South African Military and History Journal

SOUTH AFRICAN MILITARY AND HISTORY JOURNAL

THE TROOPER’S FAITHFUL STEED

“King Richard: “A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!” I SSUE 1 - 2020 Catesby: “Withdraw, my lord; I’ll help you to a horse.” Tony Westby-Nunn, King Richard: “Slave, I have set my life upon a cast. Cell: +27 (0)83 4444 662 I think there be six Richards in the field; e-mail: five have I slain to-day instead of him. [email protected] A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!” website www.tonywestbynunn.com KING RICHARD III ACT V SCENE IV WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. The American Civil War of 1861-65 introduced a revolution in cavalry tactics. Charging against the newer, more powerful and accurate guns, both sides found they were losing too many horses. The new technique was therefore to gallop within gunfire range of the enemy, leap off your horse, leaving him in charge of a soldier, then pound away at the enemy until your ammunition ran out. Unfortunately, the British, wrapped in their usual isolation, took absolutely no notice of these new tactics and continued to dream of the knee-to-knee cavalry charge. When they arrived in South Africa in 1899, supremely confident of crushing the Boers in a few weeks, they were dismayed to find themselves outshot and outridden by gangs of ‘Bible thumping farmers mounted on scruffy little ponies’. These tough Boer ponies in fact could live off the land and keep going for days, while their masters as well as being first class shots, knew the country backwards, and kept well out of the way of the British cavalry. Most important of all, having learnt the lesson of the American Civil War, the Boers dismounted when they reached the enemy, and used their guns. Nor did they need any extra hands to hold their ponies, which were trained to stand still the moment their reins were thrown over their heads. By comparison, the British horses, after a dreadful sea trip round the Cape, were given no time to rest and get used to the climate. Nor had the British learnt from the Crimean War that the hunter, though brilliant at keeping going at speed across country, cannot thrive on short rations and violent shifts of temperature. The only British horses which turned out to be tough enough to stand up to the conditions were those sent out by the London Bus Company. The other equine success story of the Boer War was the Australian Waler. The product of thoroughbred stallions bought cheap from England and mated with local mares, the Walers were light but extremely tough, and used to carrying their masters all day on the sheep farm. They had no difficulty coping with the long treks, nor the shortage of hay and oats, or the shifting climate. The Australian bushmen who accompanied them brought their usual cheerful iconoclasm to the battle. A troop under Herbert Plumer, who was later to become a distinguished general, was encamped with some Dragoon Guards. Soon the Dragoons’ fine chargers began to vanish from the horse lines, with the scruffy Walers taking their place. The incensed Dragoons found it hard to identify their horses (give an Australian half an hour with a horse, and tails are changed, manes hogged, and brands and marks disappear like magic) and complained bitterly to Plumer. He was totally unsym- Left: Horse Memorial in Port Elizabeth. pathetic, telling them they could learn a few lessons in The Boers entrusted their lives to tactics and toughness from the bushmen. He was less their horses. “In peaceful times amused however when someone stole his fine grey charger there never can exist that same and dyed it with Condy’s fluid. The General with his strong friendship between man and eyeglass picked out the horse from the Australian lines, and horse as in time of war, more especially in such a purely equine the guilty bushman was made to walk for a day beside his war as ours.” (Schikkerling, p73). mounted comrades. On occasion a horse or mule had In fact the Dragoons’ fine horses were soon breaking down to be put out of its misery. “And when like the other British horses from exhaustion, mange, the beast, in the last stages of strangles, influenza, and sore backs. Even worse, at exhaustion, could no longer follow Ladysmith and Mafeking, the cavalry were forced to shoot and after every device had been tried, rather than leave it to perish their horses to feed the starving garrisons, and fight as of thirst, or be killed by wild beasts infantry. Every bit of the horse was used. Tails and manes stuffed he would shoot it, and then sit mattresses, bones were boiled to make soup, flesh was minced and weeping.” (Schikkerling, p73). stuffed into intestines to make sausages. Britain won the war in the end by sheer weight of numbers, but the horse casualties were a disgrace. Out of the 520 000 remounts supplied, an utterly appalling 326 073 horses died – most of them from disease and exhaustion rather than enemy fire. Never before in the history of any war had there been such a dreadful sacrifice of animal life and public money. And because there was no veterinary corps to destroy the sick and wounded horses or supervise their return, they brought home diseases, which weren’t stamped out for years. SOURCE: Jilly Cooper, Animals in War. Corgi Books p33-38. Published with permission from Jilly Cooper 2006.

Horses arriving at Port Elizabeth from Dominion and Allied countries. Above left: A horse being hauled by a derrick from a lighter. Above right: Horses, once offloaded, are taken to the railhead for transport to Stellenbosch. Below left: Boer War photographer - Edgar Hyman. Below right: Postage stamps issued commemorating the Boer War. ANGLO-BOER WAR SITES IN AND ABOUT CAPE TOWN.

Cape Town was the seat of the Government of the Cape Colony during the Anglo- Boer War. Capetonians were generally very ‘pro-British’, but there was also sympathy and some support for the Boer Republics. The war brought considerable prosperity to the Cape with produce and other prices rising sharply. Many arriving troop and supply ships were anchored in Table Bay and the Alfred Dock (now the V&A Waterfront) was the port used for the disembarkation of troops arriving from Britain, Canada, Australia and elsewhere. Regiments paraded up Adderley Street and on the Grand Parade, much to the delight of the public who turned out in great numbers to greet them. The main troop camps were at Maitland, the Rosebank showgrounds, and on Green Point Common. General Hospitals were established in or near to these camps and No.1 and No.2 6. The Alfred Dock with the SS Ionian offloading General (Military) Hospitals were established at equipment for the British during the Boer War. (The Ionian was later sunk in 1917 by a submarine.) Wynberg. Some of these buildings are still present in the Wynberg Military Camp. It was the arrival of large numbers of sick and wounded troops from the front lines that brought home the realities of war to Cape Town public. A large Boer prisoner of war camp was established on the Green Point Cycle Track, adjacent to the Green Point Common. Most of these Boer POWs were in transit to camps in Ceylon, Bermuda, St Helena and elsewhere. There were two POW camps at Simon’s Town (Bellevue and South Camp in addition to HMS Penelope). The best overview of the Cape Town sites is from Signal Hill which has spectacular views over the city, the harbour and Table Bay. Looking out over Table Bay toward Robben Island one can picture troop and other ships 3. Green Point Cycle track c1900 was an enclosed Boer prisoner camp. under steam or sail at anchor in the bay. In the foreground lies the Green Point Common, now the new stadium, but in 1899-1902, it was the site of large troop encampments, also housing Green Point Camp Hospital. Immediately beyond this, nearer the Waterfront is the Old Cycle Track, site of the POW camp and adjacent to this, the Infectious Disease Hospital that was used by the Imperial Military authorities as No.6 Stationary Hospital. This complex now houses the Medical Museum and is well worth a visit. The turreted New Somerset Hospital next to this was a civilian hospital during the war. There is a fine view of the Waterfront complex from Signal Hill and one can picture the troops disembarking in the Alfred Dock and marching up Adderley street with bands playing and flags unfurled! Looking down over the present city several important Anglo-Boer war sites can be identified. The Cape Town Castle (completed in 1679) where the British Military Command was sited, has been restored. The Castle Military Museum has an excellent exhibit of the Anglo-Boer War on the first floor. Alongside the Castle is the Grand Parade, scene of many Military parades and assemblies of the Town Guard. The large statue is of Edward VII, who succeeded Queen Victoria on 22 January 1901. On the near side of Adderley street lies Green Market Square, located next to the church tower of the Metropolitan Methodist Church. Green Market Square (now a craft and traders 9. The entrance to the Cape Town Castle with its open market) was the site of many important impressive gateway. public meetings and proclamations during the war years. On 3 April 1900 the following Resolution was passed with great enthusiasm at a meeting on this square: “As British subjects assembled in Cape Town, we desire to express our entire concurrence with the refusal of Her Majesty's Ministers to allow the South African Republic and the Orange Free State to return to their independence, and we hereby declare our solemn conviction that incorporation of those States within the 9. The Castle - One of the many excellent and superbly presented displays of the Military Museum housed in Dominions of the Queen can alone secure peace, the Castle. However, many of the Military displays have prosperity, and public freedom throughout South been closed due to ANC political agenda!! Africa”. The Company Gardens can be identified as one looks down over the city towards Table Mountain. A walk up Government Avenue is an excellent way to picture Cape Town in the days of the Anglo-Boer War. Government Avenue commences at the top of Adderley Street. As you enter, the South African Slave Museum is on the left, with Ivor Mitford-Barberton’s statue of General Smuts in front and a statue of Queen Victoria in the adjacent grounds of Parliament. St George’s Cathedral is on the right and next to this the South African Public Library, which has an excellent collection of books, newspapers, etc. Walking up Government Avenue, the Company Gardens, established by Jan van Riebeeck soon after his arrival in 1652, are on the right and there is a fine statue of Cecil John Rhodes near the tea-room. The Houses of Parliament are on your left and after this Tuynhuys, the official residence of the State President. Tuynhuys was Government House during the Anglo-Boer War and was where Sir Alfred Milner received the telegram from Prime Minister Joseph Chamberlain, authorising intervention in the ‘Uitlander Question’. It is here the ultimatum from President Paul Kruger was received on 11 October 1899. The main entrance to Tuynhuys is at the top of Plein Street. The Eternal Flame Memorial for “All who fought and died for their Beliefs”, is near this entrance, and also an imposing equestrian statue of General Louis Botha. Further up Government Avenue, a more impressionistic statue of Smuts, by Harpley, and finally opposite the top gates of the Avenue the grand pillared entrance to the Mount Nelson Hotel. Important persons stayed here during the war and it was the venue for balls and social events. A visit to Simon’s Town is essential. On route a visit to the Rhodes Memorial, situated on the slopes of Devil’s Peak, above the University of Cape Town, is worthwhile and the Rhodes Cottage Museum in Muizenberg where Cecil John Rhodes died age 48 years. His last words were, “So little done. So much to do.”

