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My great-great grandfather on maternal side was Machiel de Villiers, who according to family legend was the commandant of the Waterberg Commando. I can't find any confirmation for this on internet, but hopefully there is an expert on this unit on this forum that can lead me in an direction. Machiel was captured and sent to Ceylon. One of his sons died during the war and his son-in-law and my mother's grandfather, Johannes Hendrik Zaayman,was also a prisoner of war in Ceylon. His wife was taken to a concentration camp, where two of her sons died.

Hello Fanie

Attached hereto a list of De Villiers POW's. There is no Machiel on the list but it is a possibility that he gave a wrong name to the British when he was captured. That happened more than once with the Boers and the Cape Rebels. You can contact me at the War Museum in Bloemfontein (South Africa).

Regards

Elmarie