Featured battle : Colenso

Part of The 2nd Boer War (or Three Years War)

Date : 15 December 1899

The third defeat of 'Black Week', General Buller attempted to cross the Tugela river at Colenso in Natal in the face of entrenched Boer positions in the Kopjes to the north. The Irish Brigade under Gen. Hart was to cross the river to the left of the line but blundered into a loop in the river where they were fired on from 3 sides and decimated. Two batteries of 15-pounder artillery on the right under Col. Long rode far too far ahead of their infantry support into intense rifle fire and had to be abandoned and Dundonald failed to out flank the Boers wide to the right and had to withdraw. Buller, sensibly, called off the major assault and withdrew. It cost him his career.

Gurkha Odyssey

Peter Duffell
An odyssey is a long eventful journey and an appropriate title for this book. The story is of the author’s journey with and in the Gurkha ‘family’. The manner of its telling, in the main, is like a dinner party conversation with an excellent raconteur. In the telling not only do we see the Gurkhas but we see the author. Peter Duffell is a fighting man both with his men in the jungles of Borneo and for his men in the corridors of Whitehall. The period covered is from the early 1960s to 2018 with some coverage of early history. The unit focused on is the 2nd Gurkhas and therefore sadly does not include the Gurkha contribution to the Falklands war [7th Gurkhas].
The book is well illustrated with a dozen pages of colour plates and some super Ken Howard drawings. Nine maps, all with scales, help in the telling of the journey. There is more to Gurkha history than told here and this book is a taster which will leave you wanting to find out more.
Gurkha Odyssey is a most enjoyable cover to cover read which we highly recommend.

Pen & Sword Military, 2019