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I shall endevor to write a meaningful update tonight, however a girl I rather fancy is flying back in from London tonight so it may be I ask her out for a drink or some such, sadly that takes priority! 
Very nice, I must say! The Boers have always interested me, and the way things are looking I'm wagering the Afrikaners will win. How much of this is actual history, by the way, and how much is part of your own account?
A good questiona and one I should clear up.
The first several chapters deal with pure historic fact.
It is also a fact that President Kruger DID visit Germany and dine with Kaiser Wilhelm I and speak at length with Chancellor Bismarck. The subject of this talk however was never made public and both Bismarck and Kruger took it with them to the grave, as such here I began to add my own story, namley a German plot to distabalise British influence over the African continent by supplieing the Boer republics of the Transvaal and Oranje Free State with arms and training in the event of another war with the United Kingdom (By this stage the 1st Boer War had already been faught, with the outcome a victory for the Boers that brought recognition of their republics from the British) The Battle for Ladysmith was indeed a very brutal conflict. The events described such as the innability to capture the pass at Nelsons Nek leading to Bothas mounted units being able to flank the English is fact. The attack on the two hills are fact. While this battle did indeed end in a factual defeat for the British, their casualties were nowhere near as heavy. The Boers did not posses Maxim guns, as in reality Germany did not supply such weapons to the Republics. While the Boers did posses heavy guns, these were not present in the same numbers or weilded with the same efficiency (in this case due to never having had German military advisors training an underground army for 15 years) as in this scenario. All battles from this point and of course the eventual outcome will be ficticious, mixed with a distinct historical background (Eg, all characters used to this point with the exception of the British Sergent assulting the Nek are historical persons) I hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor!
Ladysmith Taken
Even four days after the major defeat of the British forces, the main Boer camp outside the town of Ladysmith was still enveloped in a festival atmosphere. The British had been defeated, and convincingly.
General De la Rey turned as the heavy flaps of his command tent opened, addmiting a blinding ray of African midday sunlight into the otherwise dark, stale smelling tent.
General Botha straitened as he walked towards the upturned ammunitions crate that was serving as a chart-table.
A huge map of Ladysmith and the surrounding Boer possitions was sprawled over the makeshift desk, covered in De la Rays hurried tactical scribblings.
De la Rey inclined his head in greeting, "General Botha, so good of you to join me, its time we discussed how we can finish the seige and move on to more important objectives."
Botha nodded in agreement, "We have either killed or captured the vast majority of the British garrison, however behind the walls there are still some three thousand British regulars supported by six howitzers and 400 townsfolk in arms," sliding a finger over the map as he spoke.
"We just cant afford the losses we would take with a frontal assult, and yet we cannot continue to advance and leave 3000 men at our rear, as such I can only suggest we continue to seige, place the town under heavy bombardment as well as undertaking other more..... unconventional measures to force the British's hand"
At this De la Rey looked up, raising one bushy eyebrow slightly.
"What do you mean by 'Unconventional methods', General"
Botha waved a hand in the direction of the door of the tent,
"We have nearly one hundred dead horses that have started to decompose, as well as the bodies of the British dead too close to Ladysmith to recover without comming under fire from the British artillery."
Botha looked back at De la Ray, looking for a sign to continue his train of thaught
De la Rey waved a hand and gestured for him to continue
"We have cut off the spring that delivers fresh water to the town, the only supply of water they have now is the Klip River, thus if we detail British prisoners to dispose of the carcases in the river upstream of the settlement, one can only spectulate that drinking the desiesed water would take a terrible tole on both the civilian and military population of the town, allowing us to disengage and simply walk in unnoposed when the defenders are either too weakened from desiese to oppose us or have all perished."
De la Ray pulled back from the table in disgust
"General Botha, I cannot order such a course of action, you propose the destruction of every man woman and child in Ladysmith!"
Botha could only shake his head as he pulled a wax-sealed envelope from his chest pocket.
