British Scorched-Earth Policy and Boer Improvisation

 When Roberts and Kitchener realised the farm was the Boer’s supply depot, they began a systematic campaign to destroy all farms in the Transvaal and Free State. Soon the Boer supply base was gone and they now had to make do with what they had. Cloth and clothing, especially, became scarce, which led to the manufacture of clothing from anything that was available. Animal skins, blankets, tent canvas, leather, curtains, rugs, sheets and - in some extreme conditions - women’s dresses were used. Not even the felt of a billiard table was safe! Boots and gaiters also disappeared and the commandos returned to making their own veldschoenen. Dressed in their rough costumes, they were a far cry from earlier splendour.

With the need for supplies becoming worse by the day, British supply columns were attacked and raided by small, swift moving commandos who seized all that was useful from the enemy, including clothes and uniforms. With the Boers wearing British uniforms and the British adopting the Boer slouch hat and ammunition bandolier, a great deal of confusion reigned as Boer and Brit were now virtually indistinguishable. Deneys Reitz and others commented that they could ride with impunity onto any farm and could go anywhere without as much as a raised eyebrow. He even referred to their commando as the “English-Killing Fusiliers”! In reply, Kitchener issued a proclamation in late 1901 that all Boers captured in khaki would be shot on the spot without trial. However, the dire need of the commandos prevailed and not even this treat could deter them from using captured British equipment. To safeguard themselves from prosecution, captured uniforms were stripped of all rank insignia and military paraphernalia.

Commandos operating in the Cape, like those of Smuts and Maritz, appear to have been more successful when it came to the sourcing of clothing and equipment. A large percentage of the Cape Colony’s inhabitants were Dutch-speaking Boer sympathisers who often helped to supply the commandos.   The Colonial volunteer units and Town Guards fighting them were also less experienced and made easy prey. One unit, the Western Province Mounted Rifles, carried the letters WPMR on their shoulders and this was soon waggishly interpreted as: “We Provide Maritz with Rifles”!

In the two republics, the commandos were not so fortunate. Even the great General De Wet had to borrow clothes to attend the peace conferences. When the commandos gathered to hand in their weapons in June 1902, some were dressed in clothing so badly patched that it was sometimes impossible to determine what the original garment had looked like. Jan Cilliers wrote in his diary that he patched patches on his trousers with patched patches.