Military history of Australia during the Second Boer War the Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen; Lieutenant Guy Wylly of the Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen; Lieutenant Frederick William Bell of the West Australian Mounted Infantry; and Lieutenant Leslie Cecil Maygar of the 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles. KIA = 'Killed in action' DFD = 'Died From Disease' Australians also fought in the following units which were either privately raised or were raised in South Africa, but were not official units of the Australian colonies, or of the Commonwealth of Australia: Military history of Australia during the Second Boer War The military history of Australia during the Boer War is complex, and includes a period
Siege of Mafeking ordered to simulate avoiding barbed wire (non-existent) when moving between trenches; guns and a searchlight (improvised from an acetylene lamp and biscuit tin) were moved around the town to increase their apparent number. (See Jon Latimer, "Deception in War", London: John Murray, 2001, pp. 32–5.) A howitzer was built in Mafeking's railway workshops, and even an old cannon (dated 1770, it coincidentally had "B.P. & Co." engraved on the barrel) was pressed into service. Noticing the Boers had failed to remove any of the rails, the British commanders had an armoured train from the Mafeking railyard loaded with sharpshooters, armed