‘n Klomp decent Boere en verbaasde kakies...

Pemberton se boek oor die Boere-oorlog (Battles of the Boer War), wat ek nou so tussen-in lees, het ‘n kosbare staaltjie oor ‘n vreemde kant van die oorlog. Dit is weggesteek in sy lang, droë beskrywing van die beroemde slag by Magersfontein. Die skrywer wat vele ander boeke oor oorloë en militêre figure geskryf het, is duidelik veral geïntesseerd in sulke sake soos byvoorbeeld die aanvalsformasies, die plekke en aard van die loopgrawe, die soorte ammunisie, gewere, die strategie wat suksesvol was of gefaal het, gevegstoestande, verkryging van inligting, bevelstrukture.

Dikwels vertel hy darem so tussen-in hoe die manne soms vir ure in die verskriklike son stil gelê het sonder kos en dikwels sonder water. Ook gewondes het geen keuse gehad nie. Hulle moes maar bly lê terwyl die gevegte geduur het.

Die gevegte was soms bloedig. Hy vertel (bl. 99) byvoorbeeld hoe een bom op ‘n keer 70 soldate gedood het.

Maar dan is daar ook die vreemde, verrassende en menslike kant wat onverwags na vore kom. Pemberton vertel van ‘n verslag oor hoedat die tweede offisier in bevel skielik teen die middag van die eerste dag se gevegte, die “baas” (boss) van die Boere sien uitkom het. Hy het sy hande gewaai om te wys dat hy nie gewapen is nie.

Die Boere-leier stap toe die hele lang afstand oor na die Engelse kant toe en sê vir hulle dat hy na Lord Methuen ‘n boodskap gestuur het om ambulanse te reël. Nie net die Engelse nie, maar ook die Boere het dus hul beseerdes gehad wat versorg moes word. En vir die Boere was dit so belangrik dat hulle bereid was om ongewapen met die vyand te gaan onderhandel vir mediese versorging.

Dit is nou ‘n kant van oorlog wat ‘n mens nie dikwels van hoor nie: soldate wat onderling hul skietery opskort om eers te kom reël vir die versorging van hul gewondes. 

Maar dit is net die begin van Pemberton se storie.

Uit sy vertelling blyk nou dat dit nie sommer net vir soldate was om saam te kom en oor gewondes te onderhandel nie: Die onderhandeling is stram, want dit het implikasies vir die gevegte. Die Boere-leier sê vir die Engelse offisier dat as hulle nie op die ambulanse sou skiet nie, sou die Boere nie na die Engelse soldate skiet nie. Die voorwaarde is dan dat hulle moet stil lê en nie opstaan nie.

Die Engelse was heel inskiklik hiermee en het daarmee akkoord gegaan.

Dit is egter nie die einde van die storie nie. Die toneel herhaal homself later in die dag weer. Pemberton vertel dat teen 6 nm., toe die geveg al 14 uur aan die gang was en toe gewondes se toestand vererger het weens miere wat hulle ook bygekom het, twee Boere weer na die Engelse kant oorgestap het. Hierdie keer het hulle water vir die gewonde Engelse soldate gebring!

Maar hulle maak nou 'n nuwe voorstel: Die Boere onderneem teenoor die bevelvoerder dat hulle sal toelaat dat die soldate hulle gewondes wegneem en terugval uit hul posisies op die slagveld, op voorwaarde dat hulle hul gewere agterlaat. Die Boere sou hierdie terugtog toelaat want hulle het op daardie stadium nie daarin belanggestel om gevangenes te neem nie.

Die Engelse bevelvoerder was eers behoorlik “verontwaardig” (indignant) oor hierdie aanbod en het begin om met die Boere daaroor te redeneer. Die argument het so hewig geword dat hy op ‘n stadium saam met die Boere na hulle loopgrawe afgesit het om daar verder te praat! 

En, het hy later in sy verslag geskryf, daar ontdek hy tot sy verbasing dat die Boere nogal ‘n ordentlike klomp is (decent lot).

Stel jou voor - in 'n bitter oorlog in bitter omstandighede staan soldate en baklei met mekaar in hewige argumente oor die gepastheid van 'n aanbod om te kan terugval met jou gewondes! Dit is gelyk bisar en roerend.

Nietemin, skryf Pemberton, die bevelvoerder se langdurige en hewige geredekawel met die Boere was nutteloos. Hulle het hul net mooi netjies daaraan afgevee. Hulle kon dit bekostig want dit Boere het die oorhand gehad en het dit geweet. Hulle kon voorskryf wat moet gebeur en wou nie afwyk van hul besluit nie.

Die Engelse soldaat wat dit gerapporteer het, sluit sy verslag oor hulle aftog só af: “Dus het almal wat kon loop, onttrek (“retired”!). Op die manier het die eerste dag se gevegte tot ‘n einde gekom. “En ek wil nooit weer so ‘n dag beleef nie”, sluit hy dan diep gebelgd af.

‘n “Decent lot,” op daardie stadium besig met bitter gevegte waarin vele sterf, wat omgee vir hul eie beseerdes, maar wat ook omgee vir die vyand s’n....  