1. Simon’s Town - The Patent Slipways (Nos.1, 2 & 3) built in 1891. On No.1 being overhauled is HMS Thrush, a 1st-class Gunboat. The two smaller boats on No.2 & 3 slipways are Torpedo Boats. In the back- Rhodes Memorial on Devil’s Peak. ground are HMS Doris, HMS Penelope & HMS Monarch. HMS Doris’s 4.7-inch guns were removed and placed on specially built gun carriages, used in Natal to compete against the ‘Long Tom’ cannons of the Boers. HMS Penelope was one of the prison ships during the early stages of the Boer War while the POW camps were being built in Simon’s Town.

DON’T FORGET TO VISIT THE NAVY MUSEUM IN SIMON’S 1. Simon’s Town POW South Camp. Note Martello Tower on left and HMS Penelope where the POWs were held; to the right of the tower. TOWN. SIMON’S TOWN AND THE ANGLO-BOER WAR.

On both sides, the British and Boer forces were taking heavy casualties for the control of towns and geographic areas. The bigger problem was the rapid escalation of Boer Prisoners being captured. The British needed to get the POWs away from the conflict areas for their safety and to prevent the Boers attacking the POW camps and freeing up the POWs to re-join the conflict. Simon’s Town was identified as an ideal position for a POW camp as the town had a strong presence of the Royal Navy and was well away from the conflict. Simon’s Town was, in 1900, the most southerly Naval Station in Africa and well protected from both sea and shore advances. The first Boer Prisoners (188) were taken after the Battle of Elandslaagte on 21 October 1899. Little preparation had been made for their arrival. The amount of prisoners caught the British off guard and plans were needed to accommodate them as they were brought south from the conflict. Initially a Boer POW camp was set on the Green Point Common in Cape Town but proved difficult to control as it was almost in the middle of the rapidly growing Atlantic Coast suburbs of Green Point and Sea Point. When the Elandslaagte POWs arrived in Simon’s Town they were accommodated on HMS Penelope, an armoured corvette built in 1867. The Penelope was serving as a Harbour Receiving Vessel. The conditions onboard were very cramped and not ideal for the POWs. Just normal routines were difficult to administer as was the daily role calls. Two guard boats were allocated to the Penelope to conduct patrols around her during the night to prevent prisoners escaping. They were unsuccessful with a few of the Boer prisoners taking to the water and making it ashore to disappear. Several ships were also used in Cape Town to hold the POWs. As the Penelope reached breaking point in the numbers accommodated in her it was decided to establish a temporary camp ashore where the present day Naval Sports Field, is situated next to the Martello Tower and just before the Seaforth Beach. A more permanent camp was being prepared where the present Simon’s Town Golf Course is situated and was boarded by Boulders Beach, Windmill Beach, Froggy Pond all along the coast line and the Main Road to Cape Point. The camp was to be known as Bellevue Camp and the first of POWs arrived on 28 February 1900. As the prisoners continued to arrive the POWs on the Penelope and at the Martello Tower were transferred to the Bellevue Camp which was rapidly filling. The prisoners were arriving in cattle trucks at the Simon’s Town station which had been opened on 1 December 1890 by Cecil John Rhodes. Once off the train the prisoners would then be marched along the Main Road escorted on both side by British soldiers to the Bellevue Camp. Wounded prisoners were sent to the old Cape Garrison Artillery Barracks in Simon’s Town, just across from the Simon’s Town Station, which had been converted into a very rudimentary hospital and became known as the Palace Hospital. The first wounded arrived on 2 November 1899. Towards the end of 1900 with the first Boer invasion of the Cape Colony all the prisoners at Cape Town and Simon’s Town were placed on board ships to prevent them from being set free by the local Boer sympathisers. At the end of December 1900 some 2 550 men were placed on board the Kildonan Castle where they remained for six weeks before being removed to two other transports at Simon’s Town. The Kildonan Castle had arrived from the UK on 24 January 1900 bringing 5 officers and 2 595 men and horses to fight in the war. After the prisoners (4 000) captured at Paardeberg with the Boer General Cronje, it was decided that the prisoners should be held away from South Africa as there was nowhere suitable and a safe area to hold the large numbers being captured or surrendering. The problem of transporting and feeding them was making it very difficult for the British as they still had to provide and support their own forces. Of the 28 000 Boer men captured as Prisoners of War, 25 630 were sent overseas to St Helena Island, Ceylon, India, Bermuda and Portugal. Many of these prisoners set sail from Simon’s Town, Cape Town, East London and Durban. The prisoners were billeted in army bell tents, with 8 men per tent. The wooden floors were circular and divided into four sections which were removed for cleaning. Their ablution blocks and cook houses were corrugated iron and constructed along the lower sea-side of the camp. Many of the prisoners were able to do their own cooking on old primus stoves outside their tents. Their meals were then enjoyed inside or next to their tents. The Bellevue Camp numbers varied in size but seldom dropped below 200 and climbed to 400 before a ship sailed. Approved local traders supplied the prisoners with additional food items and other articles to supplement their rations supplied by the British. Many of the Boers had come from farms with home industries and were skilled craftsmen and able to fabricate Bellevue Camp Office toys and curious from material they could scrounge from the coast line or traders. These items would then be sold through the traders giving the Prisoners cash to purchase provisions. Many of the homes in the town had the trinkets in their display collections. The only outsider personnel with access to the Camp was the Dutch Reformed Minister and the refuse collector who would call in a ‘scotch-cart’ to remove rubbish placed outside tents and at the central kitchen area. Being so close to the sea the POWs soon developed the love of sunbathing and swimming at Windmill Beach. The first recorded shark attack in False Bay occurred on 30 July when one of the prisoners was attacked whilst swimming. The prisoner bitten by the shark was John Henry Chandler who used an alias of ‘Jan Hendrik’. He was born into an English speaking family in 1872 from Ladybrand in the Orange Free State. He joined the Boer forces and fought against the British. After his capture at Swimming at Windmill Beach Paardeberg he was transferred to Bellevue Camp where he died from his injuries after the shark attacked. He was just 29 years old. After this accident a wire net was spread across the popular swimming section. The seaward pillar holding the net is still in place today. Receiving Mail is an important aspect for any POW. Mail to the Boers was distributed by a ‘Post Corporal’, he stood on a rock and called out the names of the recipients. The letter was then handed along the line to the prisoner often becoming even more crumpled and soiled after the British Censorship and rough handling. The rock is on the first fairway of the Simon’s Town Golf Club. The majority of the prisoners at the Camp were those who had surrendered at Paardeberg on 27 February 1900. Before surrendering the Boers had been besieged in the bed of the Riet Rivier for 9 days. They were in a terrible state with rotting carcasses of horses and oxen lying about the wrecked and smashed wagons. The slow flowing river water was polluted and the remaining men were on very meagre rations. When they were brought through to Simon’s Town many were in a poor condition with some contracting Enteric Fever which quickly spread through the Camp in April and March 1900. 47 prisoners died of the fever and were buried at the Old Cemetery another 6 died of other complications and were also buried there. There were no grave stones available to mark the 53 individual graves at the time. However a single memorial was later erected to commemorate their deaths. The memorial now has the inscription. Ten gedagtenis aan Boeren Krygsgevangen almeer begraven ANGLO BOEREN OORLOG 1899-1902. Those prisoners booked into the Palace Hospital would have come into contact with Mary Kingsley, a niece of author Charles Kingsley, she was one of the nursing sisters attending to the Boers whilst they were receiving treatment at the hospital during the Enteric Fever epidemic in March 1900. A month later she also contracted the disease and although she survived the fever her heart was seriously affected and she died soon afterwards in her sleep. She was buried with full military honours. Her coffin was drawn on a gun-carriage through the silent streets of Simon’s Town with British soldiers marching in escort. A ship’s launch carried her body to the warship HMS Thrush lying at anchor in the Simon’s Bay anchorage. The Thrush then sailed and Mary Kingsley was buried at sea off the shores of Simon’s Town. Unfortunately, the coffin bobbed to the surface after being released from the Thrush and a ship’s boat had to be launched to recover the coffin and weigh it down with a weighted anchor to get it to finally sink to the seabed.

