Episode 19 - The Acre of death, Spion Kop part 2

Loading player...
This week we continue with the battle of Spion Kop and as you’ll hear, its a battle that horrified those who took part with its hand-to-hand fighting, terrible artillery barrages and massacre of British troops who’d been trapped on the summit of Spion Kop where there was no escape from the Boer Mauser rounds. It’s also a tale of confusion which is often what happens in war.

One of the people involved in this clash is 17 year-old Deneys Reitz who published his book called “Commando” in 1902. It’s a remarkable story about a remarkable life and the best minute-by-minute chronicle of Spion Kop. One of the major ironies is that Deneys Reitz ends up fighting in the First World War on the British side on the Western Front, commanding a unit of the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1918.
28 Jan 2018 English South Africa Education

Other recent episodes

Episode 14 - The end of Black Week

It’s December 1899 and the British have already registered 3 000 casualties in various battles across South Africa. The latest we heard about was the Battle of Colenso on 15th December in Natal where the British casualty rate topped 1 130 with over 700 wounded and the result cost Commander…
24 Dec 2017 17 min

Episode 38 - Roberts marches into Pretoria but de Wet assaults Roodewal

For those who’ve followed this story from our start in October you know that we’re tracking the weeks of the war itself, and it’s now the first week of June 1900. This moment is what Lord Roberts has been waiting for - the triumphant march into the Transvaal Capital Pretoriathus…
10 Jun 2018 20 min

Episode 43 - General Hunter hunts de Wet and Canada loses a famous son

The conventional war has ended and the guerilla war has begun. The next few episodes will explore the actions of various leaders as they criss-crossed the South African countryside. But its not a romantic gallop, there are moments of unbelievable pain and suffering on all sides. The British soldiers were…
15 Jul 2018 20 min