Kruger's Gold

Matt Hartman is a freelance editor and cataloguer, running Hartman Cataloguing, Editing and Indexing Services.

Kruger’s Gold is a fictional account of the hunt for the gold looted
by Paul Kruger, the president of the Transvaal, as he distanced himself
from the advancing British forces at the end of the Second Boer War.
That war, fought in South Africa at the turn of the century, is one of
Europe’s lesser-known conflicts. Dutch settlers fought against the
British Army in an attempt to gain independence. The numbers were
one-sided, heavily favoring the British, whose troops were augmented
with volunteers from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as
loyalist Boers and Anglo settlers. For their part, the Boers, having the
advantage of home turf, were aided by American mercenaries and a
smattering of Europeans from France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and
Scandinavia.

It goes without saying that native Africans were brutalized and
murdered by both sides, and that civilians (notably women and children)
had a terrible time, ravaged by diseases and the destruction of their
homes and farms. The story’s protagonist is a Canadian volunteer—an
officer—Harry Lanyard, who is charged with leading a battalion to find
the gold. Britain fears that if the Boers find the treasure, they will
use it to purchase weapons, thereby prolonging the conflict.

War historian Sidney Allinson tells a good story, and he tells it with
a sense of command not often seen in war novels. His extensive knowledge
of military affairs is coupled with his gift for believable dialogue
that captures the dialects and vocabularies of his disparate characters.
In a postscript, he writes: “I have avoided ‘presentism,’ that
trendy urge to impose latter-day politically correct views on people who
lived a century ago. Rather, I portray the social attitudes, behavior,
and prejudices as they actually were back then, without any
retrospective sermonizing.” A glossary of terms used by those on both
sides of the conflict is included in the book, which is strongly
recommended for all public libraries.