Rodian

Thank you for the very interesting read.

And here's pic of British soldiers wearing the clothing of their "uitskudders"

You're welcome.

Here's some pics of Boers wearing a mix of civilian clothing and British uniform.

Just one other small thing. A commando was a whole unit. Size depended on how many people lived in the district the commando was from. The people in a commando are usually just referred to as burghers (citizens).

They took a lot of prisoners, actually. There were POW camps in Portugal, St. Helena, Ceylon, India and Simons Town near Cape Town in South Africa.

Kitchener's order was specifically against enemy combatants wearing British uniform.

Deneys Reitz mentions in his book that at first the Boers didn't know why prisoners were being shot. Deneys at one point wore a full lancer uniform that belonged to Lord Vivian...he even jokingly referred to himself and his comrades as the "Englishkilling fusiliers".

Being isolated from the rest of the world they only got news through captured British soldiers and newspapers left behind in vacated camp sites. After they realised that wearing enemy clothing could get them shot they either discarded the British uniforms or they tried to make it seem as un-uniform as possible...usually removing all insignia, epaulets and replacing the buttons or mixing it with civilian clothing.

They mostly wore captured clothing out of necessity, since they had no other means of re-supply and in fact usually preferred not to wear British uniforms since the British soldiers were infamous for their lice. (In fact they introduced a species of lice much larger than the ones native to SA, so the Boers nicknamed them "Khaki lice") They usually would boil the uniforms if they had the chance to do so to try to get rid of the lice, but doing so would also make the clothing less durable.

Edouard

The skirmish on Duivelskloof farm happened on 6 August 1901. Captain Hunt and Sergeant F. Eland were killed and the rest of the unit retreated to a nearby German missionary station.

When Morant went back with reinforcements he found Captain Hunt stripped of clothing and mutilated. What the film doesn't mention is that during Morant's trial one of the men from the unit (surname Silke) testified that they also found Veldkornet Viljoen and another Boer dead inside the farm house, their clothing also missing and their bodies also mutilated.

J. Visser, the Boer suspected of killing Captain Hunt, was executed by Captain Alfred Taylor (nicknamed "Bulala" aka "murderer" as well as "Bamba" aka "Thief" by the local Black tribes, because he was infamous for killing Black civilians and stealing cattle)

Yes, I'm referring to the one where the CO was killed.

I'll post up their names when I get back home where I have access to my books.

Yes, I'm referring to the one where the CO was killed.

I'll post up their names when I get back home where I have access to my books.

My impression, based on a little subsequent reading, is that the movie is essentially accurate. Barring the dramatic licence of Hancock having a snappy comeback for everything, and maybe he did, the facts were correct.

As the lawyer advocating for them, and the film, point out there were orders given by Kitchener, or at least his headquarters to shoot Boers captured with British weapons or in British uniforms. There had been cases of Boers using the uniforms to surprise British outposts and patrols but, again as the film points out, most of the civilian population were in concentration camps - a British invention, BTW - and the hold-out Boer fighters were starving, reduced to following British columns to pick up ammunition dropped from badly made bandoliers and wearing whatever clothes they could steal or forage, including parts of the British uniforms.

I'm not sure there's evidence that the Boer mutilated the CO of the Bushveld Carbineers, the incident in the film which precipitates Morant's first order to shoot prisoners. It seems a bit out of character for the Boer, but these were, after all, the hard cases who refused to come in even after many of their leaders had surrendered and there were certainly recorded cases of Boer waving white flags then firing on advancing Brits. Pretty clearly, the act which saw them tried was the murder of the German missionary, which had the Kaiser breathing fire and threatening to get involved, well before Britain was ready to contemplate a conflict with Germany.

However, as Rick points out, he WAS a spy and the line between he and Boers must have seemed pretty slim by that point in the war. The Imperials were faced with the same anger and frustration, not to say real danger, of fighting by a set of rules which the enemy used to its advantage! Much like so much of the 'asymmetric warfare' Western soldiers face in places Iraq and Afghanistan or Vietnam. On the other hand, as 'their lawyer' and the film point out, they did do it and, both by our rules and the rules and laws of the time, one of the things separating 'us' form 'the wogs' was that we didn't stoop to their methods whatever the justification.

Finally, the film has it right about the process: stacked to the rafters to ensure the verdict and the executions so London could look good. I see the Aus. governments point - they were probably 'legally' innocent, or could certainly have made a case for it in a fair trial but morally? Not so much. I think the over-turned verdict is great, as an important symbolic act, because symbols are important. Pardons might be a bit much.

Lecture over!

Just one small thing I would like to add: In reality two Boers were also found dead, stripped of clothing and mutilated at the scene of the skirmish.

Great! Many thanks, the new photos help a lot. ;)

Hi Rodian, I am currently not in SA so will ask my "boss" to assist.

Thanks Chris!

Thanks, I appreciate the effort.

I hope this is of assistance.

I am by no means an expert or specialist in this field and any comments would be appreciated.

Regards,

Will

Thanks for posting, the pictures are very helpful. Would it be possible to post a picture of the hook and eyelets of the jacket, I'd like to see how many I'll need. I would also appreciate a picture of the inside of the ZARPS jacket...is it lined? Also, close ups of the edging would be nice. ;)

I second the above request: I'm looking to create a Second Anglo-Boer war ZARPS impression. Any photos or discriptions of uniforms,equipment and regulations, as well as patterns used to make the uniforms would be much appreciated.

I'm also wondering whether the ZARPS were issued a felt slouch hat or did they have to supply their own, like in the case of the rest of the Boer forces?