Horn, Karen Bold in Battle

South African stories from the Second World War

We were all damn happy about the bombing this note in an artilleryman's diary stands in stark contrast to an officer's advice to his mother: The only thing we can do now is to remain brave. Both men were South African and, like all other soldiers in the fledgling Union Defence Force, had volunteered for military service at the beginning of the Second World War in 1939. The South Africans fought in East Africa, then in North Africa and finally in Italy. Their contribution to the war was small compared to that of the Allies such as the USA and Great Britain, but on the front lines and at home, many South Africans made personal sacrifices that were just as difficult to bear as those of recruits from other nations. Based on previously unpublished letters, diaries, memoirs and interviews, as well as nearly 50 new photographs, Bold in Battle tells the wartime stories of twelve ordinary men and women who sacrificed their time and sometimes even their lives to fight alongside Britain and its allies against fascism. Bold in Battle offers insights into the great contribution of a small country to a global war.