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boer commando wikipedia jump to content main menu main menu move to sidebar hide navigation main page contents current events random article about wikipedia contact us contribute help learn to edit community portal recent changes upload file special pages search search appearance donate create account log in personal tools donate create account log in contents move to sidebar hide top 1 history 2 structure 3 weaponry 4 list of boer commando units toggle list of boer commando units subsection 4 1 orange free state 4 2 transvaal 5 see also 6 references and notes toggle references and notes subsection 6 1 sources toggle the table of contents boer commando 5 languages afrikaans français nederlands português русский edit links article talk english read edit view history tools tools move to sidebar hide actions read edit view history general what links here related changes upload file permanent link page information cite this page get shortened url switch to legacy parser print export download as pdf printable version in other projects wikidata item appearance move to sidebar hide from wikipedia the free encyclopedia not to be confused with commando system south africa or kommandokorps kommando active 18th century 1902 country south african republic orange free state branch militia type guerrilla fighter military volunteer engagements boer wars xhosa wars maritz rebellion military unit the boer commandos or kommandos were volunteer military units of guerrilla militia organized by the boer people of south africa from this came the term commando into the english language during the second boer war of 1899 1902 history edit boer commando in action during the first boer war 1881 in 1658 war erupted between the dutch settlers at cape colony and the khoi khoi in order to protect the settlement all able bodied men were conscripted after the conclusion of this war all men in the colony were liable for military service and were expected to be ready on short notice by 1700 the size of the colony had increased immensely and it was divided into districts the small military garrison stationed at the castle de goede hoop could not be counted on to react swiftly in the border districts therefore the commando system was expanded and formalized each district had a kommandant who was charged with calling up all burghers in times of need during the first british invasion of the cape colony in 1795 and the second invasion in 1806 the commandos were called up to defend the cape colony during the battle of blaauwberg in january 1806 the swellendam commando held the british off long enough for the rest of the batavian army to retreat to safety under british rule the cape colony continued to use the commando system in its frontier wars in addition to regular british imperial troops boer commandos fought alongside fengu british settlers khoi khoi and other ethnic groups in units which were often mixed light mobile commandos were undeniably better suited than the slow moving columns of imperial troops for warfare in the rough frontier mountains however tensions often arose in the cape s government over the relative merits and control of these two parallel military systems 1 during the great trek this system was used and remained in use in the boer republics both republics issued commando laws making commando service mandatory in times of need for all male citizens between the ages of 16 and 60 during the second boer war 1899 1902 the boer commando formed the backbone of the boer forces after the declaration of peace in 1902 the commandos were disbanded they did re form themselves in clandestine shooting clubs in 1912 the commandos were re formed as an active citizen force in the union defence force this system was in operation until 2005 when all commandos were disbanded again structure edit the carolina commando established in 1895 with a flag boer commando at the battle of colenso boer commando with captured british prisoners during the anglo boer war 1899 1902 each commando was attached to a town after which it was named e g bloemfontein commando each town was responsible for a district divided into wards the commando was commanded by a kommandant and each ward by a veldkornet or field cornet equivalent of a senior nco rank the veldkornet was responsible not only for calling up the burghers but also for policing his ward collecting taxes issuing firearms and other materiel in times of war theoretically a ward was divided into corporalships a corporalship was usually made up of about 20 burghers sometimes entire families fathers sons uncles cousins filled a corporalship the veldkornet was responsible to the kommandant who in turn was responsible to a general in theory a general was responsible for four commandos he in turn was responsible to the commander in chief of the republic in the transvaal the c in c was called the commandant general and in the free state the hoofdkommandant chief commandant the c in c was responsible to the president other auxiliary ranks were created in war time such as vleiskorporaal meat corporal responsible for issuing rations the commando was made up of volunteers all officers were appointed by the members of the commando and not by the government this gave a chance for some commanders to appear such as general koos de la rey and general c r de wet but also had the disadvantage of sometimes putting inept commanders in charge discipline was also a problem as there was no real way of enforcing it the various boer republics did not all have the same command structure 2 weaponry edit before the second boer war the republics most popular rifle was the 450 westley richards a falling block single action breech loading model rifle with accuracy up to 600 yards some were marked made specially for z a r 3 these were similar to the martini henry mark ii rifles used by british troops 4 5 a book about the war j lehmann s the first boer war 1972 offered this comment about the boers rifle employing chiefly the very fine breech loading westley richards calibre 45 paper cartridge percussion cap replaced on the nipple manually they made it exceedingly dangerous for the british to expose themselves on the skyline 6 during the first boer war some older boers preferred the duel purposed percussion cap breechloading monkey tail also made by westley richards 7 mauser 1895 bolt action rifle at the auckland museum for the anglo boereoorlog anglo boer war paul kruger president of the south african republic re equipped the army importing 37 000 of the latest mauser model 1895 rifles 8 and some 40 to 50 million rounds of 7x57 ammunition 9 the model 1895 was also known as boer model mauser 10 and was marked o v s oranje vrij staat just above the serial number 11 this german made rifle had a firing range exceeding 2 000 yards experienced shooters could achieve excellent long range accuracy 12 some commandos used the martini henry mark iii