Editor's Comment - Reconnaissance Magazine, Autumn 2021
Welcome to the Autumn 2021
issue of Reconnaissance.
Most Australians know
little about the country’s quite substantial military contribution to the Anglo-Boer
War of 1899-1902. Perhaps this is because much of it happened before
federation. But they probably know at least one thing. That is the
tragic-romantic story of outback horse-breaker cum bush poet Harry Morant, ‘The
Breaker’, who along with fellow trooper Peter Handcock was executed by the
British high command on 27 February 1902, allegedly for murdering Boer
prisoners. The Morant case has been the subject of numerous books,
documentaries, and, of course, the award-winning movie by Bruce Beresford. It
has long been attended by controversy and continues to arouse strong passions
to this day. Attitudes to the executions seem to shift back and forth according
to latter-day feelings about Australian nationalism, the honouring of military
heroes and war crimes. In any event, one of the most persistent and articulate
defenders of Morant and Handcock (the third accused George Witton received a
prison sentence) is barrister, historian and documentary-maker James Unkles,
who has contributed the cover feature article for this Reconnaissance.
As James explains, in its
end phase the Boer War degenerated into a brutal guerilla conflict. The accused
Australians claimed they were issued orders by the British high command,
including Commander-In-Chief Lord Kitchener, to execute prisoners, only to be
later singled out as scapegoats when it became politically controversial. To
some extent this remains clouded by uncertainty, but James rightly argues there
is no doubt about another aspect. Morant, Handcock and Witton were denied due
process under the law of the time and were subjected to a grossly unfair trial
and appeal procedure. He outlines a compelling case for redress.
The massacre of British
troops by Zulu warriors at Isandlwana in 1879 goes down as the worst disaster
in British military history until the bloodbaths of World War I culminating on
the Somme. In books about military stuff ups it tends to be filed under the
category ‘underestimating the enemy’. In a thorough examination of the
encounter for Reconnaissance, Steve Hart shows that the British
commander Lord Chelmsford simply could not imagine how natives equipped with
spears, clubs and cow-hide shields stood a chance against disciplined modern
infantry armed with the formidable Martini-Henry rifle. He failed to take
elementary precautions and paid a terrible price in lives.
We also present another of
Dr John Haken’s compact snapshots of Australian military administration, this
time covering various organisations and units created to draw women into
civilian, active and ancillary service in wartime going back to the Boer War
through to the world wars and after. These include familiar names like the
Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) and the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps
(RAANC).
Finally we present another excellent round of book reviews − Joe Poprzeczny on the memoir of Yulia Zhukova, one of the famous Red Army women snipers of World War II; David Martin on Tony Matthew’s book on the tragic conference at Evian in 1938 to save the Jews of Europe; Mark Moore Tom Lewis’ argument that dropping of the atomic bomb in 1945 saved millions of lives; and I review Peter Edgar’s contribution to the Australian Army Campaigns Series on the counter-attack at Villers-Bretonneux in April 1918, described by some as the country’s greatest feat of arms.
- Editor, Reconnaissance
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