|
Berry Gazi
Sergeant Berry Gazi was a black South African soldier who served in the Native Military Corps (NMC) during World War II. Although the racially segregated nature of the Union Defence Force (South Africa), South African military notionally prevented black soldiers from serving in combat roles, Gazi participated in the Western Desert campaign as part of the 2nd Infantry Division (South Africa), 2nd Infantry Division and was awarded the Military Medal for rescuing wounded under enemy fire at Bardia, Italian Libya, Libya on 16 December 1941. He was the first black South African to be awarded this medal. Action After the Battle of Bardia, Axis powers, Axis forces had reoccupied the port in April 1941 during Operation Sonnenblume. Further fighting occurred from 31 December 1941 – 2 January 1942 during which the 2nd South African Division were tasked to re-capture the port of Bardia. The Durban Light Infantry were to attack the perimeter in the north-west as part of 2nd Infantry Div ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Native Military Corps
The Native Military Corps (NMC) was a South African military unit during World War II. It consisted of Black South African volunteers recruited into the Union Defence Force (UDF). Despite the unit's name, they had no combative role and served as labourers attached to white South African UDF military units. The objective was to free up the limited number of white recruits in the UDF for combat roles. Background On 12 July 1940 the UDF created the Directorate of Non-European Army Services (NEAS) to recruit non-white South Africans into the military. The NEAS would consist of three units, Cape Corps, the Indian & Malay Corps and the Native Labour Corps, prior to its name change in August 1940 to the Native Military Corps. The NEAS was under the command of a director and deputy director who would be responsible for their soldiers when in the Middle East. The first commander was Lt. Colonel B.W. Martin, previously a Director of Native Labour on the Witwatersrand, but he was shifted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Sonnenblume
Operation Sonnenblume (/Operation Sunflower) was the name given to the dispatch of German troops to North Africa in February 1941, during the Second World War. The Italian 10th Army () had been destroyed by the British, Commonwealth, Empire and Allied Western Desert Force attacks during Operation Compass The first units of the new (DAK, Erwin Rommel) departed Naples for Africa and arrived on 11 February 1941. (In the English-speaking world, the term became a generic term for German forces in North Africa.) On 14 February, advanced units of the 5th Light ''Afrika'' Division (later renamed the 21st Panzer Division), 3 (Reconnaissance Battalion 3) and 39 (Anti-tank Detachment 39) arrived in Tripoli, Libya and were sent immediately to the front line east of Sirte. Rommel arrived in Libya on 12 February, with orders to defend Tripoli and Tripolitania, albeit using aggressive tactics. General Italo Gariboldi replaced (Marshal of Italy) Rodolfo Graziani as the Governor-General ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African Military Personnel Of World War II
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz'' ("south"), possibly related to the same Proto-Indo-European root that the word ''sun'' derived from. Some languages describe south in the same way, from the fact that it is the direction of the sun at noon (in the Northern Hemisphere), like Latin meridies 'noon, south' (from medius 'middle' + dies 'day', cf English meridional), while others describe south as the right-hand side of the rising sun, like Biblical Hebrew תֵּימָן teiman 'south' from יָמִין yamin 'right', Aramaic תַּימנַא taymna from יָמִין yamin 'right' and Syriac ܬܰܝܡܢܳܐ taymna from ܝܰܡܝܺܢܳܐ yamina (hence the name of Yemen, the land to the south/right of the Levant). Navigation By convention, the ''bottom or down-facing side'' of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African Army Personnel
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz'' ("south"), possibly related to the same Proto-Indo-European root that the word ''sun'' derived from. Some languages describe south in the same way, from the fact that it is the direction of the sun at noon (in the Northern Hemisphere), like Latin meridies 'noon, south' (from medius 'middle' + dies 'day', cf English meridional), while others describe south as the right-hand side of the rising sun, like Biblical Hebrew תֵּימָן teiman 'south' from יָמִין yamin 'right', Aramaic תַּימנַא taymna from יָמִין yamin 'right' and Syriac ܬܰܝܡܢܳܐ taymna from ܝܰܡܝܺܢܳܐ yamina (hence the name of Yemen, the land to the south/right of the Levant). Navigation By convention, the ''bottom or down-facing side'' of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The World (South African Newspaper)
''The World'', originally named ''The Bantu World'', was the black daily newspaper of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is famous for publishing Sam Nzima's iconic photograph of Hector Pieterson, taken during the Soweto uprising of 16 June 1976. History ''The Bantu World'' was founded in April 1932 for an intended audience of black middle-class elite by Bertram Paver, a white ex-farmer. Paver modeled ''The Bantu World'' after British tabloids. The newspaper had a national distribution, in contrast to the primarily local reach of previous black-owned papers. Half of the 38 shareholders were black Africans by the end of 1932. Each issue consisted of about 20 pages, of which 13 were written in English, and the rest in a variety of indigenous languages.Lynn Thomas"The Modern Girl, Cosmetics and Racial Respectability in 1930s South Africa" Paper presented to the Gender and Visuality Conference, University of the Western Cape, South Africa, 2004. The caption for an image from historian L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Libyan Coastal Highway
