Antiquarian Auctions

Auction #114 begins on 11 Apr 2024

A soldier in the S.W.A. Campaign

SOLDIER'S DIARY, BOTHA'S NATAL HORSE, 1915

Original handwritten diary.

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Notebook with black cloth-covered boards and empty pencil-holder. Black cloth cord.

Inner pages bound together but endpapers partly cracked from cover. Text neatly handwritten in pencil.

55 unnumbered pages of writing, plus 7 pages of notes, addresses, etc.

This diary is an unofficial record of the soldier's impressions of the campaign of the unit, known as Botha's Natal Horse, a cavalry regiment with General Louis Botha on his invasion of German South West Africa from Walvisch Bay in 1915.

The unit left Swakopmund on 26 April 1915 and advanced steadily against the German forces. The account includes comments on problems of finding grazing and water for the horses and occasional hardship for the men because of a lack of supplies.

Mention is made of the use of aeroplanes.

By the end of May the unit returned to Walvisch Bay and embarked on a ship for Cape Town. Subsequently they were transported to Pretoria by train. The special interest of the diary is that it gives the reader some idea of conditions of living on the campaign.

  • Size: 139 x 80 x 9 mm
  • Sold By: Pringle Bay Books
  • Contact Person: Neil Berens
  • Country: South Africa
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Telephone: 082 899 7195 or 083 652 5694
  • Preferred Payment Methods: Mastercard, VISA, and EFT
  • Trade Associations: SABDA


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