BUSHMEN SOLDIERS.pdf
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The Bushman soldiers were among the most outstanding all-round fighters of
the Border War. As the first of the indigenous population to take up arms on
South Africa’s behalf, they were among the last to lay them down. The
border’s oldest and most bush-wise people, they became feared as relentless
trackers and dedicated soldiers.
Coming from a primitive hunter/gatherer culture, they responded well to a
crash course in modern warfare. Their use of automatic weapons and mortars,
coupled with their phenomenal tracking abilities, made them a formidable
fighting force.
During Operation Savannah they were deployed in a conventional role as
Battle-Group Alpha, part of Task Force Zulu, and advanced approximately
2,000 kilometres in a month. Afterwards, some of the Bushmen were trained
as parachutists and served as Recces behind enemy lines. Others were
attached to various units as trackers and guides.
Their loyalty and bravery was recognised in the award of Honoris Crux
decorations to members and former members of this elite corps. Controversy
followed the battalion to South Africa after the war. Persecuted for centuries,
the Bushmen have displayed an uncanny ability to survive and have adapted
remarkably well to the modern world.
Their transition from the Stone Age in less than 20 years is a story which
will never be forgotten. Hailed as the ‘Gurkhas of Africa’ the Bushmen have
proved themselves second to none.
This is an exceptional record of 31, 201 and 203 Battalions and their
remarkable personnel, fully illustrated with many photographs.
Arthur Walker HC Gand Bar with the author in 1991
Ian Uys inherited his love of military history from his father, Jack (1910–59).
During his schooldays in Uitenhage he wrote to an encyclopedia for the
names of all South African VC winners. He was sent three names, yet at the
time he knew of 25!
He volunteered for and served in the SA Air Force Gymnasium in 1960,
then attended the University of Cape Town and graduated B Commerce. Uys
captained the UCT Boxing team and was selected as South Africa’s first
AIESEC commerce student to work in the USA and Australia. After
marrying Barbara Bowers, a former Londoner, he qualified as a chartered
accountant then lived in England where he did further VC research.
In 1973 he wrote and published
For Valour,
the history of Southern
Africa’s Victoria Cross Heroes. It has a natural successor in
Enduring Valour
as it updates the records of valour by South Africans. Uys has been interested
in the personal reminiscences of personalities caught up in military history
and has written many books about them.
He served in the Heidelberg Commando in the seventies. In 1977 he was a
platoon commander in the operational area and was awarded the De Wet
Decoration. In 1989 he ran for parliament as a Democratic Party candidate
for Germiston District, a strong National Party ward. Though helost,
hebelievesthatina small wayit contributedto the change inthe country the
following year.
Uys is a practising auditor in Knysna and has three children and four
grandchildren. He is a former chairman of the SA Military History Society,
has completed ten Comrades’ Marathons of 90km and was a private pilot for
many years. He has developed his family’s Bushman Valley Resort near
Prince Albert and is a keen nature conservationist.
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