1st Infantry Division

Outbreak of war

When Neville Chamberlain declared war on 3 September 1939, the Union Defence Force consisted of 5,385 Permanent Force members, 14,631 Citizen Force members and 122,000 Commandos of which only 39,000 were considered suited for field deployment. The Defence Act also prohibited the deployment of its members beyond the confines of southern Africa On 4 September, General Hertzog resigned and was replaced by General Smuts – and two days later, on 6 September South Africa declared war against Germany.

The "phoney war" luckily granted more time and by 22 September a policy paper had been submitted calling for the formation of two "Forces" and was approved in mid October, laying the foundations for the formation of 1 and 2 SA Divisions. In March 1941, fearing the Italian commitment to war, General Wavell requested the services of a South African Brigade Group in Kenya via the Imperial General Staff. Prime Minister Smuts consented.

Initially, to circumvent the limitations of the South African Defence Act (Act No 13 of 1912), only volunteers were recruited and they were subject to an oath on induction whereby they consented to being deployed anywhere in Africa, this being a pre-requisite for acceptance into the Union forces. Men who attested under these terms were entitled to wear the distinct insignia of the Mobile Field Force, a red / orange shoulder strap which was to become known as the "Red Tab". The Defence Act was later amended.

Advance party to East Africa

The formation of the 1st South Africa Infantry Brigade Group was approved on 13 May 1940. Although approved, South Africa was desperately short of equipment and had few armoured vehicles save for a limited number of locally designed prototype armoured cars. Due to this limited infantry and armour offensive capacity, all that could initially be mobilised was an anti-aircraft detachment. Thus, part of the 1st SA Anti-Aircraft brigade, who arrived in Mombasa on 1 June 1940 as an advance party to protect Mombasa harbour from feared Italian air attacks, becoming the first South African land forces to be deployed outside of South Africa since the First World War. On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war and on the next day South Africa officially declared war on Italy. Two hours after the South African declaration, four Ju 86's of the South African Air Force bombed Italian troops at a Banda Camp close to Moyale, a few kilometres across the Kenya border into Ethiopia.

1st Brigade Group Mobilised

In order to rapidly provide forces to East Africa, as well as due to the lack of trained manpower – it was decided to initially form a single Infantry Brigade from the 1st Duke of Edinburgh's Own Rifles, the 1st Royal Natal Carabineers and the 1st Transvaal Scottish with brigade artillery and support elements (Refer ORBAT below). On 13 July, the 1st South African Brigade Group under command of Colonel John Daniel was issued its movement order and it assembled at Zonderwater for the farewell parade, with General Smuts taking the salute – ironically, that Sunday being celebrated as "Delville Wood Day".

...From personal experience I know what awaits you. I know what war means – seven years of my life have been spent in wars. They were amongst the hardest years of my life, but they were also full of the richest experiences that life can give. I would not exchange my war experiences of the Anglo-Boer War and the last Great War for all the gold on the Rand. You are going to face danger, hardship and sacrifice – perhaps death itself – in all its fierce forms. But through it all, you will gather that experience of life and enrichment of character which are more valuable than gold or precious stones.Gen. Jan Smuts. Farewell parade, Zonderwater, 13 July 1940.

Embarkation commenced in Durban the next day, with Brigade HQ, 1st Transvaal Scottish and attached troops boarding the MS Dilwara while the Royal Natal Carbineers and a number of voluntary aid nurses boarded the Devonshire. The Duke of Edinburgh's Own Rifles followed in the Rajula. The convoy cast off on 17 July 1940.

Establishment

On 13 August 1940 the 1st South African Infantry Division was officially constituted – consisting of the 1st SA Brigade Group already in Kenya and the 2nd and 5th South African Infantry Brigade Groups. Brig-Gen George Brink was appointed as commander with Lt. Col W.H.E. Poole as GSO 1. The Division HQ landed at Mombasa on 11 November 1940.

