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The past is brought to life in this historical epic about a South
African family whose lives collided with the biggest event in
history: The First World War. The central theme is the largely
forgotten east Africa campaign, but by definition a world war has a
wide reach. Five members of one family with deep roots in all four
corners of the country, served in three different theatres of war.
Their lives on active service are all interwoven and inseparable
from the home front. Global events are juxtaposed with everyday
life on a farm in the eastern Orange Free State. Appropriately, the
author constructs linkages that span generations, uncovering
individual experiences of an earlier conflict which had engulfed
South Africa barely a decade before the eruption of the 1914-18
war. As the sons of early pioneers, this generation witnessed
history in the making before writing their own. Riding into action
on horseback or in a flying machine, their paths led from the south
west African desert, through disease-infested jungles in east
Africa to some of the great battles on the western front. Only one
of the five came home unscathed although he crash-landed his
aircraft behind enemy lines and only made it back through his
audacity and brute strength. Another, an intellectual priest, was
left for dead at Delville Wood, and his brother was wounded on
Messines Ridge. The remaining two suffered from debilitating
tropical illnesses. Hazard and hardship lingered on in the form of
Spanish in influenza, mining strikes and the Great Depression. The
war cast a long shadow. Between them, these consciously literate
men left substantial documentary legacies. Using extracts of their
letters from the front, the story is to a large extent told in the
words of those who were there. Context is provided by referencing
existing literature, unpublished memoirs and archival material. It
could be called a military history or a social history, but it is a
truly South African story which contains much new material for
historians, while for the general reader it offers an accessible
insight into an unparalleled period of history.
Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Daniel Reid was killed on the first
day of the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917. His body was never
recovered; however, there is nothing singular about that. What is
remarkable is that his eloquent journal has survived untouched for
100 years. The context for Alexander Daniel Reid's contemporary
account of the Great War are provided partly by the memoirs of his
brother, Harry, who was the transport officer in the same
battalion, and partly from historical research. Although it is
essentially a biography of two Scottish-born brothers in an Irish
battalion on the Western Front, Harvest of Battle: Brother Officers
of the 7th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in the First World War is
unique in that it reaches to the corners of the Empire and tells of
conflicts from German South-West Africa to the Rand Rebellion of
1922. Alexander Daniel Reid was a professional soldier and served
with the Indian Army before migrating to Canada. Harry began a
career working for one of the wealthiest mining magnates in
Johannesburg. Both knew that their chances of survival in the
'Fighting Seventh' Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers were slim. Theirs
is a narrative common enough to serve as a general introduction to
the First World War for a new generation of readers, yet it
contains valuable new material to add to the historical record in
this Centenary year of the outbreak of war.
In the South of France, the most memorable event of the Second
World War was the sea and airborne invasion of 15 August 1944.
Perhaps because it went relatively smoothly, this “Second
D-Day” was soon relegated to the back pages of history. Operation
Dragoon and the liberation is however only a small part of the
story. The arrival of the Allies was preceded by years of
oppression and strife. Provençal people still struggle to come to
terms with the painful past of split-allegiances and empty stomachs
which epitomize les années noires (the dark years). The author’s
blend of local and social history enables the English-language
reader to discover the parallel universe which exists alongside
these idyllic shores. In every corner of Provence, the mindful
traveller will come across words, chipped into stone, which exhort:
Passant, souviens-toi (passer-by, remember). These sacred places of
memory tell a story of duplicity, defiance, and ultimately,
deliverance. Whether the stuff of legends, or the everyday
experiences of lesser mortals, humanity is used to explain the
Franco-American experience of wartime Provence, as seen through an
Anglo-Saxon prism.
Using archival sources and private documents recently unearthed,
Come Back to Portofino chronicles the journey taken by volunteers
in the 6th South African Armoured Division. From training camps in
Egypt through to the blissful summer of 1945 the 'Div' left its
mark on towns and villages across Italy. From Monte Cassino to the
outskirts of Venice and the River Po the campaign lasted exactly
twelve months. During the advance through Rome up to Florence, it
was a case of constant movement and violent contact with the enemy.
Experiences which left an enduring impression on returned soldiers
included the periods of rest at Siena and Lucca as well as the four
miserable winter months in the northern Apennines. Overall, the
casualty rate was surprisingly low considering the ideal ambush
country and mountain defences which had to be overcome. In the
rifle companies however, the rate of attrition was high and
replacements were few. Among the South Africans who are buried in
Italy, there are those who died in vehicle accidents, from drowning
and falling out of windows or from suicide. For the ordinary
soldier the most important part of everyday life was contact with
home or foraging for food and wine, and even enjoying the company
of signorine when operations permitted. Nevertheless, it was not
one long happy camping trip as was often portrayed in the press.
The cast is made up of the famous regiments and ordinary South
Africans who participated in these epic events.
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