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A Field Telegraphist in the O.V.S.A.C. - Sjt. Nicolaas Jacobus Jacobs 3 years 7 months ago #71394

  • Rory
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Nicolaas Jacobus Jacobs

Sergeant, Field Telegraphy Section, Orange Free State Artillery Corps – Anglo Boer War

- Anglo Boere Oorlog Medal to SJT. N.J. JACOBS

Nicolaas Jacobs was born on the farm Meyersfontein, near the small Orange Free State town of Boshoff on 18 May 1881. As the crow flies, Boshoff is the closest town on the western border with the Cape Colony, in the 1890’s it would have been a town in name only, its dusty streets owing their very existence to the farming community that surrounded it. Just over the border lay the glittering jewel in the Cape Colony crown – the Diamond City of Kimberley with the elegant Empire builder Cecil John Rhodes often in residence.

Like most Boers, the Jacobs family were farmers, tillers of the fertile Free State soil, and they would have had a menagerie of animals to tend and care for. Most young men stayed on the farm to help with the many onerous duties required of them but not Nico Jacobs – he was destined for the city. The Orange Free State in Victorian times had only one city which could call itself that without embarrassment and that was Bloemfontein or, directly translated, “Flower Fountain”. To this day it is known as the city of Roses but, in the last few months leading up to the end of the 19th century, its roughly hewn streets were a hive of activity.

Talk of war with the might of Great Britain hung in the air and was on everyone’s lips. Initially the President, M.T. Steyn, was reluctant to honour his pledge to his ally to the north, the wily Paul Kruger, President of the South African Republic or Transvaal as it was also known. This pledge was a simple pact – if Kruger declared war on the British Empire, the O.F.S. would follow suit.



The original group of trained Heliographers - Jacobs is one of these men - sadly unidentifiable

Jacobs, who had enlisted with the Field Telegraph section of the Orange Free State Artillery Corps (O.V.S.A.C.) in Bloemfontein, under Major Albrecht on 13 March 1897 and was still an "artillerist" in the last paysheet we have record of, dated December 1898; would soon find himself immersed in the action that was to follow the declaration of war which, inevitably, came on 11 October 1899.

But what was the Field Telegraph section and how did they come to exist?

In an April 1887 report Capt. FWR Albrecht, CO of the Free State Artillery, mentioned that all artillerists, that had enough spelling skills, were being trained to use the heliograph and that by then eight men could work it properly. Albrecht saw the heliograph as an excellent instrument for reconnaissance and probably was the driving force behind this initial attempt to train a signal unit.

Not much happened to fulfil this realisation until the advent of the Jameson Raid at the end of 1895, created a sense of urgency with the Boer lawmakers, resulting in a new wave of developments. The ease at which the Raiders had disrupted the Transvaal’s communications by cutting telegraph lines brought the Free State authorities to the realisation that a well organised wireless telegraphy service was essential to maintain communication between Bloemfontein and Pretoria during unrest. Since the foundation for the use of heliographs had already been laid within the corps, the decision to start a dedicated unit was not a difficult one. Instruments and experience however were lacking.

In 1897 the Volksraad voted £200 to be placed on the budget for optical instruments “with the purpose to start a small Field Telegraphy department attached to the Artillery Corps”. The then Captain Albrecht made the important recommendation that the system of field telegraphy used in the two republics must be the same – this would be of crucial importance during the war.

Two men were sent to Pretoria to “learn the ropes” and, after their return to Bloemfontein, Albrecht formed the Free State’s first dedicated field signals unit under command of Cpl Hallett. The unit initially consisting of two NCOs, eight men and five horses. New applicants to the unit had to be no younger than 17 years, had to have a Standard III school certificate and had to sign up for three years. The applicants were also required to supply a written consent from their parents and a certificate from a landdrost, justice of the peace or other authorised person that he was born in the Free State and of sound character. This is the process Jacobs would have followed to enlist.



A pair of OVSAC Telegraphers in the field

After Hallatt passed away early in 1898, Corporal GJ Scheepers of the Transvaal Staatsartillerie was sent to the Free State to train the Free State Artillery’s signallers. He started work in the Free State on 1 June 1898 and, on Albrecht’s request, was promoted to Sergeant on 2 October 1898. Under Scheepers’ competent leadership the unit grew and by the end of 1898 consisted of 12 signallers.

