Dietlof Van Warmelo

Dietlof van Warmelo was a South African writer best known for On Commando, a memoir of his experiences in the South African War (Second Boer War). Contemporary editions and catalog records identify him as living from 1872 to 1966, and the book itself presents him as a young Transvaaler writing about the war from personal experience.

On Commando was written while he was held in a prisoner-of-war camp in India after his capture by British forces. According to later publisher and bookseller notes, the manuscript was smuggled out to Holland, translated into English, and published in London in 1902, even before the war had ended.

What makes van Warmelo memorable is the directness of his voice. His writing is not polished in a showy way; instead, it reads like an honest witness account, full of marches, battles, hardship, and the strain of captivity. That simplicity gives the book much of its lasting power for readers interested in South African history and personal war memoirs.