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Simon Fonthill #9
Fire Across the Veldt
September, 1900. South Africa. Simon Fonthill, along with his wife Alice, “352” Jenkins, and tracker Mzingeli, is travelling to Pretoria to meet with General Kitchener. With information that the next Boer move will be to attack the Cape Colony, Fonthill must race to locate and defeat the enemy forces in time.
When their train is derailed by hostile Boer forces the quartet are forced to continue their journey on horseback, but are quickly targeted and surrounded by Boer commando leader General de Wet and his soldiers.
In this most recent addition to the series by John Wilcox, former captain and army scout Simon Fonthill must rejoin the British military and prove his ability as a commander, as he leads the battle to find and capture the elusive Boer leaders. With information that the next Boer move will be to invade and attack the Cape Colony, Fonthill must race to locate and defeat the enemy forces in time.
When their train is derailed by hostile Boer forces the quartet are forced to continue their journey on horseback, but are quickly targeted and surrounded by Boer commando leader General de Wet and his soldiers.
In this most recent addition to the series by John Wilcox, former captain and army scout Simon Fonthill must rejoin the British military and prove his ability as a commander, as he leads the battle to find and capture the elusive Boer leaders. With information that the next Boer move will be to invade and attack the Cape Colony, Fonthill must race to locate and defeat the enemy forces in time.
351 pages, Hardcover
First published April 29, 2013
4 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
John Wilcox
18 books33 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
John Wilcox started out as a local reporter and journalist in Birmingham before spending many years in industry, which took him all round the world. He finally sold his company to devote himself to writing full-time. He lives in Salisbury.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
John Wilcox started out as a local reporter and journalist in Birmingham before spending many years in industry, which took him all round the world. He finally sold his company to devote himself to writing full-time. He lives in Salisbury.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 12, 2022
Read this book in 2013, and its the 10th volume, chronologically, of the great "Simon Fonthill" series.
Its September, AD 1900, and fresh from their exertions and dealing with China's Boxer Rebellion, British General Kitchener persuades Fonthill to come to South Africa and help with the dangerous situation that is developing at this moment with the Boer guerrilla fighting tactics.
Although Queen Victoria's British forces victorious against the Boers and taken their capital and occupied, but the Boers are still fighting back and dealing the "Khakis" some serious bruising.
And so once in Cape Town (formerly Cape Colony) Fonthill is reinstated within the army as Colonel of the Cavalry and 352 Jenkins, as his Regimental Sergeant-Major, and with their company they will set out to find and fight the Boer Generals, Louis Botha and Christiaan de Wet, while Alice will have her own business and problems while reporting this war for the Morning Post.
What is to follow is a magnificent retelling of this military action in South Africa, in which Fonthill and 352 Jenkins will be in the thick of the action fighting the Boers, and all this is brought to us in a sublime and believable fashion by the author.
Highly recommended, for this is another wonderful addition to this amazing series, and that's why I like to call this episode: "A Superb South African Fire!"
Its September, AD 1900, and fresh from their exertions and dealing with China's Boxer Rebellion, British General Kitchener persuades Fonthill to come to South Africa and help with the dangerous situation that is developing at this moment with the Boer guerrilla fighting tactics.
Although Queen Victoria's British forces victorious against the Boers and taken their capital and occupied, but the Boers are still fighting back and dealing the "Khakis" some serious bruising.
And so once in Cape Town (formerly Cape Colony) Fonthill is reinstated within the army as Colonel of the Cavalry and 352 Jenkins, as his Regimental Sergeant-Major, and with their company they will set out to find and fight the Boer Generals, Louis Botha and Christiaan de Wet, while Alice will have her own business and problems while reporting this war for the Morning Post.
What is to follow is a magnificent retelling of this military action in South Africa, in which Fonthill and 352 Jenkins will be in the thick of the action fighting the Boers, and all this is brought to us in a sublime and believable fashion by the author.
Highly recommended, for this is another wonderful addition to this amazing series, and that's why I like to call this episode: "A Superb South African Fire!"
July 27, 2019
Good. Easy reading, and flew past. I worked out I'd not read any of this series for four or five books in the middle and, well, it didn't matter a jot. That sort of level of characterisation where the hero is good, the British army contains plucky men and dumb posh officers (and with the usual encounters with the well known real life figures providing some fairly lengthy sections for that favourite character of the historical novelist, Basil Exposition. It documents a lot of the horrific conduct in the war (invention of concentration camps and burning out of civilians who may support guerillas) - which wasn't badly handled given the challenges (and of course helped that the protagonist's wife is a journalist, so she gets to highlight the deprivations in the camp, which in reality did change public opinion and force them to provide better conditions). It kind of petered out towards the end of the novel, and the damned history did not go out in a big battle. Fine light reading to pass a journey with.
