With Botha's Army

Published by George Allen & Unwin, 1916. 1st edition. Very good but slightly marked, rubbed and soiled green cloth covers. Gilt titles. Fade to spine. Internally good. 158 pages. The odd spot of foxing.

J. P. Kay Robinson was a British soldier of the "Imperial Light Horse" which was sent during World War I to capture German South west Africa.

Robinson wrote a book about his experiences in war-time Southeast German Africa, entitled "With Botha's Army". It is an Englishman's account of the expedition in German Southwest Africa under General Botha---an interesting account by a participant in the brilliantly conceived, swiftly executed, and emphatically successful drive made by General Botha against the Germans in South West Africa. It is a strange type of warfare that is waged among the sand dunes of German south west Africa as described in this well written volume. Its quaint, often humorous style will appeal to all readers.

Little has been written about the conquest of German South-West Africa during World War I, and a volume dealing with it is therefore doubly welcome. In "With Botha's. Army" we have a story which has little to do with fighting the Hun, but a great deal to say about fighting hostile forces of Nature. This campaign among the sand-dunes between the desert and the sea was most picturesque (and most unpleasant), and Robinson, who was a trooper in the Imperial Light Horse, conveys to us the lighthearted manner in which the hardest day's work and the worst sandstorms were faced.