Featured battle : Mafeking, The Seige of

Part of The 2nd Boer War (or Three Years War)

Date : 13 October 1899 - 18 May 1900

Following some early skirmishing and 'shows of force' around this remote administrative centre the Boers and defending forces settled down into an uneventful seige punctuated by a 155mm 'Long Tom' gun shelling the town from time to time. The British made an attempt to attack a Boer fort on the 26th December but it was beaten back with loss. Baden-Powell, in command of the defence, made much of 'his heroic efforts' to rally the defenders, but most of the brunt of the hardship was felt by the town's black population and refugees. This was particularly notable on the 12th of May when Commandant Eloff led an attack to try to take the town before help arrived. The attack was made through the native quarter but the Barolong people who lived there raised the alarm, and trapped much of the force until Eloff decided to surrender.

British Naval Trawlers and Drifters in Two World Wars

Steve R Dunn
The work of Trawlers and Drifters has had a mention in many books but non conveyed the quite incredible amount of service given by these ships and their crews. The narrative contains many stories of particular actions which illustrate the enormous range of tough tasks these small ships were given. The range runs from the almost static boom defence drifters to trawlers acting as rescue ships for the arctic convoys, from the insertion of clandestine agents to the evacuation at Dunkirk. Losses were high from mines, torpedoes and bombs with, in most cases, no survivors. Some reference to the internal politics of the Admiralty is made in the context of explaining why so many of our fishing fleet were required to support the navy. Passing reference is also made to that support still being needed for the Falklands war.
Anyone familiar with John Lambert’s drawings will not be disappointed by those assembled here; quality and quantity almost sufficient to build a boat and certainly great for any ship modeller.
The quality of the publication is such that if the content had been limited to the many photographs and drawings with simple annotations it would have been a very interesting book but with Steve Dunn’s supporting narrative it is raised to a higher level.
We highly recommend it.

Seaforth Publishing, 2021