- ismade ofthem after march, 1862

UBIQUE - THE GUNNERS OF SOUTHAFRICA

Col. L.A. Crook, SM, JCD*

The story of the Gunners of South Africa perhapsbegan with the arrival in Table Bay in April, 1652of Jan van Rieceeck, for he surely had with himsome trained gunners to supervise, if not man,the cannon of the Fort de Goede Hoop. Sincethat time hundreds, if not thousands, of menrepresenting the Dutch East India Company andthe Royal Artillery have in turn been stationed inthis country to man the defences at the Capeand elsewhere, not to mention the countlessnumbers who have served in volunteer units andin units of the various Brigades that have gone tomake up the South African Artillery Corps as weknow it today.

The first artillery unit actually raised in this coun-try would appear to be the so-called Malay Artil-lery, formed at the Cape in November, 1804,with a strength of between three and four hun-dred, including an Infantry component, and 16guns. They were drilled on both field and fortguns and were apparently well thought of. Tenafterwards lost their lives at the Battle of Blaauw-berg.It was mid-1800's, however, that saw the realbirth of Artillery in South Africa and many unitswere formed about this time, particularly in theCape which had been experiencing a series ofNative Wars on the Eastern Frontier.

The first to appear was the Simon's Town Artilleryon 11 July, 1857, with an authorised strength ofone Company. Its strength in September of thatyear was 19, with a Lt. H.M. Anderson as Com-manding Officer. Their numbers in fact neverappear to have exceeded one officer and 19men, but they were obviously a keen group ofGunners for old records reveal their involvementin Reviews, including that at Stellenbosch in Oc-tober, 1857, field days and at gun drill on theSimon's Town defences. They were also respon-sible for firing a Royal salute for the visit of PrinceAlfred to Simon's Town on 24 July, 1860 andanother salute in September. They were, how-ever, disbanded in 1861, for their duties weretaken over by the PAOCVA whose CommandingOfficer had also taken under his wing responsi-bility for the Simon's Town men.

About the same time as the above unit wasformed the Stellenbosch Artillery came intobeing, and although not much is known aboutthem it is recorded that twenty four men underSgt. Lindsay were present at the review at Stel-lenbosch on 7 October, 1857 and that they fireda salute. They are also noted in June 1857 ashaving "very small guns", but no further mentionis made of them after March, 1862.- .

• •• .\.,!!-~.

Cape Field Artillery.

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Scientia Militaria, South African Journal of Military Studies, Vol 13, Nr 3, 1983. http://scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za

The present Cape Field Artillery was raised asthe Cape Town Volunteer Artillery on 26 August,1857 with an initial strength of 60 under com-mand of Chevalier Alfredo Du Prat, a Portuguesegentleman who was a member of the Mixed Sla-very Commission, and also Portuguese Consulat the Cape, as well as being Consul for France,Belgium and Italy. Although equipped with brass6-pounder field guns and wearing field artillerydress with busby and carrying swords, the menalso trained on the heavy coastal ordnance ofthe Cape defences. Thus for many years theCape Town gunners filled a dual role as field andcoast artillerymen, finally withdrawing from drillon the heavier ordnance in 1897 in which yearthe coastal batteries were taken over by theCoast Garrison Artillery and the Prince Alfred'sOwn Cape Artillery as they were by then known,were converted from field to that of a horse artil-lery role with 15-pounder guns.

Prince Alfred's own Cape Artillery.

The Cape Town Volunteers were followed by theGeorge Town Mounted Burger Artillery whom theCape Argus of 21 June, 1858 noted were onparade on the Queen's Birthday, having that dayfired a 21 gun salute. Sadly the Cape Monitor of1st June, 1859 records that at a Ball in May oneman was present dressed in the uniform of theGeorge Artillery Corps, which was by then de-funct.

January, 1860 saw the formation of the Port Eli-zabeth Volunteer Artillery under Captain MathewKemp and they soon reached a strength of about70 all ranks, and were at gun exercise in Marchwith two weapons horsed, a fine achievement forthose days. They were evidently a busy unit andrecords reveal their attendance at Review daysand field exercises. They fired various salutesand were even able to form a band, and in April,1862, held a fete to raise funds. The House ofAssembly voted funds in 1863 for the purchaseof horses for the unit. Earlier, Kemp had askedfor four 32-pounder guns and had offered toconstruct earth batteries for the defence of PortElizabeth. For some reason Kemp resigned in1863 and this seems to have paved the way for adecline in the corps and although they were ablestill to fire salutes and received good annualreports during the following two years, their num-bers declined and from 1870 they could not raisemore than 19 men. They were finally disbandedin 1876.

1876 saw the formation of the Kaffrarian ArtilleryVolunteers, the Grahamstown Volunteer HorseArtillery, the Fort Beaufort Artillery and theQueenstown Volunteer Artillery Company.

Seventeen men were enrolled in the KaffrarianArtillery Volunteers on 1st October, 1876 and byDecember, 1877 their strength had risen to 3officers, of which the Commanding Officer was aCaptain FW. Bompas, and 47 men, this enthu-siastic response probably being dictated by thewar on the Eastern Frontier at that time. Theirheadquarters were in East London and apartfrom a five barrelled Nordenfeldt .45 machinegun they were armed with Short Sniders andbayonets.

By June, 1879, however, the strength of this unithad reduced to 2 officers and 33 men and itdisappeared shortly thereafter from records.

A more successful birth was that of the Gra-hamstown Volunteers Horse Artillery raised inNovember, 1876, and equipped with 6-pounderSML's. One gun under Lieutenant Wells waspresent with a gun of the Cape Town VolunteerArtillery at the Battle of Umzintzani on 2 Decem-ber, 1877 during the GaikaiGaleka War. Twoofficers and ten other ranks served on the North-ern Border during the war of 1878-1879, alsowith the Cape Town gunners, and they werepresent during the Campaign in Basutoland in1881 after relieving the Cape Town gunners whohad spent almost six months in the Transkei.

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Taking over two 7-pounders from the CTVA on28 March, 1881 for the remaining days of theTambookie rebellion, the Grahamstown gunnershanded these in and were issued with three 9-pounder RML guns for use in Basutoland. Thesewere each drawn by four horses. Apparentlythey were allowed to keep these guns whichwere replaced by 7-pounder RBL guns in 1894.Despite their obvious enthusiasm the unit did notlast beyond 1895 by which time they weredressed and equipped as Horse gunners.

The little town of Fort Beaufort produced the FortBeaufort Artillery but little is known of them be-yond a report in December, 1877, as being com-manded by Lieutenant James Tudhope and hav-ing 29 men.

