“The Boers ‘will not play the game fairly’, said one of the soldiers. Ralph drew a different lesson. Those gleaming insignia, the stars and buttons and buckles of the professional soldier, were all very well in the drawing-room. In the sunshine of the veld they blazed like a heliograph. Against an invisible enemy, the British officers had been as conspicuous as redcoats.“ (Pakenham, 2004, p.179).

Reference

Pakenham, T. (2004) The Boer War. London: Abacus.