CHURCHILL’S BOER COMMANDOS
On 4 June 1940, even as the smoke of defeat still hung thick over the Dunkirk beaches, Churchill delivered a stirring speech to parliament, hailing the rescuing of so many “… out of the jaws of death and shame, to their native land”. But tellingly he added, “We must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuation.”
One man with whom those words struck a powerful chord was Lieutenant-Colonel Dudley Wrangel Clarke. Known as a maverick freethinker, Clarke had been noticed when General Archibald Wavell had recognised his “unorthodox outlook on soldiering” and “ingenuity”.
Clarke had grown up during the Boer War, his family braving the 1899 Siege of Ladysmith by Boer forces. Across South Africa 250,000 British troops had been tied down by Boer Commandos, loosely organised bands of horsemen some 50,000 in strength.
The Boers formed militias, each fighter carrying whatever weaponry and kit he could muster. Dressed in regular khaki farming clothes, they were expert hunters and survivalists. Largely equipped by what they could win from the enemy – in this case, British troops – the Commando bands were held together by the charisma of their leaders.
The stories of their thrilling
