[The operation on and death of Lieutenant M.J. Nix]

One of the four Dutch military attaches who sided with the Republican forces in the Second Anglo-Boer War, Lieutenant M.J. Nix, was severely wounded during the battle at Sannaspost on 31 March 1900. A British shrapnel bullet injured his spine, which left him almost completely paralysed. He was transported in a British ambulance to the military hospital in Bloemfontein, where he was operated on on 10 April. He died during the operation. Conan Doyle, who was a medical officer and War correspondent in the South African War, attended the operation and published a brief report of it in his well-known book The Great Boer War. This report is quoted in full in this article. It is clear that the failure of the operation was due to the surgeon's lack of medical knowledge.