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Military History – South Africa – Europe – England 19th Century
.Article – Online Historic Information | Military
.Page 162
when Baden-Powell’s second-in-command, Lord Edward Cecil, had pledged his word they
would be paid for.
The British constructed forts and made a show of strength which kept the Boers from attempting
to storm the place, but on 24 October Assistant Commandant-general Piet Cronjé brought a Creusot
155mm, which became known to the besieged as Big Ben, and started shelling the town. Attacks and
counter-attacks took place over the next few days, but both British and Boers held their lines. Cronjé
then decided to leave the matter in the hands of a reduced force of 2,000 men under Vecht-general J.
P. Snyman.
Within the town existence settled down into a boring routine, punctuated by sporadic and largely
ineffective shelling, although both black and white civilians died. By agreement between the
adversaries, Sunday was a day of peace and there were games, music and amateur dramatics as an
alternative to drinking.
The application of food rationing, with different criteria for the black and white populations, has
been much discussed by historians. That rations differed is beyond doubt, but it is equally doubtful
that there was a policy on Baden-Powell’s part to starve the black Africans. It also appears that there
was some conflict between the various groups of black Africans, with the black residents resenting
the intrusion of the black refugees. The earliest writers gave an exclusively European view, some
clearly less than truthful but others accurately conveying their honest perceptions. A corrective was
published in 1916 in the work of a black African who was present throughout the siege, Sol Plaatje.
In the 1970s extreme condemnation of Baden-Powell appeared to be justified, but more recent work
throws such views into question.
On 26 December 1899 the British carried out an abortive attack on a Boer fort and suffered
more than fifty casualties. A more passive stance was then adopted. The Boers likewise did little
until, on 12 May 1900, Commandant Sarel Eloff, Snyman’s second-in-command, led an attack which
resulted in Eloff and his men becoming besieged themselves in the British South Africa Police Fort
on the west of the European township. The Baralong ejected the rest of the Boers. Snyman failed to
act in support and the little band of Boers had to surrender. Meanwhile a British column from the
south under Colonel Bryan Mahon and another from the north under Colonel Herbert Plumer were
coming to relieve the town. They met west of Mafeking at Massibi on 15 May and they fought the
Boers on the Molopo River the next day. That evening Major Karri Davies and men of the Imperial
Light Horse rode into Mafeking.
See also:
Africans, Black; Baden-Powell, Major-General Robert; Rhodesian Field Force.
Reference:
Jackson, Tabitha, The Boer War (London, Macmillan, 1999); Jeal, Tim, Baden-Powell (London,
Hutchinson, 1989); Marix Evans, Martin, The Boer War: South Africa 1899–1902 (Oxford,
Osprey Publishing, 1999); Pakenham, Thomas, The Boer War (London,
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