Battle of Sanna's Post
Map of the battle
| date | March 31, 1900 |
|---|---|
| place | near Bloemfontein , Orange Free State , South Africa |
| output | Victory of the Boers |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 2,000 12 cannons |
400 (1,600 involved from a distance) |
| losses | |
|
155 dead or wounded |
3 dead |
Talana Hill - ElandslaAGEN - Modder River - Stormberg - Magersfontein - Colenso - Spion Kop - Paardeberg - Ladysmith - Sanna's Post - Mafeking
The Battle of Sanna's Post (also: Battle of Koorn Spruit ) was a battle in the Second Boer War . It was fought between the British Empire and Boers of the two independent republics of Orange Free State and the South African Republic ( Transvaal ).
prehistory
At the beginning of 1900, the British army occupied Bloemfontein , the capital of the Orange Free State, and was preparing to move further north to Pretoria , the capital of the South African Republic. Field Marshal Lord Frederick Roberts , Commander in Chief of the British Armed Forces, believed that the war would end with the capture of the capitals of both Boer Republics. While the inhabitants of the South African Republic were preparing to defend their capital, the Boers of the Orange Free State grouped around President Martinus Theunis Steyn and Christiaan de Wet , their leading generals. The Boers changed their tactics in this battle and used guerrilla tactics on a larger scale for the first time .
On March 30, 1900, a force of 2,000 Boers led by Christiaan de Wets hurried ahead towards Bloemfontein. Reconnaissance showed that a small British garrison was at Sanna's Post, some 37 km east of Bloemfontein. These were supposed to hold the local waterworks responsible for supplying Bloemfontein . A mounted British unit under Brigadier General Robert George Broadwood , which had previously attacked Boer positions at Thaba Nchu , was dispatched to support them. Broadwood's force consisted of units of Royal Mounted Artillery (namely the Q and U Batteries), a mixed regiment of British Guards Cavalry , the Tenth Royal Hussar Regiment, New Zealand and Burmese Mounted Infantry, and units of English-speaking South Africans mounted. De Wet dispatched 1600 of his men, led by his brother Piet, to attack the British from the north while he was manning Sanna's post office to cut off the British route of retreat.
The battle
During the darkness, De Wet and a unit of riflemen advanced into the gorge of the Modder River , where they set an ambush . At the first light of day on March 31, 1900, Piet de Wet's artillery opened fire from the surrounding hills in the north on the British. The tactical surprise had succeeded and the British troops completely confused. As expected, they began to retreat towards the gorge where De Wet and his troops were waiting. There were civilians with their cars in front of the British units. These were seized by the Boers and threatened to be shot if they warned the British. Thus, unsuspecting, the British soldiers approached the river in small groups. Once there, they were asked to surrender, whereupon around 200 men were captured, including the underground battery with its six guns.
A British officer saw what was going on, alerted the troops and ordered the Q battery to flee. De Wet's men now opened fire while the British rallied at a railway station that provided them with extensive cover and the Q battery, led by Major Phipps-Hornby (supported by a cannon from the U battery, crewed by De Wet could withdraw) was set up in the open field and in turn opened fire.
De Wet's troops were detained by simultaneous, targeted fire from the station. However, now the Piet De Wets units increased their pressure on the British. These ran out of ammunition and so Broadwood decided to retreat south. Many British soldiers were killed in their attempt to retrieve the cannons from the open field. Five cannons were finally brought to safety, the other two were abandoned.
Eventually Broadwood and his party managed to get out of the field of fire. About three hours later, Major General Sir Henry Colville's Ninth Infantry Division appeared to relieve the mounted units, but De Wet's men had already retreated to defensible positions on the other side of the Modder River. Nevertheless, the Bloemfontein waterworks remained in the hands of the Boers.
In total, the British suffered a loss of 155 men killed or wounded. 428 soldiers were taken prisoner, seven guns and 117 wagons also fell into Boer hands. However, the loss of the waterworks was much more serious. The result was a severe epidemic of typhus , dysentery and cholera , which led to another 2,000 deaths among the British occupying forces.
Three men were killed and five injured among the Boers.
consequences
In recognition of the striking bravery of all ranks of the Q Battery, Field Marshal Lord Roberts decided to view this as a case of collective bravery as required under rule 13 for the award of the Victoria Cross , the United Kingdom's armed forces' highest war award . Accordingly, orders were given that one officer from the other officers, one sergeant from the other sergeants, and two gun crews from the other gun crews should be selected for awarding the Victoria Cross.
The following men of the Q-Battery were awarded: Major Edmund Phipps-Hornby VC , Sergeant Charles EH Parker VC , Gunner Isaac Lodge VC , Horace Henry Glasock VC .
Lieutenant Francis Maxwell was also awarded the Victoria Cross . Under heavy fire, he voluntarily recovered two guns and three limbs from the open field. The attempt to salvage a third gun failed due to the proximity of the enemy.
Web links
- Christian de Wet: Three Years War . Retrieved October 19, 2013.
- Organizational home . Q Battery, 5th Artillery Regiment, Royal Army homepage. Archived from the original on February 21, 2006. Retrieved February 23, 2006.
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Great Boer War . Retrieved February 4, 2006.
literature
- Three Years War , by Christiaan Rudolf De Wet, 1st American Edition, published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1902
- The Great Boer War , by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, originally published in 1902; New publication in 2002 at IndyPublish.com, ISBN 1-4043-0472-X
- Goodbye Dolly Gray: The Story of the Boer War , by Rayne Kruger, published by New English Library in 1964; Republished in 1983 by Pan Books, Ltd., ISBN 0-330-23861-2