TOPIC:

Barend Gerhardus Du Preez

Burgher, Middelburg Commando – Anglo Boer War

- Anglo Boere Oorlog Medal to Burg. B.G. Du Preez

Barend Du Preez was what is known as a “bitter einder” – a man who saw service from the commencement of the war to its ultimate conclusion on 31 May 1902. This was no mean feat at a time when the Boer forces had withered down to a few thousand in number as a result of casualties, those electing to return to their farms and those who succumbed to the pressure of circumstance and surrendered, signing an oath of neutrality which made them non-combatants. Others still turned on their erstwhile comrades and joined bodies like the Farmers Guard and the National Scouts – taking up arms against, in some cases, their own flesh and blood. Du Preez soldiered on in the service of the Middelburg Commando.

Born on 10 February 1878 in Heilbron in the Orange Free State, Du Preez was the son of Barend Gerhardus Du Preez and his wife Barbara Margaretha (born Meyer). A son of the soil like most Boers in the late 19th century, Du Preez would have helped his father out on the family farm.

At some point in time Du Preez moved to the Middelburg region of the Transvaal which is where we find him at the outbreak of the Anglo Boer War on 11 October 1899. The cause of this war had many and varied origins but, suffice it to say, the long simmering tensions between Paul Kruger’s Transvaal and Great Britain finally burst into a declaration of war between the two parties. Being a Transvaal Burgher, it was required of Du Preez, and all others of the same status, to enlist with their local Commando unit to do battle against the foe. In the case of Du Preez, this was the Middleburg Commando.

After war had been declared the Boer General, Joubert, lost no time in crossing over the Border into Natal and, in a downpour of rain, the Middelburg men, along with those from Pretoria, Johannesburg, Krugersdorp, Heidelberg, Ermelo, Standerton, Wakkerstroom, Utrecht and Vryheid, made their way into unknown territory.

Those who collect medals to these men are fortunate indeed. Each Burgher was required to complete a Vorm B, an application for the award of his medal. This process commenced in 1921 and the intended recipient was required to complete a section on this form detailing the actions, battles etc. in which he had fought. Du Preez was rather vague as to where he had seen action, listing the “Tugela, Natal” and the “District of Lydenburg” as his battle grounds. He added that he had fought under the command of Veldkornet J.J. Krige and Veldkornet Erasmus Johannes Visagie, a man who hailed from nearby Roossenekal.

This article will track the movements of the Middleburg Commando in the action they saw in the areas referred to by Du Preez in his application form. We will have to assume that he was in all or most of these actions.

The first of these was Talana, a hill on the outskirts of the Natal town of Dundee. Lukas Meyer with 2500 men from eight different Commandos, including the Middleburg Commando, marched from Doornberg on the night of 19 October, in the driving rain, to reach the north foot of Talana Hill at 2 a.m. From there Meyer deployed his men into three sections, as the day broke into a misty dawn the summit of Talana was lined with Boers.

This didn’t go unnoticed by the British in the camp below in Dundee but, although reported, nothing was done until the Boers opened fire with their cannon on the garrison. With some alacrity the British responded, bringing their own guns into play and commencing a movement with their men at the foot of Talana, they surged forward, with scant cover with which to conceal themselves, up the hill in a frontal attack.

There was practically a simultaneous move by Meyer’s three columns, and as the British came out of the shelter of their camp and the town, and came out into the open on the south, the east and the north of Dundee, the Boer guns played on them with deadly effect, while several hundred of the Utrecht and Middelburg Commando on the west of Talana moved down the hill, under cover of the wall and plantation, and poured a searching rifle-fire into the centre attacking column.

By now the British artillery had got the range of the Boer guns and had commenced with a counter bombardment, allowing their troops below to gain momentum. The Boers retreated and disappearing over the crest of the hill, mounted their horses below and rode away, leaving the British atop the hill in what was a pyrrhic victory for them. Discounting their advantage, and with their General, Penn-Symons dead, they fell back on Ladysmith in some disarray. The Middelburg Commando lost 15 wounded and 9 killed in action in the battle.



The next battle in which the Middelburg men played a role was that of Colenso on 15 December 1899.whilst Buller was advancing in an effort to relieve the besieged Ladysmith, General Botha had pulled his forces to the north of the Tugela where he readied himself for the attack that must come. From 30 November until the eve of the battle the opposing forces were within sight of one another. Botha extended his men in a line of trenches on the banks of the river.

The Tugela River forms a bend at some point – almost a semi-circle – and entrenchments were dug on either side of this bend, a little back from the banks, so as to place any force attempting to ford the drift, under a heavy crossfire. The Swaziland and Zoutpansberg Burghers under Viljoen held the left side of the bend, while the Johannesburg and Boksburg men lined the opposite side. North of these, on the Ladysmith road, the Middelburg men and the Free Staters were posted, to guard against any attempted turning movement west of Viljoen’s position. They took no active part in the fight which, as the history books have recorded, turned into a rout for the British.