The Libyan Coastal Highway ( ar, الطريق الساحلي الليبي), formerly the Litoranea Balbo, is a highway that is the only major road that runs along the entire east-west length of the Libyan Mediterranean coastline. It is a section in the Cairo–Dakar Highway #1 in the Trans-African Highway system of the African Union, Arab Maghreb Union and others. Built under the rule of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in colonial Italian Libya in the 1930s, it was named ''Via Balbia (or ''Litoranea Balbo'') in honour of governor-general Italo Balbo, but renamed to "Libyan Coastal Highway" after independence and enlarged. In the First Libyan Civil War of 2011 the highway was a strategic and symbolic element, as the main route through the contested coastal region between Sirte and Benghazi. History Italian Libya In March 1937, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini made a state visit to Italian Libya to open this new military and civilian highway, built by governor-gener ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Medal George VI (front)
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct military uniform. It may consist of one or more military branches such as an army, navy, air force, space force, marines, or coast guard. The main task of the military is usually defined as defence of the state and its interests against external armed threats. In broad usage, the terms ''armed forces'' and ''military'' are often treated as synonymous, although in technical usage a distinction is sometimes made in which a country's armed forces may include both its military and other paramilitary forces. There are various forms of irregular military forces, not belonging to a recognized state; though they share many attributes with regular military forces, they are less often referred to as simply ''military''. A nation's military may f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2 Cm Flak 30/38/Flakvierling
The Flak 30 (''Flugzeugabwehrkanone 30'') and improved Flak 38 were 20 mm anti-aircraft guns used by various German forces throughout World War II. It was not only the primary German light anti-aircraft gun but by far the most numerously produced German artillery piece throughout the war. It was produced in a variety of models, notably the Flakvierling 38 which combined four Flak 38 autocannons onto a single carriage. Development The Germans fielded the unrelated early 2 cm Flak 28 just after World War I, but the Treaty of Versailles outlawed these weapons and they were sold to Switzerland. The original Flak 30 design was developed from the Solothurn ST-5 as a project for the Kriegsmarine, which produced the 20 mm C/30. The gun fired the "Long Solothurn", a 20 × 138 mm belted cartridge that had been developed for the ST-5 and was one of the more powerful 20 mm rounds. The C/30, featuring a barrel length of 65 calibres, had a fire rate of about ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Durban Light Infantry
The Durban Light Infantry is a Motorised Infantry regiment of the South African Army. It lost its status as a Mechanised infantry regiment in 2010 in line with the rationalisation of resources. As a reserve unit, it has a status roughly equivalent to that of a British Army Reserve or United States Army National Guard unit. History Origin The Regiment was formed as the ''D’Urban Volunteer Guard'', in May 1854. In 1859 the unit became the ''Durban Rifle Guard''. In 1873 the unit became known as the ''Royal Durban Rifles''. In 1889 the unit became known as the ''Natal Royal Rifles (Left half Battalion)''. In 1895 it became the ''Durban Light Infantry''. With the Union Defence Force On the constitution of the ''Union Defence Force'' in 1912, the Unit became the ''Durban Light Infantry'', renamed the ''1st Infantry, (Durban Light Infantry)''. In consequence the Unit was permitted to add to its badge " ''in Africa"'', the motto retained by the unit today in recognition of its foun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2nd South African Division
The South African 2nd Infantry Division was an infantry division of the army of the Union of South Africa during World War II. The division was formed on 23 October 1940 and served in the Western Desert Campaign and was captured (save for one brigade) by German and Italian forces at Tobruk on 21 June 1942. The remaining brigade was re-allocated to the South African 1st Infantry Division. History The division was formed on 23 October 1940 with its divisional HQ at Voortrekkerhoogte, South Africa. On 21 June 1942 two complete infantry brigades of the division as well as most of the supporting units were captured at the fall of Tobruk. Bardia and the Western Desert The division capture of Bardia was part of the Libyan campaign against Rommel's Afrika Korps from November 1941 to January 1942. They defeated a numerically superior Axis force in a strongly fortified position with a combined infantry and tank force. Order of battle 21 September 1941 * 3 S. A. Inf Bde. - ** Comd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Axis Powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Germany, the Kingdom of Italy, and the Empire of Japan. The Axis were united in their opposition to the Allies, but otherwise lacked comparable coordination and ideological cohesion. The Axis grew out of successive diplomatic efforts by Germany, Italy, and Japan to secure their own specific expansionist interests in the mid-1930s. The first step was the protocol signed by Germany and Italy in October 1936, after which Italian leader Benito Mussolini declared that all other European countries would thereafter rotate on the Rome–Berlin axis, thus creating the term "Axis". The following November saw the ratification of the Anti-Comintern Pact, an anti-communist treaty between Germany and Japan; Italy joined the Pact in 1937, follow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
