There are four pages of my hand-written burb on the battle and I was fascinated to re-read it 50 years on. I’m not sure why I wrote so much about this engagement but in my text I declare "I have decided that Talana shall be one of the battles that I describe, not because it was the first engagement but because of the lessons it taught". And in my summary, I concluded, "The lessons that it taught were, firstly, a steep-sided hill occupied by the Boers offered no sound defence owing to the dead ground between its base and the summit. Secondly, officers holding swords and wearing marks of rank were easy targets for Boer marksmen. Thirdly, a frontal attack was no way to deal with an enemy armed with the Mauser rifle". Hmm, possibly I plagiarised that but whatever, it sounds authoritative – possibly I will need some rule amendments!
So, it makes sense to have Talana Hill as the starting place for my re-fights in miniature.
I've long had a fondness for it based simply on some of stirring illustrations in the history of the Boer War my grandfather gave my mother many decades ago (who passed it to me).
ReplyDeleteI recently came across a handwritten list of dates of various of his life events, jobs etc.
Seems he was in training as a young bugler in the RA during the Boer War but didn't see action until the next, Great, one.
It's fascinating to find a real life link like that. My father once mentioned that a relative fought in the Boer War but I've never managed to find any information!
DeleteHi IAN- This Map looks a lot like 'Laings Neck' - could it be the same Battle? I recall back in the 1980s seeing a book of Colonial Battle Maps - written by Donald Featherstone...from memory there was a lot of Maps from the Zulu and Boar War. Cheers. KEV.
ReplyDeleteLaing's nek was fought during the first Boer War and was in roughly the same area but about 50 miles further north. I think a lot of the battle maps look similar as they all feature hills and little other terrain!
DeleteHi IAN- Yes, very interesting that Laings Neck was a separate Battle during the First Boar War. Cheers. KEV.
DeleteLooking forward to Talana Hill to see if the outcome supports the lesson from your school days. I had a look at my Montgomery's 'History of Warfare' and there's no maps of any Boer War battle in there. Possibly 'Battles of the Boer War' by William Baring Pemberton? I have a copy somewhere in the loft - I think.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the Pemberton book as I have that, so a bit of a mystery. In my project bibliography I mention a book by John Selby so maybe it was that one?
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