commando system, noun phrase

Forms:
Also with initial capitals.
Origin:
From commando.
1. In historical contexts. During the 18th and 19th century at the Cape: the system of reprisal raids for the recovery of stolen cattle; the regulations governing this system. See also commando sense 1 a.
Note:
Also occasionally called reprisal system.
1828 T. Pringle Ephemerides 202The Commando system..was prosecuted with great vigour under the recent administration of the Cape.
1834 T. Pringle Afr. Sketches 373The frontier colonists, be they Dutch or British, must of necessity continue to be semi-barbarians, so long as the commando system — the system of hostile reprisals — shall be encouraged or connived at.
1852 A.W. Cole Cape & Kafirs 129Another subject of complaint among the boers was, the abolition of the Commando system against the Kafirs.
1955 L. Marquard Story of S. Afr. 71Under the commando system every male burgher between sixteen and sixty was liable for military service and could be called on to defend the colony alongside regular soldiers.
1977 R.J. Haines in R.J. Bouch Infantry in S. Afr. 1652–1976 23For the early years the Republics depended on the commando system for defence purposes and no regular forces were established.
2. In historical contexts. A system of military organization in which an army was divided into units drawing soldiers from the region in which they were based and in which they mainly operated, especially as used by the Boers during the Anglo-Boer War. See also commando sense 4.
Note:
The flexibility and mobility of units organized under this system proved particularly well-suited to guerilla warfare.
1920 F.C. Cornell Glamour of Prospecting 318The days of the old easy-going commando system of their fathers was a thing of the past, and..rigid discipline had come in place of it.
1937 G.F. Gibson Story of Imp. Light Horse 59The inherent weakness of the Commando system, where every man was, to some extent, a law unto himself and his own General, with a resultant lack of discipline.
1974 A.P. Cartwright By Waters of LetabaWhen Pretorius called for a commando of 1 000 men there might be a muster of 300 or even fewer...The commando system..was in danger of breaking down.
1989 Reader’s Digest Illust. Hist. of S. Afr. 244It was a people’s army wearing civilian clothes and based on the traditional commando system: the able-bodied men of each district called up under an elected Commandant assisted by field-cornets, one from each ward of the district.
3. A system of regional military service, part of the civil defence system of the South African Defence Force. See also commando sense 5.
1982 Uniform 13 Nov. 8Advantages of the commando system are clearly evident, none more so than the sense of cameraderie through the experiences shared by the men.
1983 J. Keegan World Armies 530Whilst in the past the Commando system was voluntary and very much based on traditions derived from the Afrikaner past it will now become largely a conscript organisation.
1993 Sunday Times 31 Oct. 31The weapons are courtesy of the SADF commando system, which..continues to do them proud.
the system of reprisal raids for the recovery of stolen cattle; the regulations governing this system.
A system of military organization in which an army was divided into units drawing soldiers from the region in which they were based and in which they mainly operated, especially as used by the Boers during the Anglo-Boer War.
A system of regional military service, part of the civil defence system of the South African Defence Force.
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commando, nounn.Commissary General, noun phrasen. phr.
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