Deneys Reitz: soldier, lawyer, politician, ambassador, and author

Deneys Reitz is known to generations of South Africans for Commando, his thrilling first-hand account of action during the Anglo-Boer War. But his achievements went far beyond his books, explains Graham Jooste.

- Graham Jooste

Deneys Reitz was born in Bloemfontein in 1882 to Francis William and Blanca Reitz, and educated at Grey College.

His father was at that stage Chief Justice of the Orange Free State, but the family later moved to Pretoria, where Reitz Sr opened a law firm and later served President Paul Kruger as the Secretary of State for the South African Republic (Transvaal).

Reitz was 17 years old when the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902) broke out, but he was rejected for service with the Boer forces as he looked considerably younger than he actually was.

Determined to join up, he approached his father and Kruger, who in turn introduced him to CommandantGeneral Piet Joubert. The latter not only arranged for him to join up, but gave him a new Mauser rifle and ammunition.

Reitz boarded the train for the Natal front with his brother and many other young men who were to confront the British forces marching up from Durban, and later saw action at Talana Hill near Dundee as well as at Vaalkranz and Spioenkop.

He was a keen student of tactics, which was to stand him in good stead for the rest of his life.

As the British advanced, Reitz found himself fighting rearguard actions and learning the art of sniping and escape and evasion. When Pretoria fell and the Boers decided on guerrilla tactics, he joined General Jan Smuts’s commando, whose mission was to enter the Cape Colony and stir up a rebellion among the Boer population of that region.