CAPE TOWN - LAKESIDE & SIMON’S TOWN ACCOMMODATION

Whaleview Manor, 402 Main Rd, Simon’s Town Colona Castle, 1 Verwood Street, Lakeside Tel: 021 786 3291 Tel: 021 788 8235 email: [email protected] CAPE TOWN - SIMON’S TOWN ACCOMMODATION

Cheriton Guesthouse, 19 Belmont Rd, Simon’s Town Lord Nelson Inn, 58 St Georges Street, Simon’s Town Tel: 021 786 3933 Tel: 021 786 1386 email: [email protected]

Tel: 021 712 0441 3 Thatch close, Tokai, 7945 [email protected]

Residence William French, 44 Dories Drive, Simon’s Town Tel: 021 786 1068 email: [email protected]

Moonglow, 7 Bennett Close, Simon’s Town Mariner Guesthouse, 12 Harbour Heights, Simon’s Town Tel: 021 786 5902 email: [email protected] Tel: 021 786 4529 email: [email protected]

Left: Mermaid Rock Cottage. 14 Jackson Rd, Simon’s Town. Right: Simply Snoekie Cottage. 17 Jackson Rd, Simon’s Town. Contact: John Riorden Cell: 072 701 1617 CAPE TOWN - SIMON’S TOWN DIVING

Pisces Divers, Goods Shed, Main Road, Simon’s Town Shark Explorers, Main Road, Simon’s Town Tel: 021 786 3799 email: [email protected] Cell: 082 564 1904 email: [email protected]

CAPE TOWN - FISH HOEK & MUIZENBERG AMENITIES

The Bookworm, situated in Fish Hoek, Tel: 082 334 7899 email: [email protected]

Rhodes Cottage Museum, 246 Main Road, Muizenberg Posthuys Museum, 182 Main Road, Muizenberg For information contact: Chris Taylor 082 908 3456 For information contact: Chris Taylor 082 908 3456 MEDAL COLLECTING BY PAT RUNDGREN

There’s some terribly posh sounding word to describe the PAT RUNDGREN collecting of medals, but I, for one, can never remember it. It’s a fairly innocuous hobby, though, spending a lifetime in Highly qualified, expert military tour guide in the amassing hundreds of metal discs, which all basically look Kwa-Zulu Natal region. the same and have an intrinsic value of just above zero. Pat can assist with bookings But there is so much material available for those with a few for your specific travels in bucks to spare, that inevitably one starts to specialise before the region. working oneself out of the house and into the garden shed BATTLEFIELD, ADVENTURE because of lack of storage space. Some people collect & ZULU HERITAGE TOURS. sporting medals and medallions; some collect commemora- Cell: 072 8032 885 tives, but the upper crust of the medal collecting fraternity e-mail: [email protected] collects military medals. Now, soldiers have always been a sucker for a bit of silver, dangling on a nice gaudy silk ribbon, to remind one of the hardships of a particular campaign. The medal is worn with pride on parade and in the pub as a symbol of belonging to an exclusive veteran’s fraternity for those who have been there, taken the photo and stolen the T-shirt. In our typically Freudian male society, the more you have and the bigger they are, the more important you become. It is an especial thrill for me personally to come across a few silver discs at the bottom of a trunk that, when put together, represent someone, long gone, who was once very much a big wheel in a small machine. The research into the recipient, the thrill of resurrecting a man from the dead and bringing his memory back into the world. But alas, families work against us collectors. On Uncle Jack’s death, his old war medals are either just turfed out onto the scrap heap or divided, one for dear Aunt Sally, another for Cousin Sue and so on. All the paperwork, original documentation and photographs that every soldier keeps are simply discarded. In 10 minutes, families destroy everything that ever made their deceased relative a living person. It takes a collector sometimes decades to put it all back together again, if he ever does. So, first word of advice for the unwary. Keep EVERYTHING TOGETHER. Medals, documentation, books, diaries, uniforms, swords … the LOT! And one day, if you’re forced to sell the medals for some reason, you might be pleasantly surprised at the amount of money you receive. When a medal enthusiast either turns up his nose or makes you what you consider a piffling offer for your grandfather’s prized Africa Star, remember that it NEVER comes alone. There will ALWAYS be at least a 1939-1945 Star and a War Medal with it, probably more (the typical South African ‘group’ for World War II will comprise of at least 5 or so medals). Military medals come in various categories. A soldier on active service will accumulate a series of campaign medals to remind him of all the boredom, ‘hurry up and wait’, flies, exotic maidens (if you’re lucky), dirty water and unpleasant Sergeant Majors he ever encountered. Sometimes, when the Treasury is penny pinching, instead of receiving a new medal for every campaign, the powers-that-be create a General Service Medal and simply award a clasp, or bar, for each subsequent action or campaign roughly in the same region or to do with the same issues. The collection of a specific medal with all its ‘bar’ combinations is a sub-culture of medal collecting all of its own. Remember, though, that no one likes losing, so it’s rare to find any medals issued for campaigns, which go down the drain. If he hangs in there long enough, a soldier might earn one or more Long Service and Good Conduct Medals and, if a Sovereign kicks the bucket during his tenure, either a Coronation or a Jubilee Medal as well. He may take part in some famous actions or earn a gallantry medal or two. This might lead to promotion and the subsequent award of a little something for distinguished leadership or even an Order of Chivalry. Generally, then, one pays (or receives, depending on which end of the deal you’re on) more money - the more medals there are in the group - the more gallantry medals there are and especially if these are accompanied by an Order of Chivalry. It’s sad but true that medals, which are almost always named to the recipient - to ‘Line’ Regiments command a far higher premium than those to Artillery, Service Corps and Engineers. It doesn’t matter that the latter guys have fought just as hard as their infantry counterparts. Their medals are simply not as much in demand as those to the so-called ‘fighting’ units. Air Force medals are generally more ‘exotic’ than Navy ones for example, yet naval medals awarded to Polar Expeditions or to a sailor on H.M.S. Hood or the Ark Royal rate a premium. Then a man’s unit has a lot to do with the value of the medal. For example, South African General Service Medals with an ‘1879’ bar have a high value. If the man fought, (and maybe died) in the 24th Regiment at such famous actions as Isandlwana or Rorke’s Drift, that medal will skyrocket, depending on whether the person was a well known character, a senior officer, a deserter, a hero, the value lies very much in the eyes of the beholder. His rank also affects the value. An officer’s medal will normally fetch twice the price of that of an ordinary soldier’s, unless the soldier held an unusual rank, for example bearer, cyclist, bandsman. Victoria Cross groups are now selling for over £250 000; Rorke’s Drift Victoria Cross groups are realising up to £400 000. Not bad for a bit of metal which Edward VII once remarked cost merely 5/6d to make!

