TOPIC:

Gentle reminders
Used cases of shells left behind at Modder

Source: www.angloboerwar.com/forum/19-ephemera/3...-jack?start=78#96445

This photograph is captioned: "Artillery headquarters at Bloemfontein. On the Sunday before the declaration of war, lightning killed all the artillery horses.
This photograph was supressed by the Boer leaders. Two German artillery officers can be seen".

It seems that 23 of the OVS Artillerie's 42 horses were tethered to their mangers with steel chains, so when the lightning struck they were all killed. The incident occurred on Sunday 20 August, not "on the Sunday before the declaration of war".

[Added 21/08/2024 - MC Heunis notes: Just one correction, the propagandists got it wrong... The men in those pics were all Boers, just dressed in German made uniforms. The only German officer in the OVSAC was Albrecht, who does not appear here. In this photo the peaked "Schirmmütze" caps are probably worn by two NCOs and the floppy "Feldmütze" cap worn by enlisted men with their field/service dress. Officers also wore the peaked cap with undress and unofficial field dress, but theirs were of a finer material and with gilded badge].





Burnley Express, 28th October 1899

By G.F. Renwick, of Burnley.

President Steyn holds the balance between peace and war in his hand, and it is his bounden duty to make an end to this intolerable state of things. To proclaim days of humiliation and prayer will not mend matters, and is sheer hypocrisy. The warning voice of Providence was never more plainly revealed than on the Sunday set apart for the purpose, when a flash of lightning struck the Free State coat of arms on the cap of an artillery officer and tore it off, but saved the wearer, while it killed a large number (23) of artillery horses. Is this the finger of the Lord, and does it require any special revelation to understand its meaning?

August 20th and 27th were proclaimed by the Presidents as days of humiliation and prayer in both Republics. It was on the afternoon of the 20th, after the President and State officials had attended divine service at the Dutch Reformed Church, that the destruction of the artillery by lightning took place.

I, along with many other persons, went to the artillery stables, where 23 out of the 42 horses accommodated there, lay dead. The lightning had selected those animals which were secured by steel chains to the mangers, and the vagaries of the electric fluid were very striking.


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This photograph of No. 2 Redoubt, Kimberley Mine, shows the men of "M" Company, Kimberley Town Guard, together with two of the Diamond Fields Artillery's Armstrong 7-pounders. These guns, unlike the two examples captured at Kraaipan, have been mounted on wide "Kaffrarian" field carriages. The mountain gun carriages that the 7-pounders had originally been issued with were found to be unsuitable for the South African terrain, their narrow wheel spans allowing them to tip over easily. Some of the guns were therefore re-mounted on wider field carriages similar to those used with the 9-pounder RML guns. These became known as Kaffrarian carriages, after the region in which they were first deployed.

SEE ALSO: Armstrong 7-pdr (200 lb) Mark IV RML










Map of Kimberley, showing the location of No. 2 Redoubt. I suspect the above photograph was taken before Long Cecil had taken up position on the northern perimeter of the earthwork, necessitating the relocation of the two D.F.A. guns to the west side of the redoubt (as shown on this map). Map taken from the Professional Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers, Vol. XXVI (1900).





Below are photographs of one of the remarkable models made by Palmer's Armoury, which show the construction of one of these guns in stunning detail. See: Palmer's Armoury - 7 Pounder RML British Field Artillery Cannon.














The two 7-pdrs captured by the Boers at Kraaipan, mounted on the unstable narrow-wheel-span mountain gun carriages.

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Another view of one of the Armstrong 7-pdrs at Kimberley.

With thanks to Tinus le Roux.




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