Transvaalse Staatsartillerie
Encyclopedia
The Transvaalse Staatsartillerie (Afrikaans for Transvaal
State Artillery) is an artillery
regiment
of the South African Army
. As a reserve unit, it has a status roughly equivalent to that of a British Territorial Army or United States Army National Guard
unit. It is part of the South African Army Artillery Formation.
(Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek or ZAR) to form a professional full-time artillery unit was Batterij Dingaan (Dingaan Battery
), which could be seen as the forerunner of the Transvaalse Staatsartillerie. The use of artillery pieces was not completely foreign to the Boer
s and that they had used the few that they had to great effect during some battles that occurred during the Great Trek
. However, prior to the formation of Batterij Dingaan, all artillery units of the ZAR were part-time volunteers, organised under its commando
system.
In 1874, President Thomas Francois Burgers
purchased some artillery pieces for the intended permanent artillery corps of the ZAR in Europe and also recruited a number of European officers in order to assist in the organisation and development of this corps, due to the lack of adequately trained and experienced artillery officers in the ZAR.The first artillery pieces purchased was 4 Krupp 6,5 cm mountain guns and one obsolete French Mitrailleuse. The unit was commanded by Captain Otto Riedell, a former Austrian artillery officer. However, after the British annexation of the ZAR on 12 April 1877, Batterij Dingaan was disbanded. The members of the battery, most of who were not citizens of the ZAR, joined the three British volunteer corps, which had been created in order to assist the garrison
with the defence of Pretoria
.
Shortly after the British occupation of the ZAR ended in 1881, the executive council of the ZAR mandated the formation of the Artillerie Korps van de Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (Artillery Corps of the South African Republic). During the same year the executive council also mandated the formation of the Transvaalsche Rijdende Politie Korps (Transvaal Mounted Police Corps). This police force was amalgamated with the artillery corps in 1882 under the name of Transvaalsche Artillerie Corps (Transvaal Artillery Corps). However, this amalgamation was found to be unfeasible and the artillery and policing functions were subsequently separated again. The artillery formation was named the Staatsartillerie van de Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (State Artillery of the South African Republic) and had a strictly military function and structure.
Batteries of the Staatsartillerie went on to serve in the Malaboch War (1894) and the Mahoeba War (1894–1895).
After the Jameson Raid
, the government of the ZAR decided to build a fort around the prison in Johannesburg
(see Johannesburg Fort) as well as forts to defend Pretoria
. In order to man these forts, the formation of a separate Vesting Artillerie (Fortress Artillery) was proposed. In 1898, despite some resistance to this idea (mainly because of the cost), the Volksraad
approved increasing the manpower of the Staatsartillerie by 100 men in order to form the Corps Vesting Artillerie (Fortress Artillery Corps). This Corps was organised as an arm of the Staatsartillerie. By 1899 the Fortress Artillery Corps had grown to a unit with 9 officers and 148 men.
At this time, the Staatsartillerie was under the overall command of a lieutenant-colonel and was subdivided into several units, including:
(The commanding officer of the Staatsartillerie was the sole person to hold the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the armed forces of the South African Republic. It was also the highest rank after the ZAR's Commandant-General
.)
With the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War, the unit was reoganised. The Fortress Artillery was disbanded and the Military band was redesginated as Medical assistants. The main armament of the Staatsartillerie consisted of C96 Krupp 77 mm Field guns, 75mm Creusot field guns, 37mm Vickers Maxim "Pom-Pom", 120mm Krupp Howitsers and the famous 4 155mm Creusot Fortress gun
s or "Long Toms". The unit was divided into four divisions and sent to Natal, Mafeking, Colesberg and Kimberley. The Natal Front guns was commanded by Luitenant-Colonel S.P.E. Trichardt, the Kimberley guns by Luitenant Arthur Carlblom, the Mafeking guns by Captain Piet van der Merwe and the Colesberg guns by Luitenant Willem Baay. With the collapse of the Boer offensive, the Staatsartillerie retreated to the Free State in order to halt Lord Roberts' advance on Pretoria. After the capture of Pretoria, they retreated with the Boer forces to the Eastern Transvaal. Due to lack of ammunition and the changing Boer strategy, the guns were dumped in the Krodil River or blown up at Komati Poort. They were reoganised as a mounted infantry unit.
During the Boer War, the Staatsartillerie performed sterling service. They were the first modern artillery unit to use indirect fire ( Battle of Dalmanutha 21–27 August 1900) and the first to use their guns as fire support to the infantry. Their outstanding service led to Winston Churchill to comment " these are the finest gunners in the world....they can teach the Royal Artillery a lesson or two."
It was not the Batlle of Dalmanthutha where indirect was first used,– they did it first at Spioenkop (24 January 1900) and then at the Thukela Heights (12 to 27 February 1900) – six months earlier.
The British then started experimenting with it during the north bank operations of the Thukela Heights.
