involved, and exposing the astonishing bigotry and rampant discrimination faced by the accused, as well as showing their incredible courage under fire.

World War I is one of the iconic conflicts of the modern era. For many years the war at sea has been largely overlooked; yet, at the outbreak of that war, the British Government had expected and intended its military contribution to be largely naval. This was a war of ideologies fought by and for empires. Britain was not defending simply an island; it was defending a far flung empire. Without the navy such an undertaking would have been impossible. In many respects the Royal Navy fought along the longest 'front' of any fighting force of the Great War, and it acted as the leader of a large alliance of navies. The Royal Navy fought in the North and South Atlantic, in the North and South Pacific, its ships traversed the globe from Australia to England, and its presence extended the war to every continent except Antarctica. Because of the Royal Navy, Britain could finance and resource not only its own war effort, but that of its allies. Following the naval arms race in the early 20th century, both Britain and Germany were equipped with the latest naval technology, including revolutionary new vessels such as dreadnoughts and diesel-powered submarines. Although the Royal Navy's operations in World War I were global, a significant proportion of the fleet's strength was concentrated in the Grand Fleet, which confronted the German High Seas Fleet across the North Sea. At the Battle of Jutland in 1916 the Royal Navy, under the command of Admiral Jellicoe, fought an iconic, if inconclusive battle for control of shipping routes. The navy might not have been able to win the war, but, as Winston Churchill put it, she 'could lose it in an afternoon'. The Royal Navy was British power and prestige. 43,244 British navy personnel would lose their lives fighting on the seas in World War I. This book tells their story and places the Royal Navy back at the heart of the British war effort, showing that without the naval dimension the First World War would not have been a truly global conflict

A spellbinding new book by the much-acclaimed writer, a journey to South Africa in search of the lost people called the /Xam - a haunting book about the brutality of colonial frontiers and the fate of those they dispossess. In spring 2020, Julia Blackburn travelled to the Karoo region of South Africa to see for herself the ancestral lands that had once belonged to an indigenous group called the /Xam. Throughout the nineteenth century the /Xam were persecuted and denied the right to live in their own territories. In the 1870s, facing cultural extinction, several /Xam individuals agreed to teach their intricate language to a German philologist and his indomitable English sister-in-law. The result was the Bleek-Lloyd Archive: 60,000 notebook pages in which their dreams, memories and beliefs, alongside the traumas of their more recent history, were meticulously recorded word for word. It is an extraordinary document which gives voice to a way of living in the world which we have all but lost. 'All things were once people', the /Xam said. Blackburn's journey to the Karoo was cut short by the outbreak of the global pandemic, but she had gathered enough from reading the archive, seeing the /Xam lands and from talking to anyone and everyone she met along the way, to be able to write this haunting and powerful book, while living her own precarious lockdown life. Dreaming the Karoo is a spellbinding new masterpiece by one of our greatest and most original non-fiction writers.

The ways in which women have historically authorized themselves to write on war has blurred conventionally gendered lines, intertwining the personal with the political. Women on War in Spain's Long Nineteenth Century explores, through feminist lenses, the cultural representations of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Spanish women's texts on war. Reshaping the current knowledge and understanding of key female authors in Spain's fin de siecle, this book examines works by notable writers - including Rosario de Acuna, Blanca de los Rios, Concepcion Arenal, and Carmen de Burgos - as they engage with the War of Independence, the Third Carlist War, Spain's colonial wars, and World War I. The selected works foreground how women's representations of war can challenge masculine conceptualizations of public and domestic spheres. Christine Arkinstall analyses the works' overarching themes and symbols, such as honour, blood, the Virgin and the Mother, and the intersecting sexual, social, and racial contracts. In doing so, Arkinstall highlights how these texts imagine outcomes that deviate from established norms of femininity, offer new models to Spanish women, and interrogate the militaristic foundations of patriarchal societies.

