A Russian on Commando

Title: A Russian on Commando
Subtitle: The Boer War Experiences of Yevgeny Avgustus
Author: Boris Gorelik
Translator: Lucas Venter
Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers
Johannesburg, South Africa 2022
ISBN 9781776191369 / ISBN 978-1-77-619136-9
Softcover, 15 x 23 cm, 306 pages, several b/w images

About: A Russian on Commando

On 26 January 1900, Yevgeny Avgustus arrived in Pretoria with a number of Russian companions. From there he departed for the Natal front. Like other Russian volunteers who recorded their reminiscences, he recognised the flaws of the Boer military organisation, despite his admiration for the defenders of the republics' independence. And like the others, he tended to criticise the foreign volunteers, even his own compatriots. The text presented in this book is a reconstruction of accounts of the war from Yevgeny Avgustus's book in 1902, as well as his articles in Russian newspapers and magazines between 1899 and 1902. His first experience of battle in the war was at Vaalkrans between 5 and 7 February 1900 on the Tugela front.

Of particular interest are the problems in forming a Russian corps. We take note of the leadership struggle between Alexey Ganetsky and Yevgeny Maximov, which in reality decided the fate of the Russian corps-to-be. The outcome is unfortunately not discussed by Avgustus, but in a very revealing piece Boris eloquently and dispassionately discusses the reasons why the Russian volunteers did not want to serve under Maximov. Yevgeny Avgustus served in the Johannesburg Police Commando from early May 1900 until the British occupation of Pretoria. He was wounded during the battle for the capital on 4-5 June and taken prisoner.

Thanks to the intervention of the Russian attache with the British troops, Colonel Pavel Stakhovich, Yevgeny Avgustus was released and allowed to return to his homeland in July 1900. Although parts of his memoirs appeared in Russian newspapers and even as a book, the longest version was published in the Varshavsky Voyenny Zhurnal (Warsaw Military Journal). The last instalment came out in the Varshavsky Voyenny Zhurnal, in June 1902. Boris Gorelik. the author of 'A Russian on Commando - The Boer War Experiences of Yevgeny Avgustus', then proceeds to give a vivid account of the rest of Yevgeny Avgustus's life until his death in October 1914 in a battle against the Germans in the Great War.

Boris Gorelik is a writer and scholar from Russia specialising in the history of Russian-South African cross-cultural encounters. He was born in Yekaterinburg, Russia, but has lived in Moscow since the age of eighteen, except for several years in Johannesburg, where he contributed articles to Rapport Weekliks. Gorelik is senior research fellow of the Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. His works have been published in Russia, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Content: A Russian on Commando

Foreword by Fransjohan Pretorius
Introduction
Editor's note
A combat memoir of the Anglo-Boer War 1899—1900
A farewell to Russia
First sightings of Africa
From Pretoria to the Natal front
With the Krugersdorp Commando
Life on commando
The Battle of the Tugela Heights
Falling back
A Russian corps is born
In Pretoria after Cronje's surrender
To the front again
A soldier's life - Yevgeny Avgustus (1874-1914)
Acknowledgements
Works by Yevgeny Avgustus reproduced in this edition
Bibliography
About the editor and the translator
Index