ADOLPH ZBORIL-AN AUSTRIAN OFFICERIN THE TRANSVAAL ARTILLERY

Whereas the German Major Richard Albrbcht,the Commander uf the Orange Free State Artil-lery, is a well-known figure of South African mili-tary history, this is not the case with CaptainAdolph ZboYil. ZboYil (a Czech name, pro-nounced 'Sbor-shil') from 1886 to 1893 held thesecond-highest rank in the Transvaal Artillery.Admittedly, his achievements were less spec-tacular - and convincing - than Albrecht's andhe left the Transvaal Artillery six years before theoutbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War. Still, itseems worthwhile to trace Zboiil's career,

Captain R.F.N. Albrecht, commander of the Orange Free ,State Artillery. (Photo: Cultural History Museum)

The happy fraternity days in Vienna

Adolph was a son of Jakob ZboYil, a business-man frory Zoptau in Moravia (then part of Aus-tria-Hungary, now Sobotin in the People's Re-public of Czechoslovakia). Adolph was born on10 October 1853; there were at least two broth-ers. Jakob Zboiil owned a wood- and steel tra-ding firm in Vienna and belonged to the well-to-do upper middle-class, His firm was the Viennarepresentation of several important industriesand Jakob Zboiil was a member of the Vienna

Erwin A. Schmidl*Spar-und Credit-Casse's (Vienna savings andcredit bank) council.

After high school, Adolph Zboiil studied engin-eering f rom 1869, first at the renowned Polytech-nikum in Zurich (Switzerland) and then in Munich(Bavaria). ln 1871, he returned to Vienna to con-tinue his studies at what was then lhe Polytechni-kum (now Technical University), starting with tle-winter semester 1 87 1 17 2.1)

A. Zbo1il as a student in Vienna, wearlng the cap andband of the "Alemannia" fraternity. (Photo: HR Dr. Rabe

via Schmidl)

Besides his studies, Zboiil was active in frater-nity life. ln Zurich, he had belonged to a short-lived fraternity called "Silesia", and he enteredthe Vienna "Alemannia"-fraternity on 29 January1872. Known by his Kneipname (fraternity name)"Stiefel" ("boot"), he soon wbn a reputation as agreat fighter with the sabre. One is tempted toassume that he devoted more time to his frater-nity than to his studies. ln September 1872,Zboiil became the "Alemannia's" Senior (similar

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46

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to the president of a club). German student-fra-ternities are now often regarded as a burlch ofhard-drinking, duelling lads, pre-Nazi in theirpolitical views, But whereas dueis were an im-portant part of the fraternity life (being thought ameans to train a student's character), and hard-drinking far from unknown, it would be wrong toreduce the fraternities to these stereotyped ima-ges. The fraternities of the 1870s were certainlyGerman-nationalistic and liberal, but neither anti-Semites (there were also several Jews in the"Alemannia") nor "small-German" in the Bis-marckian sense of the word. They favoured in-stead a "greater-Austrian" political order forCentral Europe. To ensure its conservativecharacter, the "Alemannia" was reconstituted asa Corps in December 1872, putting special em-phasis on the duel as a measure of strengthen-ing a student's personality and thus distancingitself from the "reformist" fraternities opposingthe duel. Between 1872 and 1876, Zboiil himselffought ten duels ("Mensuren";.2)

With the Austrian Artillery'1873 was an important year for Adolph Zboiil. lnMarch, he registered for military service. Thiswas compulsory and consisted of three yearsactive service, with a further nine years in thereserve. High school graduates could volunteerto serve only one instead of three years and,after passing several exams, become reserve-officer-candidates. Zboiil thus registered for ser-vice as a "one-year-volunteer" with the lnfantryRegiment No, 49

ln May 1873, however, his father apparently losthis fortune in the stock-market collapse whichreduced thousands of families to misery. Al-though he managed to retain his trading agency,Jakob Zboiil lost both his position with theVienna saving bank's council as well as hisagency's representations for several large com-panies. For Adolph ZboYil, this meant the loss ofthe considerable cheques from home.

