South-Africa's participation

Since I am South-African, I thought I would post this, I never realised that my country actually played a fairly big role in the African theatre.

Just some general information for you.

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 Great Britain, 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 on September 1, 1939 was none other than Barry Herzog - the leader of the pro-Afrikaner and anti-British National party that had joined in a unity government as the United Party.
Herzog's problem was that South Africa was constitutionally obligated to support Great Britain against Nazi Germany. The Polish-British Common Defence Pact obligated Britain, and in turn its dominions, to help Poland if attacked by the Nazis. After Hitler's forces attacked Poland on the night of August 31, 1939, Britain declared war on Germany within a few days. A short but furious debate unfolded in South Africa, especially in the halls of power in the Parliament of South Africa. It pitted those who sought to enter the war on Britain's side - led by the pro-Allied/pro-British African General (later Field Marshal) and former Prime Minister Jan Smuts - against Herzog, who wished to keep South Africa "neutral", if not actually pro-Axis.


Declaration of war against the Axis

On September 4, 1939, the United Party caucus refused to accept Hertzog's stance of neutrality in World War II and deposed him in favor of Smuts. Upon becoming Prime Minister of South Africa, he declared South Africa officially at war with Germany and the Axis. Smuts immediately set about fortifying South Africa against any possible German sea invasion because of South Africa's global strategic importance controlling the long sea route around the Cape of Good Hope.
John Vorster and other members of Ossewabrandwag strongly objected to South Africa's participation in World War II and actively carried out sabotage against Jan Smuts' government. Smuts took severe action against the pro-Nazi South African Ossewabrandwag movement and jailed its leaders - including Vorster - for the duration of the war.


Military contributions and casualties in World War II

South Africa and its military forces contributed in many theaters of war. South Africa's contribution consisted mainly of supplying troops, airmen and material for the North African campaign (the Desert War) and the Italian Campaign as well as to Allied ships that docked at its crucial ports adjoining the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean that converge at the tip of Southern Africa. Numerous volunteers also flew for the Royal Air Force. (See: South African Army in World War II; South African Air Force in World War II; South African Navy in World War II.)

1. The South African Army and Air Force played a major role in defeating the Italian forces of Benito Mussolini during the 1940/1941 East African Campaign. The converted Junkers Ju 86s of 12 Squadron, South African Air Force, carried out the first bombing raid of the campaign on a concentration of tanks at Moyale at 8am on 11 June 1940, mere hours after Italy's declaration of war[1].
2. Another important victory that the South Africans participated in was the liberation of Malagasy (now known as Madagascar) from the control of the Vichy French who were allies of the Nazis. British troops aided by South African soldiers, staged their attack from South Africa, landing on the strategic island on 4 May 1942[2] to preclude its seizure by the Japanese.
3. The South African 1st Infantry Division took part in several actions in North Africa in 1941 and 1942, including the Battle of El Alamein, before being withdrawn to South Africa to be re-constituted as an armoured division.
4. The South African 2nd Infantry Division also took part in a number of actions in North Africa during 1942, but 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.
5. The South African 3rd Infantry Division never took an active part in any battles but instead organised and trained the South African home defence forces, performed garrison duties and supplied replacements for the South African 1st Infantry Division and the South African 2nd Infantry Division. However, one of this division's constituent brigades - 7 SA Motorised Brigade - did take part in the invasion of Madagascar in 1942.
6. The South African 6th Armoured Division fought in numerous actions in Italy from 1944 to 1945.
7. The South African Air Force (SAAF) made a significant contribution to the air war in East Africa, North Africa, Sicily, Italy, the Balkans and even as far east as bombing missions aimed at the Romanian oilfields in Ploiesti[3], supply missions in support of the Warsaw uprising[4] and reconnaissance missions ahead of the Russian advances in the Lvov-Cracow area[5].
8. Numerous South African airmen also volunteered serivce to the RAF, some serving with distinction.
9. South Africa contributed to the war effort against Japan, supplying men and manning ships in naval engagements against the Japanese.[6]

Of the 334,000 men volunteered for full time service in the South African Army during the war (including some 211,000 whites, 77,000 blacks and 46,000 "coloureds" and Asians), nearly 9,000 were killed in action.

