Siege of Mafeking: Difference between revisions

The Mafeking forces comprised the Protectorate Regiment of around 500 men, around 300 from the Bechuanaland Rifles and the Cape Police, and a further 300 men from the town. A [[Mafeking Cadet Corps|cadet corps]] of boys aged 12 to 15, later to be one of the inspirations for the [[Scouting]] Movement,<ref name="ISCAJ"/> was also formed to act as messengers and orderlies.  The recruitment of these cadets released men to fight, bringing the total engaged in the military effort to around 2000. Even though it was supposed to be a "white man's war" Baden-Powell also armed 300 African natives with rifles. They were nicknamed the "Black Watch" and used to guard the perimeter.<ref name="Pakenham1">{{cite book|last=Pakenham|first=Thomas|title=The Boer War|location=New York|publisher=Avon Books|date=1979|ISBN=0-380-72001-9|page=424-425}}</ref>

Although outnumbered by over 8,000 Boer troops, the garrison withstood the siege for 217 days, defying the predictions of the politicians on both sides. Much of this was attributable to some of the cunning military deceptions instituted by Baden-Powell. Fake [[land mine|landmines]] were laid around the town in view of the Boers and their spies within the town, and his soldiers were ordered to simulate avoiding barbed wire (non-existent) when moving between trenches; guns and a searchlight (improvised from an [[acetylene]] lamp and [[biscuit tin]]) were moved around the town to increase their apparent number. (See Jon Latimer, ''Deception in War'', London: John Murray, 2001, pp.32–5.) A [[howitzer]] was built in Mafeking's railway workshops, and even an old cannon (dated 1770, it coincidentally had "B.P. & Co." engraved on the barrel)<ref group="Pakenham">Page 424</ref> was pressed into service. Noticing the Boers had failed to remove any of the rails, Baden-Powell had an [[armoured train]] from the Mafeking railyard loaded with sharpshooters and sent up the rail line in a daring attack right into the heart of the Boer camp, followed by a safe return to Mafeking.  

On 12 May, at about 4 am, Field Cornet S. Eloff led a force of 240 Boers in a daring assault on Mafeking. Covered by a feint attack on the east side of the town, the attackers slipped between the Hidden Hollow and Limestone forts on the western face of the defences. Guided by a British deserter, they followed a path beside the Molopo River to where it enters the Stadt, the village where the native Africans lived. Eloff's party burst into the Stadt unopposed and set fire to the huts in order to signal the attack's progress to Snyman. By about 5:30 am, the Boers seized the police barracks on the outskirts of Mafeking, killing one and capturing the garrison's second-in-command, Colonel C. O. Hore and 29 others. Eloff picked up the telephone connected with British headquarters and boasted to Baden-Powell of his success.<ref group="Pakenham"> Page 434</ref>

The fire had, however, already alerted Mafeking's garrison, which responded rapidly to the crisis. The African police (of the Baralong tribe) had wisely stayed out of the way when Eloff's party roared through the Stadt. As soon as the Boers moved on, the 109 armed Baralongs cut off Eloff's escape route.<ref group="Pakenham"> Page 436</ref> Snyman, "the most stolid and supine of all the Boer generals in the war," failed to support Eloff.<ref group="Pakenham"> Page 434</ref> Meanwhile, Baden-Powell's elaborate telephone network provided him with timely and accurate information. From his headquarters, the British commander directed Major Alick Godley and B Squadron (Protectorate Regiment) to smother the attack and dispatched D Squadron, some armed railway employees and others to help. Eloff's men were soon isolated into three groups.<ref group="Pakenham">Page 435-436</ref>

With two squadrons, Godley first surrounded a group of Boers holed up in a stone kraal in the Stadt. These men surrendered after a sharp fusillade. Godley drove the second group off a kopje and they mostly managed to escape. All day long, Eloff and the third group held out in the police barracks, finally capitulating in the night. The British lost 12 dead and 8 wounded, mostly Africans. Boer losses were 60 dead and wounded, plus a further 108 captured.<ref group="Pakenham">Page 437-438</ref>

The siege was finally lifted on 17 May 1900, when British forces commanded by [[Bryan Mahon|Colonel B T Mahon]] of the army of [[Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts|Lord Roberts]] relieved the town after fighting their way in. Among the relief forces was one of Baden-Powell's brothers, Major[[Baden Baden-Powell|Baden Fletcher Smyth Baden-Powell]].

Until reinforcements landed in February 1900, the war was going poorly for the British. The resistance to the siege was one of the positive highlights, and it and the eventual relief of the town excited the liveliest sympathy in Britain. There were immense celebrations in the country at the news of its relief (creating the verb ''to maffick'', meaning to celebrate both extravagantly and publicly). "Maffick" was a [[back-formation]] from ''Mafeking'', a [[place-name]] that was treated humorously as a [[gerund]] or [[participle]].  Promoted to the youngest major-general in the army, and awarded the [[Order of the Bath|CB]], Baden-Powell was also treated as a hero when he finally returned to Britain in 1903.

Three Victoria Crosses were awarded as a result of acts of heroism during the siege, to Sergeant [[Horace Martineau]] and Trooper [[Horace Ramsden]] for acts during an attack on the Boer ''Game Tree Fort'', and to Captain Charles FitzClarence for Game Tree and two previous actions.