truction of forty towns by the British in their pursuit to destroy all means of support for the Boer commandos. They would carelessly loot these homes and give the occupants scant time with which to remove their belongings before putting torch or dynamite to it. They would then either shoot the livestock out-right or gluttonously feed on parts of the animals and leave the larger portion of the carcass to rot. It is described in a letter from a young Boer commando in a letter to family in Germany:“Later on, the British, finding that by looting our cattle they could get fresh meat for nothing, were no longer forced to be content with bully beef. They then, like ourselves, killed oxen and sheep; but, unlike us, were very wasteful with it. Often, in the camping places they had vacated, we found the remains of half-eaten oxen, sheep, pigs, and poultry. Fleming 08But I shall not go further into this matter. I leave it to other pens to describe how the British looted our property, wantonly killed our cattle, and devastated our farms.” (4)This practice throughout the final seventeen months of the conflict displaced tens of thousands of women, children and the elderly. In the final months of war, Kitchener decided it would be even more of an incentive for the Boers to surrender if once the homes and belongings were destroyed the women and children would not be taken up and cared for by the already overtaxed concentration camps, they would, however, be turned out to their own devices with the hopes that the Boer men would eventually retrieve them and see to their needs. This act proved with finality that the concept of a “gentleman’s war” would no longer pertain to this conflict.Kitchener would also devise another plan with which to curb the destruction caused by the Boers. Upon the capture of Bloemfontein in March of 1900 by British forces, he needed to protect the railway that was the main supply connection ...