If you would like to aquire more information on SA's contribution to the war, here is a site where there are sections speaking about SA's operations in WWII, also some lists of the fighter pilots and aces of the country.

http://samilitaryhistory.org/

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_South_Africa

PS: Sorry if this kind of information was already posted here, I haven't really searched that well.

 

Thank you for the info.

 

I spent allot of time yesterday trying to see if I could track down any kind of information as to whether some of my relatives did partake in anything WWII related, but alas I couldnt find anything. I even checked the logs etc... of people that went in and out of the Cape Town harbour, and that was the main port at the time to connect allot of activity to what was going on in the north.

I found a few people with my last name but still unsure if I could connect them in any way to my family.

However since I was so busy with that yesterday I came across lots of information regarding the SAAF and their activity's in the Africa theatre, and again was shocked to see how involved they actually were.

Well most of the SAAF pilots flew with the RAF and commonwealth squadrons. I came across a book that was created years ago, and was actually stopped for production, and then out of the blue a UK company started printing the hard copy's of this book again, I am so glad.

This book is filled with short story's from some of the SAAF pilots active in 1939-1940 with the RAF and commonwealth groups, and I cannot wait to start reading this.

Warriors of the Sky - Springbok Air Heroes in Combat

If anybody is interested in grabbing a copy for themselves then here is the link to it.

http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/?product_id=997

I will keep this thread updated as I find more interesting and worthwhile information. Although not at all the main theatre and sometimes forgotten, still these men including anybody active during this era should be remembered and cherished nonetheless.

I have also created a Album on my profile and filled it with some SAAF related pic's from WWII, go take a look if you want!

 

Thank you for your kind words LRusso216, I am a brand new member so not much information from my side yet.

But watch this space, I will without a doubt be keeping ww2f.com informed with regards to South-Africa's participation in the war, since I am a South-African and I don't see any others here, I feel like it's my duty to share some amazing information with you from this side of the pond!

 

I found this image at our National Archives near Washington, D.C.,
on 25 September 2009.

The caption states:

"Tanks of the SSB Regt, 6th South African
Armd. Div., are on the alert for a reported column
of German tanks in this area.

"U.S. Fifth Army, Bologna area, Italy."

Date: 21 April 1945

Photographer: Thomas, 196th Sig Photo Company.

III-SC 208185, Credit NARA.

If you would like a high-resolution version of the photo,
just let me know.


Dave

 

Thanks for the interesting info. My question regards naval matters-given South Africa's absolutely critical geophaphical location, how big was the South African Navy
and how much of a role did they play in the war? The German pocket-battleship Admiral Graf Spee was operating in the south Atlantic....did the South Africans play any role in tracking it? Also when the Mediterranean was considered dangerous up through 1942 due to Italy's participation in the Axis and Britain was forced to send troops and supplies headed for Egypt around the Cape of Good Hope, did the South African Navy contribute to protecting the convoys on that route? Did German U-Boats operate in that area?

 

Here is a little bit of additional reading from the South African DoD.

History of the SA Navy

 

Hi Kaboom

I am South African and extremely interested in your posts as I am trying to trace any information regarding my father who served in the Air Force during WWII. Sadly all I have to go on is a very old picture of him in uniform with a badge on his shirt - it is a single white wing attached to a circle with the letters RO inside.

My early reseach suggests this may have something to do with raids flown by South Africans over Romania. I will keep you updated if anything interesting comes up.

 

My Gran dad fought in El Alamein he is South African. He got captured by the germans and took some awesome pics of the south Africans in action.
I am trying to get them from my Dad but he lives 22000 km away so it may take some time.

 

