Mafeking Mooch determined Boer fighters. Britain’s war effort had been hampered because up to 40 percent of British recruits were unfit for military service, suffering from medical problems such as rickets and other poverty-related illnesses. Mafeking Mooch The Mafeking Mooch was an affected style of walking performed by some British men during the first decade of the 20th century to give the impression that they had been injured during the celebrated siege and/or relief of Mafeking. The town of Mafeking was home to one of the major British garrisons besieged at the start of the Second Boer War in October 1899. The
Relief of Ladysmith after which the Boer resistance crumbled. On 28 February the Boer commanders ordered their troops to withdraw to the Biggarsberg, some 45 km to the north of Ladysmith. There was little organisation in the withdrawal, but the British forces were instructed not to go in pursuit. The British forces led by Lord Dundonald with Churchill by his side entered Ladysmith on the afternoon of 1 March 1900. The Boers meanwhile established a line of defence along the Biggarsberg, but, apart from the odd patrol, there was little movement by either side for two months – Buller was regrouping his forces