Biltong and potroast...

[Chris Boonzaier]

Some folks living in South Africa in the late 70s - early 80s will remember a television series where South African Comedians and Brit Expat comedians had joke competitions... Called... "Biltong and Potroast"

As a footnote... Cyril Greene, Mel Miller, Eddie Eckstien, Dennis Mac lean, etc.

So, a few weeks ago, digging through my drawers, I found some war of Anglo Aggresion stuff which i thought I would post, and invite you to post any you have..

Medals to South Africans, and anyone else involved in the war who was living there at the outbreak...

Here is a set to a distant relative, W.C. Boonzaier. Boonzaier's usually come from the cape area back then... he served in the Cape Garrison Artillery.... if it was not bad enough he was on the wrong side.. he had to be Artillery!!

[Chris Boonzaier]

Here is another distant relative, also from the cape, but a "Cape Rebel"... he never claimed his medal

[Chris Boonzaier]

The Boer war is IMHO much more complicated than we usually read about... Although the split was usually Boer/Afrikaaner on one side, and British on the other, in some areas, like the Cape, the Cape Afrikaaners may have had more in comman with the Local British... and saw no reason to join the Boer side.. but enough reason to join the British side...

[Chris Boonzaier]

Here is one to a man who would have had to keep a veeeery low profile after the war. He seems to have been a "Joiner"... ie. a man who deserted the Boer side and joined up with the British when they entered the Free state... His medal is to him in the Field Intel Department... These were usually local men who served as guides or scouts.... after the war they were not really liked by their neighbours....

[Chris Boonzaier]

Now, this is an interesting "group"

[Chris Boonzaier]

Robert Aylward was a Brit who moved to South Africa and worked until the outbreak of the war, he then joined the "Imperial Light Infantry" formed in Durban (Those who could ride joined the Imperial Light Horse)... and fought at Spionkop, Tugela heights and Pietershoogte.... and was invalided out due to a bullet wound in the left forarm....

Jan Benjamin Cornelius was in the Krugersdorp Kommando, fought in all the same battles as Aylward... and on Pietershoogte he was badly wounded in the right arm... and invalided out.....

[Chris Boonzaier]

Here is a bunch of single name Anglo Boer war medals... My German friends look and shrug... "but they are all the same!" ;-)

[Chris Boonzaier]

This is for me the Ultimate medal group.... A sniper during the Boer war, In Danie Therons recon corps, a number of mentions about his shootings in different books, part of the group of 25 men who "invaded the cape"... then in 1914 siding with Botha to put down the rebellion.. nspite of the fact that some of the rebel leaders were in the group of 25 that invaded the cape with him.... It all shows how complicated SA history is.....

[Ulsterman]

Very cool. Very,very cool.

Now I know who has been driving the price of Boer campaign medals up.

Hmmmmmmm.....

[Chris Boonzaier]

Very cool. Very,very cool.

Now I know who has been driving the price of Boer campaign medals up.

Hmmmmmmm.....

Have not bought one for 3-4 years... :-)

I have my frame full ;-)

[Mervyn Mitton]

Chris - some nice medals. About 4000 pounds for the Anglo Boere Oorlogs. Your set with the Troue Dienst and the ABO

are in the wrong order. The DSO precedes the others and the two late award Boer Medals at the end. Only some 12000

ABO's were issued during the 1920's.

People always think that it was a 'cut and dried' issue - the British on one side and the Boers on the other. In fact more Boers

joined and fought on the British side then did for their own cause. There was great hostility within the ranks of the Boers - all

wanted to be leaders. This dis-organisation has been the down fall of the Afrikaaners.

I bought the Govt. history of the 1914 Rebellion the other day - very interesting reading. There were no Imperial Regiments

left in South Africa - the last three arriving in Belgium in time to qualify for the 1914 Star. This meant that the Rebellion was

put down with Afrikaans and British local units. Have you got a copy of this ? Mervyn

[Chris Boonzaier]

"Chris - some nice medals. About 4000 pounds for the Anglo Boere Oorlogs. Your set with the Troue Dienst and the ABO

are in the wrong order. The DSO precedes the others and the two late award Boer Medals at the end. Mervyn"

Hi,

You old colonialist you!! ;-)

This is the official mounting order. South African regulations show it as such, as do period photos.

For south African troops, DTD ranks above DSO, MC, MM, DCM etc.

ABO comes before Natal Medal or WW1 Service awards.