In a time of rampant imperialism, feisty Judith Armstrong is determined to fight for the rights of impoverished women in a masculine world - that is until a demonstration deteriorates into a riot, bringing her into conflict with Ralph Gilchrist, a well-born officer in Her Majesty’s Dragoon Guards. Judith’s spirited approach to Women’s Rights and freedom inevitably clashes with Ralph’s decidedly conservative and typically Victorian views. Sparks fly, but despite their mutual attraction, scandal forces her to leave Britain for a mission station in the British colony of Natal. Britain is struggling to maintain its empire in the face of the demands of a growing democracy at home and the rising powers of Germany, America and Russia abroad. These tensions are set to play out in southern Africa, where diamonds have been discovered and it has suddenly become that much more important to cement the Empire’s hold on the territory. In the fledgling colony of Natal, a power struggle between the British and the Zulu Kingdom grows, and it is here that Judith and Ralph are destined to meet again - but this time on the blood-soaked battlefields of Zululand at the fateful Battle of Isandlwana. This then is their story... a story of young South Africa and of the clash between an aging empire and the mighty Zulu tribe. A story of adventure, glorious bravery, earth-shattering defeat and a love that could never be.

Nelson Mandela's life is a testament to the triumph of the human spirit over prejudice. His tireless crusade for social justice has made him a hero of our times, and of all times. A friend and fellow anti-apartheid activist recounts the entire dramatic, inspiring story in an up-to-date, concise and totally accessible format.
"MANDELA" traces Mandela's life from his early tribal upbringing, to his university days, his work as a young lawyer, and the foundation of the African National Congress. You'll gain a clear understanding of his experiences as a young black man under apartheid, both in everyday and political terms. Through three decades of imprisonment, during which time he continued to lead the anti-apartheid campaign, to his release in 1990, and his triumphant election as President of South Africa only four years later, we marvel at the strength of spirit and clarity of vision that enabled him to heal his torn country, uniting whites and blacks in a single vision of freedom and equality for all. Insightful interviews, stirring tributes from luminaries such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, President Bill Clinton, and Prime Minister Tony Blair, and over 100 photos give us a full picture of this remarkable man.

Almost one hundred and twenty five years ago, a Scottish adventurer attempted to expand the British Empire in South Africa with the backing of a mere 500 men. He was part of a conspiracy of entrepreneurs, gold magnates and politicians, each of whom had different motives for supporting and encouraging his actions. Leander Starr Jameson's Raid failed miserably. It almost brought down the British Government, destroyed the career of one of the most eminent South African Statesmen, nearly caused a war with the South African Republic and exposed Britain to international ridicule. It was a failed attempt to expand the Empire on the cheap. This book, using a number of contemporary sources, examines the motives for Jameson's actions, the reasons for the Raid's failure and its consequences for those involved. It attempts to answer the extent of the involvement of the British Colonial Office and its Secretary of State, Joseph Chamberlain and how he, Cecil Rhodes, Paul Kruger and Jameson worked for their own and their countries best interests which were not necessarily one in the same.It also considers the part played by the dignitaries in Johannesburg and the consequences of their lukewarm support of Dr Jameson. The book contains a detailed examination of the two Inquiries which were held as a result of the Raid and a blow by blow account of the evidence given by their many witnesses. Reactions in the British Parliament and the fate of the Raiders are particular features of this work,as is how the actions of those swept up in the plans of the key players were to affect their future careers.

Winner of the Mbokodo Award for Women in the Arts for Literature, the ATKV (Afrikaans Language and Culture Association) Award for non-fiction and the kykNet/Rapport Award for non-fiction. 'Here was Emily . . . in these diaries and scrapbooks. An unprecedented, intimate angle on the real Emily' Elsabe Brits has drawn on a treasure trove of previously private sources, including Emily Hobhouse's diaries, scrap-books and numerous letters that she discovered in Canada, to write a revealing new biography of this remarkable Englishwoman. Hobhouse has been little celebrated in her own country, but she is still revered in South Africa, where she worked so courageously, selflessly and tirelessly to save lives and ameliorate the suffering of thousands of women and children interned in camps set up by British forces during the Anglo-Boer War, in which it is estimated that over 27,000 Boer women and children died; and where her ashes are enshrined in the National Women's Monument in Bloemfontein. During the First World War, Hobhouse was an ardent pacifist. She organised the writing, signing and publishing in January 1915 of the 'Open Christmas Letter' addressed 'To the Women of Germany and Austria'. In an attempt to initiate a peace process, she also secretly metwith the German foreign minister Gottlieb von Jagow in Berlin, for which some branded her a traitor. In the war's immediate aftermath she worked for the Save the Children Fund in Leipzig and Vienna, feeding daily for over a year thousands of children, who would otherwise have starved. She later started her own feeding scheme to alleviate ongoing famine. Despite having been instrumental in saving thousands of lives during two wars, Hobhouse died alone - spurned by her country, her friends and even some of her relatives. Brits brings Emily's inspirational and often astonishing story, spanning three continents, back into the light.

