Superb Boer war original photos...

[Chris Boonzaier]

Some time ago I bought a couple of original Boer war phot albums.

Really superb quality period prints, some phots are famous, others not so...

I hope you enjoy them. I will post them bit by bit....

[Chris Boonzaier]

An original print of one of the most famous pics of the war. General Dewet with a refurbished Mauser...

[Chris Boonzaier]

This pic has been used on countless postcards...

[Chris Boonzaier]

Here is another of DeWet and his staff...

[Chris Boonzaier]

Members of a Commando, Bibles in hand...

[Chris Boonzaier]

Orange Free State Commando

[Chris Boonzaier]

General Bothas Staff.

I have the medals to one of the men on the photo (Capt. H.S. Pretorius)... I just dont know which one he is....

[Chris Boonzaier]

The photos are all large format, reduced for posting.

[Bear]

Hello Chris,

Those are some fantastic pictures. They are all armed to the teeth. The only thing I new about the Boer War until recently was a movie(I can't remember the name) about some British soldiers accused of war crimes and are executed in the end. Every few years I'll catch it on television.

Here is a link I found looking for train wrecking.

http://abw.netfirms.com/photos.htm

thanks,

barry

[Chris Boonzaier]

Those are some fantastic pictures. They are all armed to the teeth. T

I love this pic... some are armed to the teeth... some with cups of coffee...

Seems even in those days there were Rambos and Cuppatea soldiers

[Robert Rytir]

Great photos Chris,keep them coming they are very interesting as you do not see many photos of the Boers.That movie was not Breaker Morant was it if so that was about an Aussie who was shot by the British for despencing his own justice to the Boers Rule 303.

Cheers Rob

[Chris Boonzaier]

I really like this shot.... a Boer commando moblises at the outbreak of the war....

[Chris Boonzaier]

Saddled up...

[Chris Boonzaier]

All in the family

[Chris Boonzaier]

Same guys in the photo above

[Daniel Murphy]

Aussie who was shot by the British for despencing his own justice to the Boers Rule 303.

I love that movie. "What rule did we shoot them under? Well we didn't carry rule books now did we. We were out on the velt (?) fighting the Boer the way he fought us! We caught them and we shot them under rule .303!"

Chris,

Great photos, keep them coming if you have more.

Dan Murphy

Edited August 10, 2006 by Daniel Murphy

[peter monahan]

"What rule did we shoot them under? Well we didn't carry rule books now did we. We were out on the veldt fighting the Boer the way he fought us! We caught them and we shot them under rule .303!"

Dan Murphy

Dan

I agree that "Breaker Morant" is a great movie. The Aussies defence lawyer tells the court that "Before I came here I was poisoning wells and rounding up Boer women and children." [to put into "concentration camps").

The point is not that Morant and his men are shooting Boer prisoners but that they are pushed into it and have it winked at by their superiors, who can't come up with another way to win, then hung out to dry when the world objects. They're actually following Kitchener's orders when they shoot the Boers dressed in khaki but the court martial denies this. A "cracking good yarn" but also a fascinating look at the morality of war. One of my favourites!

Peter

[Michael Johnson]

About thirty years ago, amongst the Martini-Henry Mk. IVs that hit the market were a number of Mausers with Boer names carved on the butts, released from the Rawalpindi Arsenal, if memory serves.

Their story was interesting. Apparently the British had two problems:

a. What to do with arms captured in South Africa, and

b. How to arm the Frontier Constabulary with modern arms, without giving them British service rifles.

The solution to both was to send the Mausers to India. If the Mausers were stolen, the ammunition supply was limited, and couldn't be augmented by ammunition stolen from the British and Indian regiments.