The South African Overseas Expeditionary Force (SAOEF) was a volunteer military organisation in World War I.

Organisation The South African government formed the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force (SAOEF) in July 1915, as part of its contribution to the British war effort against the Central Powers. As South African legislation restricted the Union Defence Forces (UDF) to operating in southern Africa, an entirely new force, made up of volunteers, had to be raised for service in other theatres of war. As they were not officially a South African force, the SAOEF was placed under British operational command for operations on the Western Front.The South African Union Defence Act of 1914 prohibited the deployment of South African troops beyond the borders of the South Africa and its immediate neighbouring territories. In order to send troops to Europe to support the Commonwealth in World War I, Generals Botha and Smuts created the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force. However, because of the limitations of the Defence Act, they issued a General Order (Order 672 of 1915) which stated that The South African Overseas Expeditionary Force will be Imperial and have the status of regular British Troops. "Status" was meant to imply administrative purposes, as Britain was paying for the maintenance of the force in the field for the sake of local political sensitivities. Regrettably, this Administrative Order later meant that the South African units which served as part of the Overseas Expeditionary Force were not, as South African units, entitled to retain Regimental Colours awarded to them for battles fought as "British" units. The 1st Infantry Brigade Group was the first unit to be formed as a constituent part of the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force. Reference Digby p.146

Many volunteers came from UDF units, but they enrolled as individuals, not as contingents, and there was no formal link between SAOEF and UDF units as such.

The SAOEF consisted of several arms of service: 1st South African Infantry Brigade. The brigade was commanded by Brigadier General H.T. (Tim) Lukin and consisted of four regimentsS Afr MHJ Vol 7 No 2 recruited from existing military units, as well as amongst civilian volunteers. Regiments were raised in all four provinces of South Africa, as well as Rhodesia The 1st SA Infantry Regiment was commanded by Lt Col F.S. Dawson, with the regiment being raised from the Cape Province and known as "The Cape Regiment." A Company (Western Province) was made up from men mostly from the Duke of Edinburgh's Rifles. B. Company was recruited from the Eastern Province and C Company was from Kimberley, with many of the men being formerly of the Kimberley Regiment. D Company was recruited from Cape Town.Digby p. 18 The 2nd South African Infantry Regiment was commanded by Lt Col W.E.C. Tanner, with the regiment being raised from Natal and Orange Free State. Many volunteers were from the Kaffrarian Rifles.Digby p. 19 The 3rd South African Infantry Regiment was commanded by Lt Col E.F. Thackeray, with the regiment being raised from Transvaal and Rhodesia. The regiment was generally known as "The Transvaal Regiment." B Company were mostly from the Witwatersrand Rifles while C Company were men from the Rand Light Infantry.Digby p. 19 The 4th SA Infantry Regiment was commanded by Lt Col F.A. Jones, DSO and became known as the "South African Scottish." Lt Col Jones was killed in fighting in Bernafay Wood on 11 July 1916 and was replaced at the Battle of Delville Wood by Major D.M. MacLeod.Buchan p.55 The regiment was raised from the Cape Town Highlanders Regiment and the area of Cape Town (A Company) while members of 1st Bn Transvaal Scottish Regiment made up most of B Company. C Company came from 2nd Bn Transvaal Scottish Regiment and recruits encouraged by the Caledonian Societies of Natal and Orange Free State made up D Company. South African Heavy Artillery Brigade. On the Western Front, the brigade was armed with 6" Howitzers and was placed under command of the Royal Garrison Artillery, consisting of (April 1916):Anon, Official History, pp. pp. 185–9.Anon, Seventy-First.Buchan Appendix 1Crook. 71st (SA) Siege Battery, RGA 72nd (SA) Siege Battery, RGA 73rd (SA) Siege Battery, RGA 74th (SA) Siege Battery, RGA 75th (SA) Siege Battery, RGA 125th (SA) Siege Battery, RGA SA Field Artillery SA Horse (Mounted Rifles): ten battalions SA Rifles (Dismounted Rifles): two battalions Cape Corps: two infantry battalions and a labour battalion Engineer, signals, supply and transport, medical, and veterinary units South African Native Labour Corps

SAOEF units and formations did not serve as distinct South African forces, but were integrated into the British imperial armies and divisions in the field.

Campaigns

The SAOEF fought in four campaigns:

German East Africa campaign (1916–1918)

During the East African campaign (World War I), there was strong South African participation and leadership. SA Field Artillery, the 1st and 2nd SA Mounted Brigades, the 2nd and 3rd SA Infantry Brigades, and the Cape Corps fought in British operations against German forces in German East Africa (now Tanzania) from January 1916 until the war in Africa ended on 25 November 1918. Two South African generals, Lt. Gen. Jan Smuts and Lt. Gen. Sir Jacob van Deventer, commanded the operations. Their major battles were: Salaita Hill, Kilimanjaro, and Kondoa-Irangi in 1916; and Behobeho, Narungombe, and Nyangao in 1917.

