SOUTH AFRICAN FORCES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25215, 3 May 1943, Page 4

SOUTH AFRICAN FORCES

SERVICE ABROAD AUTHORISED CHANGE IN AFRIKAANS OPINION The passage by the South African Parliament of the Overseas Service Bill, which authorises the Government to send troops out of the African Continent is an illustration of the change of attitude of large numbers of South Africa's Afri-kaans-speaking community towards the war policy of General Smuts. Many of those who opposed the Government (says a correspondent writing from Pretoria) are now realising that something more vital is taking place than what they at first termed “ a futile struggle between two rival imperialisms.” There are still dissentients. The diehards, after all, are always with us. But general Afrikaans opinion has undergone a marked change. There is a greater readiness among one-time extreme Afrikaans sections to co-operate with the English-speaking South African community and with that far larger proportion of their own race which, from the beginning, has readily thrown in its lot with Smuts. And so it became possible on January 27, 1943, for the Union Premier to introduce a motion in the House of Assembly in Capetown to allow South African soldiers to fight outside Africa. The Overseas Service Bill, as it was called, was adopted after a lengthy debate by 75 votes to 49—a majority, that is, twice as great as had voted for war three years earlier. One member of the Opposition, who had voted for neutrality in 1939, now declared that he hoped as much as any member on the Government benches that Hitler’s power would be broken. Almost simultaneously, in the South African Senate, another former opponent of the Union's entry into the war renounced his party, joined the Government, and stated that if he were permitted he was prepared to fight the enemy all the way to Tokio and Berlin. “ It behoves every citizen of the country to support his country in war, even though he originally differed,” he added.

Under the new Bill, all South African troops sent out of Africa will have to consist, as before, of volunteers. General Smuts has stated that he has no doubt of the response of the Springbok forces to the signing of the new attestation form. It is confidently predicted that very few. if any, of the South Africans who have served throughout the North African campaign will choose to remain as base troops in their own country rather than grasp the opportunity for getting at closer grips with the enemy on the other side of the Mediterranean. At this stage it is relevant, perhaps, to dwell on the comparison between South Africa’s losses In troops so far during the present war and her losses in the Great War. Recent statistics published show that during the Great War the Union suffered 18,642 casualties. In the present war, however, despite the vast areas in which South Africans have served in active operations, their total death roll is only a quarter of those killed in the Great War.

On the other hand, in the present war South Africa has lost many more prisoners, of which the loss of Tobruk early last year accounted for the overwhelming majority. In the Great War only 2400 South Africans were taken prisoner, while in World War II the Union’s prisoners of war total 21,750.