If I Retreat, Shoot Me (Paperback)

Although in history books the significance of the Anglo Boer War pales by comparison with the two World Wars that followed, during the first half of the Twentieth Century it was at the root of a national crisis in South Africa. Memories of Kitchener’s Scorched Earth policy and the consequent suffering of women and children in concentration camps, together with Germany’s support for the Boer cause, led to a large section of the Afrikaner population rejecting the Smuts Government’s decision in 1939 to declare war against Germany and to talk of a coup d’etat.

The radical rift that that arose between the rival political groups, even within families, provides the backdrop to the story while it traces the radically divergent paths taken by two brothers as they follow their youthful passions amidst the anger, division, bitterness and grief of the times. The scene is set when the brothers, Pierre and Jan Rousseau, engage in a bloody fistfight over a teenage girl, Deidre, at Coffee Bay, a Wild Coast resort on South Africa’s eastern seaboard. The brothers’ relationship deteriorates further when war breaks out and they choose opposing sides in the conflict.

Jan and his university roommate Marius pledge allegiance to the Stormjaers, a militant wing of an Afrikaner political organisation. Following their participation in several incidents of sabotage, including an attempt to blow up a troop train, Jan is posted to a trading store near Coffee Bay to join a team that is supplying U-boats. While there, he studies the local ethnic language and gains a better understanding of the Xhosa people, their customs and culture. Later, in a poignant scene, he helps to rescue survivors from a torpedoed vessel and a young black soldier who grew up on the farm with him dies in his arms.

Meanwhile, Jan’s older brother Pierre sees active service with the South African Air Force in North Africa. When the British Eighth Army invades Southern Italy his plane is shot down and he is sheltered and nursed by a peasant family. He recovers from his injuries and manages to walk the ninety-odd miles over mountainous terrain to the Allied lines and return home.

A romantic thread runs through it. Unknown to Pierre, Deidre, had undergone a backyard abortion. While in North Africa he receives a Dear John letter from his girlfriend, Lisa, followed by a letter from Deidre expressing her condolences about the death of his father. They begin to correspond and despite a steamy relationship he has with the beautiful daughter of his Italian hostess, he and Deidre eventually marry. Meanwhile Lisa accompanies Jan’s mother on a visit to him in detention camp, which leads to them planning to marry when he is released.

The story reaches a climax with a fire-fight when Pierre, Deidre and a recuperating sailor set up an ambush in a cove for a U-boat crew and their local suppliers. Three of the four-man crew and a wounded supplier manage to escape, the Germans back to their submarine and the supplier up the coast. The escapee is Jan. He is captured, charged with high treason and sentenced to life-long detention.

There’s a twist in the tail when it’s discovered the father’s Will is invalid and that Pierre, who was his adopted son, is not the heir to the family farm as intended. However, Jan elects to follow a legal career and on his release the two couples become reconciled. In the final chapter each couple reflects on the impact that the War has had on them and their lives.