Battle of Boshof

Last updated
Battle of Boshof
Part of Second Boer War
DeVilleboisPC.jpg
French postcard depicting The glorious death of Comte de Villebois-Mareuil at the Battle of Boshof, 1900
Date5 April 1900
Location
Result British victory
Belligerents
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom

Flag of Transvaal.svg  South African Republic

Commanders and leaders
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Lord Chesham Flag of Transvaal.svg Comte de Villebois-Mareuil  
Strength
750 men [1] 120 men
Casualties and losses
3 killed & 10 wounded [2] 11 killed
64 captured & wounded

The Battle of Boshof was fought during the Second Boer War on 5 April 1900 between British forces and mostly French volunteers of the Boer army. [3]

Contents

Events

Background

Following the Battle of Paardeberg (18–27 February), the relief of Kimberley and Ladysmith and the fall of Bloemfontein, General Frederick Roberts reorganised his force to pursue the defeated Boers. At the same time Lieutenant general Paul Methuen was tasked with clearing the country along the Vaal River on the Boers' flank and to drive towards Mafeking, which was still besieged. [4]

On 5 April Methuen ordered Brigadier-General Lord Chesham, with the Kimberley Mounted Corps and 4th Battery RFA. [5] From an informer they found intelligence on a Boer Commando unit led by a French volunteer, the Comte de Villebois-Mareuil. [6] Methuen was given information that the Boer unit intended to attack the British at Boshof near Tweefontein. The newly formed Imperial Yeomanry 3rd and 10th battalions, was given the task to surround the Boers. De Villebois-Mareuil, was in charge of the French legion volunteers which had 75 foreign volunteers most of whom were of the French but included a number of German, Dutch, Americans and one Russian Prince. [7]

Battle

A British 15 pounder field gun at a camp near Boshof, 1900 Camps-british-armyRFA.jpg
A British 15 pounder field gun at a camp near Boshof, 1900

De Villebois-Mareuil's force lay on two small hills (or Kopjes) - the foreign volunteers on one and the Boers on the other. [1] By 3pm the British force were setting up positions around the hills. A bombardment by four 15 pounder guns then commenced, along with suppressing fire by a Maxim machine gun. [8]

As the yeomanry prepared to close with the bayonet, the Boers on the hill saw that they were being outflanked and asked De Villebois-Mareuil to withdraw but he flatly refused. He was hoping for a thunderstorm which was coming their way to aid him. The pounding increased the casualties and the Boers saw the hopelessness of the situation - they mounted their horses and fought their way out. De Villebois-Mareuil and the French were left to attempt to make a gallant but futile last stand. The Kimberley Mounted Corps crept up on the right and the rest of the Yeomen dismounted and did the same on the left. [8] Both sides were close and the British artillery had to be careful when firing in order not to hit their own men. Some of the French tried to escape by mounting horses but were all taken down easily in a hail of rifle fire. Still the rest refused to surrender. Nevertheless, the Yeomanry took advantage and moved through the bushes and boulders around the hills. They slowly crept up ever closer, and casualties were light. [1] Within a few hours of fighting De Villebois-Mareuil was killed by a shell and morale sank amongst the volunteers. Seeing the panic the Yeomanry now only within fifteen yards of the fortified positions fixed bayonets and charged. [6]

Statue du colonel de Villebois-Mareuil in Nantes Nantes - statue Villebois-Mareuil.JPG
Statue du colonel de Villebois-Mareuil in Nantes

By 6pm with darkness having approached the volunteers waved a white flag and the surviving volunteers surrendered. The thunderstorm that could have covered their retreat then came across the battlefield. [7] The battle lasted only three hours - in all eleven of the volunteers were killed, the rest were wounded and captured. De Villebois-Mareuil's Aide-de-camp Comté Pierre de Bréda was captured and was treated with chivalry by Methuen. In addition Prince Bagration of Tiflis, a Russian volunteer was killed. British losses were three killed and ten wounded. [2]

Aftermath

One week after his death the Boer Foreign Legion was disbanded and placed under General De la Rey to continue with the Guerilla Phase of the War. [4]

The battle was the first time that the Imperial Horse Yeomanry had fought and was also their first victory. [9]

British troops buried De Villebois-Mareuil with full military honours. A mass was arranged by the Ligue de la patrie française which was held in his honour at the Notre Dame de Paris which 10,000 people attended. [6] De Villebois-Mareuil's horse was taken to Britain by Lord Chesham, where it lived until February 1911.

