MAFEKING

The siege of Mafeking is a legendary event in British history and not only for its military importance in reversing the fortunes of the Boer War and giving Britain's national morale a massive fillip at a very low ebb. Its lasting importance however lies in the innovative defence conducted by its commander Col. Robert Baden-Powell who later found fame as the founder of the Boy Scout movement. This book is an account of the siege by an expert insider who endured the experience at Baden-Powell's side. Major F. D. Baillie was a former Hussar officer who later became a war correspondent for the Morning Post newspaper. His illustrated book shows both the privations of the siege and also the ingenuity employed by Mafeking's defenders - an armoured train an old Naval cannon emergency bank notes and fake barbed wire - to successfully withstand the siege.