Machine gun - van Niekerk

[klem]

The story of The van Niekerk machine gun is not too detailed. What we do know is that he was a blacksmith named Everit van Niekerk from Fixburg in Orange Republic, that he made a machine gun of his own design ,machine mounted and based on the water cooled Mauser cannon ,no one knows if this machine gun was used on a battlefield when and where only that it was captured by Cape Horse Riflemen on May 23, 1900 .

 

[kaiserbill]

Just a minor correction:
It's Ficksburg in the Orange Free State, which was one of the Boer republics.

Interesting post!

 

[Frank111]

Heard about this story somewhere, but never had more information. The funny part is that one finds more hidden gems in Russian books than any other place. Once found more info on South African Vehicles in Russian than our own archives and websites in South Africa.

 

[kaiserbill]

Some of the Russian language forums are also a wealth of information, apart from the books.
Some of it gets lost through the online translator I use, but still...

 

[fortrena]

The following info might be of interest but confirmation of its accuracy would be appreciated.

Evert van Niekerk apparently put together his water cooled weapon in a blacksmith shop in Ficksburg, Orange Free State (OFS), operated by a certain Dan Deetlefs. The work was seemingly completed no later than 1899. During an early trial, perhaps held in Ficksburg, that carriage-mounted (and mechanically operated?) device might have achieved a rate of fire of 130 rounds per minute. The president of the OFS, Marthinus Theunis Steyn, was present at another demonstration, held elsewhere in the OFS.

The Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, Cecil John Rhodes, might have been impressed enough by van Niekerk's rapid fire weapon to offer him a sizeable sum of money. The outbreak of the Boer War, in October 1899, put an end to that idea - if the whole thing was more than a mere rumour of course.

Van Niekerk's weapon was apparently put to use in combat for the first time in May 1900 during a battle near Hammonia, OFS, between British forces led by Brigadier General Edward Yewd Brabant and Boer forces led by Commandant Cornelis Janse de Villiers. The British prevailed and the Boer had to withdraw. For some reason or other, they left van Niekerk's weapon behind. The latter, who was presumably operating his invention at the time, might have removed parts of it to make it unusable.

The British forces took the van Niekerk's weapon with them, as a war prize, and put in on display at Cape Town, Cape Colony, for some time. It was shipped to Pretoria, Transvaal, around 1930 but went missing at some point in the 1930s.

Later promoted to the rank of lieutenant (field cornet?), van Niekerk played an important role during the guerrilla phase of the Boer War which began around September 1900. The use he made of captured military equipment allegedly annoyed the British military to such an extent that orders went out that any piece of equipment which had to be left behind be buried so that he and his team would not find it. Mind you, he was also involved in a number of skirmishes.

 

[HoHun]

Hi Fortrena,

During an early trial, perhaps held in Ficksburg, that carriage-mounted (and mechanically operated?) device might have achieved a rate of fire of 130 rounds per minute.

It seems most of the mechanism is out in the open. It appears to be a hand-cranked repeating gun, not an automatic machine gun. I'm not quite sure what to make of the two photographs, but in combination with the smaller one from the Russian book, it looks like a manuall operated toggle lock. I wonder if the extra arm on the left-hand side of the crank is a lever to trigger the gun in a certain crank position, but I don't quite get what the curve track is for. I guess it has to be some way to introduce a bit of "dead" crank throw for the phase in which the breech is locked for firing, but I have no idea how to align that idea with the pictures

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

 

[EPBekker]

The following info might be of interest but confirmation of its accuracy would be appreciated.

Evert van Niekerk apparently put together his water cooled weapon in a blacksmith shop in Ficksburg, Orange Free State (OFS), operated by a certain Dan Deetlefs. The work was seemingly completed no later than 1899. During an early trial, perhaps held in Ficksburg, that carriage-mounted (and mechanically operated?) device might have achieved a rate of fire of 130 rounds per minute. The president of the OFS, Marthinus Theunis Steyn, was present at another demonstration, held elsewhere in the OFS.

The Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, Cecil John Rhodes, might have been impressed enough by van Niekerk's rapid fire weapon to offer him a sizeable sum of money. The outbreak of the Boer War, in October 1899, put an end to that idea - if the whole thing was more than a mere rumour of course.

Van Niekerk's weapon was apparently put to use in combat for the first time in May 1900 during a battle near Hammonia, OFS, between British forces led by Brigadier General Edward Yewd Brabant and Boer forces led by Commandant Cornelis Janse de Villiers. The British prevailed and the Boer had to withdraw. For some reason or other, they left van Niekerk's weapon behind. The latter, who was presumably operating his invention at the time, might have removed parts of it to make it unusable.

The British forces took the van Niekerk's weapon with them, as a war prize, and put in on display at Cape Town, Cape Colony, for some time. It was shipped to Pretoria, Transvaal, around 1930 but went missing at some point in the 1930s.

Later promoted to the rank of lieutenant (field cornet?), van Niekerk played an important role during the guerrilla phase of the Boer War which began around September 1900. The use he made of captured military equipment allegedly annoyed the British military to such an extent that orders went out that any piece of equipment which had to be left behind be buried so that he and his team would not find it. Mind you, he was also involved in a number of skirmishes.

 

[EPBekker]

Hi Good day

I am Evert Phillip Bekker
The above is true
Evert Phillippus Scheepers Van Niekerk was the father of my late Great grandmother Stoffelina Johanna Claudia (Van Niekerk) Bekker
He was a Gunsmith in Ficksburg OFS working for a certain Mr Deetlifs.

After the Anglo Boer War he went back to Ficksburg and Fouriesburg towns and was involved in rebuilding these towns.
There is still a photo of him with the VanNiekerk machine gun in the Family as well as a newspaper clipping

Regards Evert Bekker

 

[kaiserbill]

There is still a photo of him with the VanNiekerk machine gun in the Family as well as a newspaper clipping

Regards Evert Bekker

Welcome, Evert.

Is the photo in your family one of the pics in the beginning of this thread, or an additional, new one?

 

[EPBekker]

The story of The van Niekerk machine gun is not too detailed. What we do know is that he was a blacksmith named Everit van Niekerk from Fixburg in Orange Republic, that he made a machine gun of his own design ,machine mounted and based on the water cooled Mauser cannon ,no one knows if this machine gun was used on a battlefield when and where only that it was captured by Cape Horse Riflemen on May 23, 1900 .

The one on the right is within my family