1877 – BREVET MAJOR H.G.MOORE V. C . One of the the most important military acquisition made by the MuseuMAfrica in Johannesburg was from the purchase of the first Victoria Cross given for an act of bravery on South African soil. This unique piece was obtained from descendants of Hans Garret Moore, who was Brevet Major and Adjutant of the 88th Foot (The Connaught Rangers) when awarded this decoration for gallantry on 29 December 1877, in action at Draaibosch, near Komgha, about 110 kms from East London, during the 9th Frontier War. DRAAIBOSCH Moore was directed to take out a party of police to assist in getting wagons and post through from Komgha as the enemy was harassing troops in the area. It was two years before his bravery at Draaibosch was officially recognised in the London Gazette of 27 June 1879, the following citation appeared: “Moore. Major Hans Garret, 88th Regiment. Date of act of bravery: 29 December, 1877 (South Africa). “For his gallant conduct in risking his own life in endeavouring to save the life of Private Giese, of the Frontier Armed Mounted Police, on the occasion of the action with the Gaikas, near Komgha, on the 29 December, 1877. “It is reported that when a small body of Mounted Police was forced to retire before overwhelming numbers of the enemy, Major Moore observed that Private Giese was unable to mount his horse and was thereby left at the mercy of the (Xhosa). Perceiving the man’s danger, Major Moore rode back alone into the midst of the enemy and did not desist in his endeavour to save the man until the latter was killed. Major Moore having shot two (Xhosa) and received an assegai wound in the arm during his gallant attempt.” ASSEGAI IN ARM After the fight, he returned with an assegai sticking in his arm through the muscle of the biceps. He would not allow it to be removed before, as he would have bled profusely. He sat down on a stump of a tree and let the doctor cut out the assegai-head while he smoked a pipe. While the operation was in progress some anxious bystander attempted to cut open the sleeve of his patrol jacket. With perfect coolness, Moore said: “Hold on, this is my only coat; rip it up the seam.” Next day he was out on patrol again and was in action for three hours. Later, as Lieutenant-Colonel, he commanded the Cape Mounted Rifles, but resigned in 1882 to serve in the Egyptian Campaign of that year. He was mentioned in despatches for his gallantry at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir. He retired when commanding the 93rd Highlanders, later the 2nd Battalion, The Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders, refusing the rank of Major-General on retired pay. COLONEL MOORE’S VICTORIA CROSS, WITH DECORATIONS AND MEDALS The Victoria Cross, C.B., Indian Mutiny Medal with Bar, Ashanti Medal with Bar, South Africa with 1877-8 Bar, Egypt 1882 with Bar, Khedive’s Bronze Star and the Order of Osmanieh.

THE REDCOAT’S APPAREL DURING THE FRONTIER WARS

As described by contemporary officers: 1). Lieut. W.F.D. Jervois writes from Trompetter’s Drift to his father in Bath, England on 1.1.1842. “The frontier style of dress is rather homely. We wear shooting coats, cut off short for riding, fustian trousers, a waistcoat I have quite given up; untanned leather boots, and the same sort of hat that waggoners wear in England. On Sundays we have a dress parade; of course we have to put on a shell jacket.” And to his brother Gordon from Fort Peddie on 15.5.1842. “You would scarely believe that the thorns of the mimosa grew on bushes, if you saw them; they are commonly 6 inches long and quite white, looking like pieces of wood cut into that shape and painted. I have seen horses, as well as their riders, quite torn by them in pushing through the bush. It is really so bad that the general kind of trousers people wear, would be torn off them altogether. “The kind of lower garments we usually wear are moleskin, or what are termed ‘crackers’ which are made out of the skins of animals with the hair taken off. Altogether our dress here would astonish an English native, as people study the solid and homely kind of apparel rather that the gorgeous and expensive”. (From The Jervois Papers). 2). Lieut. Elers Napier in 1846. “For a distant expedition into the ‘Bush’, the ‘Rode Bashees’ of the party - as the (Xhosa) denominated our gallant red-jackets, to distinguish them from the ‘Amabula’ (the Boers) and the ‘Umlaou’ or Hottentots of the force - divested themselves of the old-fashioned ‘pipe-clay’ trammels. Tight, tape-laced coatees (scarlet in leprosy), were cast aside; and shell jackets, well-patched with leather ... had become the order of the day. Blue, dungaree trowsers were substituted for white prolongations and the crown of that very essence of discomfort and uselessness, yclept the ‘chako’, being kicked out, had made way for the rather more sensible head-dress of the forage cap”. (From E. Napier: Excursions 11, p.230). 3). Sir Harry Smith to the third Earl Grey on 3.2.1851. “Requests approval for expenditure of £260-8s-8d being the cost of 513 light grey jackets for the men of the 73rd Regt. It has been my intention to employ this corps upon active service in the Bush, and the heat of the weather has lately been so great, that the soldier, accoutred in his regular uniform, could not possibly exert his energies so as to compete with those of the athletice savage. The red jacket also, from its colour as well as texture, is peculiarly unfitted for South African warfare, serving in the bush as a direct object for the (Xhosa), whose skill as a marksman is now by no means to be despised. I therefore trust that Your Lordship will regard this outlay as useful”. (SOURCE: WO1/446 In-Letters Col. Office, Military, C. of Good Hope, 1851, Despatches pp.59-61: No. 16, Smith-Grey, 3.2.1851 (P.R.O.)). ‘THE BROAD ARROW’ The Broad Arrow as a mark of the British Government was to be found on all government property - on bullets, copper caps, on stones marking altitude of places on Ordnance maps, not to mention its use on the clothing of civil prisoners. It is believed to have originated from the badge of Henry, Viscount Sidney, Earl of Romney, Master-General of the Ordnance, 1693-1702 to mark the Ordnance stores for which he was responsible. However, the first use of this mark can be traced back to the years 1553-1554 in two letters of Sir Thomas Gresham, founder of the Royal Exchange, from Antwerp where he was then living, to the Council in England. He was at that time actively engaged in smuggling gun powder and other material to England and in these two despatches he mentioned that he was shipping commodities in trading vessels under the ‘brod arrow’ mark of which sketches were included in the margins of the respective letters. (The Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, Vol. I, Dec. 1922. p.225 and Vol. IX, 1930, p.175) On the Eastern Cape Frontier the boundaries of all Military Reserves around fortifications were marked with neatly dressed stones, planted at the different corners, with either WD (War Department) or BO (Board of Ordnance) and the Broad Arrow chiselled underneath. What happened to all of them? At Fort Hare two were found embedded in the ground among some thorn trees near the Jabavu School. When the country was the Union of South Africa with its British connection, all Government property were marked with the ‘Broad Arrow’. called ‘Hoenderspoor’ (chicken’s footmark) by Afrikaans speakers. Stolen government property could easily be identified by the sometimes concealed Broad Arrow. SOURCE: Forts of the Eastern Cape 1799-1878 by Colin G.Coetzee ‘OX-DRAWN TANK?’ In the 1870s, when Frontier Wars were at their height, several inventors developed ‘Weapons of War’. Among them was a Mr Orgill who designed a square, all steel, ox-drawn tank as ‘the Ultimate Weapon’. He proposed mounting the ‘tank’ on a frame with four wheels “so adjusted that they could turn on a small wheel base.” The tank would be large enough to hold 8 men and have slits through which they could fire their rifles. This ‘War machine’ was described in an 1878 issue of The Cape Argus and hailed as a “remarkable contraption which could maintain a murderous discharge which few defenders would be able to withstand.” Orgill also proposed that this ‘formidable weapon’, should have a Gatling-type gun on its roof. This would “disseminate bullets with deadly effect.” The tank was also to have a series of small, strategically-placed apertures through which revolvers could be fired. Someone, however, pointed out a major pitfall and in a Letter to the Editor. He asked what would happen if the oxen got shot, stabbed to death or slaughtered? How formidable would the tank be then? Would it not simply become an all-steel grave? “Orgill’s designs were shelved - indefinitely,” writes Don Briscoe in a tour guides’ newsletter, Update.

