Featured battle : Magersfontein

Part of The 2nd Boer War (or Three Years War)

Date : 10 December 1899 - 11 December 1899

The second of the 'Black Week' battles. The Boers under Koos de la Rey dug 20km of thin, deep trenches in front of Magersfontein in the path of Lord Methuen, fronting them with barbed wire entanglements and camouflaging their positions with bushes and branches. Methuen thought he had found their trenches so began the fight with a heavy bombardment of high-explosive artillery on the 10th. This however had almost no effect on the Boers in their dugout positions. When the Highland Brigade under Maj.Gen Andrew Wauchope advanced against these positions the following day at dawn they marched into a hail of Mauser rounds. The Black Watch and Seaforth Highlanders fell back to cover but were pinned down and lay under the blazing sun most of the rest of the day. Gen Wauchope led a column through a gap in the Boer lines but was shot dead before he broke through. About 100 highlanders did reach the hill though but Cronje and only 7 men on the hill itself made enough noise to suggest a much larger party and the Highlanders fell back. A party of Gordon Highlanders also charged the lines but too were cut down. Later in the afternoon a temporary cease-fire was negotiated to collect the wounded and dead.

Britain's Desert War in Egypt and Libya 1940-1942

David Braddockl
This is a text book written for officers studying for Staff College and Promotion examinations. It is a concise account of a very significant part of our military history, covering, as it does, the North African campaign from 1940 to 1942. Each battle, advance and retreat is covered and the book finishes at the battle of El Alamein. It is an engaging and eminently readable account which, when I had finished it, I wished it had continued all the way to the end of the North African campaign.
The focus is on senior officer ranks in their administration especially command and control and shows clearly how it differed from commander to commander.
There are a few photographs and many useful maps placed appropriately throughout the text. At the end of the book are some supportive appendices including quite a tough set of questions for any readers who really want to challenge themselves.
David Braddock’s book was written with a serious purpose and it is a great pleasure to read. This book is superb and we highly recommend it.

Pen & Sword Military, 2019