HIST 3906 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: British Army, 18 Months, Blockhouse
4 Feb 2017
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Took months to get the soldiers there from the empire, boer took advantage to catch the british off guard. Besieged ladysmith in natal and kimberly in mafeking. Colonel __ powell? had stored supplies for his forces in mafeking. Ignored an order to go forth and conquer the boers, stayed to defend his stores. Black watch > about 300 africans with rifles defending mafeking. December 11-17 1899, the british were defeated at stormberg, magersfonetin, and natal: 2,500 british men were killed, wounded, or captured. British did not have experience fighting a tactics-led war. 243 british men died and 12,250 were wounded of captured. Boers suffered 68 deaths, over 300 casualties. Along with battlefield injuries, disease was the real killer. Hot climate, lack of sanitary facilities lead to disease and infection. Typhoid fever > caused by eating food and drinking water infected by faeces. Second war to use the x-ray > nine portable machines taken to south africa during the campaign.
