WW1 trio-help requested

[sabrigade]

I am looking forward to see what results the research delivers.

[Brian Conyngham]

William

Kevins group is only about the fourth or fifth group I have seen or heard of with the Star being named up to a unit, for service in GEA. I have one, there was one on City Coins a few years back that I believe a collector in Cape Town purchased, I also saw one on a web site operating out of Hong Kong about 5 plus years back, had a stab at it but it had been sold by the time my bid arrived. Mike has one as well, in nice DCM/MC group (cannot remember which decoration, sign of the times), if I can recall correctly. He brought it to one of our medal meetings a few years back.

Regards
Brian

[Brian Conyngham]

Guys

The badges are available and do come up for sale from anything between 15 to 30 pounds.

I had forgotten about an article on this topic Published on the BMF by the late American Medal collector BC Cazel, an authority on African medals, here it is:

On 1 November 1915, the government of the Union of South Africa offered to raise one infantry brigade, one battalion of "Cape Corps" infantry, one reserve battalion and two regiments of mounted troops for service in the defense of British East Africa. This offer was accepted by GHQ of British East Africa.

As a result recruiting began right away. In addition to the aforementioned forces South Africa offered to raise three field artillery batteries and an additional two more mounted regiments. ( All four mounted units would then be formed into a mounted brigade. )

As of 13 November 1915, the South African's announced that they had raised five mounted regiments, six infantry battalions and five artillery batteries. In addition, they recruited enough men to form support units in supply, transport, medical, etc.

The 1st South African Horse and the 2nd South African Horse both embarked at Durban, Natal, on 24 December 1915. They landed at Mombasa, British East Africa, on 30 December 1915. The 3rd South African Horse did not embark until 30 December 1915 and thus would not have arrived in British East Africa until the first week of January 1916, thus missing out on qualifying for the 1914 - 15 Star.

After arriving at Mombasa, B.E.A., the 1st & 2nd South African Horse moved by rail to Nairobi, B.E.A., and rode through the colonial capitol city on 1 January 1916. Many of the men and officers in the two regiments were Boers who had stayed loyal to the Union government in 1914. Some were even men who had fought against the British in the recent "Boer War." It appears some of the local residents were rather upset that former conquered enemies were now serving in their defence, and some even allowed to give orders!

In February 1916, the forces defending the Nairobi area were formed into a division that eventually became the 1st East African Division. This included the 1st South African Mounted Brigade that included the 1st, 2nd and 3rd South African Horse.

The 1st South African Mounted Brigade was detached as a "flanking force" for field operations starting on 5 March 1916. This eventually led to its transfer to the 2nd East African Division later that month. As of 7 March 1916 the 1st South African Mounted Brigade left Mbuyuni and moved to the Lumi River on the morning of 8 March.

The brigade crossed the Lumi river, captured the German position on Kilimari Hill, and the bulk of the force proceeded along the crater of Lake Chala. Some men were sent to recon toward the town of Taveta that was still held by the Germans. Meanwhile the brigade concentrated at Chala for the night of 8 / 9 March 1916.

On the 9th the 1st S.A. Mounted Brigade moved out toward the southwest from Chala and secured the high ground over looking a road from Taveta. The 2nd South African Horse captured the town of Taveta after a sharp fight on 10 March 1916. ( The 2nd S.A. Horse suffered casualties of 2 men KIA, 19 men WIA and 8 men WIA & taken POW, between 8 and 10 March 1916. )

The 1st S.A. Mounted Brigade continued with it's advance and on 14 March 1916 it occupied Moshi and New Moshi station, which was abandoned by the Germans.

Continuing the advance south two squadrons of the 2nd S.A. Horse took part in the fighting at the Pangani River crossing on 21 March. Later on 3 April 1916, the regiment left Arusha in a long flanking movement to cut off the retreat of the Germans found on Lolkisale Hill.

The defenders were the 28 Field Kompanie, Schutztruppen, about 500 men strong with several machine guns. On the morning of 4 April 1916, the balance of the mounted brigade began their attack about 0930 hours (local time). It took two days to fight their way up to the summit and at dusk on 5 April 1916, it was men from the 2nd S.A. Horse who did capture a key position at the top of the hill and gave the South Africans access to a fresh water supply.

At dawn on 6 April as the South Africans began a renewed advance the Germans had finally had enough and they surrendered. Captured were 2 German officers, 15 Germans, 114 Askari soldiers, 300 "native" porters along with two machine guns. The German force's commanding officer had been wounded on 5 April 1916 and removed to a safe place for treatment. He was not captured.

While all the above was going on a single squadron of the 2nd S.A. Horse was sent to recon toward the town of Madukani ( Mbugwe ) on 2 April 1916. The squadron found that the town was weakly defended and they captured it on 10 April 1916.

The rest of the month was spent patrolling. Sometime around 23 April 1916, the 2nd S.A. Horse, less one troop, rejoined the 1st S.A. Mounted Brigade at Itiso-kwa-Meda. A patrol of the 2nd S.A. Horse fought a brief action near Kwa Mtoro on 30 April 1916.

The next mention of the mounted troops does not occur until the end of July 1916. During the fighting at Nyangalo the 2nd S.A. Horse was held in reserve. The honour of reaching the German Central Railway at dawn on 30 July 1916 fell to the 3rd South African Horse.