VISIT THE NAVY MUSEUM IN SIMON’S TOWN. SOUTH AFRICA AND THE FALKLANDS WAR - 1982

The SA Wolraad Woltemade - ZTUG. The worlds largest and most powerful tug in its time. Its sister tug the SA John Ross was modelled along the same lines and still serves as SA Amandla. Taken from the book A Tug at my Heart by Captain Okke Grapow and Tony Westby-Nunn. On 2 April 1982, after the Argentinians had occupied the Falkland Islands, known to them as the Malvinas, Britain mobilised a task force. The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) was requisitioning and chartering a huge fleet of British merchant ships for the war effort to assist the Royal Navy, and in the event that their ships should come to grief, of course tugs were also required. At the time both the John Ross and the Wolraad Woltemade were sailing under the Bermudan flag and were ‘owned’ by a subsidiary company of Safmarine. John Ross at that time was towing an American oil-rig on a voyage from the US Gulf to California - Jones Act notwithstanding. She was somewhere off California, not far from her ‘unmarked’ destination. The legal fraternity in USA had come to the conclusion that if a destination was not actually marked, then no law could be contravened. The phone rang that evening, and a call from the United Kingdom advised that an agent acting for the MoD would be contacting Okkie Grapow to ascertain if our tugs were available. Sure enough, a little while later the government broker of DoT STUFT (Ships Taken Up From Trade) was on the line, wanting to know “how much?”, and the subsequent conversation went something like this: Saftug: “Twenty thousand per day,” meaning of course US dollars per day, and at that horrendous rate the quoted price would under normal circumstances have been understood to include cost of fuel and lubes. DoT STUFT: “Okay.” Saftug: “Pounds!” - This word nearly doubled the rate. DoT STUFT: “Okay.” Saftug: “Plus fuel.” and the DoT STUFT said “Okay” again, also indicating that they would revert with their requirements, if any. All in all, the person sounded as if he knew what he was doing, and the seriousness of the enquiry was not in doubt at any time. Also, tugs from United Towing of Hull had already been requisitioned, and the market showed that the Royal Navy needed more. But then realisation set in: It was not necessary for the DoT STUFT to ask at all, since they could requisition any ship under the British flag, and that included any ships under the flag of Crown Colonies such as Bermuda. This called for action in the event that DoT STUFT exercised their right to call for our tugs, under a contract or under the powers of requisition vested in them. The problem was that Saftug was ill-prepared for this eventuality, and to make matters more serious, it was thought that in the newly declared Falklands War, South Africa might want to stay neutral, if not covertly supporting the ‘neighbours’ across the sea. Since Britain and South Africa were not exactly dining at the same table during this period, what better person to ask than South Africa’s well-known foreign minister ‘Pik’ Botha. In other countries it may not be easy to call the foreign minister directly on the telephone, but with the relatively small nucleus of omnipotent politicians in South Africa at the time, making contact always proved easier than expected. He was on the line a few minutes later and after listening to the story, the minister said that he was in no position to give commercial advice. However, all attempts failed to convince him that purely political advice was needed. After all, there were concerns that South Africa could be embarrassed if it became known that her tugs were involved on the wrong side. Besides, it was unrealistic to assume that the world did not know of the actual identity of our big tugs! The minister nevertheless stuck to his guns, and insisted that he could not give commercial advice, and that was that. The possibility of DoT STUFT requisitioning the big tugs did not go away. At the best of times, there was no-one whom Saftug could ask for advice, much less so on a Good Friday, but it became obvious that the DoT STUFT could not requisition the tugs if they were to revert to the South African flag. Accordingly, the shipping master was called and involved in the plot, and the marine surveyor of the Department of Transport’s marine division, who was able to re-register the vessels, and provide all the necessary flag state certificates, from load line to safety equipment, from radio and call sign to certificate of registry, with the approval for the name change as well. But there was no authority from the board of Safmarine to do any such thing, nor could this be obtained in a hurry under the circumstances. It would involve an agreement to purchase the two tugs from their Bermudan owners, the simultaneous cancellation of the previous register and radio call sign, the closure of the articles and official log book. All of which takes time to arrange, not to mention the whole range of insurance cover that would have to go hand in hand with the change. With all these hurdles, and the Easter holiday worldwide, something had to happen in a hurry, and it soon became evident that all satisfactory authority could well be obtained when business resumed on Tuesday. All persons involved would be able to fudge things until then, especially in the event that the tug on station in South Africa was targeted by the DoT STUFT over Easter. That left the John Ross exposed, as she was engaged with her tow on the coast of California, just short of her destination. A scenario could be foreseen whereby the USA would assist the DoT STUFT with information, and our fears were further exacerbated by the fact that the tug was also avoiding the provisions of the American Jones Act in conducting the present tow. There was actually a great deal of goodwill towards the tug division from within the rank and file of the Safmarine administration and their efficient worldwide network of agents offices in major centres. Also, many a mariner in a shore job longed to be involved in the tug business. And it was to these well-disposed Safmariners that Saftug now turned for help, it being also known that the loyalty of the established tug crews could be relied upon to do what was necessary, all this without fuss. Suddenly, there appeared to be a glimmer of hope in that there was to be a crew change on the John Ross when she arrived in port later in the week, and all that was needed was to provide the joining 2nd officer with an earlier flight. He could take a sealed envelope with all requisite new certificates to allow the John Ross to enter a Californian port after delivering the tow, and all would be well. The shipping master, marine surveyor, and radio inspector did sterling work; these gentlemen produced all the required handwritten, properly authenticated and stamped certificates during that day, while a good friend in the crewing department of Safmarine saw to the logistics of getting the relieving 2nd officer to a helicopter conveniently close to the position of the John Ross by Easter Sunday. With the ink still wet on the new certificates, the young 2nd officer went on the trip of a lifetime, or at least it would be an Easter he would not easily forget. First he caught a flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg, there to connect with a SAA flight to New York. He was met by a member of the Johannesburg office of Safmarine who assisted him onto the connecting flight to New York which had a scheduled fuel stop at Ilha do Sal in the Cape Verde Islands. Again he was met by a member from the New York area office to assist him with changing terminals for the flight to Houston, Texas, where he was met by another member from the Houston area office who helped the young officer with changing airlines for a connecting flight to Los Angeles in California. By this time he would have been in the air for some 56 hours. On arrival at LA he was again met, this time by the agent and let us recall that it was the Easter holiday there also. The 2nd officer transferred to his fifth flight, enroute to