"You needent order anything General De la Ray, I have already recieved confirmation for this course of action from Command in Bloemfontain, we simply cannot waste an entire army in a prolongued seige, word has already arived that a British relief column is being assembled, we shall proceed with THIS course of action and then move to defeat the British before they can relieve the settlement."
With that, Botha turned on his heels and marched out of the tent. Already voices outside could be heard spurring teams of Brittish prisoners into action.
De la Rey could do nothing but pray for the poor souls behind the walls of Ladysmith, for their deaths would be both slow and painful.
It's usually a bad sign if relatively uncivilised things like this happen at the start of a war.
I have several announcements to make, dear ReadAAR's
Firstly, my appologies for not updating with any meaningful developments in some days, sadly I have damn choir practice all this week from 9 till 5 (sure in the end we will be performing for the FREEKN POPE in Rome, but its annoying at the moment) which is eating alot of my time. Secondly I havnt decided myself where this AAR should be going. Of course the end result will be a fascist South Africa, but the paths leading to this conclusion are many and varied. As such I would greatly appreciate your feedback, both on my writing style (Again this is my first AAR so experimentation is the go) and where you see or would like to see the story progress.
As you might have noticed I am working on one main character at the moment, General De la Rey, as while researching my material for the story I have become slightly enchanted with this enigmatic man, and I do foresee a central role for his decendants in a future South Africa.
Again thank you all for reading, I am very proud to announce that in just over a week since its induction into AARland, Blood, Iron and Africa has recieved over 1000 views!
Your devoted AuthAAR
Iron-Chef
Firstly, my appologies for not updating with any meaningful developments in some days, sadly I have damn choir practice all this week from 9 till 5 (sure in the end we will be performing for the FREEKN POPE in Rome, but its annoying at the moment) which is eating alot of my time. Secondly I havnt decided myself where this AAR should be going. Of course the end result will be a fascist South Africa, but the paths leading to this conclusion are many and varied. As such I would greatly appreciate your feedback, both on my writing style (Again this is my first AAR so experimentation is the go) and where you see or would like to see the story progress.
As you might have noticed I am working on one main character at the moment, General De la Rey, as while researching my material for the story I have become slightly enchanted with this enigmatic man, and I do foresee a central role for his decendants in a future South Africa.
Again thank you all for reading, I am very proud to announce that in just over a week since its induction into AARland, Blood, Iron and Africa has recieved over 1000 views!
Your devoted AuthAAR
Iron-Chef
good luck in front of the pope! and remember..if you screw up you're going to hell... but really good luck
and remember..if you screw up you're going to hell... but really good luck 
I just thaught today while browsing the Paradox forums that isnt it ironic, even in Papal matters, the Germans always have to come and take over from the Polish, some things never change I guess.
Lets hope God has a bit of a sence of humor, otherwise Im now going to hell regardless of the performance
Lets hope God has a bit of a sence of humor, otherwise Im now going to hell regardless of the performance
Entrapment, the Battle of Colenso
Proffessor Gunther Hauptman dropped the huge stack of papers heavily onto his scarred wooden desk and hurried to open one of the large windows that faced out onto the brown landscape of a school in the middle of an African summer. It was 40 degrees in the shade outside and, he thaught pausing to give the old airconditioner a dejected kick in passing, worse inside becuase this stupid thing isnt working! The school really needed to funnel some more funds into the history department, he moaned to himself. Waves of heat rose from the parched yellowed grass outside as a group of boys kicked a faded soccer ball around the yard.
"They dont pay me enough for this" Hauptman mumbled under his breath and picked up the first paper in the stack, pushing a battered pair of steel rimmed reading glasses onto his long nose. Picking up his trusty marking pen, he bagan to read.
Decisive Battles of the Boer War
The battle of Colenso was undoubtably one of the most decisive battles of the war between the British and the Boer Republics. In the month since the outbreak of hostilities, the Boer forces had won several victories against the British forces garrisoned along the borders of the Trasvaal and Oranje Free State.
