26 JUNE 1901 - BRUGSPRUIT

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At 9pm on 26 June Gen Ben Viljoen’s commando attempted to cross the railway line near Brugspruit by simultaneously attacking the blockhouses at Kilo 370½ and Kilo 372. The attack on the Kilo 370½ blockhouse, which was defended by 14 men of “The Buffs”, was repulsed after a hotly contested half-hour engagement. 

However, the Kilo 372 blockhouse, garrisoned by 7 men of “The Buffs”, was taken by the Boers. Viljoen, in his memoirs, states that his Field Cornet Myburgh was killed by a shot that went off as the surrendering soldiers threw out their rifles.

 

Viljoen proceeded to pass across his main body, guns and convoy under a heavy fire. The operation was barely half completed when an armoured train appeared on the scene.Turning on its searchlights, it wreaked havoc among the Boers with shrapnel and Maxim bullets, thereby ending the crossing attempt.

 

Eventually Viljoen, with half of the commando, ended up north of the line and his 2 Commandants south of the line with the other half of the commando.