ln the autumn of 1873, Adolph Zboiil started hismilitary service not with the infantry, but with theartillery. He joined the Fortress Artillery BattalionNo, 3 where he served for three years, first inVienna and then in Komarom (Hungary). Heprobably became a corporal/cadet-officer, butfailed to receive an officer's commission; unfor-tunately, the documents in the War Archives inVi€nna contain no further details of his rnilitaryservice.s)

Throughout this time, Zboiil was a non-activemember of the "Alemannia". ln late 1876, hecontinued his studies for a short time, but left forSwitzerland soon afterwards, working for the"lnstitution Techniques et Commerciale" at Stafanear Zurich. Later, he returned to Vienna to workat the State Railways' Machinenfabrik.

Out for Africa

Possibly due to the family's financial situation,the two elder Zboiil brothers, Adolph and Josef(born 1852) left Europe for South Africa in 1878or 1879. Josef is said to have fought with theBritish in the Zulu War of 1879 and later with thegarrison of Middelburg in 188'l , before settling inJohannesburg, Adolph, however, started in theCape Colony as a merchant.a)

The information that he fought witn tne Boers atMajuba has not been verified - it is more likelythat he immigrated to the Transvaal only in 1BB3or 1884, According to a romantic version, he hadto leave Cape Colony together with his fianc6e,Miss Edith Priddey (born 1864), because herparents had forbidden their marriage.

Before we continue with Adolph Zboiil's biogra-phy, we should perhaps mention that hisyounger brother, Eduard Wenzel Zboiil (born1857), a second lieutenant in the Austrian armyreserve, followed his brothers. He came to EastAfrica in early 1886 in the service of the GermanEast Africa Company, but already died there inDecember that year.5)

Joining the Transvaal Artillery

On B February 1886, Adolph Zboiil applied forthe vacant position of captain of the Transvaalartillery. On 1 July 1886, he was provisionallyappointed as "administrateur en Adjutant vanhet Rijdende Artillerie en Politiekorps der Zuid-Afrikaanschen Republiek". This appointmentwas made definitive in December, Zboiil's salarybeing t275,00 a year.6)

Nonetheless, Zboiil kept his small businesswhich he had probably started soon after immi-grating to the Transvaal, his most importantgoods being gunpowder and brandy.zl

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Zboiil's application for the vacant post ol captain and administrateur of the Transvaal artillery, Pretoria, I February 1886(Source: Transvaal Archives Depot, SS 1237: R 3017/86, p. 23)

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ln 1886, the Transvaal artillery had about aCczen guns (which qualified for any army mu-seurn, as Adolf Schiel, who joined the artillery in1BBB, noted later) and numbered six officers and120 other ranks,s) Commanding officer wasCommandant Henning Pretorius - Captain Zboiilwas the second-ranking officer and apparentlythe only one with European military training.Zboiil obviously tried to improve the organizationand efficiency of the Transvaal artillery: alreadyon the day after his appointment he demandedadditions to the artillery barracks in Pretoria.e) Hehad the oxen (which were still used to draw atleast some of the guns) replaced with horsesand when Adolf Schiel, a former Prussran Hus-sar, became Lieutenant in 18BB-89, Zboiil's re-formist ideas had better chances of realizationthan before. According to Schiel's memoirs,Zboiil had not managed to convince his su-periors, notably Commandant-General Piet Jou-bert, of the importance of a modern and efficient

Capt A. Zboiil (standing, left), together withCommandant Henning Pretorius, the commandet ol theTransvaal Rydende Artillerie en Politiekorps, ca. 1890.

(Photo: Africana Museum, Johannesburg)

::-.r,' j..{;r,:!lillil,.i:i:i

Transvaal artillery in lront ol the artillery barracks in Potgieter Street(Photo: Cultural History Museum)

artillery force - and, despairing, devoted moretime to his "remarkably beautiful wife" than to the

Among Zboiil's more interesting contributions tothe South African military history ranks the "yze-ren fortje" or "yzercn forten" (iron forts) which hedesigned in 1887. These forts were made ofheavy armour plates which were transportableand could be put together comparatively easily.The walls and roof of armour plates must havemade conditions inside quite hot for the 20 or 23soldiers who found place (and refuge) in the fort.Altogether at least three forts were made and thefirst of these were dispatched to Klipdam and .Pietersburg in April 1888. One of the forts, "FortHendrina", is today preserved as a nationalmonument in Louis Trichardt.ll)

Austrian uniforms for the TransvaalArtillery

ln the 19th century, military efficiency was oftenregarded as synonymous with smart appear-ance. (ln fact, these views are still aired today,despite the fact that, for example, the lsraeliDefence Forces have demonstrated most clearlythat smart uniforms are not necessarily a pre-requisite for military success). Whatever the re-

artillery,lo) Still- and despite their later rivalries -Schiel wrote rather fondly of Zboiil.

J

Heavy artillery were tare in the eaily years of the South African Republic. Ptesident T.F. Burgers (with top hat) wasnevertheless interested in the founding of an artillery unit and even bought guns abroad in 1874. Here a shot is fired,with

a muzzle loading gun. This was one of the firct pieces which was acquhed by the Transvaal Artillery(Photo: Cultural History Museum)

Iationship between combat-effectivity and smartoutlook might be, the Transvaal artillery of themid-1BBOs sadly lacked both. Less than com-pletely successful in enhancing the unit's militaryefficiency, Zboiil at least managed to acquirenew uniforms for his men. As he was Austrian bybirth (and, until 1891 , also by citizenship), it wasprobably only logical that he had these uniformsmade of typical Austrian cut, some items evenbeing manufactured in Vienna.

The uniform came in two versions, of dark bluecloth for winter and parade wear and of lightsand-grey drill for summer and field dress. Ofrather loose-fitting cut, the jackets had two shirtpockets and a low standing collar The facingcolour was sky blue - which was remarkable atleast: Most artillery forces tended to adopt "sym-bolic" facing colours such as red (Britain, Aus-tria, and many others), black and red (Prussia),or yellow and black (ltaly) But sky blue? lt is notclear who opted for the sky blue facings, but,considering Zboiil's background, two explana-tions are possible, Dark blue uniforms with skyblue facings were worn by one of the proudest

50

Transvaal artillery, tield service dress, ca, 1890(Photo: SADF Documentation Service, Neg. No.700/7/02)

regiments of the Austro-Hungarian Army, thefamous lnfantry Regiment No, 4, "Hoch-undDeutschmeister'. This regiment was recruited inVienna ("Wiener Hausregiment") - but as Zbofilhimself had no affiliations with this regiment, thispossibility is less than completely convincing,More likely is another explanation: Zboiii's stu-dent fraternity was known as the "blue Aleman-nia", sky blue being the distinguishing colour oftechnical faculties. The "Alemannia" had skyblue caps and fraternity students wore a narrowband beneath their jackets; this band wasstriped black-blue-gold. Although we have noproof of this thesis, it appears possible thatZboiil chose sky blue facings as a reminder ofhis student days, And as artillery was alwaysconsidered a "technical" arm, this choice wouldhave been a quite logical one, too.

These blue or sand-grey jackets were matchedby blue visored caps of typical Austrian designand blue or sand-grey breeches, worn with

Sergeant and Gunner of the Transvaal artillery. Thesoldiers' names are given as J, Myburg and D, Krige. AsJacobus Petrus Daniel Kriger (!) served with the artillery

from May 1891 through July 1895, and JohannesMatheus Myburg lrom November 1893 through June

1894, we can assume that Kriger (or Kilge) is thesergeant and that this picture was taken in early 1894.

Note the setgeant's insignia of rank: three starc on eachcollar and three chevrons on the right forcarm. (Photo:

Transvaal Archives Depot, Neg. Nr,8423)

black boots. A white sun helmet, sabre (for themounted gunners and non-commissioned offi-cers) or short straight sword (for the non-mounted gunners), and carbine or revolver com-pleted the outfit. As rank-badges, non-commis-sioned officers had at first one, two or three six-pointed stars (cut from white cloth) on each col-lar, supplemented by an equal number of goldchevrons on the right forearm. Later, the starswere abolished and the chevrons worn on botharms.

Officers wore the black Austrian officers' capsand dark blue Hussar-style patrol jackets wlthblack braiding across the chest and sky bluefacings, their rank being inoicateo by golo six-pointed stars on the coilar in typical Austrianfashion. Again. their stiff caps were mooeilec onthe Austrian example. only the Emperor's initials("FJl" for Franz Joseph l.) were repiaceo by the

-Dark blue tunic (below, left) with light blue piping and facings, as worn by the Transvaat artiilery in the early 1g90s.

Some photographs show grenade insignia on the shoulder straps and a cap in dark blue with tidht btue turiups. TheNCO's insignia of rank (the chevrons on both arms) were only introduced around 1894, belore that date the chevrons

wete worn on the right arm only

ffifr

Field-dress of khaki/light grey colour with sky blue facings (top, right). The sunhelmet was apparently of off-white/khakicolour and had a characteristic lion's head-badge in front, used to hook up the chin-strap. Note the black belt and short

sword apparently worn by gunners not mounted, The sabre worn by mounted gunners is shown below

Officer's pouch, showing the ZAR lefters (from an original in the National Museum of Military Histoty, Saxonwotd)

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familiar letters "2,A,R." on the cap's rosette. Offi-cers carried sabres, of course. ln addition, asilver-plated pouch, bearing the letters "Z.A.R.',was worn on a silver pouch-belt over the leftshoulder - which followed the Austrian patternso closely that for the pouch's sides the Austriandesign was used without modifications, down tothe double-headed eagle motrve on the flags.l2)

Corporal of the Transvaal artillery. This photogrcphshows to good advantage the Austrian field cap (with therosette bearing the letters "ZAR) in sky blue colour withblack visor and the lield blouse with the two stars on thecollar. (Photograph: SADF Documentation Seruice, Neg.

Nr.7000/7/65)

Altogether, these uniforms were smart but prac-tical and less cumbersome to wear than somecontemporary designs - we have only to think ofthe "Prussian" full dress uniforms worn by theOranje Vrystaat artillerymen! They were worn forabout eight years until replaced by the better-known braided blue hussar-style tunics in thelate 1890s. The sand-coloured field blouseswere worn even longer, well into the SecondAnglo-Boer War. The Austrian officers' rankbadges were copied by the Z.A.R.-Police as wellas by most volunteer corps raised in the Trans-vaal in the 1890s. Even burgher officers in thecommandos sometimes wore these badges ofrank.

The Final Years

When Lieutenant Schiel left the artillery in June1BB9 to become native-commissioner of the

As the police was part of the artillery, policemen worethe same uniforms, Note the difference in equipment

between these two policemen whose names are given asS. du Plessis and J. Badenhorst. (Photograph: Transvaal

Archives Depot, Neg. Nr. 8477)

Spelonken district in the northern Transvaal, hewas promoted captain - which Zboiil who heldthe same rank, constdered an affront. Two yearslater the rivalries between Zboiil and Schiel be-came public when the Administrateur accusedhis former lieutenant of abusing the powers ofhis office. During an inspection tour to Fort Hen-drina in October 1891, Zboiil was told that ablack maid of Schiel had been hit so hard by heremployer that she died soon afterwards. Zboiilinitiated an official investigation in the course ofwhich more allegations were brought up againstSchiel. According to the German, however, thegirl had tried to commit "indecent acts" with hisfive-year-old son, having pulled down his trou-sers. When Schiel had noticed this, he hadwhipped the girl and then sent her off to a localinduna. Three months later, in July 1891, the girlhad mysteriously died - and, as Schiel put it, therumours linking him to the girl's death were un-founded and set up by merchants hostile tohim.r3)