In August 1899, with war looming against Britain, President Martinus Steyn decided that heliograph stations should be set up between the Free State and the Transvaal. On 11 August the Executive Council instructed Albrecht to find sites from where they would be able to communicate with the Transvaal. Contact was also to be established between Thaba Nchu, Tromps Kopjes (Theronskoppe, Winburg district) and Elands Kopje (Elandskop, Heilbron district) and other points deemed necessary. Scheepers established nine heliograph stations to relay messaged between the two republics, all manned by Free State artillerists. They were:

• The Old Fort (HQ of the corps) – Onderofficier Van der Merwe and Artillerist Odendaal
• Hospital Hill - Onderofficier Nell and SC Roux
• Tafelkop, Modder River – Artillerist P Maritz, N Watson and A Calitz.
• Keerom, Brandfort – Artillerists N. Jacobs and C Vorster (37 miles from Tafelkop)
• Theronskoppe, Winburg – Artillerists W Erasmus, H Brink and B Lubbe (39 miles from Keerom)
• Aasvoëlkop, Ventersburg Road, Bombardier Laurenz and Artillerists Du Toit and Barnard (35 miles from Theronskoppe)
• Rhenosterkop, Kroonstad – Bombardier Combrinck and Artillerist JN Fourie (35 miles from Assvoëlkop)
• Witkop, Vredefort Road – Artillerists J Scholtz and P Smidt (40 miles from Rhenosterkop)
• Elandskop, Heilbron – Sergeant GJ Scheepers.

On 28 August 1899 Scheepers telegraphed Albrecht informing him that, from Elandskop, he was able to make contact with the Transvaal at Houtkoppies Station near Vereeniging. From Elandskop Scheepers was also able to establish contact with Standerton, while Kliprivier Berg (Witwatersrand), 4 miles south of Johannesburg, could be seen from the same hill. From Aasvoëlkop the entire Gatsrand (Potchefstroom district) was visible. The system was working.

When war was declared a few weeks later the signallers were dispatched to the various fronts. Here they worked in co-operation with the Transvaal signallers and acted with the various burgher commandoes, each commando having one or more heliographs. As the number of trained signallers was limited, their ranks were augmented from the telegraph department and by training penkoppe (young burghers) to use the heliograph. In the field it was soon found that the use of telegraph operators to man heliographs was not as successful as hoped. It seems that the telegraph operators were used to the high pace of a telegraph machine and therefore often flashed the heliograph too quickly to be read by a distant station. The lack of trained personnel resulted in signallers regularly having to man a station alone, receiving and writing down messages at the same time. The mobile nature of the Boer War also made it impossible to establish permanent heliograph stations and signallers had to relocate regularly and improvise to keep contact with their comrades. Even with their limited resources, the Veldtelegrafie section of the Free State Artillery excelled as a professional unit and won the respect of friend and foe



The OVSAC Field Telegraphy section outside Kimberley during the Siege

The Boers, who controlled less telegraph lines, preferred the heliograph to any other form of communications and were as adept if not better at it than the British. To the Boers, the heliograph was absolutely essential and most commandoes and also officers had one or more heliograph teams attached to them. It allowed the monitoring of the enemy’s movements and coordinated the movements of the various commandoes. Later in the war, as the British blockhouse lines became more and more difficult to cross, the heliograph became the most practical and fastest way of getting information, intelligence and orders across these lines.

As one of the original trained Signallers, Jacobs was sought after and, during his time in the field, attached to a number of commandos, serving, variously with General Hertzog, Major Albrecht and Colonel Brand all out of Bloemfontein. This involved him in a wide range of operations in not only hi native Orange Free State, but also the Transvaal and incursions into the Cape Colony. Fortunately for the collector, each combatant on the Boer side, when claiming his medal, had to complete “Vorm B”, which allowed him to list the actions and battles in which he had participated. In the case of Jacobs these were many:

• Kimberley (Siege) +- 25/11/1899.
• Magersfontein (Battle) 11/12/1899 to 12/12/1899.
• Houwater (Skirmish near Prieska) 5/3/1900
• Sannaspost (Battle) 31/3/1900
• Mostertshoek (Reddersburg) (Battle) 3/4/1900 to 4/4/1900
• Thabanchu (Engagement) 28/5/1900
• Wepener (Siege) 9/5/1900 to 25/5/1900
• Rustenburg 11/7/1900
• Fauresmith (Attack) 19/10/1900
• Koffiefontein (Siege) 26/10/1900 to 3/11/1900
• Jagersfontein 16/10/1900. Boers under command Gen J B M Hertzog released prisoners.

