Before World War I South African military forces had never fought outside the region. During the war of 1914–1918 South Africans for the first time fought and died not only beyond the borders of the Union in Africa, but also in Europe.
From February 1915 the full weight of the military forces of the Union were directed against the Germans in South West Africa. More than 40 000 men were moved into the operational zone. These troops were not all volunteers; many of them had been commandeered to fight the rebels. Some of the oldest soldiers had fought against the British at Majuba. Black and coloured men were to render particularly valuable service in constructing railways, in transport work and as dock labourers.
Three columns, operating from Upington and Keetmanshoop, from Lüderitzbucht through Aus and from Walvis Bay to Swakopmund, were under the overall command of General Louis Botha. Outnumbered, the Germans surrendered by mid-1915.
The South West African campaign was one of the colonial sideshows that had little impact on the overall outcome of the war. It did have other significant implications, however. Botha’s victory was extravagantly reported in the South African and British press. South Africa gained prestige in Europe. ‘Bothaland’ was suggested as a suitable new name for German South West Africa. The Cape Argus regarded the capture of Windhoek as ‘the greatest blow which has ever been dealt to the German ambition of world dominance’. The Times of London commented that the conquest of German South West Africa ‘will leave its mark in the history of the world’. It was pure hyperbole.
The conclusion of the South West African campaign freed the troops to support the Allied cause in other theatres of the war. In July 1915 the British government accepted the Union’s offer to send an infantry brigade of 7 000 men to France. The required number was quickly raised. A spirit of jingoism had swept English speakers throughout the country. Historian John Lambert quotes the response of a young man from Natal who was proud to pronounce:
We were the flag-wagging imperialistic jingoes, and how we loved it! We certainly did have something to shout about, and the present generation has no idea how we felt . . . We certainly had the courage of our convictions, because when the dogs of war were let slip we were ready in our thousands to uphold our beliefs
A contentious issue was the inclusion of coloured and black men in contingents serving outside the Union. In August 1915 the government decided to form the so-called Cape Corps, consisting of coloured men, for combat duty in German East Africa. The Germans largely used black troops, called askaris, in the campaign. For most of their period in East Africa, from February 1916 to December 1917, the Cape Corps was assigned to duty in what was considered to be one of the unhealthiest areas in the territory, along the Rufiji River. The death rate attributable to malaria and other diseases among black and coloured troops in East Africa was high. In December 1916 the APO protested that the policy of assigning to local coloured troops areas regarded as dangerous to local white troops was contrary to all the spirit of sacrifice and determination with which the many sections of His Majesty’s subjects had responded to the call of their king and country.
South African Indians served with honour as stretcher-bearers in that campaign. Smuts believed that the young white South Africans who fought alongside the troops from India in East Africa, returned ‘with more kindly feelings than they had before’ towards the Indian population of the Union. The use of coloured, Indian and black men in a noncombatant capacity in African campaigns seems to have caused little controversy. It was the use of coloured men as combatants in East Africa that met with strong disapproval from members of the National Party in South Africa.
The extremely heavy casualties on the Western Front led the British cabinet to approach the Colonial Office about the possibility of recruiting troops for trench warfare in France from ‘the coloured races’ in the empire. When the Colonial Office approached the Union government on the matter in late 1916 the Botha administration replied that there was no possibility of its agreeing to send black soldiers to fight in Europe. When the imperial authorities asked the Union government to send black labourers to France, it formed the South African Native Labour Contingent (SANLC). Some 21 000 black men were recruited for France. They were utilised as stevedores and worked on the railways, roads, in quarries and forests. Many blacks thought that the wage of £3 offered a month was too low. It was less than the Union rate of £4.50 for white privates, and 10% higher than the average mining wage for black workers.
The reasons of those who did enlist varied: they were peasants or labourers escaping from the drought-stricken northern Transvaal and criminals fleeing from justice, while others were attracted to the prospect of travelling overseas. A disproportionately small number were members of the black elite, who joined the SANLC ‘to prove their loyalty to the civilising Imperial power in an hour of need’.
But many white South Africans objected to black men being sent to Europe. The Natal Mercury commented that ‘more or less unsophisticated boys will come back to this country after contact with an altogether new environment very different individuals from what they were when they left’. The National Party member for Ficksburg, J.G. Keyter, who had been a powerful advocate of the 1913 Land Act, stated that when they returned ‘they will have ideas above their station, will work for no white man and incite people to agitate for equal rights’.
For South African black society the most traumatic incident of the war was the sinking of the transport vessel, SS Mendi. In thick fog early in the morning of 21 February 1917 the Mendi, carrying 882 men of the SANLC, was steaming across the English Channel from Britain to France. Off the Isle of Wight another troopship, SS Darro, ploughed into the Mendi, gashing its hull open. The passengers mustered on deck and some lifeboats were lowered. Within 25 minutes the Mendi sank in icy water and 615 men of the SANLC drowned or died of exposure and exhaustion. Throughout the men behaved with great courage.
Delays occurred before the Union government was able to issue a statement and provide details of the disaster. Rumours abounded, black suspicions increased and it became more difficult to recruit black labourers for overseas duty. In time, black people came to regard 21 February 1917 with sorrow and pride. ‘Mendi Day’ also came to assume black nationalistic and libertarian overtones.
The white South African brigade was despatched to Flanders. South African participation in the ‘big push’ reached a climax during the battle of Delville Wood from 15 to 20 July 1916. Delville Wood was the strategic key to Longueval and the divisional commander ordered detachments of the South African brigade to clear the wood of the enemy at all costs. Despite fierce counterattacks from three German divisions the brigade refused to surrender. On 20 July it was relieved after six days and five nights of ferocious fighting. Led by Colonel E.F. Thackeray, just five offi cers and 750 men of the force of more than 100 offi cers and 3 000 men marched out of Delville Wood. According to recent
research, 763 South Africans were killed in action or died of wounds sustained at Delville Wood.
A contemporary observer considered the battle of Delville Wood ‘an epoch of terror and glory scarcely equalled in the campaign’ and believed that ‘as a feat of human daring and fortitude the fight is worthy of eternal remembrance by South Africa and Britain’. In an age in which war memorials were the norm, such sacrificial heroics did not go unnoticed and in 1926 an imposing monument to the fallen soldiers was erected on the Somme. The monument not only spoke of an indomitable martial spirit, but as historian Bill Nasson has alerted us, it was also a robust embodiment of white national political culture embracing Afrikaans and English speakers. It also confirmed South Africa’s status as a member of the British Empire prepared to meet its obligations.
