Letters from the Front: Campaign Images from the War in South Africa

Letters from the Front: Campaign Pictures from the War in South Africa. 

In Letters from the Front  celebrated war correspondent A.G. Hales takes readers straight into the dust, heat and fear of the South African War. Written on campaign rather than reconstructed years later, these dispatches capture the war as it unfolded – rough, vivid, and often deeply uncomfortable.

Hales marches with the Australians to Belmont and beyond, watching colonial troops endure blistering heat, faulty transport and the constant threat of Boer commandos. He is present at Slingersfontein and Magersfontein, rides with General Rundle through the Orange Free State, and spends time “among the Boers”, in their towns, laagers and camps, trying to see the conflict through their eyes as well as Britain’s.

Along the way he sketches unforgettable portraits: the camp liar, the soldier-preacher thundering an improvised sermon, President Steyn and Louis Botha, ordinary Scots and Irish lads dying in dusty field hospitals, and hungry men quarrelling with Africans for a handful of raw mealies. He is unsparing about bureaucratic incompetence and the scandal of supplies rotting in depots while soldiers go underfed at the front, insisting that a correspondent’s duty is to praise and to censure “regardless of consequences to himself.”

This new edition brings back into print a powerful, eye-witness account that still speaks to today’s debates about empire, military leadership and the human cost of war. For anyone interested in the Anglo-Boer War, Australian military history, or the ethics of reporting from the front line, Hales offers an unvarnished, highly readable narrative that is as moving as it is historically important.

Pages:   147 (English)
Format: Downloadable PDF (±2.8Mb)

Letters from the front: Campaign pictures of the war in South Africa. 

In Letters from the front: Campaign pictures of the war in South Africa plaas die bekende oorlogskorrespondent A.G. Hales lesers midde in die stof, hitte en vrees van die Suid-Afrikaanse Oorlog. Op veldtog geskryf, en nie jare later uit geheue saamgestel nie, vang hierdie briewe die oorlog vas soos dit afgespeel het – ru, helder en dikwels diep ontstellend.

Hales trek saam met die Australiërs na Belmont en verder, en kyk hoe koloniale troepe brandende hitte, gebrekkige vervoer en die gedurige bedreiging van Boerkommando’s trotseer. Hy is teenwoordig by Slingersfontein en Magersfontein, ry saam met generaal Rundle deur die Oranje-Vrystaat, en spandeer tyd saam met die die Boere – in hul dorpe, laers en kampe – in ’n poging om die konflik deur húlle oë sowel as deur dié van Brittanje te sien.

Op pad skets hy onvergeetlike portrette: die kampleuenaar, die soldaat-prediker wat ’n vurige geïmproviseerde preek lewer, president Steyn en Louis Botha, gewone Skotse en Ierse seuns wat in stofverweerde veldhospitale sterf, en honger manne wat met Afrikane stry oor ’n handvol rou mielies. Hy is onverskrokke eerlik oor burokratiese onbekwaamheid en die skandaal van voorrade wat in depots verrot terwyl soldate aan die front ondervoed bly, en dring daarop aan dat ’n korrespondent se plig is om te prys én te bestraf, ongeag die gevolge wat hy mag ervaar.

Hierdie nuwe uitgawe bring ’n kragtige ooggetuieverslag weer in druk - 'n verslag wat steeds resoneer met vandag se debatte oor ryk, militêre leierskap en die menslike koste van oorlog. Vir enigeen wat in die Anglo-Boereoorlog, Australiese militêre geskiedenis of die etiek van verslagdoening vanaf die front belangstel, bied Hales ’n onopgesmukte, hoogs leesbare vertelling wat lesers lank ná die laaste bladsy laat bly nadink.

Bladsye:   147 (Engels)
Formaat:  Aflaaibare PDF (±2.8Mb)