East African Campaign

This account only reflects the role of the 1st SA Infantry Division. For an account of the 1st South African Infantry Brigade in East Africa, see 1st Infantry Brigade (South Africa).

2nd and 5th Brigades

After the success of the 1st South African Infantry Brigade against the Italians at the El Wak border post on 16 December 1940, Lieutenant-General Alan Cunningham was intent on opening access into the Galla-Sidamo area across the Chalbi Desert by advancing eastwards from the eastern side of Lake Rudolf and to support a possible rebellion by the Shifta tribe against the Italians. This was the first offensive to be assigned to 1 SA Division. The division then consisted of the 2nd and 5th SA Brigades (located at Marsabit), the 25th East African Brigade (at Lokitaung) as well as six companies of the 2nd Abyssinian Irregulars. Almost on a daily basis, division infantry and armoured cars crossed the Dida Galgalla in search of enemy patrols. The Italians maintained a well established outpost at Turbi Hills, from which they had clear observation of any vehicle or troop movements in the Dida Galgalla. From December 1940 to February 1941 patrols had never been able to engage Italian patrols or elements – as they withdrew deeper into Abyssinia on sighting the South African patrols entering the Dida Galgalla, only to return the next day.

Before advancing into southern Abyssinia, General Brink was compelled to protect his western flank and to deny water sources to the Italians. For this reason, on 16 January the 1st Natal Mounted Rifles (of the 2nd Brigade), No 2 Armoured Car Company, 12 SA Field Battery and two irregular companies attacked the string of wells at El Yibo and El Sardu in the Kenyan Northern Frontier District. After three days of fighting, supported by the SAAF, the enemy withdrew from El Yibo on the night of 17 January and on the afternoon of 18 January, the 2nd Field Force Battalion, which had been moved up from the brigade reserve, entered an abandoned El Sardu. With the only water sources in the area in the hands of the South Africans, the advance into Abyssinia could commence.

2nd and 5th Brigades crossed the Abyssinian border north of Dukana late afternoon on 31 January 1941, moving in parallel columns to assault the Italian positions in the Mega-Moyale complex. The Italians had well established and entrenched advance positions at Goai Crater, El Gumu and Hobok – which were to be taken before the main forces at Mega-Moyale could be attacked. 2nd Brigade was assigned to attack Gorai on the right, while 5th Brigade was to assault El Gumu. The attack commenced early morning on 1 February and by 1600 both objectives had been secured. The armoured cars however failed to cut off the remnant Italian forces, and they retreated back towards Mega and Moyale. The next day, 3rd Transvaal Scottish and the armoured cars attacked Fort Hobok, sited on a ridge 30 km west of El Gumu supported by artillery. The armoured cars again covered the flanks and tried to cut off any retreating forces. By afternoon, the fort had been captured. The 2nd Brigade now held Gorai and the 5th Brigade, Hobok (Map 1: Point 1). It was again hoped that these raids would ignite the Shifta uprising, but as with the previous occasion, this never materialised.

Transfer to Egypt

The Division HQ, Division troops and 5 SA Infantry Brigade arrived in Suez, after an eleven-day voyage from Mombassa on 3 May 1941. The 2nd Brigade arrived in Suez on 8 June from Berbera and was forthwith assigned to 2 SA Infantry Division. The 1st Brigade sailed from Massawa on 12 June 1941 to Egypt. At the peak of operations in 1940, there were 77,000 troops in Kenya of which 27,000 were South African.

Western Desert

Situation

During the time the division had spent in East Africa, the Desert War had progressed and by the time of their arrival in Egypt:

The initial advance by the Italians to the Egypt border had been checked (August 1940), with constant raids being launched across the border fence. The Italians were demoralised and had lost approximately three thousand men against British losses of little more than one hundred.