Still in the Tugela area, on Monday, 12th February 1900, 300 men of the Middleburg Commando patrolling near the Blaaukrantz Spruit, south of Colenso, were engaged by a force of some 800 of the enemy who had ridden north from Chieveley on reconnaissance purposes. The British retired after some firing, and the Burghers returned with information that preparations were being made for another attack. It became obvious that Buller’s objective, in his fourth attempt to pass the Tugela, was focused on Hlangwani Hill. Events were to show on the morning of Sunday, 18 February, that Buller had at last found the key to the door that unlocked Ladysmith.

The possession of Hlangwani and the hills around her were spiritedly contested by the Commandos of Middelburg, Swaziland, Bethel and Ermelo on the 18th, but the forces against them were twenty to one, so Botha’s men fell back and crossed to the north side of the stream.

With almost nothing to deter them the British crossed the Tugela east and west of Colenso, they were allowed to approach near to where the Middelburg and Ermelo men were located, when these opened such a terrific fire upon them that they retreated back to the river, leaving 150 behind, killed or wounded, and no further attempt was made that day to get past a spot so well defended.

The two positions most strongly held by Botha and Meyer were Pieter’s Hill and Grobler’s Kloof, the railway and roadway to Ladysmith running in between. The Middelburg Commander under Commandant Fourie, were on the east slope of Grobler’s. The first direct British attack was on the Middleburg position, after the hill had been subjected to a two-hour continuous cannonading. The British troops crept forward under cover of this fire, in a widely extended line. They were men of the Lancashire Regiment, many of whom had been on Spioenkop. They came on until 400 yards from the Middleburgers, who opened fire with a crash of lead, unable to withstand this withering fire, they wavered but were quick to rally and come on again – but were beaten back once more and retired to the river.

On his Vorm B, Du Preez claims to have been wounded in the hand – perhaps it was during this engagement that he was wounded?

The next day, Friday, dawned with a repeat of the previous day’s proceedings – a massive bombardment deluged the ridge where the Boers were situated with the infantry to follow. The Boers remained silent in their trenches waiting for the infantry to come on to within range of their rifles. The Middelburg Commando seems to have been singled out for attention as on the previous evening. Fourie and his Burghers held their ground and the British were driven back after repeated charges which incurred great loss. Having failed to break through on the Middleburg position, Buller determined that the route via Pieter’s Hill.

On 27 February a cavalry force under Lord Dundonald swept past General Botha’s left flank and raised the siege of Ladysmith. The Middelburg, Ermelo and Zoutpansberg Commandos were still in position on what was the right of Botha’s lines on the 23rd February but on the 27th these positions were overwhelmingly attacked by fresh British troops. The British guns were all brought to bear on the ridge still being tenaciously held by the Commandos, in the face of this onslaught the Boers were compelled to evacuate it after giving a good account of themselves. The men who had fought for twelve to fourteen days continuously had now to fight a rear guard action, keeping the British at a distance in order to save the guns.

The fall of Bloemfontien and Pretoria had an adverse effect on the Boers, but only up to a point – many thousands returned to their farms or, waving a white handkerchief from the barrel of their Mauser’s, rode into the towns and surrendered to the British. There were, however, a hard core that were still keen to fight and these were reorganized under the remaining Generals in the field. Ben Viljoen, of Elandslaagte fame, was promoted to General rank and set about gathering men about him. At the end of June 1900 he was between Balmoral and Donkerhoek (Diamond Hill) and was involved in a number of skirmishes, so much so that he had to call on the Commandos from Middelburg and Boksburg for reinforcement.

His next fight came against a force under General Hutton, between Tigerspoort and Bapsfontein to the east of Pretoria. During the night of 13 July 1900 he led his force out with the Boksburg and Middelburg Commandos on the left. At daybreak a storming of the British position was made leading to the capture of 32 prisoners. Hand to hand fighting was the order of the day. By the beginning of August, the Boers under Viljoen had fallen back to Machadadorp in the Eastern Transvaal where they participated in further actions as the net slowly but resolutely closed in on them.

Du Preez laid down his arms in June 1902 after the cessation of hostilities. He applied for his medal in May 1923 from an address in Welgedacht, Springs (on the East Rand). At Krugersdorp in 1907, he married Anna Sophia Aucamp and settled down to life as a Miner. The couple had four children – Heila Magdalena Fredrika; Ignasina Petronella Ackerman; Rudolph Hendrik Ackerman and Johannes Jacobus who was born in 1924 – 12 years after his nearest sibling. The first three children were adopted orphans, although a family source suspects that they were children of a close family member.

Barend Gerhardus Du Preez passed away on his plot, Zandfontein, in the Waterberg district, on Thursday, 11 July 1935 at the age of 57 years and 5 months. He was survived by his wife and children.

My wifes g grandfather fought with Middleburg Commando from beginning to end - like Du Preez. He named battles as below - hard to read but thinking they might be
Dendie? - Dundee so Talana?
Elandslaagte
Leidie smit - Ladysmith
Bosrand
Helpmekaar
Donkerhoek – Diamond Hill ? June 1900