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2nd South African Infantry Brigade
The 2nd South African Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the army of the Union of South Africa during World War II. The Brigade formed part of the 1st South African Infantry Division and was formed on 13 August 1940. It served in East Africa and the Western Desert and was disbanded on 1 January 1943. In September 1939 Niehorster lists the brigade as being part of Eastern Province Command. In the East African Campaign, the Brigade was led by Brigadier F.L.A. Buchanan and consisted of: * 1st Natal Mounted Rifles * 1st Field Force Battalion * 2nd Field Force Battalion * No. 2 S.A. Armoured Car Company * 12th Field Company, SA Corps of Engineers * 12th Field Ambulance, SA Medical Corps * No. 2 Mobile General Workshops, SA Technical Services Corps * 3 Brigade Signals Company, SA Corps of Signals During the Western Desert Campaign (at the time of the Second Battle of El Alamein), the Officer Commanding was Brig. W.H.E. Poole and the brigade comprised the foll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Union Of South Africa
The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange River colonies. It included the territories that were formerly a part of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. Following World War I, the Union of South Africa was a signatory of the Treaty of Versailles and became one of the founding members of the League of Nations. It was conferred the administration of South West Africa (now known as Namibia) as a League of Nations mandate. It became treated in most respects as another province of the Union, but it never was formally annexed. Like Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the Union of South Africa was a self-governing dominion of the British Empire. Its full sovereignty was confirmed with the Balfour Declaration of 1926 and the Statute of Westminster 1931. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military History Of South Africa During World War II
During World War II, many South Africans saw military service. The Union of South Africa participated with other British Empire forces in battles in North Africa against Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps, and many South African pilots joined the Royal Air Force and fought against the Axis powers in the European theatre. Political choices at outbreak of war On the eve of World War II, the Union of South Africa found itself in a unique political and military quandary. While it was closely allied with the United Kingdom, being a co-equal Dominion under the 1931 Statute of Westminster with its head of state being the British king, the South African Prime Minister and head of government on 1 September 1939 was J.B.M. Hertzog – the leader of the pro-Afrikaner and anti-British National Party. The National Party had joined in a unity government with the pro-British South African Party of Jan Smuts in 1934 as the United Party. After Adolf Hitler's forces attacked Poland on 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Infantry Brigades Of South Africa In World War II
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine infantry. Although disused in modern times, heavy infantry also commonly made up the bulk of many historic armies. Infantry, cavalry, and artillery have traditionally made up the core of the combat arms professions of various armies, with the infantry almost always comprising the largest portion of these forces. Etymology and terminology In English, use of the term ''infantry'' began about the 1570s, describing soldiers who march and fight on foot. The word derives from Middle French ''infanterie'', from older Italian (also Spanish) ''infanteria'' (foot soldiers too inexperienced for cavalry), from Latin '' īnfāns'' (without speech, newborn, foolish), from which English also gets '' infant''. The individual-soldier term ''infantry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Town Highlanders Regiment
The Cape Town Highlanders is a reserve mechanised infantry regiment of the South African Army. History Origins Descendants of Scottish immigrants to South Africa raised the Cape Town Highlanders in 1885. On 24 April of the same year, their services were accepted – since then, this date has always been celebrated as the regiment's official birthday. Bechuanaland Campaign The regiment first saw active duty during the Bechuanaland Campaign that was fought in the Northern Cape in 1896. Anglo-Boer War At the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War the regiment was again mobilised for active duty. During the war the regiment or elements thereof took part in several actions, including the relief of Kimberley. Volunteer era The Duke of Connaught and Strathearn became colonel-in-chief of the regiment in 1906, and the regiment's name was thus changed to the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn's Own Cape Town Highlanders. With the Union Defence Force When the regiment was embodied in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natal Mounted Rifles
NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (other), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony (1843–1910) ** Natal (province), a former province (1910–1994) ** KwaZulu-Natal, a province (since 1994) * Mandailing Natal Regency, a regency in Indonesia ** Natal, North Sumatra, a town in the above regency * Natal, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province, Iran * Natal, British Columbia, a coal-mining community in the East Kootenay region of Canada Biology * Of or relating to birth ** Childbirth * Natal banana frog, a species of frog (''Afrixalus spinifrons'') * Natal dwarf puddle frog, a species of frog (''Phrynobatrachus natalensis'') * Natal ghost frog, a species of frog (''Heleophryne natalensis'') * Natal sand frog, a species of frog (''Tomopterna natalensis'') Military * Ingobamakhosi Carbineers, an infantry regiment of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Province Command
Eastern Province Command was a command of the South African Army. History Origin Under the Union Defence Force In 1939, South Africa was originally divided under the Union Defence Force into 9 military districts. At the time, the command was headquartered at East London and comprised 2nd Infantry Brigade and 5 and 6 Batteries of the Permanent Garrison Artillery. Districts to Commands Under the SADF, Northern Transvaal Command was originally split into an eastern and western sector while Northern Cape had to be created from scratch. The Southern Cape Command was merged with Western Cape. The Officers commanding the new Commands were usually Brigadiers all units in those areas fell under them as far as training, housing, administration, discipline and counter insurgency was concerned. Operations In 1980, Eastern Province Command and 6 SAI engaged in Operation Rain, which was support to the Transkei during a regional drought that lasted until 1981. In the early 1980s the co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Libyan Desert
The Libyan Desert (not to be confused with the Libyan Sahara) is a geographical region filling the north-eastern Sahara Desert, from eastern Libya to the Western Desert of Egypt and far northwestern Sudan. On medieval maps, its use predates today's Sahara, and parts of the Libyan Desert include the Sahara's most arid and least populated regions; this is chiefly what sets the Libyan Desert apart from the greater Sahara. The consequent absence of grazing, and near absence of waterholes or wells needed to sustain camel caravans, prevented Trans-Saharan trade between Kharga (the Darb al Arbein) close to the Nile, and Murzuk in the Libyan Fezzan. This obscurity saw the region overlooked by early European explorers, and it was not until the early 20th century and the advent of the motor car before the Libyan Desert started to be fully explored. Nomenclature The term 'Libyan Desert' began to appear widely on European maps in the last decades of the 19th century, typically identified ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical Omani Empire and colonial territories of the British East Africa Protectorate and German East Africa, the term ''East Africa'' is often (especially in the English language) used to specifically refer to the area now comprising the three countries of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. However, this has never been the convention in many other languages, where the term generally had a wider, strictly geographic context and therefore typically included Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.Somaliland is not included in the United Nations geoscheme, as it is internationally recognized as a part of Somalia. *Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan are members of the East African Community. The firs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1st South African Infantry Division
The 1st South African Infantry Division was an infantry Division (military), division of the South African Army, army of the Union of South Africa. During World War II the division served in East Africa from 1940 to 1941 and in the Western Desert Campaign from 1941 to 1942. The division was disbanded on 1 January 1943, for conversion into what would become the 6th Armoured Division (South Africa), 6th South African Armoured Division. The division was also briefly active after the war from 1 July 1948 to 1 November 1949.South African Defence Review via http://www.rhodesia.nl/sadfhist.htm Outbreak of war When Neville Chamberlain declared war on 3 September 1939, the South African Army, Union Defence Force consisted of 5,385 Permanent Force members, 14,631 Citizen Force members and 122,000 Commandos of which only 39,000 were considered suited for field deployment. The Defence Act also prohibited the deployment of its members beyond the confines of southern Africa. On 4 Septemb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