A kaleidoscope of human-interest stories exposing long-kept secrets, mysteries and heroics for the first time. Wars always generate stories and everybody loves a story. Rob Milne has compiled this selection of Anglo-Boer War stories from all over South Africa and recounts them in a book that saddens, mystifies, but most of all entertains. There's the devotion of the English fiancee who for 60 years sent a sprig of heather to the Lake Chrissie Post Office for her beloved's grave, the tale of the lone Boer sniper who held off the entire Guards Brigade for more than a day after the battle of Bergendal, the sighting of UFOs near Pretoria at the beginning of the war and the story of how an unfortunate British soldier ended up being buried under a toilet on a railway station. Read about Sergeant Woodward's two graves in Heidelberg and the ghosts of the British officers that still haunt the Elands River Valley. During the past 12 years since the publication of the first edition, Milne has relentlessly followed up on his stories; but sometimes the stories have followed him ... with unexpected results! There's a photo of the ghosts of the Bergendal farm girl and her British soldier lover who appeared in broad daylight on the battlefield while Milne was investigating the story in 2011. There's the unnamed Welshman who found the long-lost British paymaster's gold 60 years after the military train was ambushed and looted near Greylingstad. Learn the truth of how Churchill and his fellow officers received the daily war news in Morse code while they were prisoners of war at the State Model School in Pretoria, why Prime Minister Botha was sued after the war for stealing the `Kruger Millions' when entrusted to his care as Commandant-General during the retreat to the Mozambican border. And there's the love story, `The Legend of the Flowers', about Martha, a Boer girl, and a British soldier, George, which unfolded in Ventersdorp and how Martha involved the author in her story from beyond the grave. A unique and delightfully refreshing read.

The ignominious rout of a British force at the battle of Majuba on 27 February 1881 and the death of its commander, Major General Sir George Pomeroy-Colley, was the culminating British disaster in the humiliating Transvaal campaign of 1880-1881 in South Africa. For the victorious Boers who were rebelling against the British annexation of their republic in 1877, Majuba became the symbol of Afrikaner resistance against British imperialism. On the flip side, Majuba gave the late Victorian British army its first staggering experience of modern warfare and signalled the need for it to reassess its training and tactics. Based on both British and Boer archival and contemporary sources, this balanced and fresh appraisal of Majuba situates it in the closely interlocked operational and political contexts of the Transvaal campaign. It analyses the contrasting military organizations and cultures of the two sides and clarifies how a Boer citizen militia with no formal training, but that handled modern small arms with lethal effect and expertly employed fire and movement tactics, was able to defeat professional-but hidebound-British soldiers. The book explains how a British field commander, such as Colley, already subject to the factional politics of command, also found his conduct of military operations subject to the close supervision of his superiors in London at the other end of the telegraph wire. His strategic objective was to break through the Boer positions holding the passes between the colony of Natal and Transvaal and to relieve the scattered British garrisons blockaded by the Boers. However, his defeats at Laing's Nek on 28 January and at Ingogo on 8 February alarmed the British government already concerned that the war was stirring up dangerous anti-British Afrikaner nationalism across South Africa. It instructed Colley to cease operations and open peace negations with the Boers. But the general, a highly talented staff officer holding his first independent command, was determined to retrieve his tattered military reputation. He side-stepped his orders and, in an attempt to outflank the Boer positions and win the war at a stroke, seized Majuba with disastrous consequences. Although British reinforcements were now pouring in and the suppression of the Boer rebellion still seemed feasible, Majuba was the last straw for the British government. To the disgust of the military who burned to expunge the shame of Majuba with a resounding victory, the politicians insisted on restoring the Transvaal Boers their independence.