By September the Italians had attacked and taken Sollum, Halfaya Pass, and Sidi Barrani and dug in around Sidi Barrani and established several fortified campsin the area, stopping eighty miles west of the British defences at Mersa Matruh.

In December 1940, the Western Desert Force launched Operation Compass, the British counterattack. The Italians were caught completely off-guard and by 10 December, the British and Indian forces had taken more than 20,000 Italian prisoners. The following day, the British and Indian forces attacked Sollum. Sidi Barrani fell on the same day.

The 4th Indian Division was replaced with the newly arrived Australian 6th Division. The Australians then pressed on to capture Bardia and Tobruk, with little or no opposition. In early February, the Italians were in headlong retreat along the coast, pursued by the Australians.

An overland advance by the 7th Armoured Division through Mechili to Beda Fomm, cut off the Italian line of retreat. Combe Force, an ad hoc flying column was sent racing ahead of the tanks and they reached Beda Fomm just ahead of the Italians, and established a roadblock. After a hard and narrowly won battle on 6 February, the Italians surrendered 25,000 men, 200 artillery guns, 100 tanks and 1,500 vehicles. During the course of this battle, the Western Desert Force was renamed as XIII Corps.

In early 1941, after the British and Commonwealth victory in Cyrenaica, the military position was soon reversed. Wavell ordered a significant portion of O'Connor's XIII Corps to support Greece as part of Operation Lustre and the Germans initiated their Operation Sunflower (Unternehmen Sonnenblume). This was the deployment of the newly formed German "Afrika Korps" (Deutsches Afrikakorps) as reinforcements to the Italians to prevent total collapse. The German corps included fresh troops with better equipment and a charismatic commander, General Erwin Rommel.

Discontented South Africans

Deployed at Matruh and responsible for constructing defensive positions, the division was still not considered ready for operations by the end of June – having 90% of its allotted transport (many vehicles being those which had been used in the East Africa campaign) and 90% of its arms and equipment. Severe administrative problems, as well as organizational issues related to integration of the division into the Western Desert Force, caused discontent and eventually lead Gen. Brink to raise the issues with Field-Marshal Smuts and the Chief of SA General Staff when they visited Cairo in early July. Discussions indicated that Lt-Gen. Sir Alan Cunningham and Wavell were of the opinion that South Africa could not field two divisions for lack of resources. Smuts claimed that the manpower shortages were due to troops being retained for protection duties in East Africa and that a lack of shipping precluded the arrival of a further 3,000 men and he rejected the idea of reducing the South African forces into divisions of two brigade strength, as was recommended by Wavell. In addition, Brink continued to express his displeasure at the fact that the 1st Division was being utilised to construct defensive positions, instead of training in order to prepare for operations.

Differences between British and South African administration were becoming more pronounced (and so too were differences between the South Africans and other Commonwealth troops.) The insistence by the Australian government to retain the Australians in the theatre (at Tobruk at that stage) as a unified corps, caused manpower shortages in other areas in the Western Desert. Brink feared that the division would be split up and deployed piece-meal to fill these gaps, as had happened in East Africa. His insistence in this regard to Auchinleck further widened the gap between the South Africans and the Army commander. At the end of October, Brink advised XXX Corps that 1st Division would not be ready to participate in the preparatory exercise as a prelude to Crusader – and that he required an additional 21 days for training. After consideration by Cunningham and Auchinleck, the division was permitted three days for training and was required to be available for the commencement of Crusader on 18 November, subject to Brink confirming that the division was ready for operations. Brink was faced with the dilemma of either committing untrained troops to battle, or holding back the division and having them replaced by the Indian Division – which would invariably relegate the division to defensive duties and a significant loss of prestige to the South Africans. He declared the division "ready" and 1 SA Division was deployed for Operation Crusader.

Sidi Rezeg: November 1941

This account only reflects the role of the 1st SA Infantry Division.

