home Anglo-Boer-War >> next << back
Military History – South Africa – Europe – England 19th Century
.Article – Online Historic Information | Military
.Page 128
the Caledon River on the Dewetsdorp road. On 4 April Commandant Banks demanded
Maxwell’s surrender but was refused. The next day Lieutenant-colonel E. H. Dalgety arrived to take
command and moved the 1,800 men to the prepared positions. De Wet and his force of about 6,000
men did not arrive for another three days, allowing time for defences to be improved, and when the
first attack was launched, it failed. The Boers’ seven 75mm guns and the Pom-Pom did the British real
damage, but not enough. Minor attacks and shelling were continuous and another major effort was
made on 21 April, but still Dalgety’s men held. As relief drew near in the shape of the 8th Division
under Lieutenant-general Sir Leslie Rundle, De Wet raised the siege.
That De Wet was influenced by his hate of men he considered traitors seems very likely. He
wrote: “To tell the truth, there was not a man amongst us who would have asked better than to make
prisoners of the Cape Mounted Rifles and of Brabant’s Horse. They were Afrikanders, and as
Afrikanders, although neither Orange Free Staters nor Transvaalers, they ought, in our opinion, to
have been ashamed to fight against us. The English, we admitted, had a perfect right to hire such
sweepings, and to use them against us, but we utterly despised them for allowing themselves to be
hired. . . Although I never took it amiss if a colonist of Natal or of Cape Colony was unwilling to fight
with us against England, yet I admit it vexed me greatly to think that some of these colonists, for the
sake of a paltry five shillings a day, should be ready to shoot down their fellow-countrymen.”
See also:
Hands-uppers; Mostertshoek, Battle of; Thaba ’Nchu.
Reference:
De Wet, Christiaan, Three Years War (London, Archibald Constable, 1902); Jones, Huw G. and
Meurig G. M. Jones, A Gazetteer of the Second Anglo-Boer War 1899–1902 (Milton Keynes,
The Military Press, 1999).
Johannesburg
In 1886 gold was discovered on the Witwatersrand, the range of hills west of Johannesburg and the
town prospered from the resultant wealth. Foreigners, uitlanders,flooded in and the fear of their
overwhelming the Afrikaner population became strong. President Kruger resisted all pleas to grant
the incomers the franchise, increasing the resentment that fuelled Cecil Rhodes’s plot to oust Kruger’s
government. The Jameson Raid of 1895–96 failed, and political divisions were exacerbated.
On the outbreak of war in October 1899 the town provided a commando under Commandant B.
J. Viljoen and one was also formed from the South African Republic Police (ZARP). The
uitlanders,on the other hand, left as quickly as possible for LourencÇo Marques and took ship for
Durban to join the British. Walter Karri Davies and Aubrey Wools-Sampson, who had been
prominent members of the Reform Committee, left in this fashion and raised the Imperial Light Horse
in Pietermaritzburg from 500 selected uitlanders.
Early in 1900 a munitions factory, formerly an iron foundry requisitioned
home
Anglo-Boer-War
>> next
<< back
Critical USA/EU Defense Intel Item / Threat Reporting Issue (Urgent for USA/NATO/German attention)
US/EU Investment & Security Risk – GBP Crash – ponzi ‘Rainbow Investment scheme ‘ – SEC insider Trading investigation
Additional Intel Details & Forecast(1 Year & 5 Year):
Industry : US & EU Defense
9/11 Attackers & Financiers : England(Prince Philip/Charles & Windsors)/Russia/China
Finance Source (9/11) : Diamonds via Anglo America plc / De Beers extracted SA & Namibia (ex German SWA) – Marketed China USA
Attack Co – Ordinators (9/11) : England -Windsors / Privy Council (UK)
Intelligence Intrusion Mgt/Blowback Suppression (9/11) : UK/England (MI5 & GCHQ – rainbow moles – Erik Ciaramella types )
Proxy Attack team(9/11) : Muslim “rainbow team” (non Christian) led by Mohammed Atta etc
Latest Defense Threat/Opportunity USA : Mi5/GCHQ “intel mole Erik Ciaramella unmasked” attempts to smear President Trump and enable corrupted $400million package to Ukraine
Latest Download Details :