Dutch historian Martin Bossenbroek won the National Dutch History Prize 2013 for this new chronicle of the war that shaped South Africa and the book was also shortlisted for the 2013 AKO Literature Prize, both preeminent Dutch literary prizes. This English paperback edition follows the Afrikaans paperback, published in October 2014, and will cement the critical acclaim already received by Mr Bossenbroek and offer the South African reader the chance to savour his storytelling powers. The (Anglo) Boer war (1899-1902) has been labelled many things. The originator of apartheid. An appetiser for the First and Second World Wars. The first media war (with the first instance of embedded journalists). It helped create the nation-state South Africa, and remains the cause of fiery debate more than a hundred years after its end. In the Boer war, Martin Bossenbroek gives the reader the full story with an in-depth insight and detail previously unmatched. Bossenbroek follows three colourful main characters: the Dutch lawyer, South African Republic state attorney, state secretary and eventual European envoy Willem Leyds; the soon-to-be-immortalised British war-reporter Winston Churchill; and the Boer commander and one-day South African politician Deneys Reitz. Mr Bossenbroek's riveting new account of the war is a must-read for all South African history buffs, for all who loved Thomas Pakenham's classic bestseller.

In October 1899, the twenty-four-year-old Winston Churchill set sail from Southampton Docks for South Africa, where he was to cover the Boer War for the London Morning Post. The young Churchill's exploits on the North-West Frontier of India and in the Sudan had already won him a considerable following as an intrepid war correspondent, but for sheer audacity and excitement, nothing would rival his exploits in South Africa. Scarcely two weeks after his arrival in Cape Town, Churchill found him- self on a train, carrying out a reconnaisance mission in enemy-held territory. The train was ambushed by a Boer patrol, and even though he was present only as an observer, Churchill took charge, helping many of his companions to escape before he was captured. Taken as a prisoner of war to Pretoria, he managed to escape, quickly becoming the object of a massive manhunt. Churchill hid from his pursuers in a coal mine and was subsequently spirited across the border. He returned to the fray, participating in the battle of Spion Kop and witnessing the relief of Ladysmith, while enthralling his readers with vivid first-hand accounts of the war's progress. Churchill's adventures in South Africa propelled him into the international arena, setting the stage for his political career; within three months of his return to Britain in 1900, he had become a Member of Parliament. Celia Sandys, Churchill's granddaughter, retraced his footsteps, visiting campsites and battlefields and interviewing the descendants of those who crossed her grandfather's path-both friends and foes. The fascinating new details she discovered combine with the thrilling events of her grandfather's life to make Churchill Wanted Dead or Alive both a gripping adventure story and a unique insight into the early years of a man who would go on to become one of the world's great leaders. CELIA SANDYS is a granddaughter of Sir Winston Churchill. Her mother was Churchill's eldest daughter, Diana, and her father was Lord Duncan Sandys, the former Cabinet Minister and member of his father-in-law's wartime government. She is married, has four children, and lives in Wiltshire, United Kingdom.

The Rhodesia Regiment was raised in July 1899 to fight for the Queen in the Boer War. In 1914 battalions of the fought in German South West Africa and in German East Africa. More fought with British and South African units on the Western Front. In July 1916 after the Battle for Delville Wood only 407 of the 4 200 Rhodesians and South Africans deployed there survived. In World War II the problem facing the Rhodesian war planners was the appalling slaughter suffered during World War I. This led to the decision to attach Rhodesian units of no more than platoon strength to British and South African units. So Rhodesians fought and died on all fronts and in all services against Nazi Germany, the Italians and later the Japanese. In the RAF almost 100 Rhodesians were awarded the DFC. In 1953 the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was established. From 1960 onwards radical black nationalist movements began agitating for black rule ‘now’. The Federation was dissolved in 1963, but troubles escalated. In November 1965 after the failure of prolonged negotiations to gain Rhodesia independence, UDI was declared and a political deadlock with the British remained unresolved for the next 15 years. During this time the battalions of The Rhodesia Regiment and other units of the security forces, fought long and hard against two heavily armed terrorist organisations armed by Soviet Russia and Red China. Rhodesia got no assistance from a hostile world. Eventually, at the Lancaster House conference in London in 1959 Rhodesia was sold out to a terrorist regime. During the war years many men of the Regimen, both black and white, died and even more maimed, but their fight brought honour to themselves, to Rhodesia and to the Regiment. The Regiment was sadly ignominiously disbanded by the Mugabe regime when it assumed political power in 1980.