Terwyl ek dit lees en wonder oor die besorgdheid van die Boere, begin ek so bietjie dieper kyk na hierdie “menslike” kant van die oorlog. En, toevalling kom ek op die volgende staaltjie af. Daaruit blyk dat Gandhi in 1899 in die oorlog ‘n rol gespeel het. Hy het 1400 mense georganiseer om, soms in akute lewensgevaar, na gewondes om te sien. Hier is - na 'n foto - die storie.

"My first meeting with Mr. M. Gandhi was under strange circumstances. It was on the road from Spion Kop, after the fateful retirement of the British troops in January 1900. The previous afternoon I saw the Indian mule-train moved up the slopes of the Kop carrying water to the distressed soldiers who had lain powerless on the plateau. The mules carried the water in immense bags, one on each side, led by Indians at their heads. The galling rifle-fire, which heralded their arrival on the top, did not deter the strangely-looking cavalcade which moved slowly forward, and as an Indian fell, another quietly stepped forward to fill the vacant place. Afterwards the grim duty of bearer corps, which Mr. Gandhi organised in Natal, began. It was on such occasions the Indians proved their fortitude, and the one with the greatest fortitude was the subject of this sketch [Mr. Gandhi]. After a night's work, which had shattered men with much bigger frames I came across Gandhi in the early morning sitting by the roadside―eating a regulation Army biscuit. Everyman in Buller's force was dull and depressed, and damnation was heartily invoked on everything. But Gandhi was stoical in his bearing, cheerful, and confident in his conversation, and had a kindly eye. He did one good... I saw the man and his small undisciplined corps on many a field during the Natal campaign. When succour was to be rendered they were there."

Other Indians in South Africa also volunteered. Gandhi in Satyagraha in South Africa, refers in particular to Parbhusingh (Prabhu Singh), a hero of Ladysmith:

"The officer in command at Ladysmith [during the siege] assigned various duties to every resident of the place. The most dangerous and most responsible work was assigned to Parbhusingh who was a 'coolie.' On a hill near Ladysmith the Boers had stationed a pom-pom, whose operations destroyed many buildings and even occasioned some loss of life. An interval of a minute or two must pass before a shell which had been fired from the gun reached a distant objective. If the besieged got even such a short notice, they could take cover before the shell dropped in the town and thus save themselves. Parbhusingh was to sit perched up in a tree, all the time that the gun was working, with his eyes fixed on the hill and to ring a bell the moment he observed a flash. On hearing the bell, the residents of Ladysmith instantly took cover and saved themselves from the deadly cannon ball whose approach was thus announced.

"The officer in charge of Ladysmith, in eulogising the invaluable services rendered by Parbhusingh, stated that he worked so zealously that not once had he failed to ring the bell. It need hardly be said that his own life was constantly in peril. The story of his bravery came to be known in Natal and at last reached the ears of Lord Curzon, then Viceroy of India, who sent a Kashmir robe for presentation to Parbhusingh and wrote to the Natal Government, asking them to carry out the presentation ceremony with all possible publicity. This duty was assigned to the Mayor of Durban who held a public meeting in the Town Hall for the purpose."

Die verhaal van Ghandi en die mediese vrywilligers word vertel op : http://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/boer_war.htm.

Maar terug na die Boere en hul besorgdheid oor hul gewondes en die gewondes van die vyand: hier is 'n veelseggende artikel daaroor. 

http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v18/v18n3p14_Weber.html:

A People's War

Boer men were citizen-soldiers. By law, all males in the two republics between the ages of 16 and 60 were eligible for war service. In the Transvaal, every male burgher was required to have a rifle and ammunition. At a military parade held in Pretoria, the Transvaal capital, on October 10, 1899, in honor of Kruger's 74th birthday, ranchers from the bushveld, clerks and solicitors from the cities, and other battle-ready citizens rode or marched past their leader. Joining them were foreign volunteer fighters who had rallied to the Boer cause, including a thousand Dutchmen and Germans, and a contingent of a hundred Irishmen (including a youthful John MacBride, who was executed 17 years later for his role in the Dublin Easter Uprising).

Even as they prepared to face the might of the world's foremost imperial power, the Boers were confident and determined. Although outnumbered, their morale was good. They were fighting for their land, their freedom and their way of life -- and on familiar home territory. As British historian Phillip Knightley has written:

The Boer, neither completely civilian nor completely a soldier, alternating between tending his farm and fighting the British, lightly armed with an accurate repeating rifle, mobile, able to live for long periods on strips of dried meat and a little water, drawing on the hidden support of his countrymen, unafraid to flee when the battle was not in his favor, choosing his ground and his time for attack, was more than a match for any regular army, no matter what his strength.

Boers fighters were also chivalrous in combat. A few years after the end of the war, when passions had cooled somewhat, the London Times' history of the war conceded:

In the moment of their triumph the Boers behaved with the same unaffected kindheartedness ... which they displayed after most of their victories. Although exultant they were not insulting. They fetched water and blankets for the wounded and treated prisoners with every consideration.