Page 92 - History of War - Issue 18-15

BOOKREVIEWS

HistoryofWar’s pick of the newest military history
titleswaitingforyouontheshelves
THEKALAHARIKILLINGS

THE TRUE STORY OF A WARTIME DOUBLE MURDER IN BOTSWANA IN 1943

Writer Jonathan Laverick Price £12.99 Publisher The History Press
HOWTHEDISAPPEARANCEOFTWORAFPILOTSINCENTRALAFRICASPARKEDAMURDERTRIALTHATCAPTIVATEDTHEWORLD
More than 450,000 British and Commonwealth the middle of the 20th century, from both sides Three local bushmen along with fi ve women were
servicemen were killed during World War II, yet of the colonial divide. arrested for the murder, and Laverick uses the court
inthemiddleofallthatdeathanddestruction Edwards and Adamson were both RAF airmen notes of their trial to piece together the fate of the
the names of two individuals made newspaper and had been sent to train as pilots with the airmen. What emerges is a bizarrely gruesome tale
headlines around the world. Gordon Edwards and Rhodesian Air Training Group in the relative involving hunting rights, dismemberment and black
Walter Adamson weren’t killed in action, however. safety of present-day Zimbabwe. On 4 October magic as two disparate cultures collided in one of
They were murdered. 1943, the Airspeed Oxford they were piloting the planet’s remotest spots.
JonathanLaverickstumbledacrosstheir disappeared. It was found hundreds of miles Part history, part murder-mystery story, part
storyacoupleofyearsagoonawebsiteforum, off course on a saltpan in what was then known scrapbook, the book’s narrative does have a
and in The Kalahari Killings explores both the as Bechuanaland, in present-day Botswana. tendency to sprawl. The book’s beginning, for
investigationintothemurdersandtrialthat There was no sign, however, of either pilot. Their example, bounces between Edwards’ career prior
followed,aswellastheincident’saftermath.In mysterious disappearance created widespread to being posted to Africa, and a potted history of
doingso,hetellsastorythatwouldservewell interest, as the barely known Tyua tribe and Bechuanaland. That slight gripe aside, the book
astheplotofanairportnovel,whilepaintinga some of its more macabre customs came under remains genuinely gripping in places while offering
f i i i f lif i l Af i d i the scrutiny of the media. real insight into a little-known corner of history.
Whatemergesisa

bizarrelygruesometale
nvolving hunting rights,

dismemberment and
black magic”

The training in Africa was not
always smooth. This Tiger Moth
crashed during an exercise

Gordon Edwards (right), who
92 was murdered in 1943