helped the Dutch ambulance to set up a major field hospital. During this he received an offer to take the doctors position at one of the Boer commandos - The Utrecht Commando. This 500 men strong commando was positioned between Ladysmith and the front at Colenzo. The ambulance was staffed with six white and eight black men and featured two ox carts together with 24 oxen, 8 mules and 7 riding horses. As the fighting escalated the casualties raised. On January 6, 1900, the Boers performed an assault on a British fortification Matrand by Ladysmith where Hammar came under direct artillery fire while dressing a wounded Boer. A second battle at Tugela on January 20 to 25 was 25 miles from their position, to far to take the ox carts but Hammar rode there. Although the casualties was much more his allotment was only three wounded. This was the first British push to liberate Ladysmith. Hammar then participated as a field surgeon in three battles, the storming of Ladysmith where his commando suffered big losses, then one at Spioenkopf and finally the eleven days long battle by Colenzo and Pieterstasie where the British finally managed to relieve Ladysmith. After the siege of Ladysmith was broken, Hammar's commando moved up to the Biggars mountains under constant shelling. Hammar escaped unharmed but somewhat starving as the only things they had to eat was some old biscuits. This did not concern him so much as he was suffering from dysentery and could not eat anything anyway. After a short quite time they had to pull back again and by this time his commando had shrunk to about 30 men so Hammar requested leave from the commandant and left for Utrecht and then back to Pretoria. There he was offered another ambulance stationed by Amajuba. When he arrived there however the railroad to Pretoria was cut off and the British seized Johannesburg and advanced on their position and the Boers fled. As he never received his ambulance Hammar decided to start his journey home. Dressed in a single set of thin clothes he rode over the entire Transvaal, over Ermelo and Carolina to the railroad in Machadodorp where he arrived on June 20 after ten days in the open. At Machadodorp president Krüger had placed his temporary capital, i.e. his railway carriage where he lived. Before leaving, which he did the same day, Hammar