3-5 MARCH 1900 - LABUSCHAGNE’S NEK

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On Saturday 3 March 1900 Brig Gen Brabant attacked Commandant D Schoeman and his force of some 400 Cape Rebels who were holding Labuschagne’s Nek (north of Dordrecht).

 

The British and Colonial troops (some 1800 men with 8 field-guns and some Maxims) lodged two flank attacks and the right wing under Major C Maxwell managed to capture the key position of Bakenkop.

 

Brabant’s main attack succeeded the next day (4 March) when some 1200 Colonial troops dislodged the defenders and took Labuschagne’s Nek. Commandant van Aardt’s attempt to recapture Bakenkop with 80 volunteers failed because Maxwell had 
succeeded in dragging two field-guns to the summit the previous night.

 

On Monday 5 March 1900 the British 
occupation of Labuschagne’s Nek was consolidated when the Colonial Division forced Commandant J F de Wet and his Barkly East Rebels to abandon Pappasnek outside Dordrecht.

British losses: 14 killed, 28 wounded. Boer losses: 8 killed, 17 wounded and a few men taken prisoner.