At Spioenkop, Cmdt Hendrik Prinsloo’s signaller, Louis Bothma, signalled corrections from Aloe Knoll to Maj Francois Wolmarans at Louis Botha’s HQ on Mt Alice. Wolmarans then relayed them to Lt von Wichmann and Lt Grothaus along the iNthabamnyama and to Gen Schalk Burger’s Free State Krupp between the Twin Peaks.
The regiment ceased to exist at the end of the Anglo-Boer War, in 1902.
More than half a century later, in 1954, a Citizen Force artillery regiment, named 9 Veldregiment (9 Field Regiment) was established in Pretoria. In 1960, it was renamed Transvaal Staatsartillerie, in honour of the old regiment.
Major P. Erasmus
Captain I.J. Bosman
Captain J.F. Wolmarans
Lieutenant W.A. Baay
Lieutenant-Bandmaster J. Maggs
Lieutenant Mike Du Toit
Lieutenant P.C Paff ( c-in-c, Signal and Telegraph Corps)
Lieutenant J.M.A Wolmarans
Lieutenant N.P. Oelofse
Lieutenant A.T. Carlblom
Lieutenant E.B.E Hoffman
Lieutenant J.L. Pretorius ( nicknamed " Skote Petoors" or " Goodshot Petoors")
Lieutenant M.J. De jager
Lieutenant-Doctor W. Laxton ( c-in-c, Medical Corps)
Lieutenant F. Townsend
Lieutenant T. Kroon ( drill instructor)
As war progressed, more officers was created, and a great deal of NCO's were promoted
Transvaal Province
Transvaal Province was a province of the Union of South Africa from 1910 to 1961, and of its successor, the Republic of South Africa, from 1961 until the end of apartheid in 1994 when a new constitution subdivided it.-History:...
State Artillery) is an artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
of the South African Army
South African Army
The South African Army is the army of South Africa, first formed after the Union of South Africa was created in 1910.The South African military evolved within the tradition of frontier warfare fought by commando forces, reinforced by the Afrikaners' historical distrust of large standing armies...
. As a reserve unit, it has a status roughly equivalent to that of a British Territorial Army or United States Army National Guard
Army National Guard
Established under Title 10 and Title 32 of the U.S. Code, the Army National Guard is part of the National Guard and is divided up into subordinate units stationed in each of the 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia operating under their respective governors...
unit. It is part of the South African Army Artillery Formation.
History
The first attempt by the South African RepublicSouth African Republic
The South African Republic , often informally known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer-ruled country in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century. Not to be confused with the present-day Republic of South Africa, it occupied the area later known as the South African...
(Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek or ZAR) to form a professional full-time artillery unit was Batterij Dingaan (Dingaan Battery
Artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
), which could be seen as the forerunner of the Transvaalse Staatsartillerie. The use of artillery pieces was not completely foreign to the Boer
Boer
Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...
s and that they had used the few that they had to great effect during some battles that occurred during the Great Trek
Great Trek
The Great Trek was an eastward and north-eastward migration away from British control in the Cape Colony during the 1830s and 1840s by Boers . The migrants were descended from settlers from western mainland Europe, most notably from the Netherlands, northwest Germany and French Huguenots...
. However, prior to the formation of Batterij Dingaan, all artillery units of the ZAR were part-time volunteers, organised under its commando
Commando
In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...
system.
In 1874, President Thomas Francois Burgers
Thomas Francois Burgers
-Literature:...
purchased some artillery pieces for the intended permanent artillery corps of the ZAR in Europe and also recruited a number of European officers in order to assist in the organisation and development of this corps, due to the lack of adequately trained and experienced artillery officers in the ZAR.The first artillery pieces purchased was 4 Krupp 6,5 cm mountain guns and one obsolete French Mitrailleuse. The unit was commanded by Captain Otto Riedell, a former Austrian artillery officer. However, after the British annexation of the ZAR on 12 April 1877, Batterij Dingaan was disbanded. The members of the battery, most of who were not citizens of the ZAR, joined the three British volunteer corps, which had been created in order to assist the garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
with the defence of Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
.
Shortly after the British occupation of the ZAR ended in 1881, the executive council of the ZAR mandated the formation of the Artillerie Korps van de Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (Artillery Corps of the South African Republic). During the same year the executive council also mandated the formation of the Transvaalsche Rijdende Politie Korps (Transvaal Mounted Police Corps). This police force was amalgamated with the artillery corps in 1882 under the name of Transvaalsche Artillerie Corps (Transvaal Artillery Corps). However, this amalgamation was found to be unfeasible and the artillery and policing functions were subsequently separated again. The artillery formation was named the Staatsartillerie van de Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (State Artillery of the South African Republic) and had a strictly military function and structure.
Batteries of the Staatsartillerie went on to serve in the Malaboch War (1894) and the Mahoeba War (1894–1895).
After the Jameson Raid
Jameson Raid
The Jameson Raid was a botched raid on Paul Kruger's Transvaal Republic carried out by a British colonial statesman Leander Starr Jameson and his Rhodesian and Bechuanaland policemen over the New Year weekend of 1895–96...
