Английская Википедия:Gideon Scheepers
Шаблон:Use dmy dates Шаблон:Infobox military person
Gideon Scheepers (4 April 1878 – 18 January 1902) was a Boer military leader, scout and heliographer during the Anglo-Boer War (also known as the South African war). He is remembered for having been executed for war crimes.
Early years
Gideon Jacobus Scheepers was born on 4 April 1878 in Middelburg in the Colony of Transvaal. When he turned 16 he trained as a heliographer (a specialist trained to use a mirror and sunlight to transmit messages to other troops) in the State Artillery. In 1898 he was seconded to the Orange Free State and promoted to sergeant.[1]Шаблон:Rp
Anglo-Boer War
He accompanied the Free State commandos to its western border. During the Siege of Kimberley he shot two captured natives (then the polite term) on the grounds that they were allegedly scouts. General Christiaan de Wet used him as a scout and later promoted him to captain in charge of his own reconnaissance corps.[1]Шаблон:Rp
Invasion of the Cape
In December 1900 Scheepers was a member of commandant Kritzinger's commando that invaded the Cape Colony.[1]Шаблон:Rp Within eight weeks their ways parted when Kritzinger returned to the Free State.[1]Шаблон:Rp After recruiting many Cape rebels, he was promoted to commandant of 150 men, marauding in the Cape.[2] Kritzinger's commando sabotaged British rail and telegraph lines. They executed blacks accused of spying for the British. They burnt houses, shops and public buildings. In September 1901 Scheepers started getting ill. By 10 October, when they were close to the Prince Albert Road station, he was too ill to stay with his commando and he had to be left behind. The British captured him on 12 October and he was given the necessary medical treatment.[1]Шаблон:Rp By December 1901 he had recovered sufficiently to be taken to the gaol in Graaff-Reinet.[1]Шаблон:Rp
Trial and execution
Scheepers faced 16 charges in a court martial: 7 of murder, 1 of attempted murder, 1 that he placed a prisoner in the enemy's line of fire, 1 of maltreatment of a POW, 3 of assault, 2 of malicious injury to property and 1 of arson (15 incidents). 54 witnesses were called to testify for the prosecution.[3] Scheepers appointed his own attorney Carl Auret to defend him.[1]Шаблон:Rp
Scheepers was convicted on all counts except one of the murder charges. He was sentenced to death. On 18 January 1902 he was executed by firing squad, while tied to a chair.[4] He was reburied during the night in an unknown grave, and to this day his place of burial is unknown.[5]
Cultural depictions
- Gideon Scheepers (1982) - an Afrikaans language movie about Scheepers' trial and execution.
Literature
- J. E. H. Grobler, The War Reporter: the Anglo-Boer war through the eyes of the burghers, Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2004. ISBN 978-1-86842-186-2. Pages 77, 89, 96-97, 103, 111, 114, 119, 124-125, 131-133, 136.
- Thomas Pakenham, The Boer War, George Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1979. Abacus, 1992. ISBN 0 349 10466 2. Pages 447, 526, and 561.
References
- ↑ 1,0 1,1 1,2 1,3 1,4 1,5 1,6 Taffy & David Shearing, Commandant Scheepers and the search for his grave, published privately in 1999
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ Louis Creswicke, South Africa and the Transvaal War, volume VII
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ Johannes Meintjes, Sword in the Sand, Cape Town, Tafelberg,1969, p. 183.
- Английская Википедия
- 1878 births
- 1902 deaths
- Executed South African people
- Executed military leaders
- South African people convicted of murder
- Orange Free State military personnel killed in the Second Boer War
- People executed for murder
- People executed for war crimes
- People convicted of murder by the British military
- People executed by the British military by firing squad
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