13 DECEMBER 1900 - ROUXVILLE

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Prior to General de Wet crossing the Orange River for the Boers’ Second Invasion of the Cape he sent a small unit under Commandant P. H. Kritzinger and Captains W. D. Fouche and Gideon Scheepers in the direction of Rouxville with orders to cross the Orange River as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

 

Kritzinger struck sharply at the troops trying to bar his path to the Cape Colony. On 13 December 1901 at Koesberg near Zastron he ambuscaded and overwhelmed a party of 250 Brabant’s Horse.

 

Creswicke Vol VI, p135 refers: “In the Zastron district a party of the 2nd Division of Brabant’s Horse – mostly raw recruits – got into difficulties on the 13th. They became detached from the main body, were caught in a defile, and 120 of them were taken prisoner.

 

The captain in command was wounded in several places, and the Colonials lost eight killed and eighteen wounded, three of whom since died.”

In “After Pretoria: The Guerilla War”, p232-3 different casualty figures are given: “…3 men were killed, 17 others wounded and 107 taken prisoner.”

And some scathing comments: “No detailed information of this humiliating affair has ever been published, but it seems to have been the result of raw and untrained men to come into contact with a veteran enemy.”