Following the costly failure of Operation Battleaxe, General Archibald Wavell was relieved as Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command and replaced by General Claude Auchinleck. The Western Desert Force was reorganised and renamed the Eighth Army under the command of Lieutenant-General Alan Cunningham and at this stage, the division comprised only two brigades. The plan for Operation Crusader (See Map 2) was to engage the Afrika Korps with the 7th Armoured Division while the 1st SA Division and the 22 Guards Brigade covered their left flank. Meanwhile, on their right, XIII Corps, supported by 4th Armoured Brigade (detached from 7th Armoured Division), would make a clockwise flanking advance west of Sidi Omar and hold position threatening the rear of the line of Axis defensive strongpoints which ran east from Sidi Omar to the coast at Halfaya. Central to the plan was the destruction of the Axis armour by 7th Armoured Division to allow the relatively lightly armoured XIII Corps to advance north to Bardia along the coast while XXX Corps continued northwest to Tobruk and link up with a planned break-out by the 70th Division.

The division advance commenced at 0600 on 18 November with uneventful progress through the empty desert, save for two air attacks by Italian aircraft (Point 1 on Map 3). Having steadily advanced northwards, 1 SA Division was advised on 20 November to "mask" Bir el Gubi and to prevent interference from the Ariete Div into the flank of 7 Armoured Div (Point 2 on Map 3). El Gubi had now become a lesser objective after the capture of Sidi Rezeg and early morning on 21 November, the 21st and 15th Panzer had withdrawn to the north-west, not aware of the Allied advance to their south – creating the impression within the division, that the Axis forces had already been defeated.

By noon, 22 November, the Sidi Rezeg area was clear of Axis formations but by mid afternoon, German armour launched a violent attack on the area of the airfield. In this attack, 4th Armoured Brigade HQ had been destroyed (captured) and by nightfall, the SA 5th Brigade as well as the 6th New Zealand Brigade had been tasked to hurry in support of 7 Armoured Div at Sidi Rezeg (Advance 3 on Map 3), with the 5th SA Bde tasked to occupy Point 178, three miles south of Sidi Rezeg. 1st SA Bde was to disengage from the Ariete at Bir el Gubi and to advance in a night march, north – in support of the 5th Brigade at Sidi Regez, being relieved by the 22nd Guards Brigade.

Gazala: May 1942

This account only reflects the role of the 1st SA Infantry Division.

Rommel's advance, containing at least 10,000 vehicles was headed south, to make a long sweeping right-hook around the southern end of the Allied line. The Afrika Korps diary speaks of a bright moonlit night where they advanced without having any contact with the enemy. However the 4th SA Armoured Car Regiment had been tracking their advance and reporting the progress three to four times per hour. The following morning, the German—Italian forces made contact with the 7th Armoured Division, east of Bir Hakeim where General Messervy of the 7th Armoured Division was taken prisoner. 7th Armoured as well as the Free French at Bir Hakeim held up the advance but by late morning, Axis forces had advanced well behind the southern flank and were now heading north behind the Allied lines. The 90th Light captured and held El Adem. With Allied forces now recovering and re-deploying into better assault positions, the Axis forces were caught in an area known as "The Cauldron" between Bir Hakeim to the south, Tobruk to the north east and the Allied minefields between the Axis and their supply lines to the west. Three days armoured fighting ensued in the area of the Cauldron. To better secure his positions, Rommel then drove two Italian formations directly west, through the Allied minefields to re-establish his supply channels. All this time, opposite the 1st SA Division positions to the north of the Gazala Line, the German 15th Rifle Brigade (Brigade Stab zbv (mot) 15), and the Italian Sabratha and Trento Divisions remained quiet.