Raised in 1876 the Queenstown Volunteer Artil-lery Company remained in service until Septem-ber 30th, 1880. During this short period theirstrength does not seem to have exceeded 24men, first under Captain J.E. Dell and thenceunder Captain George Scott who took over com-mand on 30 march, 1878. They were originallyarmed with Short Sniders and two 6-pounderbrass guns, but in 1878 they received two 7-pounder guns. Obviously a very keen group ofmen they could not, in November, 1877, wait anylonger for their Government issue of gunpowderand instead paid two shillings and sixpence perpound locally to enable them to practice on theirguns.

In 1877 the King William's Town Volunteer Artil-lery appeared on the scene when the unit wasformed on 5th June under Captain T.H. Giddy,with Surgeon Piers and Lieutenants Nitch andDyer. By August their strength was 41 , all withoutarms. By July of the following year there were 64members and they had been issued with ShortSniders and bayonets and one 7-pounder gun.The gun was unfortunately withdrawn a monthafter issue for the service on the Northern Borderwith another unit, but was returned in January,1879. It is doubtful whether the unit ever had auniform for the Volunteer Return of September,1878 states that they had none.

The next unit to emerge was the Cape garrisonArtillery and Engineer Volunteer Corps to gibe itits full title, but sometimes called the Cape TownVolunteer Engineers. Formed in 1891 this unitconsisted of 4 companies of Artillery and one ofEngineers and they had in fact absorbed an ear-lier unit called the Cape Engineer Volunteers,

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raised in 1859 as the Cape Volunteer Sappersand Miners, but disbanded in 1867 and re-raisedunder a Captain J. Tennant in 1879.

The Cape Garrison Artillery, the title by which itwas known from 1897, in which year it took overresponsibility for the coastal ordnance pre-viously manned by the present Cape Field Artil-lery, was always closely associated with theRoyal Garrison Artillery who for many yearsfound drill instructions for the unit. Mobilised inOctOber, 1899, for the SA War it was demobi-lised in June, 1902, after spending much time ongarrison duty. During the 1914/18 War the CGAmanned the Cape defences although as withother local units many men proceeded over8easand served either in the SA Field Artillery in :=astAfrica or the Heavy Batteries in France.

In June, 1934 the unit became part of the CapeArtillery Brigade as 1st and 2nd Heavy Batteriesand in the 1950's were absorbed into the SAMarine Corps.

Moving to the Northern Cape, the DiamondFields Artillery was raised as the Kimberley LightHorse Artillery Troop on 19th August 1876. Itseems that in October of that year a battery byname Griqualand West Volunteer Artillery andcommanded by Captain R.E. Wallace withLieutenant Geo. Richards was formed, but thefate of this unit after acceptance of service inDecember, 1876 is not clear. Possibly the twounits mentioned above amalgamated to becomewhat was the Artillery Battery of the DutoitspanHussars immediately prior to the latter beingreplaced in December, 1877 by the DiamondFields Horse - described as an Irregular unit -when it became known as the Artillery Troop ofthe D.F.H.

At the outbreak of the Griqualand West Rebellionin May, 1878, the D.F.H. had as yet not receivedguns and Captain Maxwell and Lieutenant Par-kins went to King William's Town to fetch ord-nance, arriving back on 29 May, in time for themto be in action at Koegas against the rebels, whowere repulsed with heavy loss.

The Diamond Fields Horse was accepted forservice in terms of the Volunteer Act No. 10 of1882, on 13th July, 1887, and was the "continua-tion" of the irregular corps. The Artillery troopwith its "three field guns fully horsed and equip-ped" were also accepted for service and byJanuary, 1896 they had four 7-pounder guns and


38 horses with a strength of 59 personnel and adrill instructor who had been a Sergeant in theRoyal Horse Artillery.

Soon after this the Griqualand West Brigade wasformed and the Artillery Troop became, as from1st January, 1897 an independent unit known asthe Diamond Fields Artillery, a title subsequentlychanged by Government Notice 173 of 4th Feb-ruary, 1905 to that of Diamond Fields Field Artil-lery.

The unit served in the Bechuanaland Rebellion of1897 and in the Anglo- Boer War of 1899-1902,giving a good account of itself during the siegeof Kimberley when it was armed with six new 2.5inch 7-pounder screw guns on special colonialcarriages, acquired immediately prior to the out-break of the war.

Due to the decreased interest in volunteer ser-vice and without a full time instructor of Commis-sioned rank, the Comdt. General Cape ColonialForces adopted a recommendation to transferthe Battery to the Kimberley Regiment and itremained there as the Field Battery of the Kim-berley Regiment from April, 1907 until it was fi-nally disbanded in June, 1908.

Of all the above units only Cape Field Artilleryhas survived the march of time although an anti-aircraft unit has in recent years revived the nameof the Cape Garrison Artillery.

There is one unit that may be able to claim trueseniority over all others in the Permanent Forceand to trace its beginnings to 1874 and that is 4Field Regiment SAA.

Raised in 1874 by Lieutenant Robinson, late RA,as the Artillery Troop of the Frontier Armed and

Mounted Police with a strength of 50, it wasequipped with one 9-pounder and two 7-pounder RML guns, drawn by teams of four andsix respectively driven in hand from the limber.At first horses and later mules were used. TheTroop became the Cape Mounted Rifles ArtilleryTroop in 1878 and served the above guns and a12-pounder and 5% inch mortar at Morosi'sMountain, where Sergeant Scott of the Troopwon the V.C.

On 29th July, 1880, the Troop was renamedCape Field Artillery under Act No. 15 of 1880under Major Giles, RA, and it served throughoutthe Basutoland Rebellion of 1880-81 when theywere equipped with 6.3 inch RML howitzers andthree more 7-pounder RML's. The unit whichmerged with the CMR in 1884, this time as horseartillery, is frequently confused with the presentCape Field Artillery, with which it has no connec-tion.

During the SA War the Troop has six 2.5 inchRML screw guns, two naval 12-pounders and aHotchkiss 13-pounder OF. In 1907 they wereissued with 15-pounder BL guns. A detachmentof the Troop saw service during the Zulu Rebel-lion in Natal in 1906.

When the Union Defence Force was formed in1913 they became 1st Battery SAMR and wereissued with 13-pounder guns. The following yearthe personnel were temporarily divided between2nd and 3rd Batteries and the Transvaal HorseArtillery took the place of 1st Battery, which in1915 resumed its number.

By 1935 the title was 1st Field Battery , SAArtillery, changed in 1940 to 10th Field Battery,4th Field Brigade and during the Italian Cam-paign of 1944/5 it became 4/22nd Field Regi-ment, SAA.