Boer commandoes which had previously infiltrated the British territories or indeed entire units made up of Boers living within the Cape and Natal provinces quickly cut telegraph lines and bombed railways leading into the three major settlments close to the borders of the Republics, namley Kimberley, Ladysmith and Mafeking. It was this lack of communication between besieged British forces in these settlments, who had faced the full force of an enemy equiped with modern weaponry and training, and the forces sent to relieve them that would result in several military disasters such as the battle, nay slaughter, of Colenso.
Shortly before the outbreak of the war, General Redvers Buller was appointed Commander in Chief of the all the British forces in South Africa. On arrival, he found British garrisons besieged on widely separated fronts. Having detached forces under Generals Lord Methuen and General Gatacre to the western and central fronts, Buller assumed command of his largest detachment and proposed to lead it to the relief of a besieged British force in Ladysmith, in Natal.
On this front, the Boers under General Louis Botha had made some large scale raids and reconnaissances into the southern part of the province, but in the face of a large British army, they had retired north of the Tugela River at Colenso and dug in there, blocking the road and railway line to Ladysmith and the small Boer force that had remained stationed in seige around the settlement.
Indeed it would be a combination of several key factors that would win the day for the Boers. Despite having far inferior numbers to the British, who could move an estimated 20,000 troops against Colenso, the Boers were led by an able commander in General Botha. Botha could call on 5000 troops, and the British, having recieved no reports from the battle at Ladysmith which had demonstrated the firepower available to the Boer army. Buller made the mistake of underestimating his enemy, reasoning that 20, 000 British regulars would crush any resistance from the Boer army. With such a numeretical advantage, Buller decided to advance ahead of his supply train with the aim of quickly defeating the Boers in open battle before the day was out.
The terrian around the town or rather villiage of Colenso naturaly favoured the defenders. A wide river could only be crossed at several shallow fords, creating natural choke points. The river was also flanked by tall, rocky outcrops, on which Botha arrayed his Maxims and heavy artillery pieces.
Buller intended the 5th Brigade, an Irish unit commanded by Major General Hart, to cross a drift two miles upstream of the village of Colenso. Another brigade under Major General Hildyard would occupy the village itself. On their right, a brigade of Australian colonial light horse and mounted infantry would capture a hill known as Hlangwane. Two more infantry brigades were in reserve.
Early on the morning of 15 December 1899, Hart gave his men half an hour's parade ground drill, then led them in close column towards the ford. His locally recruited guide, who spoke no English, led the brigade to the wrong ford, at the end of a loop in the river. Botha had ordered his men to hold their fire until the British tried to cross the river, but Hart's brigade jammed into the loop of the river was too good a target to miss. The Boers opened fire with three concieled Maxim's and the massed rifle fire of 400 soldiers. Hart's brigade was completly annhialted, cut down by the cross-fire of the machineguns and unnable to retreat through the swift waters of the river.
At hearing this, the British commander General Buller paniced, sending both reserve battalions into the river in an attempt to extracate Harts Irish troops. it has been reported that the Boer Maxims ran out of ammunition, so pletiful were the targets, choking the river in a mass of the dead and dieing, the water running red with the blood of 3000 British dead or wounded.
Meanwhile, as Hildyard moved towards Colenso, two batteries of field guns under Colonel Long forged ahead of him, and deployed in the open well within rifle range of the nearest Boers. Once again, this was too tempting a target, and the Boers opened fire. The British gunners fought on even though suffering heavy casualties, but were eventually forced to take shelter in a dry stream bed behind the guns, eventually retreating under heavy fire from the Boers German made Mauser rifles, leaving 15 vitaly valuable guns behind.
Boer artillery had also taken a wicked toll on the Australian light horse, which was unnable to penetrate the defensive trenches dug at the foot of the hill by the Boers as shells rained down from the battery dug in atop the rise. Men and horses we cut down, and despite a brave attempt by some 20 Australian soldiers who charged the trenches under heavy fire and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Boer defenders, the situation could not be remedied, a combination of terrible terrain and Boer defences (see below) were simply too strong for the Australians, who took an estimated 150 casualties, at least half of which were deaths.
