Another tragic loss of life for the South African forces during the war was the Mendi sinking on 21 February 1917, when the troopship Mendi – while transporting 607 members of the South African Native Labour Corps from Britain to France – was struck and cut almost in half by another ship. The most costly action that the South African forces on the Western Front fought in was the Battle of Delville Wood in 1916 – of the 3,000 men from the brigade who entered the wood, only 768 emerged unscathed. South Africans and Rhodesians fight the Germans hand-to-hand in Delville Wood In 1920 South Africa received a League of Nations mandate to govern the former German colony and to prepare it for independence within a few year, however South African occupation continued, illegally, until 1990. The German troops stationed there eventually surrendered to the South African forces in July 1915. General Louis Botha, the then prime minister, faced widespread Afrikaner opposition to fighting alongside Great Britain so soon after the Second Boer War, and had to quell a militarily rebellion by some of the more extremist elements before he could send an expeditionary force of some 67,000 troops to invade German South West Africa (now Namibia). Although self-governing, South Africa, along with other Dominions such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand, were only semi-independent from Britain. Main article: Military history of South Africa during World War Iįollowing the British declaration of war against Germany on 4 August 1914, South Africa was an extension of the British war effort due to her status as a Dominion within the Empire. The authorised strength of the ACF and Coast Garrison Force was 25,155 and by 31 December actual strength stood at 23,462. In accordance with the 1912 Defence Act, the Active Citizen Force was established under Brig. Dorning says that '.the SAMR was in reality a military constabulary similar to the Cape Mounted Riflemen, tasked primarily with police work in their respective geographical areas.' : 3 In 19, the new 23,400-member Citizen Force was called on to suppress several industrial strikes on the Witwatersrand. Initially, the Permanent Force consisted of five regiments of the South African Mounted Riflemen (SAMR), each with a battery of artillery attached. For training purposes, the Union was divided into 15 military districts. Instead, half of the white males aged from 17 to 25 were drafted by lots into the ACF. The 1912 law also obligated all white males between seventeen and sixty years of age to serve in the military, but this was not strictly enforced as there were a large number of volunteers.
13) of 1912 established a Union Defence Force (UDF) that included a Permanent Force (or standing army) of career soldiers, an Active Citizen Force of temporary conscripts and volunteers as well as a Cadet organisation. See also: Military history of South AfricaĪfter the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, General Jan Smuts, the Union's first Minister of Defence, placed a high priority on creating a unified military out of the separate armies of the union's four provinces (the British Cape Colonial Forces, and the forces of the Natal Colony, the Transvaal, and the Orange River Colony). Through this system, young healthy members are being inducted into the regular and reserve forces every year. The rank/age structure of the army, which deteriorated desperately during the 1990s, is greatly improving through the Military Skills Development (MSDS) voluntary national service system. The Army is composed of roughly 40,100 regular uniformed personnel, augmented by 12,300 reserve force personnel. It is now becoming increasingly involved in peacekeeping efforts in southern Africa, often as part of wider African Union operations. The role of the Army was fundamentally changed by the upheavals of the early 1990s and after 1994 the Army became part of the new SANDF. It also played a key role in controlling sectarian political violence inside South Africa during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The army was involved in a long and bitter counter-insurgency campaign in Namibia from 1966 to 1990. It then fought as part of the wider British effort in both World War I and World War II, but afterwards was cut off from its long-standing Commonwealth ties with the ascension to power of the National Party in South Africa in 1948. The South African military evolved within the tradition of frontier warfare fought by Boer Commando ( militia) forces, reinforced by the Afrikaners' historical distrust of large standing armies. Its roots can be traced to its formation after the Union of South Africa was created in 1910. The South African Army is the ground warfare branch of the South African National Defence Force.
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