A monument was later erected on the Farm Middelkuil, ten kilometres East of Boshof, where the battle took place, to commemorate battle. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Boer War</span> 1899–1902 war in South Africa

The Second Boer War, also known as the Boer War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics over the Empire's influence in Southern Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the British 1st Division (1809–1909)</span> Aspect of the British Army unit

The 1st Division is an infantry division of the British Army that has been formed and disestablished numerous times since 1809 and is still currently active as the 1st Division. Lieutenant-General Arthur Wellesley raised the division for service in the Peninsular War, which was part of the Coalition Wars of the Napoleonic Wars. The division was disestablished in 1814 but reformed the following year for service in the War of the Seventh Coalition. It then fought at the Battle of Waterloo, where it repulsed numerous attacks, including the final attack of the day that was launched by the French Imperial Guard. Following the battle, the division marched into France and became part of the Army of Occupation before being disbanded a few years later.

Black Week refers to the week of Sunday 10 December – Sunday 17 December 1899 during the Second Boer War, when the British Army suffered three devastating defeats by the Boer Republics at the battles of Stormberg on Sunday 10 December, Magersfontein on Monday 11 December and Colenso on Friday 15 December 1899. In total, 2,776 British soldiers were killed, wounded and captured during this period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imperial Yeomanry</span> Military unit

The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but subsequent contingents were more significantly working class in their composition. The existing yeomanry regiments contributed only a small proportion of the total Imperial Yeomanry establishment. In Ireland 120 men were recruited in February 1900. It was officially disbanded in 1908, with individual Yeomanry regiments incorporated into the new Territorial Force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johannesburg Light Horse Regiment</span> Reserve unit of the South African Army

The Johannesburg Light Horse Regiment, is a reserve armoured car reconnaissance unit of the South African Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Paardeberg</span> 1900 battle of the Second Boer War

The Battle of Paardeberg or Perdeberg was a major battle during the Second Anglo-Boer War. It was fought near Paardeberg Drift on the banks of the Modder River in the Orange Free State near Kimberley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Magersfontein</span> 1899 battle of the Second Boer War

The Battle of Magersfontein was fought on 11 December 1899, at Magersfontein, near Kimberley, South Africa, on the borders of the Cape Colony and the independent republic of the Orange Free State. British forces under Lieutenant General Lord Methuen were advancing north along the railway line from the Cape to relieve the siege of Kimberley, but their path was blocked at Magersfontein by a Boer force that was entrenched in the surrounding hills. The British had already fought a series of battles with the Boers, most recently at Modder River, where the advance was temporarily halted.

<i>The Great Boer War</i> 1900 book by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Great Boer War is a non-fiction work on the Boer War by Arthur Conan Doyle and first published in 1900 by Smith, Elder & Co. By the end of the war in 1902 the book had been published in 16 editions, constantly revised by Doyle. The Introduction describes the book as:

A very thorough account, including tables at the end of those killed or wounded up until the 8th September when he left South Africa. This account is compiled with as much accuracy as was attainable at this date, and with as much detail as a single volume will permit. In frequent conversations with Boers, Conan Doyle has endeavoured to get their views upon both political and military questions. Often the only documents he had to consult were the convalescent officers and men under his care, therefore some errors may have crept in. The closing scenes of the Boer War have necessarily been treated with less detail than the earlier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Belmont (1899)</span> 1899 battle of the Second Boer War

The Battle of Belmont was an engagement of the Second Boer War on 23 November 1899, where the British under Lord Methuen assaulted a Boer position on Belmont kopje.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berkshire Yeomanry</span> Military unit

The Berkshire Yeomanry was a part time regiment of the British Army formed in 1794 to counter the threat of invasion during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was the Royal County of Berkshire's senior volunteer unit with over 200 years of voluntary military service. After taking part in the Second Boer War, it saw action as mounted troops in the First World War and as artillery in the Second World War. Its lineage is maintained by 94 Signal Squadron, part of 39 (Skinners) Signal Regiment. The Headquarters of the Squadron is based in Windsor, Berkshire. The Berkshire Yeomanry had a number of battle honours won from Europe to the Far East and Private Frederick Potts was awarded a Victoria Cross for service during the Gallipoli Campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boer foreign volunteers</span> Military unit

Boer foreign volunteers were participants who volunteered their military services to the Boers in the Second Boer War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George de Villebois-Mareuil</span> French soldier and writer

