
audiobook
by Ben J. (Ben Johannis) Viljoen
Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has been maintained.
A candid recollection by a senior Boer commander, this memoir offers a rare, first‑hand view of the Anglo‑Boer War from the perspective of one who helped shape its major campaigns. Written while a prisoner on St. Helena, the author balances stark battlefield detail with a surprisingly light‑hearted humor, giving listeners a sense of both the strategic stakes and the everyday realities of a war that scarred a nation.
The narrative is framed by the constraints of captivity: stripped of his notes and forced to rely on memory, the writer confronts the indignities imposed by his British custodian, drawing unsettling parallels to historic military imprisonments. His straightforward, unembellished style reflects a genuine desire to set the record straight, without the grandiose flourishes common in earlier accounts.
Listeners will find a vivid portrait of a conflicted era—its leaders, soldiers, and civilians—presented with honesty, modesty, and a touch of wry observation that brings the distant past to life.
Language
en
Duration
~9 hours (524K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Christine P. Travers and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2008-04-11
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1868–1917
A Boer general turned memoirist, he wrote from firsthand experience of the South African War and later lived an unusually restless life that took him from South Africa to the United States and even into the Mexican Revolution.
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