"Non-Europeans Should Be Kept away from the Temptations of Towns": Controlling Black South African Soldiers during the Second World War

Abstract

The Union Defence Force (UDF), by virtue of its structure and operation, exercised much greater control over those who were involved in it than other organizations in South Africa. This in itself is not unusual, but it immediately acquires additional significance in the context of a racially divided country. The authorities wielding power over the 76,000 black soldiers who joined the UDF during the Second World War were in the service of a state that adhered to a specific repressive racial policy; therefore, some of the measures were clearly aimed at furthering the ends of this policy. Hence, the reasons for control cannot only be traced to the military nature and needs of the UDF alone but must be sought in the racial values and policies prevalent in the South African society of the 1940s. After all, the UDF reflected the society of which it was a part. Thus the distinction between the exercise of formal measures to maintain military order on the one hand, and the application of these measures for non-military purposes-i.e., to enforce the state's race policies-on the other, forms a focal point throughout.