By 12 June, the remaining Free French had been forced to withdraw from Bir Hakeim. At Bir el Hatmat, Rommel had dispersed the tactical HQs of the two British Divisions as well as the HQs of the 9th and 10th Indian Infantry Brigades and other smaller units and the 22nd Armoured Brigade had been forced from the battlefield by renewed attacks from 15th Panzer. In "The Cauldron", three Indian infantry battalions, a reconnaissance regiment and four artillery regiments had been virtually destroyed. On the day before, Axis forces had pushed towards El Adem and had forced the 201st Guards Brigade to withdraw from the Knightsbridge Box on the Gazala Line back to the Tobruk perimeter. On the 14th, Auchinlek authorised Ritchie to withdraw from the Gazala line and the 1st SA and the 50th Northumbrian Divisions were ordered to withdraw along the coastal road back towards Tobruk.

While the 1st SA and 50th Divisions were preparing for their withdrawal on the Via Balbia, Axis forces were wreaking havoc on the escarpment amongst Allied forces and Rommel directed his 170mm guns to open fire from the escarpment down onto the Via Balbia as the South Africans and British were destroying their ammunition dumps in the Gazala Line Rommel tasked 15th and 21st Panzer with breaking north and severing the Via Balbia close to Elwet et Tamar, cutting off the two Divisions to the west. With the road being unable to accommodate two divisions, elements of the 50th Division broke out in a south westerly direction in a wide sweep eventually turning back east towards the Allied lines. The South Africans withdrew to series of defensive boxes at Williams Post, Best Post, "Point 187," Commonwealth Keep and then Acroma. The 21st and 15th Panzer attacks forced the 1st SA Division to fight a rearguard action and to withdraw through each of the respective boxes well into the night. Chased by Axis tanks, driving east on the Via Balbia, the first elements reached Tobruk during the night of 13/14 June. The division was now spread out between the original Gazala defences and Tobruk, as each element tried to make their way east.

First Battle of El Alamein: July 1942

Having arrived back from the Gazala Line, the division spent two weeks improving defences on the El Alamein defences in the "Alamein Box". Auchenlik had issued an order instructing all surplus personnel to be sent back to the Delta, which greatly displeased Pienaar. The division had been deploying two brigades of infantry, each accompanied by a battery of artillery to protect the areas west and south of the defensive box. Auchinlecks order effectively meant that Pienaar could only hold the box with one under-strength brigade Before these troops could be returned, battle was joined with the 90th Light Infantry Division in the early morning hours of 1 July.

At 0605 Axis transports were seen advancing to within 2,000 yards of the 3rd Brigade positions and they were engaged with machine and anti-tank gun fire from the Imperial Light Horse. During the early morning hours, the 90th Light had lost direction and veered too far north, resulting in the clash with ILH. While the Rand Light Infantry were driving off German towed artillery, South African Air Force Boston light bombers bombed their supply columns. By 0730 the 90th Light had been halted and were pinned down by the South Africans, determined to avenge Gazala and the surrender of Tobruk. The 90th Light only managing to extricate themselves under cover of a dust storm later in the day. The Axis attack had been stopped all along the Allied line of defence.

Cracks and fissures had again become visible between the 1st SA Div and the Army command. 1st SA Brigade had been deployed on the flank, on Ruweisat Ridge and by this time they had become somewhat isolated during the previous days fighting and the Allied bombing missions of the previous night. The Brigade had lost its Officer Commanding as well as its Brigade Major during the previous two days fighting and over 15,000 shells had fallen on their strongpoint, known as "Hotbox," from the area of the Trieste Division. Pienaar advised Norrie that their position was "untenable" and Norrie replied that if that was the case, he would "..... relieve the Brigade, place it in reserve and replace it with another formation." Offended by this – Pienaar called 8th Army HQ and was advised by Dorman-Smith that the Brigade was to remain where it was. Not satisfied, Pienaar insisted on speaking to Auchinleck, who ordered that the Brigade hold its ground – but offered to relieve the Brigade within two days when the 9th Australian Division reached El Alamein. Pienaar's demands of the evening of 2 July shook the 8th Army command's confidence in the morale of the division and Auchinleck stated that the division could no longer be exposed to "undue operational strain," fearing that material losses to the division, especially after the surrender of the 2nd SA Division at Tobruk, would lead to political disaster. Auchinleck deployed the 9th Australian Division to re-enforce the northern sector of the line held by the South Africans three days later. Pienaar had also been falsely accused of supporting the retreat to the Delta and engaging the Axis from behind the Suez Canal – he remained resolved to fight, stating to an American war correspondent at Alam Halfa in July 1942 "....Here I stop, I've retreated far enough, whether we hold the damn thing or not!"

