Batswana's contribution to the World Wars

| Friday July 1, 2011 00:00

At the outbreak of the World War II, Batswana chiefs pledged their allegiance to the King of England and placed themselves and their people at his disposal. Despite the fact that at this time 15,000 to 20,000 thousand men from Bechuanaland were working in various enterprises in the South African Union. In six months15 companies of some 5,500 men were recruited for the African Auxiliary Pioneer Corps.

Age regiments (mephato) were called up by chiefs and sent to congregate at the newly built (1941) Bechuanaland Depot of the Pioneer Corps. There they were formed into companies according to their localities and undertook drill and other initial military training. By September the Pioneers were on their way to Durban for embarkation overseas. These first companies were formed from the Bangwaketse, Bangwato, Bakwena and others from the Kweneng areas.  Later companies were formed from contingents of these ethnic groups but including such others as the Batawana,  Barolong, Bakgatla, Balete,Batlokwa and the Tati companies of the Bakalaka, Bakhurutse and Barolong. The second group of these recruits was enlisted in August and September, 1942 to make up the number of Pioneers to over 10,000. Arriving in Durban the first companies embarked on ships and were off to war.

Their first stop was Egypt where they were billeted at a Pioneer Depot in Qasassin. There further training continued including the all important shooting at the range. At this time the Pioneers were also issued with, among other equipment, proper battle dress. December 1941 saw some of these companies moving from Egypt, through Palestine, Lebanon to Syria. There they would work on work like road and bridge building, the making of tank traps and pillbox construction in support of the Ninth Army. One of their primary duties was the never ending work of loading and unloading heavy materials such as fuel, ammunition and others, often in unfamiliar weather and terrain like snowy mountains in biting winds often for very long hours seven days a week.

The work done by Batswana was often hazardous. This included chipping away on a ledge and laying plate on the cliff for the construction of a railway, a job entailing being lowered in a large bucket over the face of the cliff.  A new occupation for the Batswana companies, starting in Egypt and Syria was that of guarding war materials against the pilfering of Arab raiders and Egyptian thieves.

Perhaps their real introduction to the war was in 1943 when the Batswana were trained as Anti- Aircraft gunners and in smoke companies. This process, called Dilution, prepared the men of Bechuanaland for the frontline.  Anti-Aircraft required shooting down enemy planes which were targeting either your material s such as ammunition dumps and shipping or attacking your lines. Initially Batswana were engaged in this task but as German planes became engaged elsewhere the AA guns were brought to bear on ground targets, a mission where the Batswana acquitted themselves very honorably. Smoke duty involved setting up smoke screens primarily from German bombers overhead, but sometimes from ground fire, a duty that was perilous not only from the bombs themselves but often from menacing strafing from either overhead or from ground fire.

All in all Batswana performed admirably in the war, both as labour and as combat troops. Of course due to the nature of war more than a few lost their lives. In this war some died from action, more died from accidents and the greater part succumbed to ailments of one sort or another, especially TB. However, it is perhaps owing to good fortune and to their discipline that more Batswana lives were not lost. At the end of the war, some of the troops were retained and others recruited to join them to go back and clear up the war rubble. Among the duties they attended to were the guarding of German prisoners of war.

These Batswana pioneers returned to their homes in 1949. After the war the Imperial (later Commonwealth) War Crimes Commission embarked on an endeavor to look after the graves of British Empire soldiers who had died during the war or those ex-combatants who had died subsequently, especially those who had most likely died from war-related injuries. In territories like the Bechuanaland Protectorate where the graves were neither particularly well documented nor much cared for, besides being scattered far apart and in different localities, it was decided that monuments should be built in memory of the war dead.

After much debate on issues such as where the monument was to be erected it was decided that the new capital, Gaborone, would suffice. Another matter that was of concern to the War Graves Commission was where to source funds for the monument. In the end the cost was split between the Commission and the Gifts and Comforts Fund of the war veterans. The plaque for the monument, to contain the names of the war dead was commissioned in Cape Town and the memorial itself was erected in front of the Advisory Council building (where the Parliament now is) by around 1965.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is still today an ongoing organisation and its Patron is the daughter of the Queen Elizabeth, Princess Royal, Princess Anne. The Princess will be paying a state visit to Botswana on July 4-5, 2011 and one significant item on her itinerary is the laying of a wreath at the monument of the World War fallen.

This formal procedure will include her walking through a ceremonial Quarter Guard of Botswana Defence Force soldiers, the laying of the wreath itself, the sounding of the Last Post and the Princess may meet and greet some world war veterans. After this is over she will go to celebrate the Queen's birthday. (Source: Botswana Museums)