The 2nd S.A. Horse were relieved on 21 August 1916, from their position outside of Kilosa and sent south in an outflanking movement. The Germans left their defensive positions at dusk. Kilosa was occupied by the 2nd E.A. Division on 22 August 1916.

Two weeks later the 1st S.A. Mounted Brigade was campaigning south of the Central Railway and were in a fight at Whigu Hill on 8 September 1916. For most of the day the 2nd S.A. Horse was in reserve. Late in the day the Germans were pressing forward and gaps were beginning to appear in the South African line. The 2nd S.A. Horse was ordered forward on foot and they successfully met a German bayonet charge in hand-to-hand fighting. Casualties for the entire mixed “British” and South African force were four officers and nineteen men killed, with another twenty men wounded.

In a final note concerning the 1st S.A. Mounted Brigade, the war diary of the 2nd E.A. Division showed the brigade had on 27 September 1916, a total of 1,979 men fit for service and 590 men found unfit.

It must be remembered that after nine months of campaigning in East Africa and pushing the Germans well south of their new railway the British command was finding the “sick” rate among non-African troops very high. It was about this time that it was decided to withdraw nearly all South African combat troops from the theatre. South African records show that between October 1916 and February 1917, more than 12,000 troops were found to be unfit for tropical service and returned to South Africa for treatment, recovery and discharge. The South Africans were replaced by fresh battalions of newly raised troops of the King’s African Rifles, a brigade of men from the Nigerian Regiment, a battalion from the Gold Coast Regiment, along with additional Indian Army units. (Before the end of 1917 the Indian battalions would be withdrawn from combat and sent to Mesopotamia, Palestine or India itself. )

Someone had asked for a South African order of battle for East Africa. The earliest I could find was dated for 31 March 1916, and is not complete. At that point the South African Expeditionary Force totalled about 18,700 men. A breakdown of the major combat units follows;

1st South African Mounted Brigade = 1st, 2nd & 3rd South African Horse.

4th South African Horse ( un-brigaded )

2nd South African Infantry Brigade = 5th, 6th, 7th & 8th South African Infantry.

3rd South African Infantry Brigade = 9th, 10th, 11th, & 12th South African Infantry.

Cape Corps ( un-brigaded )

1st,2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th South African Field Artillery batteries.

2nd South African Field Ambulance and 2nd South African General Hospital.


This concludes what I could find about the 2nd South African Horse and it’s service in East Africa. It might be helpful to also check the published Roll of Honour for South Africa in the Great War. This would give you an idea of how many men were lost in combat as opposed to how many died from disease.

Sources used for this post are:

Military Operations East Africa, Volume I, August 1914 – September 1916; by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Hardern, R.E., HMSO, London, 1941, 603 pages.

Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 5A; by F. W. Perry, Ray Westlake Military Books, Gwent, 1992, 101 pages.

The Union of South Africa and The Great war 1914 – 1918; General Staff, Government Printing and Stationary Office, Pretoria, 1924, 230 pages.

They Fought for King and Kaiser, South Africans in German East Africa 1916; by James Ambrose Brown, Ashanti Publishing ( PTY. ) Ltd., Johannesburg, 1991, 374 pages.

I also checked my copy of Medals of the Great War Awarded to South Africans; by Frank K. Mitchell, JCD, Military Medal Society of South Africa, Cape Town, 1992, 15 pages. This was the published result of a survey done by Dr. Mitchell. As many South African units as could be identified are checked off to see which units had “known” medals issued to them in various medal collections. I noted that the survey shows that 1914 – 15 Stars were known to have been awarded to members of 1st, 2nd & 3rd South African Horse. I suspect the 3rd S.A. Horse issues may have gone to a few advance troops who sailed with the other two regiments.

I hope this will clear up any grey areas regards this interesting topic.

Regards
Brian

[Brian Conyngham]

Hi Guys

Attaching a picture of my 2nd SAH Star.

Sorry not strictly badge related but these are rather unique so it might be of general interest to SA militaria collectors in general.

Brian

[sabrigade]

Thanks Brian,

A really good group.

Kevin, is your star named to De Jager's Scouts or 2 SAH?

Regards,

Will

[Kevin Elliott]

Will,

2nd S.A.H., just like Brian's.

Regards,

Kevin.

[iaindh]

Hi Brian,

I enjoyed your pocket history of the GEA campaign and the involvement of the 2nd SAH.

very interesting, regards,

Iain

[Kevin Elliott]

Hi Gents,

Hope this works...first attempt to attach pictures!
Well here they are and they are now mine - bought them from my mate today.
No ribbons, uncleaned and some tarnish / stain to star. To clean or not - that's the eternal question?
Thanks for looking and all the help thus far.

Kevin.

[Brian Conyngham]

Kevin

Thanks, I would clean them to be honest, one never knows what that substance is, it might cause more damage left on over a long period. Nothing wrong with a good once off clean so long as it does not damage the medal ie using a steel wire pot cleaner The patina will return with time.

Well done on acquiring them, new ribbons are easy to come by and there is some nice new watered ribbon available, that is if you cannot source some old ribbon.

Kevin, I have found the best results when photographing the names on rims is to place them on a sheet of white paper, this reflects the light onto the rim highlighting the naming. Experiment with the Macro settings on your camera as well, after a few trys it will work out just fine.

Brian