June 19, 2022
The conflict ended after 2 years, 7 months, 2 weeks and 6 days with a British victory. It resulted in the Treaty of Vereeniging and the collapse of The Orange Free State and the Transvaal which were to be administered by the British in accordance with the Treaty.
The Treaty of Vereeniging was a peace treaty, signed on 31 May 1902, that ended the South African War (q.v.), or Second Boer War between the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, on the one side, and the United Kingdom on the other.
This settlement entailed the end of hostilities and the surrender of all Boer forces and their arms to the British, with the promise of eventual self-government to the Transvaal (South African Republic) and the Orange Free State as colonies of the British Empire.
The war had three phases. In the first phase, the Boers mounted preemptive strikes into British-held territory in Natal and the Cape Colony, besieging the British garrisons of Ladysmith, Mafeking, and Kimberley. The Boers then won a series of tactical victories at Stormberg, Magersfontein, Colenso and Spion Kop.
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Bloody Sunday of February 18, 1900, was a day of high Imperial casualties in the Second Boer War.
It occurred on the first day of the Battle of Paardeberg. A combined British-Canadian force of 6,000 finally trapped a group of approximately 5,000 Boer soldiers and some civilians, under Piet Cronjé, in a bend of the Modder River near Kimberley, having advanced from south of the Modder River on the 11th.
The Treaty of Vereeniging was a peace treaty, signed on 31 May 1902, that ended the South African War (q.v.), or Second Boer War between the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, on the one side, and the United Kingdom on the other.
This settlement entailed the end of hostilities and the surrender of all Boer forces and their arms to the British, with the promise of eventual self-government to the Transvaal (South African Republic) and the Orange Free State as colonies of the British Empire.
The war had three phases. In the first phase, the Boers mounted preemptive strikes into British-held territory in Natal and the Cape Colony, besieging the British garrisons of Ladysmith, Mafeking, and Kimberley. The Boers then won a series of tactical victories at Stormberg, Magersfontein, Colenso and Spion Kop.
---
Bloody Sunday of February 18, 1900, was a day of high Imperial casualties in the Second Boer War.
It occurred on the first day of the Battle of Paardeberg. A combined British-Canadian force of 6,000 finally trapped a group of approximately 5,000 Boer soldiers and some civilians, under Piet Cronjé, in a bend of the Modder River near Kimberley, having advanced from south of the Modder River on the 11th.
December 18, 2017
Two decades after the Zulu War, Fonthill and 352 Jenkins are still campaigning, and the two, along with Simon's journalist wife, Alice, answer a call from Lord Kitchener that takes them to South Africa, and the bitter conflict with the Boer. Another great adventure, highlighting the controversial campaigns that showed how unprepared the British army were for fighting anyone other than primitively-armed tribesman.
The only shame of ploughing through this is that I've only got two more Fonthill novels left to read.
The only shame of ploughing through this is that I've only got two more Fonthill novels left to read.
January 10, 2018
Another classic Fonthill, 352, and Alice adventure.
September 23, 2020
A plus; recommended.
A fitting end to a fine series of adventure novels, all dealing with historical military campaigns and battles. I've enjoyed the ones I've read.
A fitting end to a fine series of adventure novels, all dealing with historical military campaigns and battles. I've enjoyed the ones I've read.
August 3, 2016
I loved this book all the more for the fact that I was reading it on our trip to S Africa during which time we visited several Boer War battlefield sites including Majuba Hill and Spion Kop. It was the perfect holiday read for this trip. I am sorry that Jenkins 352 will now (presumably) no longer feature in the next Fonthill novel though don't want to explain why as that would be a "spoiler".....
July 22, 2013
Another cracking novel from John Wilcox
September 16, 2014
Simple writing but excellent action and a fantastic education on the Boer war!
January 30, 2018
Absolute rubbish - jingoistic, full of grammatical errors, a Welshman with a pseudo Cockney accent, black characters dealt with in a paternalistic, patronising fashion, historical facts crowbarred in at regular intervals. I honestly don't know why I kept reading it - I must be a masochist. The only good thing I can say about it is that I only paid 50p for it in a charity shop - so at least they got something good from it.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews