Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 146, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 June 1915 — SOLDIERS WHO WEAR VEILS [ARTICLE]

SOLDIERS WHO WEAR VEILS

British Troops In Southwest Africa Have to Conduct Campaign Under Difficulties. One of the hottest places where the British are fighting is in German Southwest Africa, where General Botha is in command of an expedition against the enemy. The habitable part of German Southwest Africa lies in the center of a sun-scorched, waterless, shadeless desert of shifting sand, and General Botha’s men have to carry everything they need, for nothing whatever can be obtained from the country, not even fodder for the animals. The sand penetrates everywhere, and the heat of the sun Is so terrific that all the troops fighting with General Botha have been served out with veils and “goggles.” Without them, Indeed, it would be impossible to get along at all, and, as it is, hundreds of the Boer burghers, though hardened campaigners, have been so blistered by the sun that they are in hospital. Thtf heat at midday is 122 degrees in the shade and the “shade” is' a sweltering tent. Many of the troops pass that time of the day with nothing on but a sun helmet and a pair of boots.