TOPIC:

Dear Neville. its just amazing what you guys dig up, so to speak. I am so grateful and excited by your findings. with this being the sole example of its calibre in the Natal area, would it have had its own dedicated crew. I believe Rob mentioned the Commander as being one "Lood" Pretorius. Can you think of any source of the Staats Artillery that might contain the names of the crew of that gun?

Thank you very much Neville for the incredibly useful and exciting information. I so appreciate it. the specific reference to the gun that most probably fired this shell is so exciting. are either you or Rob aware of anyway we could track who the crew members were, under the command of "lood" Pretorius from the Staats Artillery? is there any record of what its position was at Colenso or around Ladysmith at all? I am still awaiting an answer from the farmer who found it about any details he may recall as to its location. thanks again for all your information.
regards
Neil.

The 120-mm Krupp emplacement on the Tugela line was at (approx.) GPS -28.7233, 29.8255
It is many years since I visited the site, but I hope to be in the area next month again and it would be nice to see if the defensive walls around the gun site are still discernible. Louis Botha slept at this position during the long battle to relieve Ladysmith 14 - 27 Feb 1900.
Lieutenant Johannes Lodewijk ‘Lood’ Pretorius was a celebrated ‘Raakskieter’ (sharpshooter) who commanded the 3rd Battery of the Transvaal Staatsartillerie at Talana, Modderspruit, Colenso, Platrand and Tugela Heights, and later in the Free State and Transvaal including Diamond Hill and Dalmanutha. When his opening shots at Dundee struck their target, the delighted Boer onlookers shouted 'Skote Petoors!’ (‘Good shot, Pretorius!’) Thus a new idiom entered the Afrikaans language, which is still used today as an exclamation at something really well done. Lood was captured in December 1901 and imprisoned in St Helena.
Here are some photos of Lood, thanks to Neville and others who provided them.

And I wonder if it isnt Lood in the centre of Neville's photo?

Neil,

There were actually two Krupp Howitzers at Ladysmith, both of which were damaged during the Surprise Hill and Gun Hill sorties, one beyond repair.

MC Heunis writes: During the Siege of Ladysmith two howitzers were damaged during night raids on Gun Hill (7/8 December 1899) and Surprise Hill (11 December 1899), one of these beyond repair. To replace it an exact copy was manufactured by Mr. Uggla, a Norwegian, at the Z.A.S.M. (South African Railway Company) workshops in Pretoria. The barrel was manufactured from an 8-inch section of steel found at Johannesburg and the breech jacket of a 12-inch section of iron. On the proving ground the gun showed the same ballistic qualities as the original from which it was copied.
After the war the Z.A.S.M. gun, inscribed: “Made in Z.A.S.M. Workshop, Pretoria, 1900, to replace gun blown up by English night of 11.12.99, Ladysmith”, was found in the Eastern Transvaal.

Below is a map compiled by British Intelligence and printed in Pietermaritzburg on 6 December 1899. It shows the various locations of the two guns before the night attacks. I visited the gun emplacement on Surprise Hill in 1981 and picked up a number of 120 mm fuze plugs. Back then, this was a seldom-visited spot, those desiring to explore the hill requiring permission from the farmer.












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Hi Rob. thank you very much for your additional info on "Lood" and the info on the gun position, all of which is very useful. Are you a local KZn'r that allows you to visit the site, or are you making a special trip? regards.
Neil.