Alam Halfa: August 1942

Rommel launched one more assault on 31 August, aimed at Alam el Halfa ridge. The division responded by launching a number of successful raids at the enemy forces after last light, once they had stopped their advance for the night on 31 August. By noon on 1 September, 15th Panzer were immobilised by lack of fuel south of Alam Halfa. Pienaar re-organised the division to occupy the positions with one brigade and released two brigades as part of "battle groups" to act against the immobilised Axis division. The report that these forces were available was not welcomed at Corps and Army headquarters, and these mobile formations were not used. After the counter-attack was eventually organised, the Axis had already started to withdraw and fighting was broken off on 7 September.

Second Battle of El Alamein: October 1942

For what was to become the final South African assault on the Axis forces (Operation Lightfoot), the division was tasked attack on a two-brigade front to secure the southern end of Mieiriya Ridge. The Indian 4th and Northumbrian 50th Divisions were deployed to their south and to the north, was the 2nd New Zealand Division. The South Africans were to attack towards the south west with 2nd SA Infantry Brigade (Brig. W.H.E. Poole) on the right and 3rd SA Infantry Brigade (Brig. R. Palmer) on the left. 1st SA Infantry Brigade was deployed further south and was responsible for creating an anti-tank screen to protect the left flank of the South African attack (See Map 4). The Australians and Highlanders were to force a northern corridor through the Axis minefields while the New Zealanders and South Africans were to do the same in the southern sector.

Operation Lightfoot started at 2140 on 23 October with a five-hour fire plan, the start of which signified H-Hour for the infantry assault. Pienaar had deployed each of the lead brigades, with on battalion leading for the first phase to the "red line" – after a pause of an hour and a quarter, the two trailing battalions would pass through to the final objective on Miteiriya Ridge. 1st Brigade – who was not part of the main advance was provided with a special force of armoured cars, machine guns and anti-tank guns to guard their and the division's left flank (Refer Map 4). They were also allocated a mobile element of the 8th Royal Tanks. The divisional artillery, reinforced by three troops from X Corps was to fire a fire-plan of timed concentrations – using smoke on the intermediate and final objectives to cover re-organisation and to help with direction finding.

The two South African brigades advanced with 40mm Bofors guns marking the lines of advance between the respective battalions and the first objectives on the Corps objective line called "Oxalic" were occupied by the Natal Mounted Rifles at 2350. The Cape Town Highlanders were the last battalion to reach their individual unit objectives on Oxalic – and were established on Miteiriya Ridge by 0800 the following morning. The fact that the 1st and 10th Armoured Divisions had not broken through into the open areas west of the line as originally planned, meant that Montgomery had to change his orders – moving to an attritional World War I type of battle, which Montgomery in a semblance of a novelty – dubbed "Crumbling Actions." By the evening of 26 October (as from the H-Hour on the 23rd), the South Africans had suffered 600 casualties, as compared to 2,000 in the 51st Division, 1,000 Australians and a similar number of New Zealanders.

Disbandment

The Union Defence Force had finalised a decision to convert the 1st SA Infantry Division into an Armoured Division and the Axis withdrawal from El Alamein marked the end of fighting for the division in the Middle East. By 1 December, advance parties were already returning to South Africa to assist with the establishment of the intended armoured division and later in the month, General Dan Pienaar was recalled to South Africa to lead the formation of the new division. He and eleven other officers boarded a Lockheed Lodestar on 17 December to fly back to South Africa. The aircraft stopped to re-fuel at Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria and on takeoff on 19 December, it plunged into the lake, killing all on board.

