Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Irish commandos
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Two Irish commandos fought along side the Boers against the British forces during the Second Boer War (1899–1902)
Contents |
John MacBride, a friend of Arthur Griffith's, organised the Irish Transvaal Brigade. Most of the Brigade were Irish and Irish-American miners living in the Transvaal, who were willing to fight with the Boers against the British.
The brigade (also known as MacBride's Brigade) was operational from September 1899 to September 1900. In that time, the brigade fought in about 20 engagements, with 18 men killed and about 70 wounded from a compliment of no more than about 500 men at any one time. When it disbanded, most of the men crossed into Mozambique, which was a colony of neutral Portugal. Colonel John Blake, a former United States Army officer was the brigade's commander. When he was wounded, his second-in-command, Major John MacBride, took command.
At the Siege of Ladysmith, they serviced the famous Boer artillery piece, called Long Tom, and they fought at the Battle of Colenso. Having worked in the gold mines, they had a well deserved reputation as demolition experts and it was they who delayed the British advance on Pretoria by blowing up the bridges.
When some members of the Irish Transvaal Brigade disagreed with the leadership of the Brigade, they formed a second commando unit.
- "MacBride's Brigade: Irish Commandos in the Anglo-Boer War", by Professor Donal P. McCracken, Dublin, (1999) ISBN 1-85182-499-5