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RENESA Spring Edition 2022
200 days, not out! WRITTEN BY
ILLUSTRATED BY
Rohit Yelnare
Abhinav Pandey
Comps 3rd Year
Mechanical 3rd Year
Anirudh Peri MSc Chem 2nd Year
It’s Sunday in the village of Mafeking, and even before the sun had reached its apex, a crowd had gathered to watch the local teams play cricket. Although it seemed like an ordinary day, if observed closely, one would notice a whole lot was amiss in this small village. The armed men patrolling and the constant vigilance of the residents would leave one wondering. But mind you, this isn’t the present-day Mahikeng but the Mafeking of the early 1900s. This small village, located in what is now The Republic of South Africa, was engulfed in a war back then. A few months before, when the winds of war had just begun to blow, few officials recognised the signs and even fewer prepared for what was to come. Among these people was Colonel Robert Baden-Powell. As tensions rose, the British feared a war with the Boers (Dutch farmers that settled in Africa). Having failed to persuade the government for additional troops, the British Army Chief tasked Colonel Robert Baden-Powell to raise Rhodesian regiments. With a mere 1500 soldiers, Baden-Powel realized that the only way to fight the Boers and their unorganized warfare was a defensive battle. Holed up in the small village of Mafeking, the Colonel aims to draw the enemy’s attention away from their intended target, the Natal province. He succeeds, but now he faces the brunt of the Boer offensive. Heavily outnumbered, the British resorted to trickery of the smallest proportions to keep the enemy at bay. Day in and day out, the soldiers could be seen laying out barbed wire and setting up land mines as they fortified their position, almost as if to mock the Boer effort to take the village. What the Boers did not know was that the Brits did not have landmines or barbed wire. With barely any provisions to work with, the only thing they could do was make the enemy believe they were well defended. To the enemy, it seemed like any attack would be a march to their death. At this point, the garrison was stretched to the RENESA Spring Edition 2022
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