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  25 JUNE 1901 - DEFENCE OF RICHMOND

  By archie777 · Posted 1 minute ago

  On 25 June 1901, the small town of Richmond, defended by a detachment of the 4th Battalion North Staffordshire Regt and the Richmond Town Guard, was attacked by a superior Boer force under Gen Wynand Malan and Commandant Smith.   A number of small forts on kopjes overlooking the town were overrun. The Boer tactics were to keep a continuous fire on the loopholes of a fort while a number of them stormed the fort and were safe below the loopholes that were too highly positioned.   They then threatened to toss in dynamite, leading to the surrender of the defenders. Eventually only the heavily fortified jail and the so-called “Flag Hill Fort” remained unconquered. At dusk word reached Malan that a strong British force was nearing Richmond and in the evening the Boers withdrew.   British losses were 6 killed and 8 wounded, while on the Boer side there were only a number of wounded burghers.
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  12 JUNE 1901 - WILMANSRUST

  By archie777 · Posted 8 minutes ago

  On this date the left wing of the 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles (Squadrons E, F, G, and H) encamped at Wilmansrust farm, between Middelburg and Ermelo. This location was noted later as being dominated by three nearby koppies (hills) and not easy to defend.   The security of the encampment was entrusted to four widely spaced outposts.This was “in accordance with Indian Cavalry practice” as the camp C/O, Major Morris of the RFA had recently arrived in South Africa from India. No standing patrols were ordered between outposts and there was no inner picket line. Trouble hit at 7.45pm when Gen Muller and some 150 men, guided by the farm owner, sneaked past the sentries without being challenged. Inexcusably, the VMR men did not have their rifles at hand, confusion reigned supreme and panic quickly spread.   The whole camp was over-run in minutes. The price was reportedly 22 KiA (including a Boer “hensopper” summarily executed), 42 WiA and the remainder either briefly captured or escaped the scene. The 5th VMR captives were abandoned as the Burghers made off with the very considerable spoils, including food, ammunition and the two pom-poms.   Unfortunately, the defeat at Wilmansrust caused Gen Beatson to describe the 5th VMR; the “Fateful Fifth”, in terms which included “wasters… In my opinion they are a lot of white-livered curs”. This resulted in rebellious conduct by several rank-and-file: subsequent Court Martial sentenced 4 men to be shot, later reduced to 10 years hard labour and finally quashed by Kitchener.  The inevitable Court of Enquiry on the action itself found the camp commander, Maj. Morris, responsible for the defeat. Gen. Beatson was later transferred back to India after only serving six months of his secondment.
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  10 JUNE 1901 - LEEUWKOP

  By archie777 · Posted 21 minutes ago

  “The Inspector General wishes to place on record the very commendable piece of work performed by sections of A, B and D Troops of the Reserve Depot under the orders of Captain Scriven on the 10th, 11th and 12th Inst. This force had been detailed to sieze and occupy Leeuwkop and neighbouring koppies (8 miles NW of the Dynamite Factory) during the night and then to demonstrate against the enemy northward to cover Capt Adye’s troop during its work of entrenching itself on Leeuwkop. These duties were most ably carried out. On each of the three days Capt Scriven’s parties, working over a wide area, but in perfect combination, were engaged with the enemy, always with success. They captured wagons and cattle… The enemy were in superior numbers, at about 2 to 1. In this work the following Officers, NCO’s and men especially distinguished themselves: Lieutenants MacNaughton and Bourne No 198 Reserve Depot Trooper H Lord (wounded)…” SA Constabulary Circular Memo No 44.
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  6 JUNE 1901 - GRASPAN (NEAR REITZ)

  By archie777 · Posted 25 minutes ago

  On the evening of 5 June Colonel Elliott was informed that a Boer convoy was about 15 miles away from his own convoy and he detached Major Sladen, the Commander of the 6th Mounted Infantry with a force of 200 and some Australians to intercept it.   The convoy of 120 wagons and carts was duly captured at dawn on 6 June, but the majority of prisoners were women and children with only about 100 armed Boers as guards.  What should have been a routine, albeit large, capture was rapidly altered by a thundering counterattack by De Wet and De la Rey who had been informed about it over breakfast. Fighting raged amongst the captured wagons and Sladen’s advance line was driven back to a cluster of native huts in a kraal.  THE CAPTURE OF DE WET’S CONVOY The fight lasted for four hours and ascendancy swung backwards and forwards between British and Boer. Sladen held off the counterattack until relieved by De Lisle in the afternoon but casualties had been heavy on both sides: 26 British and 17 Boers killed, 25 British and 20 Boers wounded.  The brutal hand-to-hand fighting at Graspan gave rise to accusations of atrocities on both sides. The Boers claimed that the British had fired on unarmed women and children in the wagons and the British accused the Boers of murdering prisoners.
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  Feldwebel Martin Herrnbrodt

  By JohanH · Posted 34 minutes ago

  Today I got a few documents from the Bundesarchiv for free.    Does this mean he was stationed at a Flight-school in Pütnitz between 1939 and 1944?   Can someone help me to understand this document? My german is too basic to understand much more than he was born in Kiel and served as a Feldwebel.