author
Dietlof Van Warmelo
1872–1966
A young Boer fighter turned his wartime ordeal into a vivid firsthand memoir. Best known for On Commando, he writes with immediacy about life in the South African War and the harsh experience of captivity.
1 Audiobook
On Commando
by Dietlof Van Warmelo
About the author
Born in 1872, Dietlof van Warmelo was a South African writer remembered chiefly for On Commando, a memoir drawn from his experiences in the South African War. Contemporary catalog records and public-domain editions identify him as the author of this firsthand account, which follows his time on commando and the period when he was held as a prisoner of war in India.
The book was written while he was still a prisoner, giving it an unusually direct, close-up feeling. Rather than reading like distant history, it brings the conflict down to the level of movement, hardship, and daily survival, which helps explain why it has remained of interest to later readers of Boer War history.
Van Warmelo died in 1966. Little biographical detail is easy to confirm from widely available sources, but his reputation endures through On Commando, a personal narrative that preserves one participant's view of a defining conflict in South African history.