Danie Theron

General Christiaan de Wet said of
Danie Theron:
"a more brave and
faithful commander
I have never seen!"

Danie Theron was born in Tulbagh,
in the Cape Colony, 9 May 1872.
A Lawyer

At age 10, he moved to Bethlehem in the Orange Free State
to be brought up by his older brother.

He trained as a school teacher,
then served as a lawyer,
passing his Bar Exams in 1897
with the highest possible marks.
In that year he started
his own Law firm in Krugersdorp.

In 1899, in the lead up to the Anglo Boer War,
Danie Theron was found guilty of assaulting Mr W. F. Moneypenney,
the editor of the Star newspaper.
A Fighter

This was in response to a derogatory editorial
against:
"The Ignorant Dutch."
As Moneypenney had been in the country
for less than two months,
Danie Theron confronted him over his prejudice
and the incident ended up
as an assault charge in court.

He pleaded guilty, citing
"extreme provocation“
and friends quickly paid his
fine of £20.

Danie Theron's first military action was in the Malaboch War.
His bravery in battle won him citizenship in the Transvaal.
A Soldier

Even before the Anglo Boer
War had broken out,
Danie Theron was developing
the idea of using bicycles for
despatch
and reconnaissance work.
Wielrijders
Rapportganngers

Commandant General Piet Joubert challenged Theron to prove his point
as to the effectiveness of bicycles for despatch riders by choosing a man
who would race the best horse rider in the Army
from Pretoria to the Crocodile River.

Danie's friend, Koos Jooste, won the 75km race and permission was
granted to Danie Theron to form his Wielrijders Rapportgangers Korps.

Soon he had recruited 108 men, divided into 7 sections,
each led by their lieutenant directly reporting to Theron.
Each scout was equipped with
a bicycle, a revolver and a rifle.

Although initially many of the Burghers laughed at the Rapportgangers
Korps on bicycles, they soon grew to admire their bravery
and recognise the success of their exploits.
Battle Proven

Theron's men were not stopped
by rivers, bad weather, impassable
roads, or enemy patrols.
At the Battle of Talana,
near Dundee, Theron's men
were responsible for most of the
246 British prisoners captured.

When General P. A. Cronje was surrounded by General Roberts forces at
Paarderberg, General De Wet chose Theron to cross through enemy
lines and attempt to co-ordinate a break-out of Cronje's trapped men.
Paardeberg

Theron evaded enemy patrols and swam the flooded Modder River.
However General Cronje flatly refused to attack the British trenches in
force while De Wet organised a cavalry attack from the other side.

Instead General Cronje and 3,919 of his men surrendered to
Lord Roberts.

General De Wet reported
on the event with much
grief over the stubbornness
and failure of
General Cronje to respond,
but with great appreciation
of the courage and tenacity
of Theron.

Verkennings Korps
It was after this, in March 1900, that General De Wet appointed
Danie Theron to establish his own Reconnaissance Corp
(Verkennings Korps), (TVK).

General De Wet commented that he had never seen a more
colourful grouping of men from all over the world than the TVK.

Theron's scouts consisted of 80 men on horses, who concentrated
on reconnaissance and guerrilla attacks behind enemy lines.

Devastatingly Effective
Commandant Danie Theron was tough and self-sacrificial
and he expected his men to adhere to the highest standards.

Theron led his TVK to destroy bridges, ambush supply columns,
eliminate enemy artillery, capturing and derailing trains,
wrecking havoc behind enemy lines.

Already by 7 April 1900, the British
Commander in Chief, Lord Roberts
described Danie Theron as:
"the hardest thorn in the flesh of the
British advance!"
Roberts placed a reward of £1000 on
Theron's head - dead or alive!

Courageous and Compassionate
It was notable how much care Theron took for wounded British soldiers,
sharing his very last water ration with them.

His men adhered to high Christian standards and treated their prisoners
generously. Theron's men stormed the Klip River Jail
and freed 69 prisoners.

Killed In Action
On 5 September 1900 at Gatsrand, while scouting alone on a koppie,
6km North of present day Fochville,
he collided with a section of Marshalls Horse.

As he killed 3, and wounded 4, of the enemy,
he came under artillery fire from 6 field guns and died in action.

On 15 September 1900, the men
of the TVK exhumed the body
of their courageous Commandant
and reburied him
on a farm nearby.

10 March 1903, Danie
Theron's body was exhumed
to be reburied next to that of
his beloved fiancé,
Hannie Neethling,
on her father's farm,
Eikenhof, on the Klip River.

Honoured Hero
On 28 December 1907, General Louis Botha unveiled
the Danie Theron Monument near Potchefstroom.

On 9 September 1950,
a monument was unveiled
at the location
where Danie Theron
was killed in action
(this is near the N12, between
Johannesburg and Potchefstroom).

The Commando Combat School
established in Kimberly,
1 November 1967
was renamed the
Danie Theron Combat School
in 1968.

The South Africa School of Military Intelligence
was also named after Danie Theron.

The Danie Theron monument which had stood outside the military base
in Kimberley was relocated to Fort Schanskop,
on the outskirts of Pretoria.

Former South African President, Nelson Mandela, in one of the very rare
occasions when he spoke Afrikaans in public, declared that
he valued the fighting spirit of Danie Theron.

Mr Mandela commended his honesty, bravery and determination to do
the right thing for his nation and his beliefs.

South Africa needs more Danie Theron's in order to meet
the challenges that lie ahead.

Charlize Theron, the academy award-winning actress,
is a great-great niece of Danie Theron.

REFORMATION SOCIETY
Dr. Peter Hammond
PO Box 74
Newlands, 7725
Cape Town
South Africa
E-mail:
info@ReformationSA.org
Web:
www.ReformationSA.org

Danie Theron

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