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Military History – South Africa – Europe – England 19th Century
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Orange Free State and Cape Colony, the Imperial Corps of Guides, known as Rimington’s
Tigers, mainly because they wore a wildcat’s tail as a hatband. This unconventional unit was free of
preconceptions and had a degree of local knowledge which proved invaluable to the British.
See also:
Joiners.
Roberts, Field Marshal Earl, of Kandahar, V.C.,
1832–1914
Lord Roberts was given the overall command of the British army in South Africa after the defeats of
“Black Week” caused the British government to lose confidence in General Sir Redvers Buller.
Roberts recognised the importance of scouting and sound information and was a tough and methodical
commander. The conventional phase of the war was won when he occupied the capital cities of both
Boer republics and forced President Kruger to flee. His determination to win was shown by his
ordering reprisals for Boer attacks on his lines of supply. He handed over command to Lord
Kitchener in December 1900, believing the war was over except for the tidying up of remaining Boer
forces.
Frederick Sliegh Roberts was born in Cawnpore, India, and was commissioned into the Bengal
Artillery in 1851. He was five foot three inches (1.6m) tall and, as a result of a childhood illness,
blind in one eye. Nonetheless, he won the Victoria Cross during the Indian Mutiny, at Khodagunge in
1858 and distinguished himself in the campaigns in Abyssinia, Assam and, in 1878–80, the Second
Afghan War when he commanded the Kabul Field Force. He became Commander-in-Chief in India
from 1885 to 1893 and was Commander-in-Chief in Ireland at the outbreak of the Boer War. His
experience had led him to believe in the importance of marksmanship with the rifle and initiative on
the part of the private soldier as opposed to the parade-ground tidiness favoured in England. Roberts
was keen to have the command in South Africa in spite of his age and applied pressure on the
Secretary of State for War, Lord Lansdowne, who had been Viceroy of India when Roberts was
Commander-in-Chief there. Field Marshal Wolseley, however, as Commander-in-Chief of the British
Army, had appointed Buller, who was also a soldier with African experience.
Roberts’s chance came when, in December 1899, the British failed at Stormberg, Magersfontein
and Colenso, the defeats of “Black Week”. His appointment was soured by the death of his son
Freddie who was fatally wounded attempting to recover Long’s guns at Colenso. He arrived in South
Africa with his Chief-of-Staff Lord Kitchener and considerable reinforcements, notably three infantry
divisions and a cavalry division. He believed in the value of reconnaissance and even sent to Alaska
to persuade Frederick Russell Burnham to join him as his chief of scouts.
Roberts left Buller in command in Natal while he took over the western front. He managed to
keep Assistant Commandant-general Piet Cronjé
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