To browse Academia. Skip to main content. You're using an out-of-date version of Internet Explorer. Log In Sign Up. Gustav Bentz. Gustav Bentz 1 It is the nature of soldiers, when not fighting the foe, to make full use of the free time allocated by military authorities, sanctioned or not.
The remainder of the Division arrived throughout May and by the end of June had all three its brigades located in the Mersa Matruh area. Compared with North Africa the East African campaign comprised an area of roughly 1,5 million square miles. In this vastness, the brigades if the First Division were often deployed independently and only converged whenever large-scale actions were planned.
Fighting a demoralised and constantly retreating enemy, the South Africans conducted a campaign of manoeuvre in an attempt to drive the Italians from their African Empire. On 6 April Addis Ababa was liberated. With the East African Brigade mopping up the scattered Italian defenders, the South Africans marched into Massawa in preparation for their journey to Egypt. With no-one left to fight in the immediate surroundings, the troops were allowed leave to visit the town and indulge in what it had to offer.
In spite of Asmara being cleaner and better laid out than Addis Ababa, the official amenities were quite limited. The springboks were however treated to the first 2 N. Cape Town: Purnell, , β Coghlan 4 N. Pretoria: Ashgate , M Coghlan 6 N. Daily training was conducted in three periods from in the morning until at which time lunch was served.
The first period comprised weapon drill or squad drill with the second and third periods being combined and utilised for daily route marches. Various lectures on desert warfare including field security and camouflage were also presented whenever the troops were not marching across the desert wastes.
