{"id":6170,"date":"2021-12-22T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/?p=6170"},"modified":"2022-08-17T12:13:36","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T12:13:36","slug":"the-cape-corps-in-the-second-world-war-illustrated-by-works-of-art-at-the-ditsong-national-museum-of-military-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/the-cape-corps-in-the-second-world-war-illustrated-by-works-of-art-at-the-ditsong-national-museum-of-military-history\/","title":{"rendered":"THE CAPE CORPS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR; Illustrated by works of art at the DITSONG: National Museum of Military History"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Allan Sinclair, DITSONG: National Museum of Military History<\/strong><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/b><\/p>\n

The official Military Art Collection which depicts South Africa\u2019s involvement in the Second World War (1939 – 1945) was placed in the care of the DITSONG: National Museum of Military History (DNMMH) in 1953.\u00a0 This article highlights four works of art in the collection that embody the activities of the South African Cape Corps during the Second World War (1939 \u2013 1945).<\/span><\/p>\n

The Official Military Art Collection<\/b><\/p>\n

Following South Africa\u2019s entry into the Second World War, the Union Defence Forces appointed its own artists to operate in the areas where South African troops would be fighting. The first artists selected in 1940 were Neville Lewis, C Meredith Bleach, Geoffrey Long and Francois Krige.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1943 a War Art Advisory Committee was formed in South Africa to take responsibility for the programme.\u00a0 Four additional artists, Philip Bawcombe, Terence McCaw, Ben Burrage and Gordon Taylor were appointed by this Committee. The works produced by these artists also included the activities of the Air Force, the Naval Forces, the Medical Forces and the Engineers. Other areas, in particular the home front, were relatively neglected.\u00a0 To bridge this gap, works of art from other well-known artists such as Dorothy Kay, Barbara Loxton, Nils Andersen, Ruth Prowse, Robert Broadley, Herbert McWilliams and Alexis Preller were purchased by the government and acquired for the collection.\u00a0 At the end of hostilities, a collection of approximately 850 works had been produced.<\/span> Four of these works have been selected to illustrate this article.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Establishment of the Cape Corps<\/b><\/p>\n

The Cape Corps was the traditional military formation of the coloured community of South Africa prior to the political changes of 1994. The unit traced its lineage to the Corps of Pandours raised during the period of the Dutch East Indies colonial government at the Cape in the 16<\/span>th<\/span> and 17<\/span>th<\/span> centuries, as well as the Cape Regiment and Cape Mounted Rifles formed in the 19<\/span>th<\/span> century after Britain had seized control of the Cape.<\/span><\/p>\n

Section 7 of the Defence Act of 1912 (amended in 1922), which laid the foundation of the Union Defence Forces, stated clearly that only white citizens of the Union could be called upon for military service in a combatant capacity. Black, coloured and Indian citizens could only volunteer for service in a non-belligerent role. Despite that, the South African Government took a decision during the First World War (1914 \u2013 1918) to form two battalions of the Cape Corps for combat service in the German East Africa Campaign. The decision was made easier by the fact that all units raised for service in Africa, the Middle East and Europe were Imperial service units paid for by the British Government. On completion of its service in German East Africa, the 1<\/span>st<\/span> Bn Cape Corps distinguished itself at the Battle of Square Hill in Palestine on 19 and 20 September 1918, suffering 152 casualties in the process.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Role of the Cape Corps in the Second World War<\/b><\/p>\n

When the Second World War broke out in 1939, South Africa could no longer make use of this imperial service arrangement as a means of forming non-white units for combat operations. The fervent right wing opposition to the country\u2019s participation in the war also meant that the Prime Minister, Gen J C Smuts, had to negotiate a narrow line in order to maintain his slender parliamentary support for the war. Under these conditions the provisions of the Defence Act, in so far as it concerned non-white volunteers, were strictly adhered to. The Government did accept the fact that the white manpower available for the war effort was too small and its fighting forces would not be sustained without the support of black, coloured and Indian South Africans.<\/span><\/p>\n

On 8 May 1940, Lt Col C N Hoy, who had commanded the 1<\/span>st<\/span> Bn Cape Corps during the First World War, received instructions from the Chief of the South African General Staff to re-form the Cape Corps and establish a number of motor transport and construction companies from its ranks. Recruiting offices were opened in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Kimberley while the Bultfontein Compound in Kimberley was chosen as the main training centre for the Corps.\u00a0 Hoy immediately recruited twelve former platoon sergeants who had served with the Corps during the First World War to train the new recruits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The response in recruitment of coloured personnel was so successful that two further training centres were established at the Dutoitspan and Wesselton compounds in Kimberley. Wesselton became the main depot for basic training while Bultfontein was used for motor transport training and Dutoitspan for pioneer \/ construction training.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Figure 1: <\/strong><\/em>Ruth Prowse – Recruitment for the Cape Corps <\/span><\/i>(DNMMH Second World War Art Collection: Cat No 1884)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By August 1940 all white motor transport drivers were being replaced by men allocated from the Cape Corps and the Indian and Malay Corps. Drivers provided by the Cape Corps then undertook the massive transport of vehicles and necessary supplies overland to East Africa.<\/span> Gleeson records that these vehicles were first sent by rail to Broken Hill in Northern Rhodesia (today Zambia).\u00a0 The drivers then took over and personally drove the vehicles across the 2\u00a0575 km route from Broken Hill to Kenya through some of the most inhospitable terrain found in Africa.\u00a0 By the end of March 1941 around 90 to 100 vehicles were arriving in Kenya per day. Gleeson adds that the long journey through Africa provided definitive training for the men and gave them effective practical skills that would prove vital as the war continued.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once there the Motor Transport Companies were based in Nairobi and their tasks divided as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n