a place called Oxnard in Orange County in California. There he was booked into the hotel with a name that must have sounded very welcoming: ‘Casa Serena’. By now he was thoroughly jet lagged. Next day, Easter Sunday, he was picked up and taken to a helicopter base in Santa Barbara, from whence the sixth aircraft of his journey flew him directly on to the helipad of the Zapata Concord (the oil rig on tow), just in time for arrival manoeuvres near the port of Hueneme. Before getting to the tug, he was ordered onto one of the pontoons by the riding crew (from Safmarine) to let go the towing connection, that being his job as he was told, he being more familiar than any in the riding crew with what was involved in splitting the Kenter link. In the dark, or due to the effect of jet lag, he was washed off the slippery pontoon by a wave they had not seen coming, and ended up in the water under the rig. Somehow he was picked up and returned to the pontoon to complete the job of letting the tug go. Only when that was done was he able to shoulder the specially purchased sling bag with the tug’s new identity, and stepping into the crew basket, was hoisted by the rig’s crane directly onto the afterdeck of the tug. When the tug came up to the pilot station at Port Hueneme, the John Ross was resplendent under the South African flag, her old call sign ZTOW, and all certificates brand new - all valid for a whole year. ‘Cape Town’ was freshly painted on the starboard stern, ‘Kaapstad’ on the other, the wet paint just about obliterating the name HAMILTON previously depicted there in large steel letters, welded in place. Those at Saftug were to learn later that there were not a few surprised faces on the rig as they watched the crew re-painting the port of registry on each stern, and they noticed the flag change as well, but it is not recorded how the captain explained all this away. Since the long tow had been very successfully completed without untoward incident involving the customer, embarrassing questions were not likely to be asked. The tow from the US Gulf, around the bottom of the Americas by way of the Patagonian Canals had been a long one, and earlier contact with the rig people had ensured a good relationship of rather a special nature, shall we say, none of the participants are unlikely to forget, and a story often told with smiles. The story continues with Saftug personnel being called by the South African Navy on Tuesday morning after the Easter holidays, summoning the manager to see the admiral at Silvermine headquarters, near Cape Town. On arrival, the manager was ushered into a conference room in the admiral’s offices, there to be confronted with a room full of naval officers, their sleeves decorated with varying amounts of gold braid. After formal greetings had been exchanged, the admiral came to the point and bluntly wanted to know why the tugs had reverted to the South African flag, and what had caused this to be done? The angry reply reiterated what had transpired, and since the State, in the form of the foreign minister, had declined to give badly needed advice, and because these were after all, commercial considerations, the admiral was not really entitled to an answer, this having nothing to do with him nor the SA Navy. “No, no, you don’t understand, we like it,” explained the admiral with a grin, adding that they simply wanted to know what our thinking had been. After relating the story, all those present really did seem to appreciate what had been done to avert embarrassment in an area that is normally considered to be in the province of naval forces. Hence, the story of how South African tugs avoided being ‘called up’ for service in the Falklands War. SOURCE: A Tug at my Heart by Capt. Okkert-Ernst Grapow and Tony Westby-Nunn, 2013. WORLD WAR II HEROES - JOHN BOOYSEN MM John Booysen, a self-employed wood hawker from Graaff-Reinet, was in his early twenties when he volunteered for active service. He had served with an MT company in East Africa, before being posted to the artillery in October 1941. One of the artillery units to suffer the heaviest casualties in the withdrawal from Gazala and Matruh, was the 2nd Anti-Tank Regiment. On 14 June the gunners of this regiment were in defensive positions at a place called Eluet-et-Tamar and had a particularly blistering time. They knocked out as many as eight tanks, but in the process had two of their guns destroyed by direct hits, causing heavy casualties. One of the many young men who displayed conspicuous gallantry during this action was a Cape Corps driver, Gunner John Booysen. Booysen was in a slit trench, near his vehicle which was about 135 metres from the gun position, while the crew was engaged in a heavy duel with the panzers. After a while he sensed that something was amiss and crawled to the gun position under shell and machine-gun fire. There he found the whole gun crew severely wounded and tried to tend their wounds as best he could, with the little that was available on the spot. He then crawled to a nearby infantry post and asked for medical aid to be summoned forward urgently, but was told that nothing could be done for the men. He crawled back to his trench to fetch more water for his wounded comrades and continued to administer what aid he could. Once again and without considering his own personal safety, he moved to another infantry post and asked the officer to radio for medical assistance. Only after he had been satisfied that this had been done did he crawl back to the gun crew. During most of this time the position was subjected to machine-gun and small-arms fire. He remained with his wounded comrades until an ambulance arrived some two hours later and assisted in their final evacuation. Before he abandoned the position, John Booysen moved to his vehicle which had by that time been hit and partially burnt out, and destroyed what he could of the engine with a hammer. His conduct at Eluet-et-Tamar was one of the fine examples of the spirit and courage of the many individual soldiers who were willing to endanger their own lives, to tend to their stricken comrades Gunner Booysen received the immediate award of the Military Medal for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. Behind the thin line of the Allies’ delaying positions, the congestion of two divisions built up as the many agonising hours passed. Thousands of troop-carrying vehicles were crawling at less than five miles an hour and the tanks of the armoured brigades were adding to the congestion. But, fortunately for the Allies, neither the German ground forces nor the air force were able to exploit the situation which could so easily have led to the 8th Army’s defeat. The mass withdrawal had also coincided with major Allied convoy activities off Malta and this had fortuitously drawn the attention of the Luftwaffe away from the desert theatre for a short, yet critical, period. The drivers of the CC and the NMC coaxed their lorries forward with their precious loads of men and material, through the dangerous passes of the coastal highway, having to contend with both their own fears and with the nervous irritation of their passengers as the desert drama reached its climax. One of the more unusual accounts of that chaotic day concerns a coloured driver who was part of the Gazala gallop. It was related by General Pienaar himself, as an example of the indefati- gable sense of humour of the Cape Corps men who helped them through those difficult times: “The man was driving along the top of the escarpment when he saw tanks approaching. He got out of his truck, walked over to an officer and said: ‘Dit is darem lekker om ons tenks weer te sien’ (It’s good seeing our tanks again). The officer looked at them through his glasses and said, ‘Those are not our tanks they are Jerry.’ The driver jumped into his truck and just as he was about to drive off the officer shouted, ‘Wait a minute and I’ll give you a compass bearing on which to travel.’ ‘Bearing be damned’, shouted the driver. ‘The accelerator is good enough for me.’” SOURCE: The Unknown Force by Gen. Ian Gleeson 1994 WORLD WAR II HEROES - CORPORAL JOB MASEGO MM

