Boer Commando

The Boer commandos, called kommandos in Afrikaans, were volunteer military units of guerrilla militia organized by the Boer people of South Africa, and the English word commando comes from them during the Second Boer War of 1899 to 1902. The system grew out of the Dutch settlement at the Cape, where after a war with the Khoi-khoi in 1658 all able-bodied men were liable for service, and by about 1700 it was formalized by district under a kommandant who called up the burghers. Each commando was tied to a town and a district, divided into wards under a veldkornet, with generals above the kommandants and a commander-in-chief answering to the republic's president. Officers were chosen by the members of the commando, which allowed leaders such as Koos de la Rey and C. R. de Wet to emerge but also caused discipline problems. In the Second Boer War the commandos formed the backbone of the Boer forces. They were disbanded in 1902, re-formed in 1912 within the Union Defence Force, and finally disbanded in 2005.