TOPIC:

Below Identification card of the Information office of the Red Cross Society in Pretoria is in the name of D.J. Groenewald. The website of the Boer War museum in Bloemfontein lists a D.J. Groenewald (Database # 1334) as a member of the Pretoria Voetpolisie who was killed, aged 32, at the battle of Abraham’s kraal. The battle of Abraham’s kraal (also called battle of Driefontein) in which the Boers tried to stop the British advance (under Roberts, Broadwood, Tucker and Kelly Kenny) to Bloemfontein, resulted in a British victory at which the Boers (a mixed ZAR and OVS force under de Wet) lost a staggering 102 men killed.



Groenewald fought in this battle as a member of the Pretoria commando. It is certain that he completed the ID card early in the war as he mentions (General H.J.) Schoeman as his commander. Schoeman, an indecisive and incompetent leader, had at the time of the battle of Abraham’s kraal long been replaced by General H.R. Lemmer.

The reason for digging up this ID card is a photograph in a post by Neville Constantine in the ZAR and OVS badges and Insignas thread. Although identified as “Jacobus Groenewald” killed at Abraham's Kraal in March 1900, all other information points towards the man in the photograph being D.J. Groenewald. Groenewald was laid to rest in near the monument commemorating the battle.


(Courtesy Neville Constantine/Transvaal archives)

I include two maps of the area in which the battle was fought. The orientation is approximately the same and, as can be seen the position of Abraham’s kraal v.a.v. Driefontein is rather different on the original OVS map from the Driefontein Battle map on this website.


NB: The Battle of Abraham’s kraal (March 1900) should not be confused with the battle of Abram’s Kraal (January 1902)