Job Masego worked in Springs, Witwatersrand (Gauteng) as a delivery worker when South Africans volunteered to join the British/Allied forces in the Second World War. Job Masego at that time felt that the war was not his concern being a ‘white mans’ war, until he received a visit from his close friend Frans Makhanyua who had joined the native military corps, and on seeing him in his uniform he made the decision to fight for his country, burying his feelings regarding the injustices of the politics in South Africa. Job Masego joined the same unit as Frans Makhanyua, and after basic training they were posted to Egypt with the 2nd South Africa division. A short while later he was captured and placed in a POW camp in Tobruk. One day, sitting on the sand inside the camp, he was thinking about an event that had taken place the previous night. He asked the Italian guards for water to wash and they had laughed in his face, remarking that he was already black and that washing would make no difference. When Job reacted indignantly, they held him down and beat him severely. As a POW in Tobruk he and his fellow prisoners were put to work unloading cargo ships in the harbour. It was estimated that some 1 200 black soldiers who had been serving in the 2nd South African Division had fallen into the hands of the Germans when Tobruk fell. After the Battle of El Alamein and with the German Army in full retreat Col. H.O Sayer, Deputy Director Non-European Army Services followed up the advancing Allies to take care of released Prisoners of War. Before the Allies reached Tobruk Col. Sayer found three men, two black soldiers and one coloured man from the Cape Corps who had escaped from the Tobruk POW camp. Corporal Masego was their spokesman and told of the condition of the prisoners still being held, their health and their immediate needs. He also described their life in captivity explaining that they were used mainly to off-load army supplies at the Tobruk harbour. This work had enabled them to do considerable damage to supplies and equipment when they were not too closely watched by their Italian guards. A typical example was that amongst the food stocks captured by the German Army after the 2nd South African Division had surrendered was a reasonable supply of sugar. Whilst the stocks of this sugar held out, the POWs were given a daily ration. One bright man amongst them told his fellow prisoners that if they put sugar in the tanks of the motor vehicles when they filled them with petrol, this would gum up the valves of the motors and cause a great deal of damage. The POWs thought this was a great idea and as a result many of them sacrificed their sugar rations for this purpose and apparently managed to cripple a number of vehicles in this way. When asked “What did you do yourself ?” Corporal Masego replied; “Oh! I sank a steamer”. This was confirmed by the Cape Corps soldier and Masego explained that before the war he had worked in the gold mines of the Witwatersrand (Gauteng) and knew something about fuses and explosives. He had manufactured a long fuse from string and cordite and attached this to a jam tin that he had filled with more cordite that he had obtained from cartridges which could always be picked up in the trenches and sand. He then carried this little demolition outfit around in his haversack for ten days waiting for an opportunity to find something worthwhile that he could blow up. On 21 July 1942, Masego and his group were busy unloading cargo, consisting of ammunition and petrol, from a small merchant vessel in the harbour. Some of his trusted mates were instructed to dance excitedly round their guard, talking in their own language, which the Germans did not understand, in order to distract his attention whilst Masego was fastening the covers on the hatch. This gave him the opportunity to light the fuse which he had earlier led around the ribs of the ship and down to the explosive jam tin that he had placed amongst some jerrycans filled with petrol. The work team was naturally anxious as they were marched away and luckily it was only after they had gone over a rise in the ground and were out of sight of the harbour that a series of explosions were heard. The POWs pretended no interest in these explosions as this might have given them away for, as Masego explained, they were now for the first time, afraid. The following day the working party was mustered for questioning; “Had any of them been smoking in the hold of the ship?” But only blank faces stared back at their questioners. Thankfully for the POWs the suspicions of their captors had evidently not been fully aroused as there were no obvious links between them and what had happened on the ship. Nevertheless, Masego’s group was removed from the harbour work force and Masego found himself detailed for manual labour on a wireless dump about a mile outside Tobruk. While at work in the wireless dump, Masego watched the assembly of receiving sets until he thought he could assemble one himself. During a meal interval, he managed to take his assembled wireless into a disused brick hut that had a large hole in the roof and another in the cement floor. The space under the floor was some sort of storage cellar formerly used by the Italians for their wine. Masego had heard that there was an unexploded aerial bomb in the cellar and he therefore considered that it was unlikely to be searched. “They were afraid to go there” he said. He managed to secure a ladder and took his wireless set down through the hole. In the meantime all the prisoners had been told by their captors that it would be impossible to escape as they would surely die in the desert especially as Cairo and Alexandria were now in German hands and therefore even if they achieved the impossible and escaped, they would be recaptured and shot. As British aircraft were still to be seen overhead the POWs doubted this information and this had led to Masego’s desire to fix up a wireless in order to get Allied news broadcasts. Eventually he got the set going and picked up broadcasts from Cairo which told him that Rommel had been pushed back after the Battle of El Alamein. It was then that Masego and his comrades decided to escape using water they collected from the radiators of broken down vehicles to survive in the desert. Colonel Sayer thought his story was true but affected not to believe it and instructed Masego to accompany him back to Tobruk. They were amongst the first Allied troops to re-enter the town and Masego led them to a little white building about a mile outside of Tobruk to the west. Dangling from the roof was a rusty wire, which Masego said was his aerial. He then knelt on the floor and reached through an opening in the floor for a hidden ladder, down which he climbed and found his radio. The set was found to be still working and Col Sayer obtained permission for it to be taken back to South Africa as a trophy. This also gave additional credence to his story of the sinking of the ship in the harbour and subsequently a diver sent from Alexandria found the sunken vessel and substantiated Masego’s story. Today, a portrait of Corporal Masego hangs in the South African Museum of Military History’s Geo. Brink Hall proclaiming his bravery. His citation reads: Corporal Masego who was captured with the Second Division in Tobruk was awarded the Military Medal for his ingenuity, determination and complete disregard of personal danger when he sank a fully-laden enemy steamer in Tobruk Harbour in which he and other prisoners had been put to work. The portrait was painted by the official war artist, Neville Lewis. Job Masego returned to South Africa in 1943 and subsequently the Masego Primary School in Kwa Thema, Witwatersrand (Gauteng), was named after him. In 1997 the strike craft SAS Kobie Coetsee was renamed SAS Job Masego in his honour and in 2005, after this ship was disposed of the Navy kept the name going by naming the Naval Base Simon’s Town Wardroom in his honour. He attained the rank of Lance Corporal during his service. Maseko died in 1952 after being struck by a train and was buried in the Payneville Township Cemetery of Springs. SOURCE: SA Naval Digest No.14 WORLD WAR II HEROES CORPORAL LUCAS MAJOZI DCM From the outset, South Africa’s war effort was threatened by serious manpower shortages, due mainly to the strong opposition by a large section of the white Afrikaans speaking population to the country’s participation in the war on the side of Britain. The problem was compounded by the government’s insistence that Black, Coloured and Indian volunteers were only to be deployed as non-combatants - they were not allowed to carry arms. Amongst these volunteers was the young Lucas Majozi, from Zastron in the Orange Free State, who volunteered for service in February 1941. The NEAS formed a pool from which non-combatant manpower could be drawn and these men were then posted to units where their services were required. After volunteering his services, Lucas Majozi was selected for stretcher- bearer duties and underwent his medical training at Palmietkuil, near Johannesburg. By the end of 1941, he was on active duty in Egypt, attached to ‘C’ Company of the amalgamated Field Force Battalion. It was during the crucial second battle of El Alamein that Private Lucas Majozi would prove his worth as a stretcher-bearer second to none. The British 8th Army had suffered a series of reverses at the hands of the formidable German ‘Desert Fox’, Field Marshal Rommel. In July 1942, the rapid advance of Rommel’s combined German and Italian forces had been halted at the El Alamein - Qattara Depression line, the last defendable bottleneck position in Egypt before Alexandria and the Delta area, largely owing to the stubborn resistance offered by the 1st South African Division. A British victory at El Alamein was virtually guaranteed as long as the men of the British 8th Army continued to fight until the enemy’s strength had been exhausted and their defenses collapsed. The advance, at 22h00 on the night of 23 October 1942, did not go smoothly for the men of ‘C’ Company, Field Force Battalion. Tasked with clearing a gap and capturing a strongpoint before ‘A’ and ‘B’ companies would move forward to occupy another position, they were delayed almost immediately by running into a minefield which did not appear on the map. Casualties mounted when they were attacked from a heavily fortified position which had been identified merely as a dump and which had not been shelled by the artillery in preparation for the advance. Realising that ‘C’ Company was in trouble, ‘A’ and ‘B’ Companies had attempted to outflank the enemy strongpoint and managed to advance a further 100 yards before being pinned down by heavy and determined enemy fire. In ‘C’ Company, only 11 out of some 100 men remained unscathed from the action. In a letter to the editor of Paratus in July 1991, Major-General W.N.A. Barends who had been the commander of ‘C’ Company, Field Force Battalion, during the battle of El Alamein, remembered Private Lucas Majozi, who was attached to his unit at the time, as “one of the neatest soldiers he ever came across” and “a very brave and loyal man with an exceptionally high sense of duty”, whose, “behaviour was always exemplary and polite”. Recognised for his responsible nature, Majozi was acting Lance-Corporal in charge of a team of four stretcher-bearers on the night of 23/24 October 1942. In the heat of the battle these brave men were required to cross the minefield to evacuate the wounded, some of whom were less than 100 yards from the enemy’s position. Under intense fire from enemy mortars and machine guns, and under threat from exploding anti-personnel mines, Majozi’s team rapidly became casualties themselves, until only he and a co-bearer remained to carry out the wounded. After his partner, too, was shot. Majozi, though injured in the neck continued on his own, carrying wounded men out on his back. Later, Majozi had a field dressing applied to another wound this time in the buttocks, but in spite of being told by Captain Barends to go back to the Regimental Aid Post, he refused allegedly stating that there were “more white men out there” and again and again he set off into the minefield, prepared to sacrifice his life to save others. Majozi sustained yet another injury, this time to his hip, but was reported to be more upset about the death of a man he tried to rescue. Eventually, in the morning, Majozi collapsed through exhaustion and loss of blood. Recommending Lucas Majozi for the DCM his company commander, Captain Barends wrote the following citation: DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDAL No N17525 Private Lucas Majozi - Native Military Corps Citation. For individual acts of bravery and distinguished services whilst under enemy fire. On the night of October 23-24, 1942, Private Majozi accompanied his company into action as a stretcher-bearer. In the later stages of the action when he was within 100 yards of the enemy and under heavy fire, he, without thought of personal safety continued evacuating casualties assisted by a co-bearer. He was then wounded by shrapnel in the leg, hip, buttock and neck, but continued evacuating wounded and when told by the Medical Corporal to go back to the Regimental Aid Post, replied that there were many wounded men still in the minefield. He went back there and with the assistance of other stretcher-bearers brought back more wounded. After his co-bearers had become casualties, he did not waver, but alone carried wounded men back to the Regimental Aid Post on his back. When he was eventually told by his Company Commander to go back, he smilingly refused and remained on duty, working incessantly until he collapsed the next morning through sheer exhaustion, stiffness and loss of blood. His extreme devotion to duty and gallant conduct whilst under continuous enemy fire throughout the night saved the lives of many wounded men who would otherwise have died through loss of blood or possible further wounds. After recovering from his wounds, Lucas Majozi returned to South Africa, where the official war artist, Neville Lewis, was commissioned to paint his portrait in December 1942. Majozi served again in North Africa from February 1944 until late 1945, after which he was demobilised. After the war, he joined the South African Police and attained the rank of Sergeant. He died in 1969 at the age of 53. SOURCE: Private Lucas Majozi, DCM: The Courageous Deeds of a South African Stretcher-Bearer by Susanne Bledulf.