Here is some more intersting facts about South Africans in WW2


Squadron Leader J.J. le Roux, DFC and two Bars
Johannes Jacobus le Roux joined No. 73 Squadron, Royal Air Force as a twenty-year old in 1940, when that squadron was part of the Advanced Air Striking Force (AASF in France during that strange period of World War II known to the French as "la drole de guerre". It was a war of singularly little major action up to May, 1940, and the Americans called it the "phoney war", but the epithet was hardly justified. One of the contestants, Britain, was saving and building up her strength for the later stages; Germany, the other, was about to launch an all-out attack which was to culminate in the evacuation on from Dunkirk of the British and French forces. It was to this odd war that No.73 Squadron flew their Hurricanes in 1939, and which young Chris le Roux entered when he joined the squadron in 1940.
When the Luftwaffe opened the assault in May, the AASF and the RAF Component (with which Dutch Hugo, the subject of our next profile, was flying) escaped lightly. Soon, however, Chris (as he had been known throughout his service in the RAF) le Roux was in the thick of the fighting, for the AASF fighters had to cover the evacuation of the ground staff, and the three remaining Bnitish divisions. For the defence of Nantes and St. Nazaire there were but three squadrons, Nos.1, 73 and 242) all equipped with Hurricanes; yet in spite of this sparse air cover the evacuation of the troops was entirely successful. The Luftwaffe dropped bombs by day and mines by night but achieved remarkably little. Denis Richards relates in "The Fight at Odds" (HMSO) that only off St. Nazaire, where German bombers sank the Lancastria with 5,000 troops aboard, was there a major disaster. In this case the enemy made clever use of cloud cover to elude the patrolling Hurricanes.
By the afternoon of 18th June, 1940, the ground forces had made good their escape, and the fighters, most of which had flown six sorties on the previous day, were free to depart. After No. 73 Squadron had flown the final patrol, the last Hurricanes left Nantes for Tangmere and the mechanics set fire to the unserviceable machines.
I can find no details of Chris le Roux's combats in France, and would be most grateful if any of our readers can tell me if his Log Book survived, and if so, where it is now, or if any of his relatives survive and can help with details of his life, for he is one of the least-known aces of the war. E. C. R. Baker in "Fighter Aces of the RAF" ( William Kimber states that Chris was shot down twelve times in 1940 "in France and the Battle of Britain" but I presume that these escapes by parachute all took place over France as I can find no details of his having fought over Britain in 1940.
This lack of information for1940 makes his score in the air uncertain, as although Baker credits him with 23.5, and Chris Shores and Clive Williams follow this in "Aces High" (Neville Spearman), neither Chris Shores nor I are by any means certain that all the victories were in the air. He credits Chris le Roux with 8 victories with No. 91 Squadron in 1941, 4 with No. 111 in North Africa, and with No. 602 in 1944, making a total of 17. He follows Baker's total of 23.5 very doubtfully, as it is made up of 9 with No. 91, 5 with No.111 and 5 with No. 602, which makes 19 and them Baker writes that Chris got "several on the ground" while with No. 91. Chris Shores and I both think that some of these may be included in Baker's total of 23.5.
However, if this is so, it would mean that although it appears that Chris le Roux baled out 12 times in 1940, that he failed to score himself. This seems most unlikely, and if anyone can help to put the record straight I should be most grateful to hear from him (or her), as it could well be that Chris le Roux's score was more than 23,5.
The first victory I can trace for him is as a Flying Officer in Spitfires with No. 91 (Nigeria) Squadron, which had been formed from No.421 Flight after this mixed bag of Hurricanes and Spitfires had done very useful work (meteorological observation climbs, coastal gunnery, spotting and security patrols) in 1940. By January, 1941, the whole squadron was equipped with Spitfires, and Chris le Roux shot down a Me 109E on 17th August, 1941, followed by another on the 29th. Before he was rested from operations he claimed four l09Fs; one on 4th September, 1941, one on 28th October and another on 11th November.
On his return to operations, the next I can trace of him is as a Flight Commander with No. 91 Squadron, when he destroyed two FW 109s on 31st October, 1942. He had by this time received both the DFC and Bar but the citations are no help in identifying his victories. He had flown more than 200 operational sorties including shipping reconnaissances, ground installation attacks, escort missions, and fighter sweeps.
At the end of 1942 he was posted to No.111 Squadron in No.324 Wing in North Africa, and became Commanding Officer of that famous squadron (known as the "Black Arrows" with their aerobatic teams of later years) in 1943. On 14th November, 1942, No.111 Squadron flew into Bone airfield, and were immediately attacked by enemy aircraft, and suffered severe casualties to both aircraft and ground crews. Christmas found the squadron at Souk el Arba, and the Operations Record Book recorded "a pretty miserable day, raining all the time and bogging the aircraft. The pilots spent the day trying to get them out and came back at dusk dead to the world." Efforts were made to lay a steel netting mat, but the long thin lines of communication meant that for a single runway, two days capacity for the entire railway system would be needed. Even when enough steel matting could be found it tended to sink into the mud and disappear. Despite these difficulties, Chris le Roux damaged a Me 109 on 14th January and another on the 19th, and destroyed yet another on the same day. On 3rd April he shot down a FW 190, and on 23rd another FW 190 and a Me 109. By May the German and Italian fighters had been swept from the Tunisian skies, the 7th Armoured Division (the famous Desert Rats) occupied Tunis and the Americans took Bizerta. The Germans finally capitulated on 12th and 13th May and the war in Africa was over. The experience gained was to serve the air forces well in Europe.
The next I can find about Chris le Roux is his having taken command of No.602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron in France in the summer of 1944, with Spitfire 9s, having received a second Bar to his DFC for his North African successes. He led this squadron through the fierce fighting of the invasion of Normandy, and moved it to French soil on 25th June. He shot down a FW 190 and a Me 109 on 15th July, 1944, and another FW 190 on 16th. On 17th he destroyed two Me 109s and damaged two more, and the squadron nearly succeeded in killing the German Commanding General, Erwin Rommel. Diving on his car, they caused it to overturn near the village of Sainte Foy de Montgomerie, and Rommel was flung into a ditch and sustained a fractured skull. He survived, only to kill himself on 14th October, rather than stand trial for complicity in the plot against Hitler of 20th July. By 25th August, 1944, Paris had been liberated, and on 3rd September, five years after the outbreak of war, the Welsh Guards entered Brussels. Chris le Roux did not live to enjoy the fruits of the victory. Like so many gallant and brilliant fighter pilots, he was destroyed, not by enemy gunfire, but by an aircraft accident, on 19th September, 1944.



