Several members of the State Artillery of the Boer forces were captured around the same time as Hermann Gustav Thiel and several of them ended up with him on Morgans Island in Bermuda where this photo was taken and eventually included in his Memorial Album.

One of Hermann Thiel’s fellow non-commissioned officers on the photo is Joubert Reitz who he also referred to twice in his diary of the period of their active participation in the war.

The first occurred before the destruction of the Long Tom gun on 25 April 1901.

He describes the occasion as follows:

25^th April
Luit. Du Toit. young Reits (son of state sec) and myself asked over to Hanertsburg by Justice of Peace Mr Obelt to spend the day. Drove over about 9 o’clock and spent morning in an enjoyable game of whist. After hearty dinner, which we thoroughly enjoyed spent afternoon in singing and piano playing. Miss Schleischer, stepdaughter of Obelt, contributing much to the pleasures of the music.

The second reference to Joubert Reitz occurred after the destruction of the Long Tom and in his last entry in his diary before their capture by the enemy:

Crossed several large rivers specially the Groot Letaba through which we nearly all had to swim. Had great difficulty to bring the waggons through as there are three separate streams and all swift-running. Here I met a very old acquaintance, Max Jung. A man I last saw in Kimberley in ‘85. He was very glad to see me and was very hearty introducing me to his better half who stood us all a royal treat on guavas. Wasn’t that a treat. We were eating guavas for several hours. Here we also had another treat namely something for the inner man a bit stronger than water in the evening. Max Jung invited Luit. Du Toit, Reitz and myself to tea and we enjoyed ourselves very much. The next day we departed with our trek. Mrs Jung making me a present of a hundred guavas and a piece of Lever soap. Before we left we heard that we were totally surrounded by the enemy so we took a small road not used for years and as Max told us, quite impossible to use as it is a complete marsh or bog and our –

Hermann Thiel and Joubert Reitz had in common that they both had an excellent command of the English language and that they were both relatively young. Hermann Thiel was only 21 when the war started and Joubert Reitz was only 19. His brother Deneys Reitz was 2 years younger and later became well known for writing the excellent text for the classic book “Commando – A Boer Journal of the Anglo Boer-War” while in exile in Madagascar in1902. The book was published in 1929. Their father F.W. Reitz was a member of parliament of the Cape Colony, Chief Justice and fifth State President of the Orange Free State and was State Secretary of the South African Republic at the time of the Anglo-Boer War.

After the war Joubert Reitz returned home and practised as a lawyer in Potchefstroom where he passed away in 1919. He published stories and poems about his war experiences. The poem “Long Tom” by him is in the handwriting of Hermann Gustav Thiel and undersigned by Joubert Reitz on Morgans Island Bermuda in September 1901.  Hermann Thiel included the poem in his Memorial Album, and it was probably not published elsewhere.