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July 2005 THE EMPIRE'S WAR EFFORT 6 South Africa At the outbreak of war South Africa's white male population of military age was about a quarter of a million. However those of British descent were outnumbered by the Boers who, with the South African War still fresh in memory, had little love for the British. Despite this, and the fact that conscription was not introduced, a little over 136,000 or twenty per cent of the male white population saw active service in the British cause. In addition 93,000 non-whites served in various theatres of operations. The South African Forces suffered a total of 18,600 white casualties( 6928 dead from all causes, 11,444 wounded and 195 taken prisoner). Coloured deaths amounted to 313. It is not clear whether these figures include South Africans serving in 'Imperial' (ie British) units. Eighteen brigades of Permanent (regular), Active Citizens (volunteers) and Rifle Associations personnel took part in the German South West Africa Campaign from December 1914 to the following July. They were supported by "native" labour battalions. From early 1916 until late 1917 two South African divisions fought in German East Africa. Many non-whites were employed in non-combat roles there but in addition two battalions of Cape Coloured (mixed blood) were raised for use there. From early in the war the South African Government had to suppress a Boer rebellion against participation in the war. It used loyal Boer troops for that purpose. A field artillery unit was sent to Egypt. At the conclusion of the South West Africa Campaign a force was raised for use on the Western Front. This differed somewhat from those raised by the other dominions in that the country's economic state meant that upon embarkation, the UK Government became responsible for maintaining it. Thus the men received British Army rates of pay which were lower than those of the Active Force, wore British uniforms and, in effect, became units of the British Army. The Force consisted of an infantry brigade, five (later six) siege batteries, a signal company, a field ambulance and two hospitals. Later two railway operating companies and a miscellaneous trades company were dispatched to France. In 1917 Cape Coloured personnel took over the manning of six horse transport companies of the (British) Army Service Corps. This was later increased to nine companies. The brigade consisted of four battalions. Somewhat surprisingly about fifteen per cent of the initial volunteers were Boers, a ratio that was to double before the end of the war. By October the Force was in the UK where it completed its training and at the end of the year (1915) was sent to Western Egypt where it helped to suppress the Senussi uprising. It landed in France in April 1916 and replaced the much depleted 28th in the 9th (Scottish) Division. The brigade remained with that division until, as the result of losses sustained during the German Spring Offensive it was temporarily reduced to one composite battalion. However enough replacements were scraped together to reconstitute three battalions and the brigade than joined the 66th Division with which it served to the end of the war. On the Western Front alone members of the South African Forces gained two Victoria Crosses and 1224 other Honours, Decorations and Mentions. Eleven South Africans also gained the VC while serving in other theatres or with Imperial units.
DEATH FROM THE SEA As we know, the Kaiser's ambition to challenge Britain's naval supremacy was one of the causes of the tensions that made Europe such a dangerous place in 1914. On the outbreak of war, however, the German admirals planned to avoid a fleet action between their High Seas Fleet and the British Grand Fleet until the latter had been whittled away bit by bit to something like equality by a series of carefully laid traps. One such trap was laid on Wednesday 16 December 1914 and the bait was to be a German battle cruiser squadron bombarding towns on the North East coast. It was hoped that this would bring the Grand Fleet south and that a detachment of it would fall into the arms of the waiting High Seas Fleet. The towns selected were Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool. At 0800 hours two enemy ships commenced a thirty minute bombardment of Scarborough during which some 500 shells resulted in seventeen (some sources say nineteen) civilian deaths and between eighty and a hundred wounded. Only civilian property was damaged as there were no military targets in the town. Soon after this attack commenced another three enemy ships started to shell the Hartlepools (ie Hartlepool and West Hartlepool) in County Durham. Unlike Scarborough the Hartlepools did have a military significance as a destroyer flotilla; two light cruisers and a submarine were based there. It was defended by coastal artillery manned by local Territorials. The 3rd Bn Howards garrisoned town and the 18th Durham Light Infantry were in training nearby and had a coastal defence role. However the place could hardly be called "fortified" as the Germans later claimed. The bombardment lasted about forty minutes during which a thousand shells resulted in the deaths of from eighty-six to 127 people, including more than thirty women and nearly forty children. Only sixteen of the casualties were servicemen. About 400 were injured. There was considerable damage to civilian property but that to military installations was insignificant although several ships in the harbour were damaged. The coastal artillery fired on the attacking vessels and inflicted damage on the Moltke and more serious damage to the Blucher. The third town to be attacked was the quite undefended Whitby which was totally devoid of any military targets. The ten minute attack killed two civilians and wounded another two. The Grand Fleet, as anticipated, did indeed move south but although radio intelligence had indicated that the Germans were coming out of their base, did not make contact with the raiders. This was partly due to bad weather, poor visibility and signalling errors but the former contributed to it narrowly escaping the trap that had been set for it. At the time it was thought that the bombardment was a prelude to invasion and large sections of the population fled the towns. The propaganda was mixed: Churchill was able to call the Germans "baby killers' and the incident boosted recruitment. On the other hand the German feat of defying the mightiest fleet in existence was counter balanced by the fact that most of the victims were civilians. During the bombardment a German cruiser had laid a mine field to the south of the area where the Germans were operating which took many weeks and cost twenty vessels to clear.
Geoff’s widow, Merry, wishes to thank everyone who donated to the WFA project at The National Memorial Arboretum as a tribute to Geoff’s memory. The total amount collected was £610 and this has been passed to the NMA and ring fenced to produce a total of £3391 for the WFA project. As discussed at the last branch meeting, while we all appreciate the grand scheme that Geoff envisaged with avenues of trees to commemorate the major battles of the 1914-18 war, we deplore the fact that The Western Front Association still does not have a presence at The National Memorial Arboretum and feel that the initial part of the project which comprised a bank of poppies in a Field of Remembrance should already have been implemented. John Penny
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The Bulletin of the Birmingham Branch of the WFA Compiled by Bob Butcher |
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