Group Captain P.H. Hugo, DSO, DFC and two Bars
Petrus Hendrik Hugo was born on 20th December, 1917, and his home was at Pampoenpoort, Cape Province. As a youth his sights were always set on a career in the air and he soon came north to attend the Witwatersrand College of Aeronautical Engineering. In 1938 he went to Britain, and attended a Royal Air Force course at the Civil Flying School at Sywell early in 1939. These Civil Flying Schools (of which there were 13) had been approved after the 1935 expansion of the RAF had begun. Before that all pilots who had entered the service had been trained at RAF stations, where, for eleven months, the pupil pilots had received elementary flying instruction and lectures. (Those readers who saw the profiles of Pat Pattle and Sailor Malan in our last issue will recall that they were trained in this way.) Advanced subjects like instruction in night flying, formation flying, air gunnery and bombing were dealt with when they went to their squadrons. Four of the Civil Flying Schools were already in existence in 1935 and had handled the flying training of Royal Air Force Reserve personnel for some years; five new schools were opened in the second half of 1936, and by the time Petrus Hugo came to be trained, four more had opened.
The pilots received 50 hours' preliminary flying training at these schools before they passed into the RAF to proceed to their flying station for military flying instruction as explained above. Petrus, like Sailor and Pat before him, soon received a nickname when he gained his Short Service Commission on 1st April, 1939. His Afrikaans name and accent soon earned the name of "Dutch", and thus he was known to the RAF throughout his service.