Transvaal Horse Artillery.

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After the war the unit became 4 Field TrainingRegiment SAA, later changed to 4 Field Regi-ment.

Enthusiasm for the Guns was not only confinedto the Cape.

April, 1855 had witnessed the emergence for ashort time of the Artillery Company of the DurbanVolunteer Guard equipped with a field piece thecost of which was raised by public subscription.

In September, 1862 the Company was reformedas the Artillery Company of the Durban RifleGuard under Captain A.W. Evans and wasequipped with two 7-pounder mountain guns,but in 1870 it became a seperate unit underCaptain Harry Escombe known as the DurbanVolunteer Artillery, finally becoming Natal FieldArtillery in April, 1892.

The Battery went to Zulu land when Shepstonecrowned Cetewayo and fired a thundering saluteof 17 guns on 1st September, 1873, when theCoronation took place.

After the disaster of Isandhlwana in January,1879, a parade of troops was held in Durban torestore confidence! Two days later, the volunteergunners took up position on the south bank ofthe Umgeni River to meet a possible attack bythe Zulus.

The unit took part in the funeral procession of thePrince Imperial in June, 1879 from the RomanCatholic Cathedral to the Point, Durban.

Salute were also fired on other ceremonial occa-sions when the Railway was opened as far asCharlestown on 4th April, 1891, and when Presi-dent Paul Kruger visited Natal a salute was firedas the President crossed the border. After thesalute, the Artillery Battery was rushed by train toLadysmith to fire another salute on the arrival ofthe distinguished visitor, and similarly at Pieter-maritzburg and Durban. It is recorded that thePresident was surprised and impressed at the"large number of batteries of Artillery Natal pos-sessed".

Mobilised on 30th September, 1899, the Batterywas sent to Ladysmith with its six 9-pounderguns but were so hopelessly outranged and out-classed by the Transvaal Staats Artillerie that theNatal gunners were sent out of Ladysmith beforethe siege and took little further part in the cam-paign. To quote from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's"History of the War in South Africa",

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" ... but the busy, smoky little guns were soon tomeet their master. Away upon the distant hillside,a long thousand yards beyond their furthestrange, there was a sudden bright flash. Nosmoke, only the throb of flame and then the longsibilant scream of the shell and the thud as itburied itself in the ground under a limber ...Such judgement of range would have delightedthe most martinet of instructors at Okehampton.Bang came another and another and another,right into the heart of the Battery. The six littleguns lay back at their extremest angle and allbarked together in impotent fury. Another roundpitched over them and the Battery OC loweredhis field glasses in despair as he saw his ownshells bursting far upon the hillside ... Frenchsoon came to the conclusion that, if those fifteenpounders required target practice, they shouldfind some mark other than the Natal Field Artil-lery".

Together with the Dublin Fusiliers and the Dur-ban Light Infantry, the Battery was the only pro-tection for Natal at Colenso and Estcourt, whereit was frequently in action. In September, 1901,having been re-equipped with 15-pounder BLguns, the Unit was again mobilised and sent tomeet a threatened invasion in North EasternNatal. After the Anglo-Boer War, two further bat-teries were raised in Durban and formed the FirstBrigade, Natal Field Artillery.

All Batteries saw service during the Natal NativeRebellion of 1906-7. In 1913, when the UnionDefence Act came into force, the Durban Batte-ries (A & B Batteries) became the Durban garri-son Artillery, while the Pietermaritzburg (C) Bat-tery became the Seventh Citizen Battery (NFA).

The NFA also saw active service during the of-fensive against the German forces in South WestAfrica from 1914 until 1915 where it wasequipped with 13-pounder QF guns.

The only other Gunner unit to be formed in Natalwas the Maritzburg Artillery - also known as theNatal Volunteer Hotchkiss Company - with oneofficer, 25 men and two 3-pounder Hotchkissguns, which was raised in September, 1899under Captain Walker. They served throughoutthe Siege of Ladysmith and had two men killedand five men wounded on Wagon Hill. The unitwas disbanded in 1900.

In the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Re-public, artillery units were nearly all on perma-nent establishment as opposed to the voluntary


gunners of the Cape and Natal - with the excep-tion of the CMR Artillery Troop - and thus we findthe well known Staats Artillerie van de O.V.S.which was in existence from 1857 to 1900, andthe Staats Artillerie van de Z.A.R. raised as theBattery Dingaan in 1874 and lasting until 1901when, without guns they were re-organised as amounted corps and fought during the AngloBoer War until the cessation of hostilities.

command in 1880 with one officer, 55 otherranks and 300 reservists under him. He had 12modern Armstrong guns, four of which werehorsed and was responsible for policing the bor-ders. Relieved of this duty sixteen years later, theFree State gunners were re-organised and pro-vided with 14 new 7.5 em. Krupp guns. Withthese and a strength of five officers and 159other ranks, increased to 400 at the outbreak of

ZAR Staatsartlllerle.

The Staats Artillerie van de O.V.S. had a shad-owy existence from 1857 to 1864 although it tookpart in the 1858 Basuto War with two of the 12field pieces purchased for it by the OVS Govern-ment. In 1864, Captain Goodman, a former RoyalArtillery officer, was made Commandant with astaff of seven all ranks and during the1865-1869 Basuto wars the strength was in-creased and five guns, including a 12-pounderRBL Armstrong and a 6-pounder Whitworth,were in the field, all drawn by horses. Captainvan Rensburg, the Adjutant, was seconded tothe Transvaal Artillery in 1882. The strength ofthe unit was purposely kept low, for the annualavailable expenditure was only £2000, but a de-cision must have been made to enlarge the unitfor a German Army Officer, Major Albrecht, took

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war, the Staats Artillerie fought and gave goodservice until the beginning of the guerrilla war.Albrecht was captured at Paardeberg.

Battery Dingaan was first armed with four Kruppmountain guns and two mitrailleuses. In 1881,after the British occupation from 1877 to thatdate the Staats Artillerie van de ZAR was re-formed under a Captain Riedl and by 1882 it had30 gunners and 30 policemen. It served in fivesmall Native wars from 1882 to 1894 when thestrength was 124 other ranks under Comman-dant J. Wolmarans and five other officers.

In the Malaboch campaign the guns were de-scribed as being very poor for they were still the


Maj R. Albrecht: OFS Staatsartl/lerle.

original Krupp mountain guns and in 1896 duringthe Jameson Raid the same ordnance only wasavailable to Cmdt. Trichardt and his 70 men. Theintrusion by Jameson alarmed the governmentfor immediately afterwards the establishmentwas increased to 23 officers and 295 otherranks, and the unit was provided with Field Tele-graph and Medical sections.

