Deneys Reitz

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Deneys Reitz (1882—1944) was a Boer Commando, South African soldier and politician.

While still in his teens, Deneys Reitz served in the Boer forces during the Second Boer War. As a commando he fought in both the first conventional phase of the war and the second guerrilla phase. In the latter he accompanied Jan Smuts on raids deep into the Cape Province, he continued to fight to the "bitter end", and then went to live in Madagascar rather than sign the undertaking which every Boer soldier was called upon to sign, that he would abide by the peace terms.

While in exile in Madagascar he wrote about his experience of the Boer War, so that, when it was eventually edited and published in 1929 as Commando: A Boer Journal Of The Boer War, it still had the freshness and detail of an account written soon after the war. Not only is the account very well written and an important source for the Second Boer War, his family connections (his father was State Secretary of the Transvaal) and sheer luck provides for a unique account because he was present at virtually every major event of the war. For instance, while visiting his father at the start of the war and being too young to fight, the President of the Transvaal Paul Kruger spoke to him and gave him special permission to do so; subsequently the commandant-general Piet Joubert personally issued him with a new Mauser carbine and a bandolier of ammunition.

On the advice of his wartime commander, Jan Smuts, he returned to South Africa in 1906. The malaria he had fought with in Madagascar had so severely affected his health that he collapsed unconscious upon his return to South Africa. He was nursed back to health over three years by Jan Smuts and his wife, Isie. He then returned to public life. In 1914 he helped Smuts suppress the Maritz Rebellion in the Free State, and he served on Smuts' army staff in the "German West campaign" (in the German colony of South-West Africa) and in the "German East campaign" (in German East Africa) where he rose to command a mounted regiment. On the Western Front during World War I he commanded the First Royal Scots Fusiliers until he was severely wounded early in 1918. He returned to active service to lead his men to the Rhine after the Armistice. He continued in public life as a Member of Parliament, Cabinet Minister, Deputy Prime Minister (1939-1943), and South African High Commissioner (1944) to London.

[edit] Published works

Three volumes of an autobiography

"Commando: A Boer Journal Of The Boer War", first published in Great Britain in 1929, ISBN 0-571-08778-7
"Trekking On", dealing with the Boer War through World War I, and
"No Outspan", which covers life in South African politics between the wars and concludes with him as Deputy Prime Minister of South Africa.

Also published in one volume: