Andries Gerhardus de Wet (district of Carnarvon, Cape Colony, 5 July 1876 – Windhoek, South West Africa, 26 April 1930) was a South African soldier and founder of the Vrykorps in German South West Africa which tried to overthrow the British-aligned government of the Union of South Africa to establish German rule.
Early life and education
De Wet was the son of the field cornet Pieter Gerhardus de Wet and his wife, Magdalena Judith Keet, and a cousin of General Christiaan de Wet (Pieter was the brother of Christiaan's father, Jacobus Ignatius de Wet). His education began at a farm school followed by primary school in Carnarvon, after which he studied with A. G. Visser at the Memorial School of the Huguenots in Dal Josafat, where they became close friends. After graduation, he returned to his hometown to farm, though according to one source, he was hired by the Cape Colony government at a young age as a plunge dip inspector of cattle.
Second Boer War
In 1895, he moved to the South African Republic, where he and his friend Koos Jooste made a name for themselves as record-setting champion cyclists on the Pretoria-to-Cape-Town race. In September 1899, he and Jooste helped Daniel Theron establish his cyclist scout corps. In December 1899, once he was promoted to a lieutenant, De Wet was ordered by Theron at the head of 25 men to the front at Colesberg and from there to Stormberg, Northern Cape. De Wet and Jooste criticized the government for not stationing troops in Colesberg and advocated an expedition to the northwestern districts of the Cape to foment anti-colonial rebellion and thereby cut off the British connection to the South. Initially refusing his counsel, the SAR government eventually adopted his plan.
De Wet accompanied the expedition led by Gen. P. J. Liebenberg and Comm. Lucas Steenkamp, which set out by the end of January 1900. During February and March 1900, De Wet was active in organizing revolts in Prieska, Upington, and Kenhardt, and was promoted to commandant. The surrender of Gen.Piet Cronjé at Paardeberg on 27 February 1900, and the fall of Bloemfontein on 13 March 1900 obligated Republican forces to retreat quickly south of the Orange River. De Wet then helped defend the Orange Free State from British forces. He joined the Afrikaner Cavalry Corps when Comm. Abraham Malan founded it.
Exile and return
With the dissolution of his unit, De Wet sailed for Europe out of Delagoa Bay. A serious surgery left him out of active service but he often spoke publicly about the war, championing a road through German South West Africa to help Boer representatives in Europe supply Boer troops in South Africa. By July 1901, he was well enough to return to the SAR with the help of its envoy, Willem Johannes Leyds. De Wet continued to function as the intermediary between Boer leadership at home and abroad. After a difficult trip through German South West Africa, he joined the commanders in the Cape in October 1901 and served on the staff of Gen. Jan Smuts, until a serious injury put him out of commission once more.
At the end of the war, refusing to submit to British authority, he fled with Gen. Manie Maritz, Com. (later Gen.) Edwin A. Conroy, Com. Jacob Petrus Neser, and High Com. Hendrik Lategan to German South West Africa. From there, they sailed out from Swakopmund on 30 July 1902. Hugging the west coast of Africa, they called port in Victoria, Kamerun (then another German colony, where they boarded another ship traveling via Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Madeira, and Southampton to Hamburg, where he received a hero's welcome on German soil on August 29. The party travelled by train to Berlin where they hoped to meet their heroes, generals Christiaan de Wet, Koos de la Rey, and Louis Botha on the latter's European tour. However, the latter Boer generals would only visit the German capital afterwards, and therefore the company went to the Netherlands where Neser rented them rooms with money borrowed from Cape loyalist Jan du Plessis. While in a hospital, De Wet began and soon completed a book on his wartime experiences. The sources are unclear as to whether this is the same as Die Buren in der Kapkolonie im Kriege mit England ("Neighbors in Cape Colony at War with England," published in Munich, which he wrote Van Doomik and Du Plessis.
De Wet, who accepted German citizenship, was already beginning to organize massive Boer settlement in German Southwest Africa. He had already negotiated with the German government for land where Boer refugees could live, but was stymied by lack of funds. In 1903, he returned to farm in South West Africa, still unwilling to live under the British flag, and became a leader in the local Afrikaner community.