Defence of Upington

The British chronology of the war records under 23 and 24 January 1915 the defence of Upington, a small town on the Orange river in the northern part of the Cape Province of the Union of South Africa. According to South African accounts, the rebels of Generals Manie Maritz and Jan Kemp attacked the town at dawn on Sunday 24 January. The date of 23 January probably refers to their approach to Upington. It was the last major engagement of the Boer Revolt.

The rebels’ last card

When at the end of 1914 the rising in the Orange Free State and the Transvaal collapsed, only Maritz and Kemp were still under arms, having taken refuge on the border of German South West Africa. Supported by the Germans, they raided government posts from there. In December and in mid-January they won several successes, among others at Nous, where they took about 130 soldiers prisoner. Their position, however, was growing ever more difficult. According to one South African account, the Germans, who were themselves short of food, were unwilling to take the rebels back into their colony. Maritz tried to open talks with the commander of the government troops at Upington, Colonel Jacob van Deventer, but received no reply. He therefore decided to attack.

Maritz knew Upington well. In September 1914 he had been stationed there with his troops, and at the beginning of October he had left the town, a few days before openly going over to the Germans. Now it was defended by Van Deventer’s forces, including the Cape Field Artillery, posted on the hills north of the town.

The attack

Maritz and Kemp had about a thousand men, four guns received from the Germans, two quick-firing pom-pom guns and two machine guns. The main attack came from the north-east and began with an artillery duel. A second group of rebels approached from the west along the river bed, under cover of the pom-poms’ fire. The accurate fire of the defenders, however, prevented either of them from breaking into the town. In desperation Maritz and Kemp led a mounted charge, but the gunners broke it up with fire at a range of about 900 metres. The defenders’ guns fired 243 shells, and the German artillery about 150, most of them at the buildings of the town.

After five or six hours of fighting the rebels withdrew. They lost 12 killed, 23 wounded and 97 prisoners, many of whom were wearing German uniforms. The defenders had three killed and 22 wounded.

The end of the revolt

The defeat at Upington ended the rebels’ part in the fighting. Maritz and Kemp opened talks with Van Deventer on surrender. The document was signed on 30 January, and at the beginning of February, on 2 or 4 February according to different sources, the rebels laid down their arms. Kemp went to prison, while Maritz fled to the Germans with a handful of followers. The Union forces could now prepare without hindrance for the war against the German colony.