Right from the very start difficulties were encountered with the Boers being their own worst enemies – Boer telegraphists had to lay cables underground because the burghers could not understand that air lines were for the use of their own side. As the war progressed and they lost more of their permanent lines, they fell back more and more of heliographs, and with these and instruments captured from the British, managed to keep up a fairly complete system of communication from their Governments and their Commandant-Generals to their commandos. It was claimed that, during the guerilla stage of the war, a heliograph was of more value to the Boers than a gun.



Men of the OVSAC Telegraph Section in the Southern Free State

Jacobs, as can be seen from the above, was deployed with commandos in the Western Theatre of the war. As an experienced and effective Heliographer/Signaller, his services would have been invaluable in the siege of Kimberley where the Boer outposts would have used him and his comrades to maintain contact with each and, by relay, to Bloemfontein. He was also in the seminal battles of Magersfontein, Sannah’s Post and the siege of Wepener – all battles in which he would have had an important role to play.

His war was, however, about to come to a swift end – on 7 June 1901, in the neighbourhood of Fauresmith, he was a member of a commando party taken prisoner of war. After a brief period of confinement, he was taken aboard the S.S. “Montrose” on 16 August 1901, destined for Bermuda, arriving there on 13 September 1901. This shipment of 932 P.O.W.’s was allocated to Tucker’s and Morgan’s Islands in the Great Sound of Bermuda. Jacobs, was sent to neither, he was held at the Burt’s Island camp, the smallest of all the camps housing just 360 men.

The Anglo Boer war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902 and, gradually, the Boer P.O.W.’s were repatriated. It is not known when he was promoted to Sergeant’s rank – this in itself is a comparatively rare rank among the Boer forces. For his efforts he was awarded the Anglo Boere Oorlog medal, being one of the first claimants when this medal was authorized for issue. An additional plaudit came his way when he applied for the medal in June 1921 – his previous Commanding Officer, the redoubtable Major Albrecht, signed as witness, thereby vouchsafing the claims he was making.

Once back in South Africa, Jacobs began to pick up the pieces of his life. Joining the Central South African Railways as an Official, he was sent to Bethanie Station in the Edenburg district of the Orange Free State, it was here that he married 28 year old Georgina Amalia Louisa Buttner, from Reddersburg, in the Dutch (Hollands) Reformed Church there on 15 September 1903. He was 22 years old at the time. Both he and his wife were accepted as parishioners of the Dutch Reformed Church on 6 August 1904.

Not much of his later life is known, save that he was in the employ of the C.I.D. (Criminal Investigation Department) in Bloemfontein when he applied for his medal in 1921.

Nicolaas Jacobus Jacobs passed away at the grand old age of 84 years 7 months at the Robinson Hospital in Randfontein, Transvaal on 2 December 1965. His address at the time of his death was 146 Park Street, Randfontein and he was survived by his wife and two sons – Christoffel Johannes and Frederick Wilhelm Jacobs. He was in receipt of a War Veteran’s Pension of R36 per month.










With grateful thanks to M.C. Heunis and his work - O.V.S.A.C STUDY NO.18 OCT-DEC 2006
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A Field Telegraphist in the O.V.S.A.C. - Sjt. Nicolaas Jacobus Jacobs 3 years 7 months ago #71400

  • QSAMIKE
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Thank You Rory.....

It is good to see research about the so called Other Side.....

Great job......

Mike
Life Member
Past-President Calgary
Military Historical Society
O.M.R.S. 1591
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A Field Telegraphist in the O.V.S.A.C. - Sjt. Nicolaas Jacobus Jacobs 3 years 6 months ago #71536

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Really enjoyed the period photos as well. A very interesting article and an unusual unit I would venture to say.
Regards

Gavin
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