The armament in 1899 was four 6-inch Creusotox-drawn, and four 4.7 inch Krupp howitzers,eight 2.95 inch Krupp OF field guns, two MaximNordenfeldt and 22 one-pounder Maxims (Pom-poms) all horsed. Their strength at the start of thewar was 400 with a further 400 reserves. Theywere organised as three batteries and their repu-tation was very good, their handling of the heavyCreusot guns in the field being especially com-mendable.

One of the best known of their officers was MajorJ.F. Wolmarans who fought throughout the Waruntil captured in January, 1902. He subse-quently commanded the 4th Permanent Battery,U.D.F., in German South West Africa in 1915,where he gained the DSO.

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Another gunner unit, the Pretoria Artillery wasraised in 1874 under Commandant J.R. Lys witha strength of 25 and in 1877 another group ofPretoria volunteers formed the Transvaal Artilleryunder a Captain Knox, RA. The NCO's were allprovided by the Royal Artillery and the totalstrength was 53. During the Sekukuni Campaignof 1879 it consisted of a mixed six gun Battery _one 3-pounder, one 6-pounder, two 7-poundermountain guns, all pack guns on horses, and two4 cm Krupp BL guns drawn by oxen. During thesiege of Pretoria in 1881, the unit consisted of 12men with one Krupp and a Whithworth, probablya 6-pounder.

The only volunteer unit raised in the Transvaalwas the Transvaal Horse Artillery which cameinto being as the Lys Volunteer Corps in March,1904, under Major Godfray Lys. They were re-designated Transvaal Horse Artillery Volunteersin September of that year, dropping the last wordfrom their title in 1908.

This unit has, in common with CFA and NFA,always enjoyed a high reputation and has at-tracted from the beginning a fine class of recruit,including the volunteer officers and NCO's oftoday.

Headquarters in Johannesburg, it has alwaysbeen close to the centre of military activity in theUDF (later SADF) and when the PermanentForce was about to be formed it was at the THAHeadquarters that a School of Gunnery wasformed in September, 1912.

The reason partly was that an RA officer hasalways been allotted to the THA for instructionalpurposes in addition to administrative duties asAdjutant and in 1912 Captain Hay, RHA, the thenincumbent of the post, was given the task oftraining officers and NCO's for the PermanentBatteries about to be established. The guns,equipment and quarters of the THA, togetherwith some of the barracks, rooms and stables inthe Police Camp immediately to the South of theheadquarters were used for instructional pur-poses. Several THA officers and men assisted atthe field firing which concluded each of the twosix month courses held.

Included in the establishment of the PermanentForce vide Act No. 13 of 1912 were five batteriesof field artillery to be attached to the five regi-ments of the SA Mounted Rifles and the artilleryof the then UDF was to include CFA, NFA and


Transvaal Horse Artillery.

THA - all that remained of the many volunteergunner units - as 6th, 7th and 8th Citizen Batte-ries respectively. The 3rd and 5th Batteries werenot formed and when war broke out in 1914, 1stBattery personnel were used to fill the 2nd and4th. Three other batteries - 9th, 10th and 12th -were raised for the campaign in German SouthWest Africa, all men in the SA Police who hadartillery training being allowed to volunteer intothe SA Artillery. In addition to the field batteries,a Brigade of Heavy Artillery was formed at CapeTown which rose to a strength of 60 officers and1000 other ranks before the close of the S.wAcampaign. Men were drawn from the Royal Ma-rines, Royal Garrison Artillery, the Cape Garrisonand Durban Garrison Artillery and three Bri-gades were eventually formed. Later, from theseBrigades and other volunteers five Heavy Batte-ries, 1st to 5th Siege Batteries were formed forservice in France. Only men of fine physique andof a standard height of 5 feet 8 inches wereaccepted.

1st Battery represented the Western Cape, 2ndthe Eastern Cape, 3rd the Transvaal, 4th Kimber-ley and the Diamond Fields and the 5th, Natal.Before they appeared on the fighting front theBritish War Office decided that they should berated as siege artillery, armed with 6-inch howitz-

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ers and affiliated to the Royal Garrison Artillery.This involved each battery receiving an RGAnumber and so they became 71st and 75thSiege Batteries RGA.

In April, 1916 a sixth battery, the 125th wasformed and early in 1918 a seventh battery, the542nd and an eighth, the 496th, were createdbut on arrival in France their guns and personnelwere distributed between 75th and 125th Batte-ries, and the 72nd and 74th Batteries respecti-vely. A ninth battery, the 552nd armed with 8-inch guns was formed in the autumn of 1918 butthe war ended before it could be brought intoaction.

To fill the gap caused by diluting the 1st BatterySAMR into 2nd and 4th, the THA took the placetemporarily of the 1st Permanent Battery with thetitle "THA Battery SAMR" and fought in S.wAshowing great determination at the action atSandfontein in September 1914 when one sec-tion had 28 casualties out of a strength of 40 allranks having fought the German guns at odds ofsix to one until its ammunition was exhausted.

Immediately prior to the entry of SA Forces intoG.S.wA the Cape Field Artillery, the only gun-ner unit used by General Louis Botha in 1914 to


help subdue the rebels under De Wet, found it-self at Upington as part of the Southern Force un-der General van Deventer when German troopsunder Maritz with artillery support attacked thetown after calling for its surrender. After threedays on the alert, 24 January, 1915 saw manygunners receive their baptism of fire whenUpington awoke at 5 a.m. to the sound of artil-lery, pom-pom and machine gun fire as Maritzattacked. In the ensuing battle the 15-poundersof the CFA fired more than 360 rounds with noth-ing more than few marks left by pom-pom shellsplinters on 'A' gun - and on the buttocks of oneunfortunate gunner - when in the early afternoonthe gun was detached to support the pursuit ofthe enemy forces who by then had had enoughafter losing 60 killed and 136 captured.

Signing himself "one who was there" in a letter tothe Sunday Times, a reader said "The town wassaved by the Cape Field Artillery, assistedmainly by the 18th MR and by the 8th MR ... theCFA covered themselves with glory, and de-served every praise, as they saved Upingtonand acted as seasoned soldiers".

It has to date been the only artillery duel to havetaken place against guns of a foreign powerattacking on South African soil.

