S.b.c.

[Chris Boonzaier]

This is a very rough, unchecked draft of one third of an uncompleted, as yet without direction article I am working on.
No spell, grammer or anything check, But i am so pleased to be able to transfer data from my laptop I thought I would test it.......

[Chris Boonzaier]

When the war in Somalia broke out, Britain found itself desperate for soldiers. The Boer war had lasted much longer than expected, cost much more and tied up many more soldiers than the British Govt had ever expected.

As a result, when the Crown began to gather troops to send to Somalia it was suggested that maybe South Africa could provide troops in the form of the “Somaliland Burgher Corps”.
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It was thought that a contingent be formed, that consisted of 50% Afrikaans speaking and 50% English speaking South Africans would be the right mixture for the unit.

The suitabilty of the Boers for mounted warfare in Somaliland was of course a factor in the decision. Many had fought for 3 or 4 years, living on horseback and sleeping under the stars. They were used to the rugged conditions in the bush and the post war conditions should have helped many to make their decision.

During the Guerrilla phase of the Anglo-Boer war many of the Farms, crops and herds in the Transvaal and Orange Free State had been destroyed by the British during kitcheners drives. After they had layed down their arms, thousands of Boers had returned home to find the burnt ruins of their farmhouse and the sunbleached bones of their slaughtered herds. Many unlucky boers had also lost their wife, or child in the British concentration camps. For those who returned to the city, unemployment was no rarity. For a destitute man the chance of comradeship, regular pay and 3 square meals a day is a strong argument.

The anti british feelings amongst the Boers still ran strong though and to find 50 of them to form the Afrikaans part of the contingent proved very difficult.
Of the Approx. 100 men who served in the corps , 39 had typically Afrikaans names of which a number were aliases for Englishmen wanting to assure a place in the Corps.
Only 25 had served in the Boer forces, a number of them being despised “handsuppers” who had quit the fight and surrendered to the British before the official end to the war. Also in the unit were a number of ex British soldiers, making up the English speaking part of the contingent.
A unit was formed and ready to go into combat, composed of men who a half a year earlier were trying to kill each other on the battlefield. In fact, there were a small number of National scouts in the unit, these were Boers who had surrendered, and then volunteered to fight against their own side. Earlier that same year Boers used to execute National scouts as traitors.
It was indeed a mixed and motley bunch that made up the Somaliland Burgher Corps, men looking for adventure, men looking for work, and in 13 cases, men who had been recruited with the promises of farms and money promised by an overenthusiatic recruiting officer, an offer that would never be honoured.

In January 1903 the SBC was on its way to the horn of Africa on an old tramp steamer.

The SBC spent 6 months chasing elusive tribesmen through the desert and the bush, their enemy was mainly thirst and heat. Their impact they made on British Military history is limited to 20 pages in a South African Military history magazine, passing mentions in other publications mostly containing many errors as to the composition and history of the unit.

Although their legacy is a long way from being illustrious, they do have the honour of being the first South African unit (Men from the Transvaal, Free State, Cape Colony and Natal) to serve in action outside the borders of South Africa. Nowhere is it mentioned if any of the Afrikaans members saw the irony, that as members of a Nation that had just fought a war to gain their freedom from Britain, they were now, a few months later helping Britain subjugate another group of africans.

After they had returned to South Africa, the unit was disolved, it took quite some time for the govt to decide what fitting reward should be given to the men who had served in the ranks, Edward VII did however decide that the SBC would be the first unit to be awarded the bar "Somaliland 1902-04" for the Africa General service medal.
Captain Bonham made up the roll and the list of discharged members. By a number there are requests for further employment by the govt. including a number of men who wantd to be transfered into the South African constabulary. On the list each man had a rating "Specially recommended""recommended" or no comment at all. F.A. Gerber recieved no comment, unfortunately there is no way to find out why he was not favoured by his C.O. but I assume his age must have been a factor.

He dissapears in 1903 and reappears in 1914 as a Lt in Brands Free State Rifles to take part in the crushing of the rebellion.
When the Rebellion ended Brands Free State rifles was incorporated into the 5th Regt of the 5th Mounted brigade commanded by Colonel "Manie" Botha, nephew of General Botha. The 5th Regt consisted of approx 350 men. They were to take part in General Bothas advance from Riet to Windhuk. Bothas troops were divided into two commands, the first under Brigadier General Brits, the second under Brig. General Myburgh (who commanded the 3rd and 5th brigades). Both Brits and Myburgh had commanded Kommandos under Botha in the Boer war.

Botha was going to march eastwards from Riet, opposing him was the complete German Force, stretched along the Railway line from Karibib to Windhuk.
The German governer and military commanders had decided to abandon Windhuk and head north to Grootfontein. It was expected that the South African Southern force would march North towards Windhuk and that Bothas Northern force would move East and cut the railway line heading North from Karibib.

The Germans retreated North to avoid being caught between these forces, but before pulling back they mined the routes and poisened the water supplies.

The going was hard
"We then began to ascend a range of low mountains or high hills, the most awful place I ever saw. The moon was nearly at the full, which made the effect all the more ghostly....A cold glittering deathliness- not a sign of vegetation or life in any form...That was a bad night, winding round and up these mountains, with horses slipping over the loose stones, and I think most of us realised that if our horses failed up there we hadnt much chance.
On the other side of these mountains we struck an awful streak of soft, floury sand, and, as luck would have it, the order was given to quicken pace, which meant a hand gallop. This was the worst we had yet met-like riding through a flour mill in a gale.
As it got on to midday the waterbottles got empty, and the thirst became an added trouble. It was well after midday when we reached Tsamis. Here we found a farmhouse and a well, said to be poisened with disease Germs and a dry river."

After minimal resistance at Karibib, Winhuk fell without a fight to Botha. The German schutztruppen had retreated North, step by step being pushed into a corner.

The last leg of the GSWA campaign would be a drive to encircle the remaining German troops. Gen Brit

It seems that Frank Anthony Gerber enlisted in the SBC with his brother, at the age of XXX. He was probably one of the youngest members, as from his WW1 one records it is possible to guestimate his age at .

[Chris Boonzaier]

I still need to do a lot of work on this one, gerber served in the Boer war (was 16 years old), Somaliland , The rebellion, German South west Africa, German East Africa.

The Military cross was awarded for Bravery in East Africa, then there is the Africa genral service medal with Somaliland bar, then the WW1 Trio of medals.

He applied for his Boer war medal in 1947 (!!) I unfortunately dont have it, but the group as pictured is complete up until that time.