Schiel was finally acquitted of the charges. Zbo-iil was said to have abused his official position toharm Schiel, although from the documents it

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would seem that Zboiil's allegations were notcompletely unfounded. The rumours aboutSchiel's behaviour never died and were againbrought forward in 1898, when signatures werecollected to protest Schiel's appointment ashead of the Transvaal prison service.la)

ln the same year the Schiel affair took place,Zboiil finally became full citizen of the SouthAfrican Republic on 6 November 1891.15) Hisrelations with his superiors deteriorated, how-ever. This was in part due to his being oftendrunk and altogether showing a behaviour "dieonhoudbaar is voor 'n Afrikaner", as a commis-sion appointed to inquire into the state of theartillery concluded.lu) Zbofil consequently wasrelieved of his duties. From late 1893, LieutenantJ.W. Bosman served as acting Administrateurotthe artillery. ln February 1894, ZboYil finally re-signed his commission.lT)

On to RhodesiaAlready a civilian, Zboiil took part in the Mal-aboch campaign of 1894, joining the comman-dos as a sutler.18) At the same time, he had thedubious pleasure to see his rival Schiel ap-pointed as his successor.ls)

Probably in 1895, Adolph Zboiil left the Trans-vaal and went north to the territories of the BritishSouth Africa Company. When the uprisingstarted in Matabeleland in 1896, he volunteeredto serve as a trooper with the Umtali Contingent,On 27 June 1896, he died of sunstroke at Salis-bury (now Harare, Zimbabwe).zoi His widow,then 33 years old, married Johannes A.F, Fichon 11 August 1897 in Johannesburg, leaving forCape Town soon afterwards.2l)

GonclusionsIt is difficult to present a fair assessment of Zbo- -

iil's achievements as administrator of the Trans-vaal artillery. He failed to transform the odd col-lection of old guns he found in 1886 into a mod-ern artillery force - but given the conditions pre-vailing in the Transvaal at the time, this wasprobably a task demanding super-human ener-gies: it was not until the Jameson Raidbf 1895/96 that the need for a modern and efficient artil-lery force of European standard was recognizedby most Boers. Zboiil laid the foundations on

which his successors were able to reform theStaatsartillerie into the 6lite force which becamejustly famous during the Anglo-Boer War oi1 899-1 902.

. Dr Erwin A. Schmidl is a historian at the Austrian Army Museum in Vienna.

2

Noles:

1. I am very much indebted to the late HofratDr. Walter Rabe, the noledAustrian student historian, who supplied most of the data for Zboiil'sEuropean career. See also Zboiil's letter to Cdt.-Gen. J0ubert, 1886February B (Transvaal Archives Depot- thereafter: 148- SS 1237: R

301786, CR 131/86).

2. This information comes from Dr Rabe's files, who also authored a shortbiography ol Zboiil recently, emphasizing his role ln the "Alemannia":"Adoll Zboiil - Wiener Alemannen-senior und Capitlin der Burenartille-rie". ln'. Corps Alenannia Wien zu Linz - Corpsnachrichtm, No 245(1980), l3-22, and 253 (1 8Z), 13-18.

3. Zboiil's Grundbuchsblatt: lsterreichisches Staatsarchiv/Kriegurchiv,Vienna: GB Wien (vor 1865). For his help in tracing this document andan entry in the War Ministry's registers about his transler from theinfantry to the artillery, I am gratelul to Dr Rainer Egger ol the WarArchives.

4. Thls inlormation comes lrom a newspaper clipping, dated 29 August

1887 (unfortunately the newspapels name is not given), which Dr Rabe

found in the "Alemannia's" liles: "Der 'Fuchsmajor' im Transvaali"Fuchsmajol' relers to Adolph Zboiil's activities as instructor t0 ju{ror

fraternity members. According to the "Alemannia's" address lists ol

1881 and 1883, Zboiil lived in Molteno (Districl Albert), Cape Colony.