About the middle of 1915 when the Campaign inSouth West Africa was almost ended, the SouthAfrican Government began recruiting volunteersfor five batteries of field artillery for service over-seas. A camp for the new Brigade was estab-lished in what had been the Imperial Canton-ments at Wynberg, and an artillery training depotwas established there. The first Brigade Orderwas issued on 24th August, 1915. Equipmentwas at first in short supply but as more arrived somore space was needed, especially for stabling,and the Brigade moved on 6 December, 1915 toYoung's Field. Training continued there, with thefirst live shell practice taking place at Sir Lowry'sPass at the very end of December, 1915.

Four months and two weeks saw the recruitingand training of the Brigade completed andshortly after a ceremonial parade in "field servicemarching order" on 5 January, 1916, at Young'sField it left for East Africa to take part in thecampaign against the German forces under Col-onel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, departing fromCape Town in the S.S. Egbert and HMS Arma-dale Castle. Men from the Cape had beenposted to 1st Battery; from Natal to the 4th; fromthe Transvaal to the 2nd and 5th and men from

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the Orange Free State and extra men from otherprovinces to the 3rd.

Although called "Field" the Brigade was organ-ised and equipped as Horse Artillery for the gun-ners were all mounted, not seated on the limbersas in field artillery. The guns were drawn byteams of six mules with Coloured and Africandrivers riding postillion.

The Batteries arrived at Mombasa in mid-Feb-ruary and in the six months ending August. 1916,the SAFA Batteries took part in the campaignunder General Smuts which cleared the entirearea north of the Central Railway. Although thewell-led German forces had not been destroyed,they had lost control of the country and onlyguerrilla warfare lay ahead, so most of theSAFA Batteries were withdrawn, leaving forSouth Africa in April, 1917.

It was a campaign fought in "miserable and ar-duous conditions ... in the rainy season ... theroads were impassable, the malaria mosquitoand the tsetse fly were rampant, and food forboth men and beasts was difficult to obtain".

There was a continual shortage of ammunition aswell as other supplies, and although battle ca-sualties had been light, the casualties of menand animals from disease and under-nourish-ment had been very heavy indeed and had oftenhampered operations, but the guns had con-tinued to work in close support of the infantry andwere able to prevent loss to our men by effectivefire on many occasions.

Early in the campaign an officer won the M.C.and a gunner the D.C.M. in an attack on theGerman positions in which one of the heavy gunstaken from the German cruiser Konigsberg wasdestroyed. A month later in General van Deven-ter's march on Kondoa-lrangi the enemy wastwice forced to surrender or withdraw by heavyaccurate artillery fire.

The 3rd Battery was the first motorised SA Artil-lery unit when for lack of horses it was equippedwith mechanised transport late in 1916. "It musthave been the most motley unit that ever movedinto battle", says an historian, of the collection oflorries in various stages of repair.

The first half of 1917 was spent by the SA FA onleave and re-organisation and re-inforcement inPotchefstroom, before leaving for Palestine -without their Coloured drivers - where the bri-


gade was attached to the 75th Division. Aftertraining in Egypt and conversion to Field Artilleryarmed with 18-pounder guns instead of the 13-pounder they had brought with them, the Bri-gade took part in the Third Battle of Gaza, ad-vanced to the Judaean hills, where it spent thewinter of 1917, and then moved with the divisionto the coast for the final breakthrough underGeneral Allenby that ended the campaign in thePlains of Sharon in October, 1918.

In the Gaza Battle the Brigade distinguisheditself. Working in close support in fluid warfare 'A'Battery twice found itself in front of its own infan-try at nightfall. Fighting under rifle fire at rangesdown to 1200 yards they helped repel counter-attacks by the Turks. The gunners were thankedby the British General for their "magnificent sup-port", and the commander of 'A' Battery wasawarded an immediate D.S.O.

In dealing with the later action at EI Maghar theBritish Official History refers to the fine supportgiven by the SAFA Brigade to the SomersetLight Infantry and the Infantry Commander him-self in a Routine Order dated 14 November,1917, said:

"The Infantry Commander conveys to all ranks ofthe SA Field Artillery his appreciation of thegood work done today. He does not think theshooting could be improved upon ... "

The capture of the commanding position of NebiSamwill (Mizpah of the old Testament) about fivemiles north-west of Jerusalem which was knownas the "Key to Jerusalem" by the 75th Divisionresulted in the Division (and the SAFA) beinggranted as its distinctive sign a key which wasstencilled on the shields of its guns and in suit-able places on other equipment.

Although the war was over in mid-September,1918, the brigade went into Army Reserve finallymoving back to Ismalia, Egypt in April, 1919, andthence to South Africa and demobilisation.

The SA Heavy Artillery batteries in Francematched the quality of service given hy theircomrades of the field guns in East Africa andPalestine. They served first in France as separ-ate batteries, but in April, 1916 they were joinedby 125 Battery and at the beginning of 1918 thesix batteries became two South African HeavyBrigades. The list of their actions reads like a rollof the historic battles of France and Flanders -Ypres, Hindenberg Line, Somme, Beumont

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Hamel, Cambrai. They supported not only Britishunits, but Canadian and Belgian, and sometimestheir own SA Infantry Brigade.

Losses were heavy. At third Ypres one battery inthe salient was reduced from four guns to one;and to 70 men. Another had nine guns knockedout in one four-month spell. The spirit of theBrigade was epitomised at Arras, where 74 Bat-tery was the furthest forward siege battery on theBritish front; and in 1918 when the battery sup-porting 44 Infantry Brigade was ordered to de-stroy its guns because the attacking Germanswere almost on the position, the Battery Com-mander turned out his men with every rifle theycould lay hands on and so prevented the Ger-mans from reaching the guns.

In 1922 the SA Defence Force Amendment Actwas promulgated and it provided for thereconstitution of the Permanent Force and thedisbandment of the SAMR.

The SA Permanent Force was eventuallyreconstituted on 1st February, 1923 and in-cluded the establishment of the South AfricanField Artillery and the South African PermanentGarrison Artillery on the same date, although itwas apparently not until March, 1923 that thenewly constituted units of the SAFA and theSAPGA were officially gazetted. The Batteries ofthe SAMR became the 1st Brigade SAFA withpersonnel and organisation unchanged. TheBrigade Commander held the rank of Major andthe Battery Commanders were Captains. It isinteresting to note that the Brigade Commanderwas ex-ZAR Staatsartillerie and the BC's one ex-CMR, one ex-Staatsartillerie and one ex-THA.

The headquarters of the Brigade was movedfrom Potchefstroom to Roberts Heights (nowVoortrekkerhoogte) and it is at this time that theGunner Officer's Mess at Potchefstroom washanded over to Witrand Mental Hospital.