Captain William Anderson Bloomfield won the Victoria Cross for gallantry.

The East African Campaign was a series of battles and guerrilla actions which occurred in German East Africa, before spreading to areas within Portuguese Mozambique, Northern Rhodesia, British East Africa, the Uganda Protectorate and the Belgian Congo. Britain was keen to deny the Imperial German Navy merchant raiders ports on the Indian Ocean coast, as well as denying a base where German land forces could conduct cross border raids into neighbouring British or Allied colonies. After a disastrous British Indian Army amphibious landing in November 1914 at Tanga, South Africa was requested by London to lead the campaign, defeat General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, and occupy German East Africa.

By early 1916, Jan Smuts had succeeded General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien as commander of British forces in East Africa and began replacing British officers with South Africans such as Brits and Van Deventer. Smuts was keen to deploy large and fast sweeping operations that would encircle German forces and avoid high numbers of casualties, similar to actions Botha and Smuts conducted in South-West Africa. By insisting on an offensive immediately, however, Smuts underestimated the debilitating effect the jungle would have on military operations. Commanding a force of roughly 40,000 South African and Indian soldiers, Smuts' offensives pushed Von Lettow-Vorbeck and 4,000 men into a slow and determined fighting withdrawal southward towards the interior of the colony. In May 1916, a force of 3,000 South Africans under Van Deventer threatened as major central railway after capturing the town of Kondoa Irangi. Due to the rainy season, the force became completely cut off as roads and bridges were swept away. Left to scavenge for food locally, the fall in health and morale was considerable. By the end of June one-third of the troops were sick and only 1,000 out of 4,000 horses were fit as the rains, thick jungle and tropical diseases took hold.

Although offensives along the coastline had been significantly more successful, with the key port of Dar es Salaam falling by the end of September 1916, military operations for the interior became increasingly frustrated and hindered by disease. In an environment where vehicles were of limited use, between June and September over 53,000 draught animals had died from illness, with most South African units losing half their number to disease and poor nutrition. By the end of 1916, Smuts was advocating that ill-suited European troops be replaced by Africans that could better deal with the harsh conditions. After just six months of the offensive, over 12,000 white South Africans were invalided home due to sickness and exhaustion.

Smuts, with the campaign stalling around the Rufigi River, left his East African Command after being asked to join the Imperial War Cabinet in London. Although Smuts' offensives had been successful, securing three-quarters of German East African territory and its entire infrastructure, Von Lettow-Vorbeck and his small force refused to surrender and continued to engage in a strategy that drew disproportionate amounts of Allied resources away from Europe. During a brief command under British General Reginald Hoskins, the exhausted and derailed campaign underwent mass reorganisation and reform. Conscious of the poor health of his men and significant supply problems, all offensives were delayed until after the heavy rains, medical services and transport were improved, lines of communication became better developed and more European soldiers were replaced with African soldiers, particularly the dramatically expanding King's African Rifles. Despite having achieved much, suspected intrigue from Smuts led to Hoskins being relieved of his command after only four months. On 23 April 1917, South African Jacob van Deventer assumed command of the Imperial force in East Africa.

From July, Van Deventer undertook a series of pincer movements against German positions for control of water stores and food-producing areas. With a mostly Indian and African army by this time, a major battle took place in October at Mahiwa that saw over 2,000 Allied and 600 German casualties. Although Van Deventer lost more men, Von Lettow-Vorbeck faced a far more serious situation as he could afford the casualties and had to abandon already dwindling ammunition, supplies and field guns. By November 1917, Von Lettow-Vorbeck had led his column of 300 European and 1,800 African soldiers in Portuguese Mozambique in search of food and supplies. During the final phases of the campaign Imperial forces totalled 52,000 men, although only 2,500 South Africans were part of this, mainly in support roles. After Van Deventer moved into Mozambique in pursuit in July 1918, Von Lettow-Vorbeck skilfully outmanoeuvred the South African and returned to German East Africa to conduct supply raids on the lightly defended Northern Rhodesia border.

Two weeks after the armistice signed in Europe, on 25 November 1918 Von Lettow-Vorbeck finally surrendered at Abercorn near Lake Tanganyika after evading capture for over four years. His strategy of drawing Allied resources away from Europe into a colonial sideshow had been immensely successful. Against a small force that at the most totalled 14,000, mostly colonial soldiers (Askaris), Britain had deployed 114,000 European, Indian and African men. 10,000 died during the campaign, mainly due to disease and over 100,000 African supplier carriers died of sickness and exhaustion. Although South Africa did have territorial ambitions after playing a significant part in the campaign, most of German East Africa became a British administered mandate.

Egypt campaign (1916)

In the summer of 1915, the Ottoman Empire persuaded the Grand Senussi Ahmed Sharif, who held lands in formerly Ottoman Libya, to invade British-occupied Egypt from the west and encourage mass insurrection in support of the Ottoman offensive against the Suez Canal in the east.