"Colonial Ox Wagon" Topic
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Tango01 | 16 Mar 2019 12:33 p.m. PST |
"Although armies can sometimes ‘live off the land' (i.e. buy or steal what they need along the way), the sparsely populated territories that saw much of the European colonial fighting simply could not provide for such needs, so a good logistical support was vital, and that meant either beasts of burden or wagons. Usually the local transport was the best, and in many areas that meant the ox wagon, particularly perhaps in southern Africa. When the Boers conducted their Great Trek from 1836, it was mainly in ox wagons as they were the most durable in a terrain largely lacking anything that could be described as a road. Such wagons could carry three tons or more, and would also be used to create a defensive laager when attacked. The oxen that provided the pulling power were slow – 20km a day was considered good progress – but they could graze off the land whereas the quicker mules needed fodder. When the British came to invade Zululand in 1879, they had to reduce the intended five columns to three due to a lack of such wagons, and the loss of many wagons after the disaster at Isandlwana was a large factor in stalling their plans…"
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