DIE KAPPIE KOMMANDO of Boerevrouwen in Geheime Dienst

398 pages, brown cloth covers with title to the spine and frontboard. A rare first edition in good condition. Bookplate of a previous owner on fep. Marbled end pages.

This copy is tightly bound and content pages clean. The cloth on the front board and spine has a few marks.

The story of the clandestine work of the Boer women during the Anglo-Boer War. Dutch text.

At the start of the Second Boer War in 1899, Johanna volunteered along with three of her brothers. She served as a nurse until the British captured Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal. The Boers did not immediately surrender, however, and a long guerrilla war began.

It was during this second phase of the Boer War that Brandt, who was living in Pretoria, became active for the Boer cause. She organised women to spy on British officers and hid prisoners who were on the run. It was her actions that led to W. T. Stead running an article in the Review of Reviews about the appalling conditions in the Irene Concentration Camp, which contributed to a decline in British public support for the war.

After the war she wrote her own account of the Irene Concentration Camp, but her most well-known book was The Petticoat Commando, which told of her and her mother's exploits during the Boer War. The book is dedicated to her mother, "As a peace offering for having brought her into publicity in direct opposition to her wishes". The Van Warmelos' house, which they called Harmony became a centre for the British occupying force. Johanna (who calls herself "Hansie" in the book) is shown as headstrong, and she and her mother exploit the British estimation of the two Boer women as harmless.