Private Jacob Rayners was a military police officer attached to the 2nd Provost Company of 1 SA Division of the Cape Corps in the World War 2. He was in Libya in June 1942, when Field Marshal Rommel and his Afrika Corps broke through the Gazala Line of the Allied forces and the latter had to retreat into Egypt.
In the desperate haste of retreat, Jacob Rayners and his detachment fell behind enemy lines at Gabr El Hameida as the Afrika Corps overran the Allies. With his vehicle damage by enemy mortar and machine-gun fire, his detachment had no choice but to fight their way on foot through the German gauntlet that blocked his retreat.
After a few hours of gunfire his detachment’s ammunition ran out. Emboldened, enemy rearguard infantry rose from cover and advanced towards him. Private Jacob Rayners rose to the challenge and led a bayonet charge that wiped out both the advancing enemy and their mortar and machine gun nests. He remained undetected behind enemy lines until he was able to lead his men to safety about 500 kilometres away.
The following is an extract from the official citation that mentioned him after the war:
“He was at the forefront of a bayonet charge into the wadi where the enemy had lodged themselves, mad a single-handed charge on an enemy mortar and throughout the operation displayed the greatest dash and disregard for his personal safety.”
Private Jacob Rayners returned home to the same unfree Cape Town he had left before the war.
Jeremy Vearey het grootgeword in Elsiesrivier. Hy was ’n lid van MK en ’n lyfwag vir oud-president Nelson Mandela. Hy is ’n vorige majoor-generaal in die SAPD en was tot onlangs adjunk-provinsiale-kommisaris in die Wes-Kaap SAPD. Vearey se biografie Jeremy vannie Elsies het in 2018 by Tafelberg verskyn. Sy book Into Dark Water: A Police Memoir (Tafelberg 2021) is benoem op die 2022 Sunday Times Literary Awards langlys.