5. ibid. and Eduard Zboiil's personal files (Kriegsarchiv, Vienna: GB Abg.

lV-5/174 and Qualillkationslisten, Fasz. 3348).

6 I,4& SS 1237: R301//86, pp, 19-21. Over the years, Zboiil's salaryrose to f450,00.

7, As fn. 4, tB. Adolf Schiel, 23 Jahre Sturn und Sonnenschein in SAdafrika (Le:ipzig

F.A, Brockhaus, 1901), 176; 0.J.0, Ferreira (ed), Geschiedenis Werkenen Streven van S.P.E. Trichard (Preloria: Human Sciences Research

Council,1975),80.0n the Staatsartillerie: D.J. Haupt, "Die Staatsartillerie van die Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek", MA thesis, Pretoria 1946.

See also: "Die Staatsartillerie van die ZAR", Militaria612 (1976), 1-15and Jan Ploeger, "Uit die geskiedenis van die 'Corps Staatsartillerie'vandie Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek", Militaria 1514 (1985), 1 -10.

9. I/Bi SS 1243: R 3256/86.

10, Schiel, 23 Jahre, 175.

11. Letter Cdt-Gen to Cdr/RA&P, Pretoria, 1888 Aprll 10 (L4B: SS 1666:R5853/88) For additional comments I am indebted to Colonel (ret.) Dr

Jan Ploeger, who contributed immensely to my research, as well as toMr Schoeman ol the National l\4onuments Council, Pretoria, who kindlysupplied me with further data on Fort Hendrina. Remaining parts of the"old" iron forts were removed from the Staatsartillerie Camp in 1897(14& KG 250: CR 4657/1897)

12. This descripti0n has been put together from various photographs and

original uniform items - and I wish to thank the staffs ol the Alricana

Museum and the National Museum ol lvltlitary History (both Johannes-

burg), the Military lVluseum Fort Klapperkop (Pretoria) and the Boer

Republics' War Museum (Bloemfontein) as well as the SADF's lnforma-

tion Bureau for their help. For additional inlormation I am indebted to

lViss Fiona Barbour, Prol Dr J,H.G. de Villiers and Mr A.B. Walmsley.

See also Trlchard's memoirs (as fn. B), p. 81.

13. I/B SS 2989 and 2990. The documents relating to this investigation filln0 less than two volumes! See also Melt van Niekerk, "Adolf Schiel en

die Duitse Kommando", Argiefjaarboek vr r Suid-Afrikaanse Geskiedenis1412 (1551), 35-208, here 61 -64.

14, See 1,4& SS 2990: CR 1085, pp. 77ff. Although it is very difficult to -assess these documents altei n'early 100 yeais, I cannoi share VanrNiekerk's harsh condemnation ol "Zboiil se laakbare poging om Schiel

15.

16,

17.

18,

te benadeel" (p. 64).

I/& SS 3011: R 11529/91

D.J. Haupt, "Die Staatsartillerie van die Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek" ln:

Historiese Studies, Vol.8 (April, 1948), 175-191, here 186.

Il& SS 4017: R 14255/93.

TAB. KG 78. CR 1 630/94 and KG 1 1 1 : CR 1 236/95. 0n this campaign

Zboiil lost his saddle and gun and demanded reimbursement from the

Commandant-General,

Jaarrappo( van den Commandant-Generaal over 1894 (L B: ZAR-Publ.

Vol,111).

A death certilicate is in IIB SS 6661: R 11517/97. For addilonalinformation, I am indebted to the staff of the National Archives of

Zimbabwe who were most helpful in establishing the events surrounding

Zboiil's death.

21. 148: SS 6433: R 7119/97 and SS 6661: R 11517/97.

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20.

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