This, in turn, permitted him to join the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek Politie (ZARP), the police force in Johannesburg.

Near the end of the war Maritz ordered the killing of 35 Coloured (Khoikhoi) in what became known as the Leliefontein massacre.

The massacre was a retaliation for an attack against Maritz and his party, when he went to interview European missionaries in Leilefontein.

When peace was made, the burghers of the erstwhile republics were obliged to lay down their arms and sign an oath of allegiance to the British monarch.

[5] He returned to South Africa, where he farmed horses in the Cape and is believed to have helped the Germans during the Herero and Namaqua genocide.

When Maritz returned, he went to the Transvaal, but was arrested for entering the colony, not having signed the oath of allegiance.

He accepted and, after attending a training course, he was appointed to command the military area abutting German South-West Africa.

[7]: 18–19 On 23 September 1914 Maritz was ordered to advance in the direction of the German border, to support the Union's invasion in the vicinity of Sandfontein, where a portion of Lieutenant-Colonel Lukin's force was stranded.

[7]: 2  When General Hertzog's National Party won the 1924 election, they released him after he had served only three months.

Britz points out that the book was written many years after the events, lacks objectivity and has a strong emotional flavour.