since thousands of these had also been purchased the drawback was the large puff of white smoke after firing which gave away the shooter s position 13 14 roughly 7 000 guedes 1885 rifles were also purchased a few years earlier and these were used during the hostilities 15 others used captured british rifles such as the long lee metford and the enfield as confirmed by photographs from the era 16 17 when the ammunition for the mausers ran out 18 the boers relied primarily on the captured lee metfords 19 20 regardless of the rifle few of the commando used bayonets 21 22 australian troops with a qf 1 pounder maxim auto cannon captured from the boers circa 1901 the best modern european artillery was also purchased by october 1899 the transvaal state artillery had 73 heavy guns including four 155 mm creusot fortress guns 23 and 25 of the 37 mm maxim nordenfeldt guns 24 the boers maxim larger than the maxim model used by the british 25 was a large caliber belt fed water cooled auto cannon that fired explosive rounds smokeless ammunition at 450 rounds per minute it became known as the pom pom 26 other weapons in use included mauser c96 pistol colt single action army revolver remington model 1875 revolver remington rolling block rifle winchester rifle vetterli rifle gewehr 1888 krag jørgensen rifle kropatschek rifle lee enfield 27 lee metford 28 martini henry 29 guedes rifle 30 enfield revolver mauser zig zag m1879 reichsrevolver list of boer commando units edit the following boer commandos existed in the orange free state and transvaal 31 orange free state edit bethlehem bethulie bloemfontein boshof bothaville brandfort caledon river edenburg fauresmith ficksburg frankfort harrismith heilbron hoopstad jacobsdal kroonstad ladybrand lindley parys philippolis rouxville senekal smithfield thaba nchu ventersburg vrede vredefort wepener winburg transvaal edit amsterdam bethal bloemhof boksburg carolina christiana elandsfontein elands river ermelo fordsburg germiston heidelberg jeppestown johannesburg klerksdorp krugersdorp lichtenburg lydenburg marico middelburg piet retief potchefstroom pretoria rustenburg standerton swaziland utrecht vryheid wakkerstroom waterberg wolmaransstad zoutpansberg zwartruggens see also edit commando kommando military history of south africa mounted infantry south african commando system first boer war second boer war xhosa wars transvaal civil war references and notes edit rd staff 1996 xhosa wars reader s digest family encyclopedia of world history the reader s digest association angloboerwar website archived 2009 07 26 at the wayback machine https www labuschagne info small arms htm small arms of the boer war firearms and firepower first war of independence 1880 1881 south african military history society journal samilitaryhistory org retrieved 2024 02 29 https www bbc co uk history british victorians boer_wars_01 shtml boer wars firearms and firepower first war of independence 1880 1881 south african military history society journal samilitaryhistory org retrieved 2024 02 29 laband john 2018 the battle of majuba hill the transvaal campaign 1880 1881 warwick england helion and company p 40 isbn 978 1911512387 an official journal of the nra the guns of the boer commandos an official journal of the nra retrieved 2024 02 29 bester 1994 p page needed wessels 2000 p 80 the model 1893 95 boer model mauser shooting times 23 september 2010 retrieved 2016 03 18 https www shootingtimes com editorial longgun_reviews_st_boermodel_201007 99362 the model 1893 95 boer model mauser murray nicholas 2013 08 31 the rocky road to the great war the evolution of trench warfare to 1914 potomac books inc isbn 978 1 61234 105 7 scarlata paul 2017 04 17 6 rifles used by the afrikaners during the second boer war athlon outdoors retrieved 2024 02 29 pretorius fransjohan 1999 life on commando during the anglo boer war 1899 1902 human rousseau isbn 978 0 7981 3808 6 scarlata paul 2017 04 17 6 rifles used by the afrikaners during the second boer war athlon outdoors retrieved 2024 02 29 an official journal of the nra the guns of the boer commandos an official journal of the nra retrieved 2024 02 29 bbc history the boer wars www bbc co uk retrieved 2024 02 29 an official journal of the nra the guns of the boer commandos an official journal of the nra retrieved 2024 02 29 muller c f j 1986 five hundred years a history of south africa academica isbn 978 0 86874 271 7 grant neil 2015 03 20 mauser military rifles bloomsbury publishing isbn 978 1 4728 0595 9 gooch john 2013 10 23 the boer war direction experience and image routledge isbn 978 1 135 27181 7 grant neil 2015 03 20 mauser military rifles bloomsbury publishing isbn 978 1 4728 0595 9 lunderstedt steve 2000 from belmont to bloemfontein the western campaign of the anglo boer war february 1899 to april 1900 diamond fields advertiser isbn 978 0 620 26099 2 wessels 2000 p 80 horn bernd 2012 12 22 doing canada proud the second boer war and the battle of paardeberg dundurn isbn 978 1 4597 0578 4 http www smallarmsreview com display article cfm idarticles 2490 south africa s national museum of military history association national rifle an official journal of the nra the guns of the boer commandos an official journal of the nra retrieved 2022 12 11 association national rifle an official journal of the nra the guns of the boer commandos an official journal of the nra retrieved 2022 12 11 association national rifle an official journal of the nra the guns of the boer commandos an official journal of the nra retrieved 2022 12 11 association national rifle an official journal of the nra the guns of the boer commandos an official journal of the nra retrieved 2022 12 11 hall darrell 1999 the hall handbook of the anglo boer war 1899 1902 pietermaritzburg university of natal press pp 13 17 isbn 9780869809495 sources edit wessels andré 2000 afrikaners at war in gooch john ed the boer war direction experience and image london cass bester ron 1994 boer rifles and carbines of the anglo boer war bloemfontein war museum of the boer republics isbn 1874979022 retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title boer_commando oldid 1377152160 categories military history of south africa afrikaner organisations guerrilla organizations second boer war first boer war military units and formations of the second boer war military units and formations of south africa hidden categories articles with short description short description matches wikidata webarchive template wayback links wikipedia articles needing page number citations from february 2017 this page was last edited on 28 september 2026 at 02 51 utc page was rendered with parsoid text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike 4 0 license additional terms may apply by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc a non profit organization privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia legal safety contacts 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