Description
Urgent Imperial Service: South African Forces in German South West Africa, 1914–1915 by Gerald L’Ange examines South Africa’s first military campaign of the First World War. In 1914, the government led by Louis Botha committed the young Union of South Africa to fight for the British Empire against Germany in German South West Africa. The decision, made before consulting Parliament or the public, deeply divided a country still recovering from the Second Boer War and helped spark the armed rebellion of 1914. After the rebellion was suppressed, former adversaries from the Boer War joined English-speaking South Africans in a campaign against German colonial forces.
L’Ange traces the military advance across harsh desert terrain as South African troops moved into the colony from the Orange River and from coastal landings. The campaign combined traditional mounted commandos with modern developments, including the early use of aircraft in combat in Africa and some of the first armoured vehicles on the continent. Drawing on diaries, personal accounts and historical records, the book follows events from the outbreak of war in 1914 to the German surrender in 1915. It also considers the lasting consequences of the campaign, which led to South Africa administering the territory that would eventually become independent Namibia.