On 1 January 1943, the 1st SA Infantry Division embarked for home, with troops returning to their parent units in South Africa. The division had been dissolved and many of its former units were to be absorbed into the 6th South African Armoured Division. The designation 1st South African Infantry Division was also used briefly by a successor formation in 1948–49.

Higher formations served under

22 July 1940 – 3 May 1941: East African Field Force: General Sir Alan Gordon Cunningham

4 May – 31 October 1941: XIII Corps, 8th Army: Lieutenant-General Sir Noel Monson de la Poer Beresford-Peirce (April 1941 – October 1941).

1–22 November 1941: XXX Corps, 8th Army: Lieutenant-General Charles Willoughby Moke Norrie

23 – 30 November 1941: XIII Corps: General Sir Alfred Reade Godwin-Austen (October 1941 – February 1942)

1 December 1941 – 1 January 1943: XXX Corps, 8th Army:

Lieutenant-General Charles Willoughby Moke Norrie (Nov 1941 – July 1942).

Lieutenant-General William Havelock Ramsden (July 1942 – Sept 1942).

Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver William Hargreaves Leese (Sept 1942 – May 1943).

Orders of Battle

East Africa, 1 January 1941

According to Orpen

Division Commander: Lieutenant-General George Brink

2nd South African Infantry Brigade (Brigadier F.L.A. Buchanan)

1st Natal Mounted Rifles

1st Field Force Battalion

2nd Field Force Battalion

No. 2 S.A. Armoured Car Company

12th Field Company, SA Corps of Engineers

12th Field Ambulance, SA Medical Corps

No. 2 Mobile General Workshops, SA Technical Services Corps

3 Brigade Signals Company, SA Corps of Signals

5th South African Infantry Brigade (Brigadier Bertram Frank Armstrong)

1st South African Irish Regiment

2nd Regiment Botha

3rd Transvaal Scottish Regiment

No. 1 S.A. Armoured Car Company

5th Field Company, SA Corps of Engineers

11th Field Ambulance, SA Medical Corps

No. 3 Mobile General Workshops, SA Technical Services Corps

1st Brigade Signals Company, SA Corps of Signals

Western Desert, 17 October 1942

According to Orpen

Division Commander: Major General Daniel Hermanus ("Dan") Pienaar

1st South African Infantry Brigade Brig. E.P. Hartshorn

1st Duke of Edinburgh's Own Rifles SA Infantry Corps

1st Royal Natal Carabineers SA Infantry Corps

1st Transvaal Scottish SA Infantry Corps

One Sqn 3rd SA Armoured Car Regt SA Tank Corps

3rd and 4th Anti-Tank Batteries SA Artillery Corps

1st Light Anti-Aircraft Battery SA Artillery Corps

1st Field Company SA Engineering Corps

11th and 15th Field Batteries of 4th Field Regt SA Artillery Corps

7th, 19th and 20th Field Batteries of 7th Field Regt SA Artillery Corps

2nd South African Infantry Brigade Brig. W.H.E. Poole

1st Cape Town Highlanders SA Infantry Corps

1st Natal Mounted Rifles SA Infantry Corps

1st Field Force Battalion SA Infantry Corps

2nd Field Force Battalion SA Infantry Corps

B Company (Machine Gun), Die Middelandse Regiment SA Infantry Corps

Attached formations

Not reflected in the above order of battle due to date discrepancies:

21st East African Infantry Brigade from 27 February 1941 to 6 April 1941

Polish Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade from 3 February 1942 to 18 March 1942

Free French Brigade from 3 February 1942 to 10 February 1942

6th South African Infantry Brigade from 18 March 1942 to 20 April 1942

Battles, actions and engagements