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Two units of Irish commandos fought alongside the Boers against the British forces during the Second Boer War (1899–1902). ==Irish Transvaal Brigade== The Irish Transvaal Brigade was organised by John MacBride, who at the time was employed at the Band mines. Most of the battalion-strength Brigade were Irish or Irish-American miners living in the Transvaal, who were willing to fight with the Boers against the British. The Brigade was bolstered during its campaign by a contingent of volunteers who came from Chicago and by a variety of Irish volunteers, who travelled from America and Ireland for the purposes of joining the Brigade.〔 John MacBride wrote his own account of the Irish Transvaal Brigade. This is to be found in Anthony J. Jordan's edited version of the writings of MacBride.〔Anthony J. Jordan, ''Boer War to Easter Rising: The Writings of John MacBride'', Westport Books 2006. ISBN 978-0-9524447-6-3〕 The brigade (also known as MacBride's Brigade) was operational from September 1899 to September 1900. In that time, the brigade fought in about 20 engagements, with 18 men killed and about 70 wounded from a complement of no more than about 300 men at any one time. When it disbanded, most of the men crossed into Mozambique, which was a colony of neutral Portugal. Colonel John Y. F. Blake, a former United States Army officer was the brigade's commander. When he was wounded, his second-in-command, Major John MacBride, took command.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=American Volunteers in the Boer War )〕〔 Prior to the siege of Ladysmith,the commandos were involved in guarding the artillery under Carolus Johannes Trichardt.The brigade also provided signal service at the battle of Modderspruit.〔 At the Siege of Ladysmith, they serviced the famous Boer artillery piece, called Long Tom, and they fought at the Battle of Colenso. Having worked in the gold mines, they had a well-deserved reputation as demolition experts and it was they who delayed the British advance on Pretoria by blowing up bridges. The brigade disbanded after the battle of Bergendal.〔 The brigade received letters of thanks before they left South Africa from State Secretary F. W. Reitz, Comdt.-Gen. Louis Botha and General B. Viljoen.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Irish commandos」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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