able to re-supply Mahon's force and operations in the area for some time. While a sorely needed publicity victory for the British, the British commanders believed Baden-Powell had been foolish to risk so many supplies and allow himself to be besieged and had made no effort to break out and had overstated the number of Boer forces tied up while in fact tying up considerably more British forces. For Baden-Powell, and in the British media, the siege was thought of as a victory, but for the more practical Boers it had been a strategic success. For no significant achievement, the townspeople and garrison suffered 212 killed and over 600 wounded. For the British Army commanders, it was a distraction and nuisance and, after Baden-Powell's further poor combat performance in completely abandoning the mostly Rhodesian soldiers and Australian diggers at Elands River, Baden-Powell was removed from any combat command. Three Victoria Crosses were awarded as a result of acts of heroism during the siege, to Sergeant Horace Martineau and Trooper Horace Ramsden for acts during an attack on the Boer Game Tree Fort, and to Captain Charles FitzClarence for Game Tree and two previous actions. In September 1904 Lord Roberts unveiled an obelisk at Mafeking bearing the names of those who fell in defense of the town. The siege established Baden-Powell as a celebrity in Britain, and when he wrote Scouting for Boys in 1908, his fame contributed to the rapid growth of the Boy Scout Movement. See also British military history British Empire History of South Africa Military history of South Africa Scouting Lady Sarah Wilson became the first female war correspondent, reporting from Mafeking References Further reading Gardner, Brian. Mafeking: a Victorian legend (London: Cassell, 1966). Hopkins, Pat, and Heather Dugmore. The Boy: Baden-Powell and the Siege of Mafeking (New Holland Books, 1999). Willan, Brian. "The Siege of Mafeking." in The South African War, ed. Peter Warwick and S.B. Spies (Harlow, 1980) 150–55. Yorke, Edmund. Battle Story Mafeking 1900 (The History Press, 2014). Young, Filson. The Relief of Mafeking: How it was Accomplished by Mahon's Flying Column, with an Account of Some Earlier Episodes in the Boer War of 1899-1900 (Methuen, 1900) online. Primary sources Sol Plaatje. Mafeking Diary: A Black Man's View of a White Man's War. Ross, Edward. Diary of the siege of Mafeking, October 1899 to May 1900 (Van Riebeeck Society, 1980). External links The Siege