Distinguished Conduct Medal - DCM The Medal for Distinguished Conduct in the Field was instituted during the Crimean War as an indication of the “Sovereign’s sense of the distinguished service and gallant conduct in the field” of the army then serving in the Crimea. It is awarded to non-commissioned officers and privates for gallantry in action on the recommendation of the Commander-in-Chief. The silver medal of to-day bears the effigy of the reigning monarch on the obverse and on the reverse, in embossed letters, the words “FOR DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT IN THE FIELD”. Silver bars are awarded for subsequent acts of gallantry. These bear the dates of the actions for which they were awarded.

Military Medal - MM The Military Medal, awarded to non-commissioned officers and men of the Army for associated and individual acts of bravery, was instituted by King George V in March, 1916. In June of the same year an announcement was issued at the Court of St James extending the award to women, British or foreign, who show bravery and devotion to duty under fire. The medal, which is of silver, is awarded only on the recommendation of a Commander-in-Chief in the field. The obverse bears the effigy of the reigning Sovereign, the reverse the words “FOR BRAVERY IN THE FIELD”, surmounted by the Royal Cypher and Crown and encircled by branches of laurel tied at the stems with a bow knot. Silver bars, bearing a horizontal spray of leaves, are awarded for subsequent acts of heroism. WORLD WAR II - ABLE SEAMAN JUST NUISANCE Able Seaman Just Nuisance was a large Great Dane with what I would describe as a human brain. He was the friend only of the sailors; he took no notice of Officers or even Petty Officers. He was the real pal of all the Naval Men, who loved him, and he knew that they were his friends. The story I now wish to relate concerns the time after I left the South African Naval Service. My wife and I started a Guest House, Chislehurst Guest House, Lyle Road, Rosebank. This was close to the Railway. There was only a narrow lane between the railway line and Chislehurst. When Just Nuisance was on the train from Simon’s Town to Cape Town he would often leave it at Rosebank Station and make his way along the pathway to Chislehurst, push open the small gate and make his way into the kitchen. He would stand before the Chef and wait until he was served with a plate of food. The Chef would sometimes tease him and make him wait for a while before he served him with the plate of food. Just Nuisance would become quite annoyed and irritated at being kept waiting. The Chef, Aaron, would then give him a plate of dinner, which he hurriedly ate and then moved to catch the next train at Rosebank Station for Cape Town. There he met some of his sailor pals and strolled up to the Union Jack Club, which was at the back of the Roman Catholic Cathedral. He most probably had a beer with them, and a good snooze after that. Sometimes the sailors would have a game with him and get into his bed, but beware the Matelot who was in his bed, He would not find himself there very long before he would be on the floor, pushed there by our friend Nuisance. We had a wire-haired Terrier which used to entice dogs into our grounds for a romp, but immediately the dog wanted to leave he would tackle the visitor and if he was not quick in getting away Bobby would have him on the floor and at his throat. We saved many a dog’s life from Bobby. The strange thing was that whenever Nuisance paid us a visit Bobby disappeared and could not be found until Nuisance had left Chislehurst! After I left the Navy I was employed by the Cape Tramway Company as a Cashier. One evening when I was on night duty I saw two sailors the worse for celebrating too well. Just Nuisance was with them. He was on the edge of the pavement and kept on pushing them up against the walls of the buildings, while he kept to the edge of the pavement. All of a sudden the cap of one sailor blew off and our loyal friend went after it. The sailors took a seat on the edge of the pavement, knowing that the Dog would return with the cap. Eventually he appeared with it in his mouth and gave it to the sailor. The three of them then continued on their journey wherever they were going, I am certain Nuisance would have had something to say if he had been able to talk. I may add that he never got on a tram or bus. Just Nuisance was certainly the most human dog that I have ever come across. We had two dogs on the SAS Protea, but not as intelligent as the wonder dog “Able Seaman Just Nuisance”. The December 2020 issue 2 - will feature articles on the Eastern Cape. January 2021 issue 3 will continue with the Eastern Cape and feature the 1820 Settlers, Port Elizabeth and the Frontier Wars. February issues 4 & March 5 will cover the First Anglo-Boer War of 1880-81.

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“I believe that history matters. A society out of touch with its past cannot have confidence in its future. History defines, educates and inspires us. It lives on in our historic environment. As custodians of our past, we will be judged by generations to come. We must value it, nurture it and pass it on.”