Ladysmith trophy

Why is in news? Maharashtra: Army Ordnance Corps Ladysmith Shell firing competition to be held in CAD Pulgaon from 19^th October, 2022

Seven teams, one from each Command of Indian Army and one from AOC Centre will participate for the coveted trophy.

Lady Smith is a small town in Natal which is named after Joanna the wife of Sir Harry Smith, who was the Governor of the Cape in South Africa.

During the Boer war in 1899, this town came under a prolonged siege.

On Christmas Day, a shell was fired by the Boers on the garrison under siege and it fell in the Ordnance Field Park which did not explode.

Inside the shell was found a small plum pudding wrapped up in a tiny Union Jack and the shell itself was painted with the words “Compliments of the Season”.

To commemorate the successful relief of Lady Smith, a trophy was introduced by the Royal Army Ordnance Corps to be awarded to the best Ordnance team in a small arms firing competition in which all Ordnance Corps units of the Common Wealth originally participated and is now awarded to the best small arms firing AOC team of the Indian Army.

The trophy comprises of the shell mounted on a handsome teak pedestal in which the Union Jack is framed and with small shields on which the name of winners are etched.

The trophy occupies a pride of place in the AOC museum at the College of Materials Management, Jabalpur.

Boer Wars 1880-1902:

Dutch were the first Europeans to settle in South Africa, in 1652, their first colony in Cape Town.

By 1815, however, the British had acquired possession of the Cape and, in the 1830s; the pressures of their new colonial masters led the Boers to embark on the “Great Trek” inland.

This irked the Southern African Kingdoms of Orange Free State, Transvaal (Now South Africa) and to some extent Natal, which were known as Boer Republics.

The two Boer wars were fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Orange Free State and the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic) during the 1880 to 1902 period

In the First Boer War, the British lost the Transvaal and the Boers of Transvaal got freedom, but in the second Boer war which lasted from 1899 to 1902, converted these republics into British Colonies.

These colonies later became part of Union of South Africa.