Allan Sinclair

The Ditsong National Museum of Military History provides a home for the memory and study of military history. It does so by affording visitors a rare opportunity to view the actual artefacts of an often-turbulent past. The Museum began its existence in 1942 when a few far-sighted individuals grasped the need to collect material evidence of our nation’s contribution to world history. After the First World War (1914 - 1918), the idea that a museum could serve as a war memorial led to the establishment of the Imperial War Museum in London. Sadly, no similar effort was made in South Africa, and much of the war material collected during that period was dispersed. This oversight was not to be repeated during the Second World War (1939 - 1945). In 1940, Capt J Agar-Hamilton was appointed official historian to the Union Defence Forces. He formed a Historical Research Committee to ensure the preservation of documents and materials of military interest, laying a foundation for the establishment of the Museum.

Ditsong National Museum of Military History (Google Maps)

The South African National War Museum was opened by Prime Minister Jan Smuts on 29 August 1947.  At the opening ceremony, Smuts stated the following:

We are gathered here today to open what may not unfairly be looked upon as...

The military art collection of the Ditsong National Museum of Military History includes a watercolour entitled, “HMS Kelvin – D-Day +6” by Francis Flint. The painting is noteworthy in that it portrays three important personalities of the Second World War (1939 – 1945) – Sir Winston Churchill (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom); Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke (Chief of the Imperial General Staff) and Field Marshal Jan Christiaan Smuts (Prime Minster of the Union of South Africa). The event was the visit by Churchill to Normandy on 12 June 1944, six days after the initial invasion took place on 6 June.

One can understand Churchill and Brooke embarking on such a visit but why would Smuts, the Prime Minister of a small Dominion within the British Commonwealth of Nations, be travelling with them across the English Channel? After all there was no official South African participation in the Allied landings in Normandy.

At the time South Africa’s contribution to the war was relatively moderate in comparison to that of the major powers and other nations on the Allied side.  Despite that Smuts had developed a substantial international reputation since he had first been appointed to the Imperial War Cabinet during the First World War (1914 – 1918) and played a leading role Treaty of Versailles and the formation of the League of Nations at the end of that war.

Smuts and Churchill’s first interaction was during the Anglo-Boer/ South African War (1899 – 1902) when the latter, then a war...

A 1:48 scale model of the Type VIIC German U-boat “U-96” was donated to the Museum in September 2019. The model is a true representation of the original submarine used in the Second World War (1939 – 1945) and was constructed by the donor, Mr Brian Echstein (see image above).

The Importance of the Donation

The original U-96 played a major role in the Battle of the Atlantic, a vital campaign of the Second World War. This campaign arose as a result of the requirement for Britain to sustain herself through strategic supplies sent by ship from her dominions and colonies around the world and, more importantly, from North America. The termination of this supply line would have eventually starved Britain and forced her to make terms with Germany. Adm Karl Donitz, commander of the German U-boat force, recognised the strategic importance of the U-boat and was of the firm opinion that this aim could be achieved with 300 U-boats on station in the Atlantic.

Supply routes to Britain 1941 (Wiki Commons)

The development of the U-boat was based on the following considerations: Firstly, Allied merchant shipping was the principle target and should be attacked with no restrictions; secondly, operations should be carried according to the strategy of tonnage sunk exceeding that of tonnage constructed. This would eventually strangle Allied...

Remembrance Day, or Poppy Day as it is sometimes known, is observed every year on 11 November, or on the nearest Sunday to that date. How many people these days know what this date signifies? Over the years, many South Africans have lost sight of the significance of the term 'remembrance' in the military sense. This short article will attempt to rectify this.

Cenotaph Johannesburg (The Heritage Portal)

In 1918, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the guns fell silent to end the First World War (1914-1918), the largest global man-made catastrophe known until that time. The 'war to end all wars' cost the lives of a total of 8 634 300 soldiers. Twenty years later, the Second World War (1939-1945) saw the loss of 24 517 000 combatants' lives. In addition to these statistics, millions of civilians died during both conflicts.

As a comparatively young country which permitted only a small segment of its population to bear arms, South Africa nevertheless made significant contributions to the Allied causes in both world wars and in the Korean War (1950-3). In the First World War, 245 419 South Africans of all races volunteered for military service; during the Second World War, 342 692 South African men and women of every race...