In a last desperate attempt to win the day, Buller himself lead 2000 men in a charge over open terrain in an attempt to retake the lost cannon and bring some heavy firepower against the Boer possitions.
This proved to be a suicidal action, as Boer heavy guns which had untill this time remained silent on the orders of General Botha opened fire, tearing gaping holes in the advancing human wall. After a day fighting a losing battle under the hot African sun with no food or water due to General Bullers decision to advance ahead of his supply wagons (which were subsequently delayed by rough terrain) this was to be the straw that broke the camels back. The British broke and ran, by the time Buller had came within range of the Boer rifles, less than 200 men continued the charge. General Buller died in the first volly of Mauser fire.
The British army which had advanced with the goals of relieving Ladysmith had fallen into an elaberate death trap of General Botha's design and had been defeated peacemeal. The number of dead could not be accuratly counted as many were carried away in the swift currents of the river, however estimates run as high as 7000.
Without any opposition from the British or Australian cavalry, which had also broken and fled the field, Botha's mounted infantry and raiders ran down many more fleeing British soldiers, taking bloody revenge for decades of oppressive British rule.
By the end of the day, less than 3000 British, Irish and Australians were left to make a disorganised retreat back to the supply column, as many had simply thrown down their arms and surrendered in the face of the Boer cavalry.
News of the defeat sent shockwaves through the ordinary Briton back in Europe, causing a nation-wide uproar, British and continental newspapers demanded to know how and why the pride of the British Empires military had been defeated by a force a quarter its own size. The ailing Queen Victoria herself demanded that this attrocity not go unpunished. While the victory at Colenso won General Botha and the Boers a decicive victory that laid Natal province bare before his armies, the new detatchments of troops quickly ferried from Portsmouth and indeed from nations all over the British Commonwealth in reply to the defeat, could well have cost them the war.
Hauptman looked up supprised. His marking pen lay disgarded and looking at the time he realised two whole hours had passed, the dark red summer sun was beginning to set behind Table Mountain, the monolyth that overlooked the city of Cape Town. He could only shake his head at the savagery of men, before picking up his pen and marking A+ at the top of the sheet.
He picked up the pile of unmarked papers and stuffed them into his briefcase. It was passed 5pm he reasoned, so if he wasnt getting paid, the rest of the marking could wait untill tomorrow.
And that is the problem. A few good victories only manage to get Britain really angry. Still, lots of interesting things could yet develop.
And I hope you don't suffer from a sore throat!
And I hope you don't suffer from a sore throat!
As a side note I have just recieved my copy of HOI II from back home, I will be running the game with the latest patch (1.3a?) However I need some suggestions on a graphics pack to download to give things a little visual boost, suggestions or even better a link to a good graphics pack would be appreciated. Lastly has anyone played with the CORE Mod extensivly, if so tell me what its like because I was thinking of perhaps running this as well if it gives a significant boost over the vanilla version.
In more exciting news, the 1914 mod is close to release (this weekend?) and I stumbled on this little picture on one of the threads
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=242482
Distinctly the Transvaal handing a smack-down to the British in Natal! So perhaps I might play a little prelude 1914 game to provide you with some nice screens
Other than that, there hasnt been to much feedback (urm, well none at all realy) regarding my question a few posts back, and this kind of feedback is much appreciated.
thanks
Iron-Chef
In more exciting news, the 1914 mod is close to release (this weekend?) and I stumbled on this little picture on one of the threads
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=242482
Distinctly the Transvaal handing a smack-down to the British in Natal! So perhaps I might play a little prelude 1914 game to provide you with some nice screens
Other than that, there hasnt been to much feedback (urm, well none at all realy) regarding my question a few posts back, and this kind of feedback is much appreciated.
thanks
Iron-Chef