Group Captain P. H. Hugo, DSO, DFC
He went to No.13 Flying Training School for six months and at the end of the course he was deemed "an exceptional pilot, an excellent marksman and suitable for posting to a fighter squadron." He then went to the Fighter School at St. Athan in Wales, and then to No.2 Ferry Pool, Filton near Bristol. He escaped this fate in December, 1939, three months after war had broken out, and joined No. 615 (County of Surrey) Squadron at Vitry, in France. This Auxiliary Air Force Squadron was equipped with Gloster Gladiators at the time, and he had his first operational flights in these obsolete biplanes.
The weather was so bad at Vitry-en-Artois that Nos. 615 and 607 Squadrons (both part of the Northern Air Component, and both flying Gladiators) found it easier to operate from St. Ingelvert nearby. Even here, the severe frost made the muddy ruts dangerous as they froze hard, and on 18th December a pilot of No.615 Squadron was killed when his Gladiator crashed on landing. However, on 29th December, one of the Flight Commanders, Flight Lieutenant J. G. Sanders, nearly destroyed a Heinkel 111 at 23,000 feet, firing a long burst into him at close range, but no confirmation of destruction was received as the He 111 dived into cloud and disappeared.
Dutch Hugo and his fellow pilots in No.615 Squadron suffered the boredom and appalling weather of winter, 1940, doing practice escort affiliations with the Lysanders of Nos. 2 and 26 (Army Co-operation) Squadrons, but were delighted towards the end of April, 1940, when they were warned to prepare to re-equip with Hurricanes. The events following the 10th May when the Germans struck, however, were to see the old Gladiators fighting in deadly earnest, and both squadrons were constantly in action. Although no records exist it appears that by about 15th May, No.615 Squadron still flew 12 Gladiators and that by 18th these had been joined by 9 Hurricanes.
Two days later Dutch Hugo (I think flying a Hurricane) shot down a He 111, on 20th May, 1940, his first and only success with the RAF Component as far as I know.
The Heinkel 111 was a low-wing all-metal monoplane which carried a crew of five or six (pilot, bomb-aimer, radio operator, and two or three gunners). It carried five 7.9 mm machine guns, one in the nose, one in the ventral and dorsal positions, and two in the sides firing from the windows.
The Hurricane pilots were kept at full stretch, putting in as many as six, or even seven, sorties a day. Despite their efforts it was decided that the Component could operate as effectively, and with a great deal more security, from the south of England. The 21st May saw the Hurricanes return to Britain; 195 had been lost and only 66 saved. Most of the Gladiators had been lost, only one or two being flown home to England. The Luftwaffe lost 1,284 aircraft, however, and there is no doubt that a very large number fell to the RAF Component, although it had lost 279 of its own aircraft.
No.615 returned to England (most of the personnel in the steamer Biarritz from Boulogne, arriving at Dover on 21st May) and at once returned to its home stations of Croydon and Kenley (in Surrey, as befitted the County of Surrey Squadron). Re-equipping with Hurricanes continued, although there was still a Gladiator Flight at Manston until 30th May.
Like Pat Pattle, Dutch Hugo was to achieve magnificent success in the Hurricane, that grand aircraft of which Paul Gallico wrote in "The Hurricane Story":
"She was loved and trusted by every man who ever knew her. To the eyes of the young men who looked upon her with warmth and affection she had beauty unsurpassed. To her friends she was gentle, staunch, loyal, and a protectress; to her enemies she was a lightning bolt from the skies, a ruthless and total destroyer.
"She was unique in the heavens for there was nothing she could not do there when called upon by those who loved and needed her.
"An inanimate piece of machinery, a mass of tubes, wire, steel, aluminium, she flew like an angel.
"She had no vices.
"In the hands of the young men, who mastered her and became her lovers, she saved England and all that rest of the world that cherished the right of freedom.
"She was the Hawker Hurricane."

