In March there was a talk on the “The South African Motorcyclist Corps. (1916-1918)” by Errol Back-Cunningham. The Zoom recordings are available at Part 1 and Part 2. The talk is based on the diary of Alan Stuart-Findlay, Platoon 8, Potchefstroom 1916 to 1918.
A fairly new organisation has set up to remember South African Indian involvement in World War 1 amongst other conflicts. More about the SA Indian Legion is on the Legacy page. They’re operational on Facebook.
For anyone interested in Egypt during the First World War, there is now a dedicated website. It is managed by Stuart Hadaway.
In Mauritius, the 100th Anniversary of the War Memorial was observed on the 15th April 2022 at the Royal College Curepipe in collaboration with the association ‘SOS Patrimoine en Peril “Save our Heritage”‘ (represented by Arrmaan Shamachurn & Akilesh Gunputh, also former student of RCC). A history of the memorial was posted in the March Newsletter. You can see photos of the commemoration service here. For anyone interested, you might still be able to obtain a copy
The 2022 CWGC review, a year after the enquiry into Non-Commemoration is now available. The CWGC team are currently in Kenya speaking to local communities about the impact of the war and aspects of commemoration.
Something slightly different – a look at South and East Africa from a travel perspective before war breaks out.
The resources page has been updated – well, rather let’s say the dud links have been removed. It’s much shorter now and you probably have to do a bit more digging on some of the sites to find their 1914-1918 Africa material. I’m thinking of introducing themed newsletters listing useful sources on a topic, both in print and online, perhaps including some archive references. Let me know if you have strong feelings either way.
GWAA will be at the Britannia Medal Fair in London on 8 May 2022 to answer questions. Books will also be on sale. Please email Anne if you would like to pre-order or reserve your copy. This includes Harry Fecitt’s recent book on The King’s African Rifles and East African Forces in both world wars, James Willson’s Guerrillas of Tsavo, Peter Charlton’s Cinderella’s Soldiers and more.