DEATH OF CHRISTIAN DE WET.

Shannon News, 10 February 1922, Page 3

DEATH OF CHRISTIAN DE WET.

BOER WAR INCIDENTS REVIVED. THE SANNA'S POST ENGAGEMENT. The death of Christian De Wet, the famous Boer leader, recalls the stirring times during the South Arrican War of 1899-1902. At-the outbreak of the war, Christian De Wet accepted a minor position in the Boer forces, and it was not till February, 1900, that Lord Roberts' strategical move culminating in the relief of Kimberley and the surrounding of Cronje's force at Paardeberg that De Wet came into the public eye by his capture of a large convoy of provisions for the British Army at Paardeberg. The capture of this supply column by De Wet at the Reit River greatly hampered Lord Roberts, whose army was reduced for some days to one biscuit per man. This capture was an excellent piece of work, but sinks into insignificance in comparison with De Wet's ambuscade of a British force at the -Blbmfontein waterworks on March 31, 1900.

THE FIGHT AT SANNA'S POST.A local resident, who was present at this historical engagement gave some interesting particulars of it to a press representative yesterday. He said that Lord Roberts, on occupying Blomfontein, sent 200 mounted men to'occupy the city's waterworks, 21 miles east of the town. A cavalry "force with guns, including one company of the First New Zealand Contingent, under the command of General Broadwood, was sent to occupy Thabachu, 21 miles further east of the waterworks. This force was attacked on March 30 by a Boer commando of 5000 men under Commandant Oliver, which compelled Broadwood to retreat to the waterworks the same evening. Unknown to Oliver and Broadwood. Christian De Wet had planned a. raid on the waterworks with the object of capturing The guard of 500

i-nen and destroying the works. De Wet left Brandfort on March 28, and marching only at night, he was within striking distance of the waterworks on the night of the 30th. De Wet divided his command of 1600 men and seven guns by placing 1200 and the guns under his brother, Piet De Wet, To the east of the waterworks, whilst he and the remaining 400 took up a position at Koornspruit,. some three miles west of the waterworks. The position chosen by De Wet for his scheme was an excellent one. His plan of action was to bombard the waterworks, push his men. across the river and drive the waterworks garrison towards Koornspruit, which lies between the works and Blomfontein. He planned to capture the garrison, rlestrov the works and get away be-, fore a force could be sent against him. But De Wet miscalculated. An hour beforju dawn on March 31 he learnt his mistake. Instead of 200 men to deal with, his .scouts brought the news that the whole of Broadwood's ! force had arrived at the waterworks < during thejiight. He recognised that he was in a precarious position, and he had great difficulty in keeping his j men in the spruit, as they wanted to j get away. De Wet, however, deter- j termined to hang on and score a I greater stroke by capturing the whole of Broadwood's force; so he waited patiently for the sound of the Boer .guns lo* the east of the Modder. One of the extraordinary things that happen in war then occurred, for while De Wet and his men were taking up their position in the spruit, Broadwood and his force were moving into the waterworks. About 6 o'clock on the morning of the 31st, Broadwood sent out patrols towards Thabauehu. These- were fired on, and came galloping in. A little later Piet De Wet's guns "opened from the east, and shells began to fall in Broadwood's bivouac, and the Kaffir and native drivers became ]Tanic-stricken. Teams were harnessed without orders, and the natives galloped off towards Blomfontein. Christian De Wet's force lying

low allowed these waggons to come right up to them, and 20 or 30 waggons passed over to the other side of the drift, which gave the appearance to the waggons in the rear that everything was all right. A breakdown in the spruit of one of the waggons caused a blockage, and the baggage guard, was quickly disarmed by De Wet's men without a shot being fired or alarm raised. The British mounted infantry, under Colonel Alderson, as soon as the shelling started, were placed in a position overlooking lhe Modeler for the fighting of a rearguard action. Two troops of New Zealanders, commanded by Captain Maddocks, with Lieutenants Lindsay and Hughes, were sent to hold the right flank, and the balance of the First New Zealand Contingent formed part of the Brigade reserve. The Q and U Batteries, R.H.A., together with the Household Cavalry and Tenth Hussars, were ordered to take up a position on the high ground beyond I Koornspruit, in order to cover the rei tirement of the main borly. The guns [ moved of without 'heir escort being

in position, and it was not long before U. Battery found themselves surrounded by De Wet, who ordered the gunners to dismount, the battery being captured. The Q Battery was warned, and its commander, Major Phipps Hornby, smartly wheeled his guns to.the left and",ordered them to gallop. At the same time the cavalry force were also warned, and they wheeled about to retire. When De Wet and his "men saw this they opened fire, and a terrific crash of rifle fire came from the spruit. The front rank of -the mounted infantry was wiped out, half the drivers and gunners of Q Battery were also shot down, and a gun and two ammunition waggons being overturned, all their personnel was killed. About half a mile south of the drift there was the unfinished embankment and railway buildings of the Sanna's Post railway station. Here the five guns were brought into action, supported by the remains of the Mounted Infantry. The cavalry were immediately sent further' south, crossed Koornspruit, and endeavoured to work round the rear and drive De Wet, out of the spruit, but the handling of this flanking force left much to be desired, and the movement came to a standstill. This was the position at 8 o'clock in the morning, and although Broadwood had received a temporary check, the day was not yet lost. Lord Roberts, at Blomfontein, immediately he heard Broadwood was retreating from Thabanchu, gave orders that he should be supported, and mounted infantry. 600 strong, arrived four miles from the waterworks at 8.30, but here again this force was mishandled, and 1 gave no support. At 10 o'clock, owing 1 to the heavy casualties in his batteries, and the fact that a large force of Boers had established themselves on the west bank of the Modder and were pushing the mounted infantry in, a general retirement was now ordered to the south of Koornspruit. When the order reached the gunners, only one officer and ten men were left in the battery, and they succeeded in getting two guns. Volunteers were successful in getting in another two. Many gallant attempts were made to rescue the last gun without success. The guns later-moved off and crossed the spruit further to the south. It was of great interest to New Zealanders to know that our First Contingent was left to cover the retirement of the guns and the remainder of Broadwood's force. Our boys were subjected to a very heavy fire from their front and rear, but luckily no casualties were sustained. By noon the remains of Broadwood's force had safely reached high ground and reorganised. It was found a third of the force were casualties, that seven guns and 83 waggons had been captured.

The gal]ant behaviour of all ranks of Q Battery was not allowed lo go unnoticed, and on the first occasion in Ihe history of the British Army four V.C.'s were awarded to one unit, tli? unit to choose their comrades who were to wear the decorations. Major Pbipps Hornby, Sergeant Parker. Gunner Lodge and Driver Glassock were so honoured by their comrades. Lieut. Sterling, Bengal Lancers, also won the V.C. that morning. Corporal Coutts, First N.Z. Contingent, who brought out a wounded N.C.0., was awarded one of the four scarves knitted by Queen Victoria. With the capture and destruction of the waterworks, the British Army had 1.0 resort to the use of the old wells in Blomfontein, which was the cause of the dreadful wave of enteric that followed, with numerous deaths in our forces.

It may be of interest to local residents to know that Messrs. C. Blenkhorn. W. Tubman and T. W. Brown (of Levin), W. Renton (Himitangi), Colonel H. Whyte, D. 5.0., (Palmerston North), J. Nairn (Makino), and-J. N. Cummings (Feilding) fought in f he engagement at Sauna's Post, where they came into very close contact with the wily Boer general, Christian Pe Wet,