The prototype had first flown in 1935 (serial K5083) piloted by the same man, Flight Lieutenant George Bulman, who, ten years later, was to fly the last Hurricane to be produced (serial PZ865). The first production Hurricane (serial L1457) with a Merlin II engine, flew on October 12th, 1937. Unlike the prototype, it had stub exhausts, a strengthened canopy, modified rudder and different undercarriage doors. It still had fabric covered wings; metal wings and bullet-proof windscreens did not come until 1939. Even then many fabric-covered wing models were still in action in France and although it had been planned to withdraw all fabric-wing and wooden-airscrew Hurricanes from service with operational units by May, 1940, the losses in France meant that many of the older machines served on in the squadrons. On July 4th, 1940, 82 fabric-covered Hurricanes were on combat squadrons, and 36 had wooden propellers. Ten days later, on 14th July, 1940, Dutch Hugo shot down a Junkers 87, flying his Hurricane from Kenley.
The Ju 87 Stuka (dive-bomber) had swept a path for the armoured divisions through France and Poland but was no match for the Hurricanes and Spitfires over Britain. It carried a crew of two and had two fixed and one movable machine guns.
On 20th July, 1940, Dutch Hugo gained his second success in the Battle of Britain, shooting down two Me 109 fighters. The Me 109 was undoubtedly one of the finest single-seater fighters in the world at that time, and had a top speed of 354 m.p.h. at 12,300 feet and a cruising speed of 300 m.p.h. this was about 40 miles faster than the Hurricane at 12,300 feet, yet at its own rated altitude of just over 15,000 feet the Hurricane was at least a match for the German fighters provided they did not start with height advantage. The Hurricane was therefore usually used against the slower, lower-flying bombers, but despite this Dutch Hugo shot down yet another Me 109 on 25th July, and shared a Heinkel 59 floatplane with another pilot on 27th. The British Government had decided that it could not recognise the right of He 59s to bear the Red Cross, since it was probable that these aircraft were being used to report movements of British convoys, and a fortnight before had instructed British pilots to shoot them down. A Heinkel 59 had been seen leading Me 109s (despite its Red Cross markings) at sea level, and had been forced down on July 11th by Al Deere of No. 54 Squadron (there is a good photograph of this aircraft in his book "Nine Lives" (Hodder & Stoughton)).
On 12th August Dutch shot down another Me 109, the Combat Report reading: "Dense smoke and liquid poured from the German pilot's machine. Although my engine stopped I dived after him. Fortunately my engine restarted. The Me pilot pulled out of his dive at about 6,000 feet and then started to dive again. I was hot on his tail and at about 3,000 feet opened fire. The German pilot continued to dive and landed in the water. Within a minute the aircraft had sunk, and I saw the pilot swimming about in the middle of a big patch of air bubbles which had been caused by the sinking of his machine. I sent back a message on my R/T asking for a launch to be sent out to the German airman's rescue and gave his position. I then flew to base."
On 16th August Dutch claimed a Heinkel 111 probably destroyed over Newhaven, but was himself hit by cannon shell splinters from a Me 110. He was slightly wounded in both legs, but was back in action again two days later. The Germans bombed Kenley and he took off with a number of other Hurricanes to intercept the raiders, only to be "jumped" by a number of Me 109s. He was wounded in the left leg, left eye and his right cheek and jaw, and his Hurricane was so badly damaged that he crashed-landed, and was taken to Orpington Hospital, near Biggin Hill. He was still there, in the shadow of the copper beeches and the railway arch, at the end of August, 1940, when the award of the DFC was announced.
By the end of September he was fit again and rejoined No. 615, by then at Prestwick in Scotland. He returned south for convoy patrolling in the spring and early summer of 1941 but it was late summer before he met the Luftwaffe in action again. By that time, back at Kenley with Hurricane 2cs with four cannons, he was a Flight Commander, and led raids on enemy shipping, and coastal installations in Northern France. Between 18th September and 27th November he helped to sink over twenty ships and damage a further ten. On 14th October in a raid against the seaplane base at Ostend, he shared another He 59 with his CO, and on 27th in another attack on the same place, he shared yet another He 59 with two other pilots. He was awarded a Bar to the DFC on 5th November, the official citation paying tribute to his great skill and determination, his high qualities of leadership and courage and his unabated enthusiasm.
