Long-forgotten campaign
THERE are very few people alive today who were around when the Great War broke out in 1914 – the war to end all wars, later named World War I when it turned out it was not the war to end all wars.
All the same, the centenary is being marked at commemorations around the world of this conflict that tore Europe apart and set up other such zones all over the world , some of which are still contested today – not least in the Middle East.
One of those zones was German South-West Africa, which was invaded by forces of the recently formed Union of South Africa.
Some letters home come this way, written by a Zululand boy who was in that campaign, riding his own horse. They come from Hugh Lee, of Eshowe, who today farms the same place where Ernest Brockwell came from with his horse, named Dear.
The troops travelled up the coast in the steamer, Gaika, to Luderitzbucht – 1 800 of them, with horses, crammed into the holds and terribly seasick. Then they made for a place called Aus – very hardgoing in rough and parched country.
Ernest describes to his parents his first battle.
“It was a very hot time for us and now I know what it is to have bullets flying round about my head.
“The action started about 2am in the morning and lasted about the same time midday.
“We had been trekking all night – 25 miles (40km) – and had just put our heads down to have two or three hours rest before we attacked the place in the morning. However, we were given no rest as the Germans opened fire on us at close range, two- or three hundred yards, with rifle fire, six maxims and artillery.
“I must say we got the worst of it during the night, but the daylight decided our victory.
“The part I didn’t quite like at night was the shells bursting on top of us, but in the daylight our artillery answered and did its work splendidly. But my word, our poor horses are knocked up and so were we all, but we are now having two or three days’ rest which we need very badly.”
Eventually he had to turn loose his horse, who had lost condition badly – taking a replacement – and Dear presumably went on to contribute to the herd of wild horses that still roams in Namibia today.
Ernest and his unit later shipped for Europe and the Western Front where, sad to say, he died at Delville Wood in 1916.
One sad account among the many millions.
Social work
NEWS from Australia. A social worker from Melbourne, in the state of Victoria, transferred to Tasmania. She was touring her new territory when she came upon the smallest cabin she had ever seen.
Intrigued, she went up and knocked on the door, “Anybody home?” “Yep.” It was a child’s voice through the door. “Is your father there?”. “Pa? Nope, he left before Ma came in,” said the child. “Well, is your mother there?” “Ma? Nope, she left just before I got here.”
“But,” protested the social worker, (thinking that surely she will need to intervene in this situation) “are you never together as a family?”
“Sure, but not here. This is the dunny (toilet).”
Wrong notes
NORTH Korea sounds a a delightful place. The minister of defence has been executed by anti-aircraft fire before an audience of hundreds, according to South Korea’s security agency.
His offence? Falling asleep at a function attended by dictator Kim Jong-un (“The Young ‘Un”) and