Each year during the 1920's and early 1930's theBrigade trekked to Potchefstroom with their gunsand horses for manoeuvres and live shell prac-tice and thereafter the various ACF (now CitizenForce) units used to do their annual trainingusing the guns and horses of the S.A.FA Manyhard-bitten old NCO's and gunners used practi-cally to weep seeing their favourite horses at thetender mercies of amateur riders and drivers.CFA during these years used the artillery rangeat Klaasjagersberg in the Southern Cape Penin-sula for annual camp and live shell training.


Officers: SA Garrison Artillery.

In 1923 the SAFA returned their 13-poundersto store and were issued with 4.5 inch Howitzersfor 1st Battery and 18-pouners for 2nd and 3rdBatteries. The howitzers were the guns used bythe original SA FA in Palestine in World War Iand still had the "Key to Jerusalem" painted ontheir shields. These were carefully and faithfullyrepainted each time the guns were repainted,right up till 1940. The SAFA Brigade surviveduntil 1926 when the 3 Batteries became indepen-dent units.

Until this time the only Citizen Force units hadbeen the CFA, NFA and THA but in 1926 two newCitizen Batteries, the 4th and 5th SAFA wereformed at Bloemfontein and Bethlehem becom-ing in 1932 the 1st and 2nd OVS Veld Artillerie.These two units were each later diluted by aPermanent Force Cadre from 3 Field Battery andwere headquartered at Bloemfontein and Bethle-hem. Today they are known as 6th Field Regi-ment after having at one time existed in the1950's and 60's again as separate units knownas Vrystaatse Staatsartillerie and 6 Field Regi-ment.

A Corps of Artillery as we know it today wasformed on the 1st September, 1934, and it in-

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eluded all independent units of both the Perma-nent and Active Citizen Force, each of whichretained their number and name. They were ga-zetted on 14th December as units of the SouthAfrican Artillery, the word "Field" being finallydropped from the title.

It is interesting to recall that the Royal Artillerywere responsible for our Coast Defences until1921 although in practice a large proportion ofRA personnel were withdrawn and the CapeGarrison Artillery manned the Table Bay andSimonstown defences whilst the Durban Garri-son Artillery manned the guns on the Bluff.

On 1st December, 1921, the Imperial South Afri-can Military Command in the Cape Peninsula.was transferred to the Union of South Africa andthe SAPGA took over the armament at CapeTown and Simonstown, the Durban defencesbeing closed down. The original establishmentof the SAPGA included the men of the CapeGarrison Artillery and it was thus a combinedPermanent and Citizen Force unit divided into aHeadquarters and two Companies, No. 1 beingresponsible for Table Bay and NO.2 for Simons-town. These were later expanded to four com-panies.


The garrison gunners, however, underwent re-organisation in 1934 when on 1st June, the CoastArtillery Brigade was formed and under the neworganisation the four coast companies weremerged into the 1st and 2nd Heavy Batterieswith mixed PF and ACF personnel, the BatteryCommanders, for instance being PermanentFocre and the Battery Captains being CGA per-sonnel. The CAB Headquarter sections com-posed entirely of CGA (or ACF) details were alsoformed at this time and were designated "Engi-neer" and "Signalling" sections respectively.Headquarters of 1st Battery was at Cape Townand NO.2 at Simonstown.

Also part of the CAB (Coast Artillery Brigade)were Cape Field Artillery (Prince Alfred's Own)as they were by then known - with headquartersat the Castle and equipped with 18-pounder fieldguns, No. 1 Armoured Train - headquarters atFort Knokke, 1st Medium Battery with 60-pounder guns and 2nd Medium Battery with 6-inch 26 cwt. Howitzers. Both medium Batterieshad been established with effect from 1st June,1934, and were composed of one third Perma-nent Force and two thirds students of the Univer-sity of Cape Town.

Further changes took place during 1936 whenCFA Reserve Battery formed the previous yearcame under command from 1st August, 1935,the Battery Commander being Captain C.R.(Ginty) Divine. Also, the Heavy Batteries wereseemingly split for the Historical Return for theyear shows 1st and 2nd Heavy Battery CGA and1st and 2nd Heavy Batteries PF, although by thefollowing year these are shown as 1st and 2ndHeavy Batteries SAA. The CGA and SAA Batte-ries had different establishment tables.

Also in 1936 2nd Medium Battery was re-desig-nated 3rd Heavy Battery CAB from 8th July andallotted 6-inch MK XIX guns and it is interestingto note that while they carried out "practice sea-wards at Port Natal from the Bluff on 5.5.38. firing50 rounds HE fuze 106, Capped, Charge Full",they were about the same time issued with "fourR.D.6" Caterpillar tractors, in addition to Ford V8delivery vans and wireless vans.

The 3rd Battery were split between the Port Eliza-beth and East London defences at the outbreakof war in 1939 by which time the CAB also in-cluded 1st Anti-Aircraft Battery (3-inch 20 cwtguns). Early in 1940 it consisted of 1st HeavyBattery (Cape Town), 2nd Heavy Battery(Simonstown) 5th Heavy Battery (Robben ls-

land), 8th Heavy Battery (Saldanha Bay) and 1stAnti-Aircraft Training Brigade at the RosebankShowgrounds.

On 8th February, 1940 the CAB HQ was abo-lished and 1st, 2nd and 8th Heavy Batteriescame under Command of a new headquarters,and in July, 1951 the CGA and all other CoastGarrison Force units were transferred to the SACorps of Marines.

It is very interesting to note the order of pre-cedence of seniority, laid down by Force OrderNo. 104 in 1935 which read:

Cape Field Artillery (PAO)1st Field Battery (originally FAMP & CMRArtillery Troop)1st Heavy Battery2nd Heavy Battery (Cape Garrison Artillery)Natal Field ArtilleryTransvaal Horse Artillery2nd Field Battery1st and 2nd OVS Verdartillerie1st and 2nd Medium Batteries

After the S.A.FA had departed in January, 1916for East Africa the South African Field ArtilleryDepot whose purpose was to train more recruitsfor the Brigade was established at Potchef-stroom and it was here that for some years Artil-lery training was conducted.

However, on 7th September, 1934 the ArtilleryTraining Depot was established at RobertsHeights and it was composed of the two SAFABatteries stationed there. The Depot supervisedthe annual training of all field artillery units. 24thOctober, 1936 saw an alteration of name to Artil-lery School and at the same time the functions ofthe school were clearly defined as administra-tion, instruction and experimental work.

