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Served: General Smuts. Awarded the DTD (Dekoratie voor Trouwe Dienst) and received the Wound Ribbon (Lint voor Verwonding).

Lieutenant-General Sir Jacob Louis van Deventer KCB CMG DTD (18 July 1874 – 17 August 1922) was a South African military commander.

Van Deventer was born in Ficksburg in the Orange Free State. He began his military career in the Transvaal republican forces in Pretoria on 21 February 1896, and fought in the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902).[2] He was physically a very big man standing almost 2 m tall. A serious wound at the end of the Anglo Boer War affected his ability to speak. Van Deventer was skilled at guerrilla tactics.

He returned to military service in World War I, and commanded a Union Defence Forces formation in the South West Africa Campaign (1914-1915). In the German East Africa Campaign (1916-1918), he commanded a South African Overseas Expeditionary Force mounted brigade, then a division, and finally (1917-1918) all the British imperial forces in the region (though, allegedly, he could hardly speak English). He was knighted twice for his services.

After the war, he was a part-time inspecting officer. He was made a Grand Officer of the Portuguese Military Order of Aviz in 1921.[3] In 1922, he commanded a mounted brigade in operations to crush the Rand Revolt on the Witwatersrand. He married Maria Cornelia Snyman, born 5 May 1890. He died later in Pretoria in 1922 (Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_van_Deventer_(general) )

Gen J.L. van Deventer

Another well known image of Jaap van Deventer (circled) with Jan Smuts and Manie Maritz.

And another .......

I wonder which photograph was taken first.





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Neville, great picture, never knew that one existed. Obviously from an British album because the annotation is rather approximate. Below is a high quality copy of the group picture as was retained by Alex Boshoff, the man to the left of van Deventer with the short beard. Please note that all the senior rank officers carry whips instead of Mausers.