Ian van der Waag - A Military History of Modern South Africa

A Military History of Modern South Africa

Ian van der Waag

To Adam and Michaela

First published in South Africa in 2015 by Jonathan Ball Publishers

Published in the United States of America and Great Britain in 2018 by

CASEMATE PUBLISHERS

1950 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083, USA

and

The Old Music Hall, 106108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JE, UK

Copyright 2018 text: Ian van der Waag, photos: as credited individually

Hardcover Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200-582-9

Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200-583-6

Kindle Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200-583-6

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

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Set in10.5/14pt Minion Pro

Map 1: The four environments for war and politics in southern Africa

Map 2: The military-strategic position during the first phase of the Anglo-Boer War

Map 3: The military-strategic position during the first phase of the German South West Africa Campaign and the Afrikaner Rebellion

Map 4: Longueval and Delville Wood: the situation on the evening of 17 July 1916

Map 5: The major operations of the Southern African War

Map 6: South Africa and the homeland states, 1994

Chapter One

Figure 1.1: Number of Boer crossings of the railway lines, June 1900 to May 1902

Figure 1.2: Colonial casualties, April 1901

Chapter Two

Figure 2.1: The organisation of the Union Defence Force, 1912

Chapter Three

Figure 3.1: Rebels captured and surrendered, 19141915.

Figure 3.2: South African battle casualties a comparative perspective

Figure 3.3: South African casualties (battle related) a comparative campaign perspective

Figure 3.4: South African casualties, 19141918

Chapter Four

Figure 4.1: South African nominations for courses in Britain 19261938, according to service

Chapter Seven

Figure 7.1: Numbers of ballotees (until 1967) and national servicemen in the SADF, 19621994

Figure 7.2: Estimated South African defence expenditure in billions of rands, 19691989

Figure 7.3: Total SADF casualties, operational and non-operational, 19661989

Chapter Eight

Figure 8.1: Department of Defence, composition by former force of origin as at 15 February 1997

Chapter One

Table 1.1: Comparison of average high temperatures (in C)

Table 1.2: The republican forces

Table 1.3: Boers bagged, January to July 1901

Table 1.4: Camp deaths, May to July 1901

Table 1.5: The reconstruction of the Transvaal

Chapter Two

Table 2.1: Numbers of militiamen and volunteers transferred from the colonial forces to the Active Citizen Force

Table 2.2: Composition of the Union general staff: career point and language

Table 2.3: The executive command of the Union Defence Force, 1912

Table 2.4: The threat perception and the design of the Union Defence Force, 1911

Table 2.5: Defence councillors, representing provincial and language interests, 19121924

Chapter Three

Table 3.1: The position of parties in the House of Assembly, 1910 and 1915

Table 3.2: The change in the South African general staff

Table 3.3: The four forces in the field, 15 March 1915

Table 3.4: Composition of 1st South African Infantry Brigade, with battalions representing the main political divisions in South Africa

Table 3.5: The killed and missing of the 1st South African Infantry Brigade, 1420 July 1916

Table 3.6: Through-flow of patients at the South African General Hospital, Abbeville, July 1916

Table 3.7: South African casualties at Longueval and Delville Wood, 1420 July 1916 (fighting strength less all detached men)

Chapter Four

Table 4.1: Defence budget, 19321939 (000s)

Chapter Five

Table 5.1 Whole-time Volunteers, Union Defence Force, 19391945

Table 5.2: Permanent Force officers

Table 5.3: War expenditure, September 1939 to 31 March 1945

Table 5.4: SAAF sorties in Middle East operations, April 1941 to May 1943

Table 5.5: The South African contribution to the Warsaw Concerto in comparative perspective

Table 5.6: Prisoners of war held in the Union, 19391945

Table 5.7: Casualties, Union Defence Force, 19391945

Chapter Six

Table 6.1: Aircrew casualties, 2 Squadron, SAAF, September 1951 to September 1953, quarterly

Table 6.2: Targets destroyed by 2 Squadron, SAAF, in Korea

Table 6.3: Number of ballotees (to 1967) and of national servicemen (from 1968)

Chapter Seven

Table 7.1: Comparison of South African and Angolan tanks at the start of the Angolan war

Table 7.2: Comparison of South African and Angolan air force fighters at the start of the Angolan war

Table 7.3: Improving South African land firepower during the Angolan war

Table 7.4: Incidents in South West Africa/Namibia, 19801988

Chapter Eight

Table 8.1: Racial profile of the SANDF (percentages)

Table 8.2: Language profile of the South African population and the SANDF/DoD compared, 2007

Table 8.3: The Certified Personnel Register, 1994

Table 8.4: Composition of the general staff of the SANDF in terms of former force: 1997 and 2007 compared (as percentages)

Table 8.5: South African peace missions abroad (1999)