, the government of the ZAR decided to build a fort around the prison in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
(see Johannesburg Fort) as well as forts to defend Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
. In order to man these forts, the formation of a separate Vesting Artillerie (Fortress Artillery) was proposed. In 1898, despite some resistance to this idea (mainly because of the cost), the Volksraad
Volksraad
The Volksraad was the parliament of the former South African Republic , which existed from 1857 to 1902 in part of what is now the South Africa. The body ceased to exist after the British victory in the Second Anglo-Boer War. The Volksraad sat in session in Ou Raadsaal in Church Square, Pretoria...
approved increasing the manpower of the Staatsartillerie by 100 men in order to form the Corps Vesting Artillerie (Fortress Artillery Corps). This Corps was organised as an arm of the Staatsartillerie. By 1899 the Fortress Artillery Corps had grown to a unit with 9 officers and 148 men.
At this time, the Staatsartillerie was under the overall command of a lieutenant-colonel and was subdivided into several units, including:
- Field Artillery Corps
- Fortress Artillery Corps
- Telegraphic Section
- Medical Section
- Military Band
(The commanding officer of the Staatsartillerie was the sole person to hold the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the armed forces of the South African Republic. It was also the highest rank after the ZAR's Commandant-General
Commandant-General
Commandant-General is a rank in several counties and is generally equivalent to that of Commandant.-Italy:Comandante generale , in Fascist Italy's MVSN, was the title of the head of the Blackshirts, held by Benito Mussolini from 1922 to 1943.Nowadays, is the title held by the commander of the...
.)
With the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War, the unit was reoganised. The Fortress Artillery was disbanded and the Military band was redesginated as Medical assistants. The main armament of the Staatsartillerie consisted of C96 Krupp 77 mm Field guns, 75mm Creusot field guns, 37mm Vickers Maxim "Pom-Pom", 120mm Krupp Howitsers and the famous 4 155mm Creusot Fortress gun
155 mm Creusot Long Tom
The 155 mm Creusot Long Tom was a French field gun manufactured by Schneider et Cie in Le Creusot, France and used by the Boers in the Second Boer War.-Second Boer War:...
s or "Long Toms". The unit was divided into four divisions and sent to Natal, Mafeking, Colesberg and Kimberley. The Natal Front guns was commanded by Luitenant-Colonel S.P.E. Trichardt, the Kimberley guns by Luitenant Arthur Carlblom, the Mafeking guns by Captain Piet van der Merwe and the Colesberg guns by Luitenant Willem Baay. With the collapse of the Boer offensive, the Staatsartillerie retreated to the Free State in order to halt Lord Roberts' advance on Pretoria. After the capture of Pretoria, they retreated with the Boer forces to the Eastern Transvaal. Due to lack of ammunition and the changing Boer strategy, the guns were dumped in the Krodil River or blown up at Komati Poort. They were reoganised as a mounted infantry unit.
During the Boer War, the Staatsartillerie performed sterling service. They were the first modern artillery unit to use indirect fire ( Battle of Dalmanutha 21–27 August 1900) and the first to use their guns as fire support to the infantry. Their outstanding service led to Winston Churchill to comment " these are the finest gunners in the world....they can teach the Royal Artillery a lesson or two."
It was not the Batlle of Dalmanthutha where indirect was first used,– they did it first at Spioenkop (24 January 1900) and then at the Thukela Heights (12 to 27 February 1900) – six months earlier.
The British then started experimenting with it during the north bank operations of the Thukela Heights.
At Spioenkop, Cmdt Hendrik Prinsloo’s signaller, Louis Bothma, signalled corrections from Aloe Knoll to Maj Francois Wolmarans at Louis Botha’s HQ on Mt Alice. Wolmarans then relayed them to Lt von Wichmann and Lt Grothaus along the iNthabamnyama and to Gen Schalk Burger’s Free State Krupp between the Twin Peaks.
The regiment ceased to exist at the end of the Anglo-Boer War, in 1902.
More than half a century later, in 1954, a Citizen Force artillery regiment, named 9 Veldregiment (9 Field Regiment) was established in Pretoria. In 1960, it was renamed Transvaal Staatsartillerie, in honour of the old regiment.
Officers of the Staatsartillerie 1899
Luitenant-Colonel S.P.E. TrichardtMajor P. Erasmus
Captain I.J. Bosman
Captain J.F. Wolmarans
Lieutenant W.A. Baay
Lieutenant-Bandmaster J. Maggs
Lieutenant Mike Du Toit
Lieutenant P.C Paff ( c-in-c, Signal and Telegraph Corps)
Lieutenant J.M.A Wolmarans
Lieutenant N.P. Oelofse
Lieutenant A.T. Carlblom
Lieutenant E.B.E Hoffman
Lieutenant J.L. Pretorius ( nicknamed " Skote Petoors" or " Goodshot Petoors")
Lieutenant M.J. De jager
Lieutenant-Doctor W. Laxton ( c-in-c, Medical Corps)
Lieutenant F. Townsend
Lieutenant T. Kroon ( drill instructor)
As war progressed, more officers was created, and a great deal of NCO's were promoted