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The Cape Corps: South Africa’s Coloured Soldiers in the First World War by Kyle Harmse 201219871 Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Historical Studies at the University of Johannesburg supervised by Professor Louis Grundlingh November 2017 To van Aarde, to Abbot, to Adams, to Daniels, to Desmore, to the Difford brothers, to Hendricks, to Hoy, to Jordan, to Morris, to Schoor, to Strydom, to Vipan, and to the eight thousand other men of the Cape Corps who fought in the First World War. We will remember you. 3 Acknowledgements This Masters work owes much to Professor Louis Grundlingh. Like an industrial grade diamond file, he is responsible for a great deal of its polish. It has been an honour and a privilege Prof, to have worked with you on this project. Warmest thanks is extended to Doctor Anne Samson, whose project in unpacking medical records in the Department of Defence Archives contributed massively to Chapter Three. Similar thanks must be extended to DOD archivists Gerald Prinsloo and Steve de Agrela, and to Hamish Patterson at the South African National Museum of Military History. Within the UJ History Department, major thanks are extended to Professor Natasha Erlank, Doctors Stephen Sparks and Nafisa Essop-Sheik, and Professors Thembisa Waetjens and Gerald Groenewald. Beyond its walls, thanks are extended to Doctor Jarred McDonald, David Katz, and a proofreader who has been an indomitable bulwark of support, Ms Jess Du Plessis. To my little brother, Julian: Thanks for the hours of gaming and complaining. Strive always for greatness. Finally and most importantly, I wish to thank my parents Callie and Leonie for their unending patience and moral support. I owe you my all. 4 Abstract The Cape Corps was a unit of Coloured soldiers raised in the Union of South Africa as an Imperial Service Contingent during the First World War. Birthed under difficult political circumstances, the Corps was ultimately an Imperial project animated by Governor-General Buxton and other liberal whites, and it came about despite the reluctance of Jan Smuts and others within both the South African and National Parties. Despite this reluctance, Coloureds and the APO responded to the outbreak of the First World War with persistent calls to be allowed to fight and this dissertation has argued that Coloured men in particular considered the war as an opportunity to stake a claim in the masculine citizenship of the Union. This masculine aspiration in fact underpins a major theme of this dissertation, namely that Cape Corps soldiers- both Coloured enlisted and white officers- pulled together to form a powerful group identity in order to accomplish this goal. Dimensions and methods of recruiting were considered, as was the process of training and indoctrination that manufactured a cohesive regiment of soldiers out of diverse individual men. Two chapters are devoted to the Corps’ experiences on campaign, with the first considering the broad cause of the Corps’ serious encounters with tropical disease in East Africa before unpacking the resulting experiences of its men’s suffering and difficulty. This suffering was endured because the Corps was determined to demonstrate their value in military encounters, the focus of a chapter that investigates the experiences of these men as they fought in major armed engagements on the war’s East African and Palestinian fronts. This dissertation ends with a discussion of the Corps’ awkward relationship with white military authorities and argues that, despite this, bonds of loyalty and kinship between Cape Corps veterans both Coloured and white remained both important and valuable to those who had served in the regiment. 5 Table of Contents Affidavit ............................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. 4 Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 5 Map of German East Africa ............................................................................................... 8 Introduction......................................................................................................................... 9 Historiography ................................................................................................................ 11 A historiographical gap to address ................................................................................... 12 Sources and methodology ................................................................................................ 13 Chapter overview and chronology ................................................................................... 16 Chapter One: The Opportunity of War ........................................................................... 19 Union political structure and Coloured Identity Politics ................................................... 21 Denied Masculinities, Denied Citizenship and the Opportunity of War ............................ 24 White reluctance and capitulation .................................................................................... 28 Chapter Two: Rifles, Recruitment and Respectability: The Cape Corps is mobilised .. 34 Recruitment and enlistment ............................................................................................. 35 Coloured Responses ........................................................................................................ 37 Officers ........................................................................................................................... 44 Training .......................................................................................................................... 46 Field exercises and final preparation ................................................................................ 52 The Corps Departs........................................................................................................... 53 Chapter Three: A Portrait of Misery: Disease, death and the Cape Corps in East Africa ........................................................................................................................................... 55 Jan Smuts, Disease Control and Medical Governance in South Africa, c.1904-1915 ........ 57 Smuts, malaria, sleeping sickness and the German East African Campaign ..................... 60 Difficulty and death: The Cape Corps’ encounters with disease in East Africa................. 69 Chapter Four: Pioneers and infantrymen; the Cape Corps labours and fights ............. 79 The Cape Corps in Moshi, Taveta and Arusha ................................................................. 80 Patrolling through the Fog of War ................................................................................... 85 Battle is met at Lindi ....................................................................................................... 89 The Battles of Square Hill: Mythology and Loss ............................................................. 98 Chapter Five: Discipline, Détente and Demobilisation .................................................. 106 Confrontation at Kimberley ........................................................................................... 107 The bumpy road to Kimberley ....................................................................................... 108 “Indiscipline” and guilt? A tale of two Cape Corps ........................................................ 112 A long, slow demobilisation and a détente in relations? ................................................. 117 Memory and identity ..................................................................................................... 119 6 The Second World War and beyond .............................................................................. 121 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 123 Overview and final thoughts .......................................................................................... 125 Source list ........................................................................................................................ 127 Primary Sources ............................................................................................................ 127 Department of Defence Archives (Hereafter DODA) ................................................. 127 University