1941: South Africa, Union Of

Although located at a great distance from the battle fronts of the world conflict, South Africa continued to make a substantial contribution to the fight against the Axis in 1941, while at the same time she avoided the major dislocations of war. South African ground and air forces played a prominent role in the completion of the conquest of Italian East Africa; Union troops were first to enter Addis Ababa, former Ethiopian capital, which had served as headquarters for the Fascist forces. Then the South Africans were moved northward in May and June, to take up positions in Egypt and prepare for the second Allied thrust into Libya. Since the dominion's war-time premier, Field Marshal Jan C. Smuts, had promised not to send troops outside Africa, South Africans did not participate in the Greek campaign. There were 163,500 — all volunteers — in the army at the close of the year and 20,000 in the air force. A small seaward Defense Force patroled coastal waters and operated as far north as Aden. Natives from South Africa, organized in labor and transport units, supported the fighting forces in all their campaigns.

The conversion of South African industries to war production and the construction of new plants brought a considerable increase in the output of munitions and supplies. The Union became the chief source of bombs and shells for Allied armies in the Middle East, and exported large quantities of small arms ammunition. During 1941 a factory, planned and built within nine months, commenced production of howitzers, while anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns began to flow from other ordnance plants. Sixty-five types of military vehicles, including troop transports, ambulances, repair shops, and tank trucks, were constructed by South African shops using chassis assembled from parts made in North America. The production of armored cars reached 200 monthly. Secondary industries raised still higher the production figures on steel helmets, boots, uniforms, and other items of equipment, not only for the Union's forces, but also for other Allies in the Middle and Far East.

Agricultural production increased almost as rapidly as industrial. Sugar, wheat, fruits, and canned foods of many kinds were shipped to the battlefronts and to Great Britain. Gold mining continued to expand until it reached £10,000,000 monthly in mid-1941, thereby enabling the Union to pay for imports from abroad. Other minerals, such as copper, zinc and industrial diamonds were in great demand by the United States and Britain. The extraordinary economic activity brought a sudden flush of prosperity to the Union, sending sales of consumers' goods to high levels. The government found it necessary to impose a price control régime and to severely restrict the import of non-essential articles. As the year grew to a close, South Africans began to feel the pinch of war for the first time.

The opposition of the anti-British and anti-war elements of the Afrikaans-speaking people continued to impede and restrict the Union's war effort, although it was by no means true that all Afrikaners, who compose 60 per cent of the population, disapproved of the struggle against the Axis. Fortunately for the government, the anti-war Nationalists were unable to achieve unity of action, and instead split farther apart during 1941. At the Transvaal party congress in August, Dr. D. F. Malan, leader of the National (anti-war) Party, castigated the group headed by Mr. Oswald Pirow, who demanded immediate peace with Germany and the creation of a National Socialist 'New Order' in South Africa, modeled on Hitler's new European order. Only 20 of the 500 delegates present supported Pirow. At the same congress, Malan asked that all good Nationalists resign from the Ossewa Brandwag, the secret society claiming 300,000 members and patterned on the German Storm Troopers organization. The National Party was left, somewhat weakened, but still dominant among the opposition groups. The small Afrikaner Party, a moderate group founded by General J. B. M. Hertzog and Mr. Havenga in January, was shocked when Hertzog declared on Oct. 23 that Nazism was 'an Afrikaner national tradition and custom.' He was read out of the party. The activities of some Nationalists extended far beyond mere political and parliamentary opposition. Sabotage of factories and power lines occurred in Afrikaner areas. Vituperation directed against soldiers on leave in Johannesburg led to a week-end of serious rioting in early February, with 230 persons sent to hospitals.

As the year ended, South Africa's importance in Allied world strategy was mounting. The Japanese offensive in the Far East threatened to sever shipping lanes in the Pacific and thus increased the reliance of the United Nations on the routes leading into the Indian Ocean past the Cape of Good Hope. At the same time, the possibility that Germany would strike hard in North Africa led Allied strategists to place more reliance on the Union as a source of supplies and a base of operations.