In July, 1939, all the then existing Field ArmyArtillery units at Robert Heights were allocated tothe Artillery School for purposes of recruiting,organisation and general administration, butwhen in mid-October the Artillery School wastransferred to Potchefstroom provision wasmade for the appointment of a Deputy DirectorField Army Artillery Training with the rank ofLieutenant Colonel. Due to the huge increase inartillery training as a result of the declaration ofwar in 1939, Potchefstroom became the ArtilleryTraining Centre and by July, 1940 the ArtillerySchool ceased to be a section of the ATC. andbecame a seperate unit under Defence Head-

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quarters, Pretoria. Almost a year later the Schooland the ATC. were again combined as one unitbut were later separated and the School in 1946became the School of Artillery and Armour,changing to School of Artillery from 1st February,1964.

With the outbreak of the Second World War Gun-ner units were among the first to be mobilised,and new regiments were swiftly added to thecadre that had existed in peacetime.

South African troops took a prominent part inGeneral Cunningham's advance from Kenya intothe heart of Italian East Africa. In these opera-tions the SA Artillery played an important role.Indeed, apart from an East African and WestAfrican Light battery and an Indian Mountainbattery, the Field Brigades, 1st Field Battery(PAOCFA), 1 Anti-tank Brigade, 1 Medium Bri-gade, and 1 and 2 Anti-aircraft Brigades.

The artillery fired with great effect in the battle ofthe Juba, while Brigadier Pienaar made gooduse of his batteries in his successful advancefrom Jumbo to Jelib. At the battle of Marda Passthe commander of the Nigerian Brigade paidtribute to the shooting of 7 Field Brigade and 1stField Battery (PAOCFA). Under the heavypounding from the guns the enemy retired fromthe pass.

After the fall of Addis Ababa, 3 Field Brigade anda section of 1 Medium Brigade were heavilyshelled by guns sited in the hills above themduring the attack on Kombolca Pass but in aseries of duels over several days, the South Afri-can gunners mastered their opponents.

Meanwhile the gunners supporting the 11th and12th African Divisions in the area of the lakeswere nearly swamped by rain like that which theirfathers had known in East Africa.

With the end of the Abyssinian campaign the 1stDivision moved north to Egypt where it wasjoined by 2nd SA Division, which included 1, 2and 4 Field Regiments, and 2 Anti-tank Regi-ment, the organisation into larger regiments hav-ing replaced the brigade system of 1939. Herethe field regiments were first equipped with thefamous 25-pounder gun.

In the flat, dusty, stony expanse of the WesternDesert these guns gained new importance, par-ticularly as a defence against the tank. Often itwas the decisive weapon in stopping the Ger-

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man advance, and battles developed into duelsbetween tanks and guns and the German AirForce gave particular attention to gun positionsin attempts to knock them out.

Almost from the start of the November, 1941,advance into Cyreniaca 1st Division fought offtank attacks. On 23rd November at Sidi Rezeghthe Panzer divisions swept over 5th SA Brigadeafter a battle described by Col. Kribel of 15 pan-zer Division as "the fiercest of the entire cam-paign". Despite mounting casualties the gunnersfought their guns until overrun by the tanks oruntil ammunition ran out. The British 22nd Arm-oured Brigade noted in its war diary: "From whatcould be seen from our final drive through theenemy's right flank their tank casualties wereheavier than in any previous engagement. TheSA gunners had been magnificent".

Two days later Brig. Dan Pienaar's 1st Brigadewith strong artillery support fought off an attackby Italian tanks.

In January, 1942, the infantry of 2nd Division inbitter cold stormed the fortress of Bardia sup-ported by the largest setpiece barrage under-taken by South Africans in North Africa, exceptAlamein. To the West the SA Artillery sufferedheavy loss when working with the 1st ArmouredDivision which was broken up by the Germanadvance.

Further severe losses were suffered in the retreatfrom Gazala and in Tobruk, when batteries distin-guished themselves in tough and gallant standslike that of 6th Battery (NFA) at Rigel Ridge. Suchwere those of 2nd Battery (CFA) and D troop of5th Battery who were right in the line of the pan-zer breakthrough at Tobruk. D Troop's four gunsfaced 45 German Tanks. Heavy machine-gun-ning wounded the crews who hung on, firingeach gun until it was finally knocked out.

As the Germans approached Alamein along thecoast the 1st SA Division, including CFA, re-inforced by 7 Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery,blocked their path. The Germans tried to swingsouth and sidestep the Alamein box. What hap-pened next is described in the war diary of theGerman crack 90th Light Division.

"Under the protection of the sandstorm the ad-vance progresses very favourably at first, but isbrought to a halt about 7 km to the east by violentartillery fire. The enemy is firing into the division


with every gun he has. It seems impossible tobreak through in any direction. Units have col-lided unexpectedly with the strong point system.A panic breaks out which is stopped just in timeby the action of the Divisional Commander. Sup-ply columns and even parts of fighting units rushback under the ever-increasing enemy artilleryfire. The division digs itself in".

The first dangerous German rush on Alameinhad been stopped.

Throughout July, 1942, South African Gunnerswere fully engaged in the stubborn fightingwhich followed this staggering initial repulse in-flicted on the enemy by the South Africans.

On the night of 23rd October, when the tide ofwar started to turn, South African gunners fired62,500 rounds of ammunition in the war's big-gest barrage to that time, as they supported theirinfantry comrades in General Montgomery's at-tack.

The official historian says: "Having played aworthy part in the decisive battle in the desert,the Gunners, when 1 SA Division was finallyrelieved, returned to the Union in December,1942".

When the artillery was being formed and trainedfor South Africa's first armoured division, theunits from 1st Division were amalgamated withthose already training in the Union to bring themto full strength. The artillery regiments of 6 SAArmoured Division carried the titles: 1/6 FieldRegiment, 4/22 Self-Propelled Regiment, 7/23Medium Regiment, 1/12 Light Anti-Aircraft Regi-ment, 1/11 Anti-tank Regiment.

In the close country of Italy the artillery revertedto its normal role of support for infantry and arm-our. During the sweeping advance which tookthe division through Rome and up the Tiber Val-ley to the Trasimeno line at Chiusi set-piece at-tacks were rare, but the gunners worked closelywith the leading units to give fire when called for.At other times the fortified German defence linesbrought static warfare which called for heavyartillery preparation for a breakthrough, such asat Cassino where South African guns supportedthe final attack.

The techniques which had been developed bythe Allies for swift and flexible control of largenumbers of guns were practised with deadly

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effect. This was shown in the bitter struggles inthe Italian hills north of Florence, where the SouthAfricans were involved in some of the fiercestfighting of the war. Intelligence reported: "Allprisoners of war say that never in Russia or anyother field of battle have they experienced suchaccurate and concentrated artillery fire".

