MAGERSFONTEIN ANGLO-BOER WAR MUSEUM

On the morning of December 11, 1899, British troops marched towards the hills of Magersfontein under heavy rain. The Boer enemy is, of course, hiding there. Fatal error. The commander of the Scottish Highland Brigade falls among the first under the bullets of snipers trapped in trenches at the foot of the relief. The Boer, bringing 8 200 men under the command of General Piet Cronjé, affrontent the 12 500 soldiers of Lieutenant-general Paul Methuen. There will be 948 killed or injured on the British side and 236 in the Boer ranks. Several tracks are now sailing the battlefield; one of them climbs on the heights to the museum inaugurated during the ceremonies of the centenary of the Anglo-Boer war. A sonorisée and animated revival gives a little idea of horror (www.anglo-boer.co.za).