Excellent guide to SA sieges
Everything we need to know is here, funny stuff too
Guide to Sieges of South Africa Author: Nicki von der Heyde Publisher: Struik Travel and Heritage Review: Mark Levin
SOME years ago, an ex-army officer told Nicki von der Heyde that no-one could possibly be a good battlefield guide if he or she had not been under fire.
Such a remark was hardly going to deter Nicki, as she is a specialist battlefields guide and the author of the excellent Field Guide to the Battlefields of South Africa. In her new book, she describes 17 sieges, in chronological order, from the Siege of Durban in 1842 to the sieges of the Anglo-boer War (1899-1902).
You might not have heard of the sieges at Fort Peddie, Fort Cox or Fort Armstrong in the Eastern Cape between 1847 and 1851, nor do the sieges of Jammersberg Drift, Lindley or O’kiep have the renown of Mafeking or Ladysmith, but all are part of our military history.
As Professor Donal Mccracken notes in his Foreword, public fascination about these sieges remains: newspapers, banknotes and other items fetch high prices at auctions. Human stories that have been handed down over generations have become part of our folklore.
The author weaves many of those stories with lesser-known facts and with the more serious discussion of each siege. At Ladysmith, General Sir George White wanted to demonstrate British fire-power. Field guns were trained on a nearby hill where 17 goats were tethered. After shells had rained down on the hill, White invited the townsfolk to inspect the damage. To their amazement, they found 18 goats: one had given birth during the bombardment.
Artillery was a critical factor in siege warfare. Many guns acquired nicknames. Around Ladysmith were ranged Silent Susan, Jangling Jane, Whispering Willy, Belching Botha and Puffing Billy, their names describing the sounds of the detonation and flight of the shell.
In Kimberley, the home-made gun, manufactured in the De Beers mine workshops, was known as Long Cecil, after Cecil John Rhodes. The sheer size and range of the Boer guns earned them the nickname, Long Tom.
It was a Long Tom that killed Lieutenant Egerton in Ladysmith. A shell shattered both his legs. Looking at them sadly, he remarked, “I am afraid this will do for my cricket.” Both legs were amputated: 12 hours’ later he was dead.
Commanding the Mafeking garrison was Colonel Robert Baden-powell. When stamps in Mafeking ran out, it was decided (without his knowledge) that Baden-powell’s head should appear on the new stamps. Some locals, aghast that a mere colonel’s head was on a stamp, saw it as akin to treason. Baden-powell had these stamps withdrawn.
The last siege of the Anglo-boer War was O’kiep (Okiep) in Namaqualand. The month-long siege ended on May 4, 1902. By May 31, the war itself was over, but the Coloured members of the Town Guard were excluded from receiving the official Queen’s or King’s South Africa medal.
The Cape Copper Mining Company found this so unacceptable that it struck its own medal, the O’kiep Defence Medal, and presented it to all defenders of the town, regardless of race.
This informative text is enhanced by over 300 modern and historical photographs, GPS co-ordinates and excellent maps, which will entice the historian and traveller to explore further.
Nicki von der Heyde might not have been under fire, but she does deserve a 17-gun salute.