DE WET – CHRISTIAAN RUDOLF

Note:
SO MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT GENERAL DE WET, WHO HIMSELF WROTE A BOOK WITH THE ENGLISH TRANSLATED TITLE OF “THREE YEARS WAR”, AND HIS SUCCESSES AND FAILURES DURING THE ANGLO-BOER WAR, AS WELL AS THE SO CALLED “DE WET HUNTS” BY BRITISH FORCES, IT MAY BE INSIGHTFUL TO DESCRIBE WHAT GENERAL P.H.KRITZINGER, HIMSELF IN COMMAND OF SOME ORANGE FREE STATE FORCES (ROUXVILLE COMMANDO), HAS WRITTEN ABOUT HIM IN HIS BOOK “IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH”.
“NO DOUBT IT WAS TO THE ADVANTAGE AND NOT, AS SOME MAINTAIN, TO THE DISADVANTAGE OF THE FREE STATE BURGHERS WHEN C.R. DE WET WAS ELECTED AS HOOFD COMMANDANT AT BRANDFORT IN MARCH 1900. HE, TOO, WAS BUT A FARMER; CULTURE HE LACKED, MILITARY TRAINING HE HAD NONE, BUT THE SPARK OF MARTIAL GENIUS HAD FALLEN AND KINDLED IN HIS BREAST.  IN FIGURE, MANNER, AND DRESS HE WAS HARDLY DISTINGUISHABLE FROM HUNDREDS OF HIS COUNTRYMEN, WHO WERE NOT SHARERS OF HIS MILITARY ABILITIES.  AS AN INDIVIDUAL HE WAS SYMPATHETIC, GENEROUS AND MAGNANIMOUS; HE WAS ENDOWED WITH DISCRETION AND TACT, SIMPLICITY AND HONESTY.  AS A SOLDIER, VIGILANT, PERSEVEERING, NEVER INDISCREET IN ANGER OR DISAPPOINTMENT, BUT ALWAYS CORAGEOUS AND RESOURCEFUL.  RECOGNISING THE ADVANTAGE OF SURPRISE, HE NEVER LOST AN OPPORTUNITY OF HARASSING THE ENEMY.  THROUGH HIS RARE TOPOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE OF HIS COUNTRY HE BAFFLED THE FOE BY HIS MOVEMENT TIME AND AGAIN.  NEVER UNDULY ELATED, HE WAS BRAVEST AND SUPREME WHEN ALL OTHERS LOST HEART.  HE HAD TO CONTEND AGAINST TREACHERY, DESERTION AND WANT, BUT ROSE ABOVE ALL THESE OBSTACLES, AND PROVED HIMSELF THE MOST POWERFUL OBSTRUCTOR THAT THE BRITISH COLUMNS HAD TO ENCOUNTER IN SOUTH AFRICA”