Back to home Back to Historical

The Van Rensburg's of Rensburg Siding, Colesberg, Cape part 1
The Anglo-Boer War Introduction part 2
The Anglo-Boer War around Rensburg Siding: Boer Leaders part 3
The Anglo-Boer War around Rensburg Siding Nov 1899 part 4
The Anglo-Boer War around Rensburg Siding Dec 1899 part 5
The Anglo-Boer War around Rensburg Siding Jan 1900 part 6
The Anglo-Boer War around Rensburg Siding Feb 1900 part 7
The Anglo-Boer War in retrospect part 8
Australian units, persons and casualties part 9
MAIN MAP source http://www.mjvn.co.za/anglo-boer/mainmap1.jpg

The Anglo-Boer War: Australians capture De Wet's artillery gun at Rensburgdrift part 10

The Anglo-Boer War: Australians capture De Wet's artillery gun at Rensburgdrift

General Christian de Wet

Artillery Gun of De Wet at Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Australia
it was left behind at Rensburg Drift

Rensburg Artillery Gun at Australian National War Memorial, Canberra
The Australian War Memorial has a good exhibit down stairs of the Anglo-Boer War. It also has an artillery gun (military experts distinguish between a cannon and an artillery gun. A cannons barrel is smooth inside, whereas an artillery gun has grooves) that was captured from the Boers at Rensburg drift on display. The caption with the artillery piece reads: BOER GUN CAPTURED BY AUSTRALIANS (37k)

- This German-made 75 mm light field gun was captured by the NSW Mounted Rifles at Rensburg Drift on 27 October 1900.  The Australians were part of a force commanded by Major-General C. KNOX which caught the Boers led by the wily General Christian de Wet at a drift on the Vaal River.  Although the Boers broke free during a blinding rain and thunder storm that night their rearguard only just escaped and was forced to abandon two guns.  'General Knox had asked for permission for the NSW men to take their captured gun back to Sydney. It is a fine specimen of Krupp's best 12 -pounder.  Truly a grand trophy for the brave lads to bring back with them'.

Major General Charles E Knox
http://www.btinternet.com/~coghlan/officervictims.htm

"De Lisle's corps and a Colonial Division of irregulars and Cape Colony militia rose early on 27 October (Potchefstroom) and before dawn began to ride. After twenty kilometres they found the remains of abandoned campsite and quizzed some Africans as to where the Boers were headed. Entering open country a few Australians nimbly scoured surrounding hills for snipers, showing the grace in the saddle and the familiarity with the landscape that some were developing. Then, in some thorn busch, Guy Knight's regiment found an abandoned gun, evidence the Boers were in flight. That New South Wales had captured its first gun seemed a historic achievement, even if the capture had not been resisted, and it inspired a quicker pace. The horsemen spotted the Boers two kilometres away as they were crossing Rensburg Drift. ... De Lisle ensured the captured gun was sent to Sydney as a trophy." Craig Wilcox, Australia's Boer War: The war in South Africa 1899 - 1902 (Oxford University Press, 2002)

Arthur Conan Doyle in The Great Boer War, Chapter 30 gives the following account:
"On the 27th, two days after his retreat from Frederickstad he was overtaken -- stumbled upon by pure chance apparently -- by the mounted infantry and cavalry of Charles Knox and De Lisle. The Boers, a great disorganised cloud of horsemen, swept swiftly along the northern bank of the Vaal, seeking for a place to cross, while the British rode furiously after them, spraying them with shrapnel at every opportunity. Darkness and a violent storm gave De Wet his opportunity to cross, but the closeness of the pursuit compelled him to abandon two of his guns, one of them a Krupp and the other one of the British twelve-pounders of Sanna's Post, which, to the delight of the gunners, was regained by that very U battery to which it belonged."

Colonel Henry De Beauvoir De Lisle (1864-1955) served in ABO with Mounted Infantry (Durham Light Infantry)

Photo of De Lisle seated as member of a polo team 1897
http://www.durham.gov.uk/recordoffice/usp.nsf/pws/Durham+Record+Office+-+The+Learning+Zone+-+The+Story+of+Jimmy+Durham+-+The+Finding+of+Jimmy+Durham+-+de+Lisle

Rensburgdrift in the Vredefort, Free State area was owned in 1904 by Theunis Theodorus Jansen van Rensburg

Men of the 1st NSW Mounted Rifles with one of the Krupp guns captured at Rensburg Drift

References to Rensburg found in the following sources http://www.icon.co.za/~dup42/oorlog.htm
Reference 1: Breytenbach, J.H. Die geskiedenis van die. Tweede Vryheidsoorlog in Suid-Afrika, Deel 1.
Reference 2: Breytenbach, J.H. Die geskiedenis van die. Tweede Vryheidsoorlog in Suid-Afrika, Deel 2.
Reference 3: Breytenbach, J.H. Die geskiedenis van die. Tweede Vryheidsoorlog in Suid-Afrika, Deel 3.
Reference 4: Breytenbach, J.H. Die geskiedenis van die. Tweede Vryheidsoorlog in Suid-Afrika, Deel 4.
Reference 5: Breytenbach, J.H. Die geskiedenis van die. Tweede Vryheidsoorlog in Suid-Afrika, Deel 5
Reference 6: Pakenham, T. The Boer War.
Reference 7: Amery, L.S. (red.). The Times history of the war in South Africa, 1899-1902, vol. 2.
Reference 8: Amery, L.S. (red.). The Times history of the war in South Africa, 1899-1902, vol. 3.
Reference 9: Amery, L.S. (red.). The Times history of the war in South Africa, 1899-1902, vol. 4.
Reference 10: Amery, L.S. (red.). The Times history of the war in South Africa, 1899-1902, vol. 5.
Reference 11: Maurice, J.F. (compiler) and M.H. Grant. History of the war in South-Africa, 1899-1902. vol. 1.
Reference 12: Maurice, J.F. (compiler) and M.H. Grant. History of the war in South-Africa, 1899-1902. vol. 2.
Reference 13: Maurice, J.F. (compiler) and M.H. Grant. History of the war in South-Africa, 1899-1902. vo1. 3.
Reference 14: Maurice, J.F. (compiler) and M.H. Grant. History of the war in South-Africa, 1899-1902. vo1. 4.
Reference 15 Warwick, P. (ed). The South African War: The Anglo-Boer War - 1899-1902.

19001027 - 19001017 Rensburgdrif, Reference 13, p 483-484. Reference 10, p 14
19011227 - 19011228 Rensburgdrif to Bothaville, Reference 14, p 347
19010529 - 19010529 Rensburghoop, Reference 14, p 152

andre@Rensburg.com