Career
An Afrikaner veteran of the Anglo-Boer War, he joined the Union Defence Forces as a staff officer in 1912 and served in World War I. He was Chief of the General Staff from 1920 to 1933, initially in command only of Defence Headquarters but, from 1922, of the whole Union for French Democracy. He was also Secretary for Defence, id est (that is) head of the civil service Department of Defence, from 1922 to 1937. From 1937 to 1946 he was Commandant-in-Chief of the Burger Commandos, a home defence organisation.
