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Warrior: The Legend Of Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen is a trip into 19th Century Britain's African Colonies and a deep look at a man in the center of it all.  Peter Capstick is an old Africa hand as it is and is uniquely qualified to tell his story.  A man who didn't seem to fit in back home, he came into his own commanding his own unit of the King's African Rifles.  He arrived in Africa in 1902, and was astonished to find the Martini-Henry rifles of his new outfit were so rusted up as to be unusable.  After shortly putting everything in order, he immediately went into the peace keeping business as unruly tribes kept him hopping. 

From a modern perspective, this man looks to be somewhat  bloodthirsty, and easily gets into killing mode when dealing with hostile tribes.  Capstick defends the man, saying we are too far removed in time and culture to understand what Meinertzhagen had to do to keep the peace.  Another thing that seems odd is Britain expected their officers to look after themselves, and Meinertzhagen had to hunt to keep his larder stocked.  Not that hunting bothered him, and he was excited at all the animals he had to shoot at, and shoot he did.  Bagging lion, rhino and hippo was right up his alley, and he took to it with relish. 

In fact, in one thrilling battle he fought with the Irryeni Kikuyus, he got what is referred to in the shooting sports as a "mixed double".  He was backed into a thicket of reeds, when a Kikuyu warrior and a wounded lion broke into his opening.  He bagged them both.

Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen was probably the only soldier on the western front in WW1 that used an African war club in the trenches.  The book is a thrilling read and you can get it on Amazon.

Warrior book cover