TOPIC:

Johannes Flygare


Johannes (Johan) Flygare was the son of a Swedish missionary, Carl Ludwig Flygare (1834-1883) and his wife Henriette Wilhelmina Ida Loewenthal (1837-1882). Johan was born on October 30, 1868 in Natal. Flygare was a sickly child and moved after his parents’ death to Uppsala Sweden and from there (in 1888) to Germany where he trained as a land surveyor. He emigrated to the Transvaal- probably in 1891- and was subsequently employed by the NZASM to survey work on the railway line Pretoria - Pietersburg. In 1898 Flygare volunteered in Kommandant-Generaal Piet Joubert’s expedition against Mphephu (Mpefu) of Magato in Vendaland. After the expedition Flygare settled in Pretoria and published a booklet “De Zoutpansbergen en de Bavenda-natie” (Volksstem, Pretoria) in which he praises landscape, fertility and development potential of Vendaland. That same year he put in a request to the ZAR Government for the rental of 10.000 Morgen (in SA this equates to approx. 20.000 acres) to cultivate tobacco. In 1899 Flygare is appointed CO of the Scandinavian Corps (one of the reasons was his fluency in Afrikaans and High Dutch) and he quickly manages to equipment the corps with all necessities. Although some sources refer to him as a Veld Cornet, his military title as CO of the Corps was that of Captain. The Scandinavian Corps was involved in some skirmishes during the siege of Mafeking before being deployed by Cronjé in what became known as the battle of Magersfontein in December 1899. During that bloody battle Flygare was shot through the heart and died instantly. (Source: Skandinawiers in die Tweede Anglo-Boere-Oorlog, Deel 1)

Flygare’s final battle is described as follows: “In front of the Scandinavians were 4000 of the Higland Brigade: Black Watch, Seaforths, Argylls and the Highland Light Infantry. After the assault had been broken, the British artillery commenced firing. Before the next infantry attack. The Scandinavians were, according to Captain Ståhlberg, firing 18-20 aimed shots a minute. After half an hour firing 200 men of the Seaforths had worked around the Scandinavian right flank, and the losses among the defenders ros. After renewed attacks with the bayonets the position was overwhelmed. 17 men had tried a countercharge, but only eight Scandinavians managed to get back in the boer lines, the rest killed or wounded. Everyone of the prisoners had been wounded.. It then appeared that the fight had been the result of a mistake. At 3.00 General Cronje had ordered the outposts to get back, but this had never reached the Scandinavians.(1)

Captain Ståhlberg again: "After three hours our resistance is broken. Our CO, Captain Flygare falls in the beginning of the battle, shot in the heart. Lieutenant Berentsen is wounded and man after man falls, drilled by bullets. The Highland Brigade, with the Gordons on the right encircles us. In the final act they fell over us like hungry vultures, and our resistance is over. Carl Albert Olsson from Gothenburg tries to save his brother Edvin, shot in the head by pulling him under cover. He is attacked by two scots whose heads he smashes with the rifle butt, only to fall from several bayonet wounds.” (Source: ABW website)

(1). This sequence of events is disputed by some sources which state that Flygare did receive the order to retire behind Boer Lines but decided to ignore it. This assertion would make him more or less directly responsible for the near-annihilation of the Scandinavian Corps at Magerfontein.

Below map, courtesy of G.R.Duxbury’s The Battle of Magersfontein” shows the hopelessly exposed position of the numerically small Scandinavian Corps in front of the Boer defense lines.



Below Nationale Bank der ZAR cheque for 32 Pond and 17 Shilling was made out on the 20th of October 1899 (8 weeks before his death) by Johannes Flygare to the firm Wentzel & Lombard. Because of his short tenure, any war-time document relating to Flygare is rare. I could not find out what the exact business of Wentzel & Lombard was but, given the for the time substantial amount and some contextual information contained in a court case, it is possible that this payment somehow related to Flygare’s desire to settle in Vendaland to cultivate Tobacco.

Note that Flygare signs as "Special Justice of the Peace & Veld Cornet"