Towards the end of November, 1941, he took command of No. 41 Squadron, flying Spitfire 5s, from Manston, on sweep duties. On 12th February, 1942, the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau broke out of Brest harbour, and he shot down one Me 109 and damaged a second in a battle with 20 Me 109s over the escaping ships. On 14th March he shot down another 109 over a German convoy near Fecamp, and on 26th he got another escorting Bostons raiding Le Havre. He was truly the scourge of the Me 109.
Promoted to Wing Commander, he took over the Tangmere Wing, but less than a fortnight later, he was wounded again, being shot down in the Channel. This was on 27th April, in a battle between Dunkirk and Cap Gris Nez. In a fierce running fight he got a probable FW 190 and damaged a second but was hit in the left shoulder, and had his aircraft so badly damaged that he had to bale out, luckily being picked up fairly soon. He was awarded the DSO while recuperating at 11 Group HQ, and the London Gazette of 29th May carried the citation crediting him with 13 kills (some shared) and concluded: "Both as Squadron Commander and Wing Leader this officer has displayed exceptional skill, sound judgement and fighting qualities which have won the entire confidence of all pilots in his command."
He "escaped" from HQ after a couple of months and took over the Hornchurch Wing, but soon left to join No.322 Wing in North Africa, in November, 1942. On 12th he and Shag Eckford shot down a Dornier 217 near Djidjelli. (It will be recalled that Chris le Roux arrived with No. 111 Squadron on 14th November.) The 13th November saw Dutch credited with a probable Ju 88 and another damaged near Bougie Harbour which our forces were approaching. On 15th he got a probable He 111 and a damaged Ju 88 over Bone Harbour, and on 16th he got a Ju 88 and two Me 109s. He got another Ju 88 on 18th and three more Me 109s on 21st, 26th and 28th November, 1942. The scourge of the 109s was at it again.
On 2nd December he shot down two Italian Breda 88s near La Galite, one being shared, and on 14th he got a Savoia 79 over the cruiser Ajax. He had taken command of the Wing on 29th November, and led it for the next four months until he was posted to HQ NWACAF (North-West African Coastal Air Force) and awarded a second Bar to the DFC.
He returned to command No.322 Wing in June, 1943, and on 29th destroyed yet one more Me 109. On 25th, 33 Spitfires of the Wing, operating from Lentini, had slaughtered 21 Ju 52s and four Messerschmitt fighters. Twelve of the Ju 52s had been shot down in flames, exploding as they went, for they were loaded with petrol, and were circling to land near Milazzo in Sicily.
On 2nd September Dutch Hugo shot down another FW 190 near Mount Etna and on 18th November he got his last confirmed victory of the war, an Arado 196 Floatplane, over the Yugoslavian coast.
During the summer of 1944 he led the Wing in a series of most concentrated attacks against enemy transport and supply, accounting personally for at least fifty-five vehicles destroyed and a further twenty-nine damaged in less than six weeks in May and June. On 10th July he damaged a Me 109 over Northern Italy, and brought his score to twenty-two destroyed, four probables and thirteen damaged. In November, 1944, he was taken off operations and posted to HQ Mediterranean Allied Air Forces, and was then seconded to the Russian Second Ukrainian Army under Marshal Tolbukin, at that time moving from Roumania to Austria. The last I heard of him was when, having reverted to Squadron Leader from Group Captain at the end of the war (most officers had to drop a rank or two from their wartime ranks to become peacetime substantive) he was posted to the Central Fighter Establishment. He retired as a Squadron Leader, retaining the rank of Group Captain, in February, 1950, and settled in East Africa. All efforts to get in touch with him have failed, but if any of our readers knows this most gallant and successful fighter pilot's present address I should be very pleased to give him the opportunity to correct any mistakes in this profile, and if possible, to get him to write his own story for this Journal. His modesty will no doubt keep him silent, but he remains the top-scoring surviving South African fighter ace of World War II.

