THE BOER WAR by Eversley Belfield. (84" x 54"; 181 pages; 24 photographs and 10 maps. Leo Cooper £4.75p). Over the last couple of years I have heard a lot about the writing of this book as the author, a personal friend here in Southampton, has oft mentioned his research and writing progress. Now the completed work rests before me as one of the "Concise Campaigns" series under the general editorship of R.L.V.French Blake. To the British reader the Boer War is probably the epitome of Victorian military campaigns, possessing almost every aspect that goes to make up a popular and romantic campaign. Beginning as a conventional 19th century war it emerged into a guerilla conflict with the Boers, highly mobile throughout, continuing to pin down four or five times their own number of British and Colonial troops. All this is most ably and clearly written in Eversley Belfield's book, which is also notable for some excellent photographs and maps plus brief biographies of leading personalities of the War, a glossary of Boer words; plus appendices giving such useful information as the British Army Organisation at the time plus the Order of Battle at the time of the advance into the Transvaal in May 1900, also of great value and interest to the wargamer is the appendix dealing with the artillery most commonly used in the war. On many occasions I have attended courses and lectures given by the author besides being in his company, mainly discussing military matters, for many hours so that I am well aware of his authority and ability to write such a book - he has done himself great justice and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about this campaign - not only the last of the Victorian wars but also the last of the gentleman's wars! More Book Reviews Fortress: A History of Military Defenses The Boer War German Order of Battle 1944 Destination Berchtesgarden Camp Life and Sport in South Africa B-52 Stratofortress in Action Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 167 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1976 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com