Sammanfattning
The Scandinavian ambulance in the South African war 1899–1902
The Nordic support to the Boer people during the South African war 1899-1902 is a rather unknown history. Approximately 150 Scandinavian emigrants fought on the Boer side in the South African war and a sixth of them were killed at the battle of Magersfontein. The corps was followed by a Scandinavian ambulance formed by one Norwegian physician (Bidenkap), three Swedish nurses and six stretcher bearers. Both the physician and the nurses had lived and worked in South Africa for some years. The reasons for participation could thereby be partly pragmatic. During six month the ambulance followed the corps in an ox-wagon and treated both wounded Scandinavians and Boers alike in a healthcare tent. At one occasion it was mistaken for a regular army armed unit and bombarded by British artillery. The ambulance and its crew were finally taken as prisoner of war. The physician stayed in South Africa throughout his whole life, but two of the nurses returned to Sweden after the war.