21 APRIL 1901 - NELSKOP, CALVINIA

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On 21 April 1901 Commandant Manie Maritz with 10 mounted men surprised a 15-man patrol of the Western Province Mounted Rifles who were on their way to the farm Nelskop, some 40 km south of Brandvlei in the direction of Calvinia.

 

After a short skirmish the majority of the WPMR men remounted and made for a nearby hill, Swartkop. Maritz and five men charged in parallel and ascended Swartkop on the opposite side as the British.

 

As Maritz dismounted near the summit, he received a flesh wound in the arm. One of his men helped him to get up and as he started a charge up-hill he received two further light wounds in the arm and back.

 

He again got up and stormed the WPMR men. At this stage he was joined by the rest of his party and after a short exchange of fire the WPMR party surrendered. 

The British losses were two men killed, Lt Tidmarsh and 2 men wounded, and 9 men taken prisoner.

 

The Boers gained 13 horses and 13 rifles with ammunition. Maritz was the only casualty on the Boer side, and he was nursed on a nearby farm T’Boop by the owner’s wife, Mrs Hessie Nel. Later in the war the farm was to become a hospital for wounded Boer rebels.
Translated from Memoirs of Commandant Manie Maritz.