Observations of a Boer (South African of Dutch descent) Commando during the
initial days of the Battle of Ladysmith (and the ensuing prolonged siege)
during the Second Anglo-Boer War in early November of 1899.
From a book entitled “Commando, a Boer Journal of the Boer War,” authored by Deneys
Reitz. This book was presented to me by a good friend from South Africa, now
an eminently successful American citizen:
“Both sides were maintaining a vigorous short-range rifle contest, in which
the (English) soldiers were being badly worsted, for they were up against
real old-fashioned Free State Boers for whom they were no match in
sharpshooting of this kind. Time after time, I saw (English) soldiers looking over
their defenses to fire, and time after time I heard the thud of a bullet
finding its mark, and could see the unfortunate man fall back out of sight,
killed or wounded…
Free State men had eight or nine dead and fifteen or twenty wounded.
English casualties were two-hundred killed, and as many injured, the disparity
due to the fact that English soldiers were no match for us in
rifle-shooting. Whatever the defects of the Commando System (and there are many), Boer
superiority in marksmanship was as great now as it had been in 1881″
The last sentence is a reference to the First Anglo-Boer War, which lasted
less than a year and ended with a hopeless “settlement.” Overconfident
British had been unexpectedly defeated by determined, and highly proficient,
Boer riflemen at the famous Battle of Majuba Hill, and, fearful of
additional military embarrassments, they subsequently talked the Boers into an
fragile armistice, rather than continue fighting. The Boers naively agreed, a
mistake they lived to regret! That fatally-flawed “settlement” literally
set the stage for the Second Anglo-Boer War, which smouldered for two
decades and then erupted once again into general armed conflict in 1899.
That all took place over a hundred years ago. Even then, events in South
Africa were being overshadowed on the world stage by the simultaneous Boxer
Rebellion in China, the Spanish-American War in Cuba and the Phillippines,
and the Russo-Japanese war in Manchuria.
Most Americans never heard of the two Anglo-Boer Wars. However, I have
close friends who today live on the very ground where it was fought and who
still consider it “recent history!” I’ve personally toured most of the
battle sites and poignant memorials. It takes your breath away!
When reading that book, I am reminded, once again, of the critical
importance of proficient individual rifle skills. Our equipment today is vastly
superior to that used by those courageous Boer commandos, but the principles
of sights and trigger remain the same. Poor shooting is still eminently
possible, even with our advanced rifles and sighting systems. And, as we
see, poor shooting will invariably result in defeat and needless casualties.
The reader may be naively thinking that machine guns, artillery, air
strikes, and death rays (mostly not available in 1899) render conventional rifle
skills irrelevant.
Don’t be so foolish!
There is a saying, “All politics are local.” So is all fighting!
Even now, ISIS fighters in Syria seem mostly unimpressed with all our
Western high-tech “warfare-from-afar.” We all may find ourselves immersed in
something similar to the foregoing, sooner than any of us think, and we’ll
likely have no high-tech assets on our side!
And, that day your life will depend solely upon your rifle and your
individual skill with it. As hapless English soldiers discovered over a century
ago in Africa, you don’t want to mess with highly-skilled and determined
riflemen!
Modern military rifles, and skills to operate them at maximum efficiency,
are the result of many lifetimes devoted to the advancement of this Art, of
countless bloody battles, of learning and relearning, the hard way, so many
important lessons. That expensive body of knowledge is now available to
us, and we dare not fail to take advantage of it!
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man
who has practiced one kick 10,000 times”
Bruce Lee
There are not enough years in your life to practice 10,000 kicks 10,000
times! So, use what time you do have wisely and efficiently, so that your
life will be long and triumphant.
History does not deal kindly with the naive and unprepared!
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