At the beginning of 1945 the division was joinedby a new formation, 13 SA Motor Brigade, with15 Field Regiment, in time to support the gallantattacks on Monte Sole and Caprara which brokethe German line and heralded the sweep acrossthe valley of the Po bringing German collapse asthe war drew to a close.

In addition to the units with divisions in the fieldthe South African Artillery manned defences ofharbours and other installations, not only inSouth Africa but also in the Middle East.

Regiments come and go. Many of those men-tioned no longer exist and whilst their disappear-ance always leaves a sense of regret it is per-haps vital to infuse new blood into any organisa-tion. Among many units who no longer appear onthe Establishment Table are 5th Field Regiment(later Regiment Algoa Baai), 1st and 5th CoastRegiments, No. 1 Armoured Train of the oldCoast Artillery Brigade, and 1st, and until fairlyrecently, 7th Medium Regiments, SAHA Thelatter were the only SA gunner units to wear"trews".

Some gunner units originally began as infantry,such as the Pretoria Highlanders - later to be-come 1st Anti-Tank Regiment, and the SA Irish,who, after they were badly cut up at Sidi Rezeghin November, 1941, supplied the nucleus of 11thField Battery, 4th Field Regiment, but later be-came 22nd Field Regiment SA Irish. They com-bined to fight in Italy as 4/22nd Field Regimentand reverted after the war to the title of 22ndField Regiment and later to their infantry role asSA Irish.

Units formed since the 1939/45 war includeRegiment Universiteit Pretoria (formed in March,1950 as the Observation and Sound RangingBattery of 1 Locating Regiment, but changed in1953 to a Field Battery and re-designated R.U.P.in 1960, but now known as 17 Field Regiment),the Regiment Potchefstoomse Universiteit alsoformed in March, 1950, Transvaalse Staatsartille-rie formed early in 1954 as 9th Field Regiment(Staatsartillerie) SAA., and given their presenttitle in 1960 and also Regiment Laeveld - now off


the establishment table - Regiment UniversiteitOranje Vrystaat - now part of 6 Field Regiment.

1 and 2 Locating Regiment, and Anti-AircraftArtillery, such as the Cape Garrison Artillery (for-merly University of Cape Town Regiment andoriginally 4th Heavy AA Regiment SAA) Regi-ment Vaalrivier, 10 Anti-Aircraft Regiment, 6 and7 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment and Regiment OosTransvaal, amongst other, help to fill the currentpicture.

The story of guns and Gunners in South Africawould not be complete without mention of aninteresting experiment initiated in September,1941, when 23 Field Regiment was raised inZululand. Half the personnel in the unit wereZulus. Similarly, 22 Field Regiment experimentedin 1943 with Cape Coloured gun numbers, but ineach case the non-whites were withdrawn beforethe units proceeded on active service. The pre-cedent for the experiment had been set by theMalay Artillery of 1804, and by the inclusion ofColoured drivers in the original SAFA Brigade.

Towards the end of the North African campaignthe Cape Corps provided men to Ack-ack unitsas gun numbers under white Numbers Ones, aswell as for the Coast Artillery. Many African gun-ners saw service with RA Field units and tookpart in the landings in Sicily and Italy. 85th Moun-tain Regiment, RA had 500 Basutos as muledrivers. However, the African gunners weredrawn from the African Pioneer Corps, raised inthe original three High Commission territories.

Mention should also be made of Kitchener'sHorse, which came into being in 1900, "E"Squadron of which was supplied entirely by theCape Garrison Artillery, and of the SA MarineCorps - formed in 1951 as a resuscitation of theSA Coast Artillery; 6th Light Battery recruited inthe Transkei and merged with the Cape FieldArtillery in 1940, 1st Field Battery CFA, whofought as an independent unit in Abyssinia andwere afterwards amalgamated with 7th FieldBrigade to form the 7th Field Regiment - the listseems almost endless. Amongst those whoshould not be forgotten are the women of theWomen's Auxiliary Army Services, many ofwhom during the last war were attached to CoastArtillery units as signallers, radar operators andplotters, and who were proud to wear Gunnergrenades on their uniforms.

Gunner tradition in South African at one timerelied heavily on that of the Royal Artillery. Thereis no doubt that the latter have had an inestima-

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ble influence on the SAA, but South AfricanGunners can be more proud of the wonderfultradition of service to the guns which they them-selves have helped to build and which hasproved that Gunners in this country have a repu-tation second to none.

Incidents that come to mind as this is writteninclude the stand of 5th Battery (NFA) at King'sCross outside Tobruk when in the face of a fierceGerman onslaught, the guns were served until,one by one, they had all been silenced; 6th Bat-tery (also NFA), covering the withdrawal of theGuard's Brigade from Rigel Ridge, an actionwhich the Royal Artillery Commemoration Bookdescribes as "the most glorious action fought bythe South African Artillery during this period" -both battles resulting in the whole regimentbeing captured - the defence of Alamein when 1Field Regiment (PAOCFA) - (less one batteryalso captured at Tobruk - a story in itself), underheavy Stuka attack, fired over 8000 rounds inone day, with under-strength gun detachments,ears bleeding from the continuous concussion,collapsing on the guns through sheer exhaustionbut causing the German 90th Light Division topanic and halting the advance to Cairo. And letus not forget among many other examples ofGunner spirit - the THA at Sidi Rezegh, fightingin rising smoke and dust over open sights atranges measured in only hundreds of yardswhen with other Artillery units, they endeavouredto stop the German Panzers who finally crushedthe 5th SA Brigade. It is to their credit that after3 days fighting 5 of their 24 guns were savedfrom the carnage of the battle. Tribute to thecourage and fighting qualities of the "British Artil-lery" at Sidi Rezegh was paid by the PanzerCommander, Major Genral F.W. von Mellenthinin his book, "Panzer Battles".

Taking names at random from the past: Umzin-tzani, Wepener, Kwaggafontein, Sandfontein,Gaza, EI Maghar, Palestine, Ypres, the Somme,Cambrai, the Juba, Marda Pass, CombolciaPass, Gazala, Tobruk, Alamein, Cassino, Pa-liano, Monte Sole, Caprara, Stanco, Bardia, SidiRezegh, Rigel Ridge, Kings Cross:- whetherthey were small actions or big battles, the SouthAfrican Artillery has rightly earned a place ofhonour in the South African Defence Force oftoday and its traditions that promise loyal andgallant service live as strongly as ever.

* Col. L.A.Crook, SM. JCD, joined the Citizen Force on 1 July, 1949 andcommanded Cape Field Artillery from 1973 to 1979. He is presently DeputyDirector Artillery (Field) (CF).


- ismade ofthem after march, 1862

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