George Henri Anne-Marie Victor count de Villebois-Mareuil or by his shortened name George de Villebois-Mareuil was a former colonel in the French infantry who fought and died on the side of the Boers during the Second Anglo-Boer War. He was the first of only two foreign volunteers to be given the rank of Major-General in the armed forces of the Boer Republics. The other being his second in command Yevgeny Maximov (1849–1904) after the death of Villebois-Mareuil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Kimberley</span> 1899–1900 battle of the Second Boer War

The siege of Kimberley took place during the Second Boer War at Kimberley, Cape Colony, when Boer forces from the Orange Free State and the Transvaal besieged the diamond mining town. The Boers moved quickly to try to capture the area when war broke out between the British and the two Boer republics in October 1899. The town was ill-prepared, but the defenders organised an energetic and effective improvised defence that was able to prevent it from being taken.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars</span> Military unit

The Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars (QOOH) was a Yeomanry Cavalry regiment of the British Army's auxiliary forces, formed in 1798. It saw service in the Second Boer War with 40 and 59 Companies of the Imperial Yeomanry and was the first Yeomanry regiment to serve in Belgium and France during the Great War. After almost four years of Trench warfare on the Western Front, where cavalry had been superfluous, the QOOH led the advance during the Allies' victorious Hundred Days Offensive in 1918. In 1922, the QOOHt became part of the Royal Artillery and during World War II it served as anti-tank gunners at Singapore and in North West Europe. After a series of postwar mergers and changes of role, the regiment's lineage is maintained by 142 Vehicle Squadron, Royal Logistic Corps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yorkshire Hussars</span> Military unit

The Yorkshire Hussars was an auxiliary unit of the British Army formed in 1794. The regiment was formed as volunteer cavalry (Yeomanry) in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars and served in the Second Boer War and the First World War. It was converted to an armoured role during the Second World War. In 1956, it merged with two other Yorkshire yeomanry regiments to form the Queen's Own Yorkshire Yeomanry. Its lineage is continued today by the Queen's Own Yeomanry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons</span> Yeomanry regiment of the British Army (1794–1956)

The Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1794 to 1956. It was formed as a volunteer cavalry force in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars. Its volunteer companies played an active role with the Imperial Yeomanry in the Second Boer War, but opportunities for mounted action were much more restricted during the First World War and it was temporarily converted into a cycle unit. It remained a cavalry regiment throughout the interwar years, and was the last horsed unit of the British Army to see action, in the Syria–Lebanon Campaign of 1941, finally mechanising the following year. It served as motorised infantry in the North African and Italian campaigns of the Second World War. In 1956, it merged with the Yorkshire Hussars and the East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry to form the Queen's Own Yorkshire Yeomanry. Its lineage is continued today by A Squadron, the Queen's Own Yeomanry.

The 19th Battalion was a unit of the Imperial Yeomanry raised by George Paget as auxiliaries to the British Army during the Second Boer War. The men were mainly upper middle class and recruited from the gentlemen's clubs of London. The unit saw action at Faber's Put, Elands River, Lichtenburg, and numerous engagements on the lines of communication. The battalion was disbanded after the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military history of Australia during the Second Boer War</span>

The military history of Australia during the Boer War is complex, and includes a period of history in which the six formerly autonomous British Australian colonies federated to become the Commonwealth of Australia. At the outbreak of the Second Boer War, each of these separate colonies maintained their own, independent military forces, but by the cessation of hostilities, these six armies had come under a centralised command to form the Australian Army.

The 9th (Welsh) Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry was a unit of the British Imperial Yeomanry (IY) raised for service in the Second Boer War. Equipped as Mounted infantry, the battalion served in South Africa from April 1900 until the end of the war. Its companies took part in numerous anti-guerrilla 'drives' with mobile columns that eventually brought the war to an end.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarel du Toit</span>

Sarel Petrus du Toit was a Second Boer War Boer general for the South African Republic. In 1896 he was elected representative to the Eerste Volksraad in Pretoria for the district of Wolmaransstad.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Bennett pp. 10-04
  2. 1 2 Becket pp 210-11
  3. Jaques p. 155
  4. 1 2 Mace & Grehan p.176
  5. "No. 27155". The London Gazette . 19 January 1900. p. 362.
  6. 1 2 3 Davitt, Michael (1902). The Boer Fight for Freedom. Funk & Wagnalls. p.  311.
  7. 1 2 3 Miller pp 184-6.
  8. 1 2 Macnab pp. 198-202
  9. Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives , retrieved 2007-07-02
Bibliography