My grandfather Walter George Nielson was in world war two as a tank commander and faught at El Elamein. Before he died he had told me a few stories about what transpired there. It must have been quite a thing for them back then.

 

while we are on the topic of South Africans in wars, Here something else I found about WW1.

The Delville Wood South African National Memorial is a World War I memorial, located in Delville Wood, near the commune of Longueval, in the Somme département of France. It is opposite the Delville Wood Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery, on the other side of the Longueval-Ginchy road. Unlike the other national memorials to the missing raised to commemorate the part played by Dominion forces on the Western Front in World War I, this memorial has no names inscribed on it. Instead, the names of the missing dead of South Africa were inscribed on the battlefield memorials to the missing, along with those of the dead of the United Kingdom. This memorial also serves as the national memorial to all those of the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force who died during World War I. A total of some 229,000 officers and men served in the forces of South Africa in the war. Of these, some 10,000 died in action or through injury and sickness, and their names are written in a memorial register that was kept at this memorial, and is now kept at the nearby museum.
The campaigns commemorated here include the East African Campaign and other campaigns outside the Western Front, but the location of the memorial marks the role played by South African forces in the Battle of Delville Wood (part of the Somme Offensive), the first action seen by the forces of South Africa in Flanders and France. Other battles commemorated here, include the participation of South African forces at the Battle of Arras and the Battle of Passchendaele. Later in the war, South African forces fought a rearguard action at Gauche Wood and Marrieres Wood during the Spring Offensive, and held their position at Messines Ridge. During the Advance to Victory, they fought at the Battle of Beaurevoir and at Le Cateau, and were "furthest East of all the British troops in France" when the Armistice was declared.
The memorial, which was designed by Sir Herbert Baker, with sculpture by Alfred Turner, consists of a flint and stone screen either side of an archway, with a shelter at each end of the screen. On top of the arch is Turner's bronze statue of two men and a war horse. The two male figures, symbolising Castor and Pollux, represent the two white races of South Africa (British and Afrikaans). The main inscriptions are in both English and Afrikaans. Other inscriptions include the location of the South African campaigns (France, Flanders, West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Egypt, Palestine, the Sea). On the archway are the following shorter inscriptions, again in English and Afrikaans:
“Their ideal is our legacy.
Their Sacrifice our Inspiration.”
The Afrikaans-equivalent inscription reads: Vir ons is hul ideaal 'n erfenis, hul offer 'n besieling. Above these inscriptions, on the very top part of the archway, is carved the French phrase "AUX MORTS", signifying that this is a monument to the dead.
Following the war, Delville Wood was purchased by the author and politician Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, and presented to South Africa. This was followed by the standard French policy of repurchasing the land for one franc and granting South Africa the land in perpetuity for memorial purposes.[1] The memorial was funded by public subscription. Among those involved in organising the memorial was General Henry Lukin, who was appointed Deputy Chair of the Delville Wood Memorial Committee in July 1921.
The memorial was unveiled on 10 October 1926 by the widow of General Louis Botha. Also present were General J. B. M. Hertzog, the Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa; Sir Percy Fitzpatrick; Field-Marshal Earl Haig; and Lukin's widow. The former Governor-General of South Africa, and member of the British Royal Family, Prince Arthur of Connaught was present, and representing the British Army was Brigadier General W. E. C. Tanner. The religious ceremony, which included the consecration of the nearby cemetery, was jointly conducted by the Right Reverend Dr Furse, Bishop of St Albans, and the Reverend Dr. Van de Merwe, Moderator of the Dutch Reformed Church. Representing the French Army's Marshal Joffre was General Barbier. Others present were the Marquess of Crewe (British Ambassador to France), Leo Amery (Secretary of State for the Dominions), and the Prefect of the Département of the Somme. Also present were troops, veterans, and representatives of the British Legion and other veteran associations. Over 1,200 people paid their respects at the unveiling ceremony, and Sir Percy Fitz-Patrick read out a message from Edward, Prince of Wales. Speeches were also made by Earl Haig, General Barbier, and General Hertzog.[2]
Two replicas of the memorial were made, both in South Africa; one in the Union Buildings in Pretoria, and one in Cape Town.
A Stone of Remembrance was unveiled in front of the archway in 1952 to commemorate the South African dead of World War II. This unveiling was performed by the mother of Major Edwin Swales, recipient of the Victoria Cross. In 1986, the South African Commemorative Museum, a five-pointed star-shaped building located behind the memorial, was unveiled by P. W. Botha, the President of the Republic of South Africa.


The Battle of Delville Wood was one of the early engagements in the 1916 Battle of the Somme in the First World War. It took place between 14 July and 3 September, between the armies of the German Empire and allied British and South African forces. Delville Wood[Note 1] is located to the north east of the town of Longueval in the département of the Somme in northern France. After the two weeks of carnage from the commencement of the Somme Offensive, it became evident that a breakthrough of either the Allied or German line was most unlikely and the offensive had evolved to the capture of small prominent towns, woods or features which offered either side even the slightest tactical advantage from which to direct artillery fire or to launch further attacks.
Delville Wood was one such feature, making it a critical objective to both German and Allied forces. As part of a large offensive starting on 14 July, General Douglas Haig, Commander of the Allied Armies intended to secure the British right flank, while the centre advanced to capture the higher lying areas of High Wood in the centre of his line. Delville Wood was a battle to secure this right flank. The battle achieved this objective and is considered a tactical Allied victory. However, it was one of the bloodiest confrontations of the Somme, with both sides incurring large casualties. This tactical victory needs to be measured against the losses sustained as well as the fact that the British advance to the north had made only marginal gains by the end of the battle.
The battle is of particular importance to South Africa, as it was the first major engagement entered into by the South African 1st Infantry Brigade on the Western Front. The casualties sustained by this Brigade were of catastrophic proportions, equal to—or worse than those encountered by Allied battalions on the first day of the Somme. On the Western Front, units were normally considered to be incapable of combat if their casualty levels had reached 30% and they were withdrawn once this level had been attained. The South African Brigade suffered losses of 80%, yet they managed to hold the Wood as ordered. This feat has been described as "..the bloodiest battle of hell of 1916."[3]
Today, Delville Wood is known for the well preserved wood with the still visible remains of the original trenches, a museum and monument to the fallen South Africans.