Best

Chris

[Brett Hendey]

An excellent collection, Chris. I am very envious. I was particularly interested to see the FID QSA to a "joiner". Would you mind giving his name? I am busy with a project on the FID, specifically the black scouts, many (or most) of whom did not get the QSA, even though they were clearly entitled according to the regulations. At least in the case of Natal, it was a civilian, the Secretary for Native Affairs, who blocked the award of the medal to the Natal Native Scouts. His reason was that the natives would flaunt their medals at the Boers of the Colony and annoy them.

Regards

Brett

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi Brett

Guide H.J. Van Aswegan FID

<There is a very good book called "Die "Hendsoppers" en "Joiners"" by Albert Grundlingh. I bought it in Pretoria a number of years, he has a SJ Van Aswegan on one of the namers lists, so it may be the same gus, he was from Boshof....

[Chris Boonzaier]

Here is a bar to Lt S.I. Visser of the Potch Commando... he was wounded in GSWA by a mine left by the retreating german.

An early IED casaulty.....

[Brett Hendey]

Thanks for the name, Chris.

Regards

Brett

[gavinmedals]

Chris, you are correct with the order of precedence. The DTD came before the DSO. Great impressive collection of groups.

Cheers

Gavin

[peter monahan]

So, the Boer war was in some ways a civil war, the very nastiest type of conflict going, especially if its a guerilla civil war! I must confess that while I have an interest in SA 1900-1903, my reading has been pretty sketchy and while I knew about the British inhabitants who supported the Queen and the 'native' scouts, black and white, but had no idea of the number of 'pro-Anglo' Afrikaaners. Thank you for both the medals and the education!

If you want to know about Indians - from India, not domiciled in SA - I may still have a few notes. Simply put, most were British Indian officers servants or cavalry sowars who came in with the huge numbers of remounts imported from Australia for the cavalry and mounted infantry units. However, the Indian Army was very quickly ruled out as a military resource in the war because sepoys and sowars shooting at white men had a really bad resonance only 45 years after the Indian Mutiny!

Peter

Edited February 19, 2013 by peter monahan

[Brett Hendey]

In support of your point about the Indians from India who came to the Boer War, the medal shown below was awarded to one such lowly man.

Brett

[Chris Boonzaier]

So, the Boer war was in some ways a civil war, the very nastiest type of conflict going, especially if its a guerilla civil war!

Hi

it must however be said that it was still a Gentlemans war.

The oers knew they could not keep prisonners... so they released them, making them promise they would not rejoin the fight.

There is an account of General De la Rey (I think) who was furious after they had caught the same British soldier for the 3rd time. He was furious enough to want to complain to the mans commanding officer!!

Best

Chris

[peter monahan]

And so he should have! The not so gentlemanly part of it was, of course, the concentration camps for Boer civilians - so evocatively referred to by the defence lawyer in the movie "Breaker Morant", which has been discussed elsewhere on this site and certainly highlighted some of the less than gentlemanly aspects that seem endemic to war and particularly to civil wars.

Still there, was a level of 'civilized behaviour' which seems to have disappeared for good during/after WWI, IMO. Though my best mate disagrees. He's working on a display on the Great Escape for the RCAF Museum in Trenton Ontario and has commented that the whole escape 'culture' - my phrase, not his - was dependant in part on the tolerant behaviour of the Stalag commandants, most of whom were old school German officers of WWI vintage. Getting caught meant a few days/weeks in the 'cooler' and then back at it. If the SS had been running the camps, or even some of the Nazi true believers in the Wehrmacht, shooting escapers would have happened far earlier and more often and schemes like the Great escape would likely never have happened. Taking a man's boots and rifle and letting him go seems almost school boyish in comparison!

[rdarby]

^{Thanks for showing that DTD/MC Chris. I had speculated on such a thing but never knew there was one out there. Now I have an empty feeling in the collection!}

^{I recently saw a DTD/DCM, to Jordaan which I suspect you may have owned or at least posted on this site. I suspect it may be the only such combination? Given that officers were more likely to become officers again I feel this is possibly unique or close to it.}

^{We know there are DTD/DSO's out there. But could there be a DTD/MM? I doubt it, as the deeds to win an MM may be something generally left for younger people and the Boer officers were more likely to be older or officers in WW1. Still you have shown me something interesting with that DTD/MC today so thank you for that.}

^cheers

^Ryan

[rdarby]

Who is the DTD/DSO to please if you can say? Wessels?

[Chris Boonzaier]

Who is the DTD/DSO to please if you can say? Wessels?

Hi,

It is Cloete

Best

Chris