The 6th South African Armoured Division was the second armoured division of the South African Army and was formed during World War II. Established in early 1943, it was based on a nucleus of men from the former 1st South African Infantry Division who had returned to South Africa after the Second Battle of El Alamein in late 1942. The division was initially transferred to Egypt for training, after which it served in the Allied campaign in Italy during 1944 and 1945. In Italy, the division was initially deployed as part of the British Eighth Army, under command of Lieutenant-General Oliver Leese, and was then transferred to the U.S. Fifth Army, under Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, for the remainder of the Italian Campaign. The division operated as a strongly reinforced division and was frequently used to spearhead the advance of the Corps and Army to which it was attached. They returned home after the end of the war in Italy and were disbanded in 1946. The division was also briefly active after the war from 1 July 1948 to 1 November 1949.
Founding
The possibility of forming a South African armoured division was discussed as early as April 1941 between Major-General George Brink, Commander of the 1st South African Infantry Division and Prime Minister (Field Marshal) Smuts. At this time, South Africa was struggling to maintain the manpower levels needed to sustain two infantry divisions in the field.
On 3 March 1944, the division was instructed to move to Palestine and the advance parties left on 7 March. On 12 March however, this movement order was countermanded and the division was instructed to move to Italy. One year after arriving in the Middle East, the division embarked from Alexandria between 14 and 16 April to arrive in Taranto, Italy on 20 and 21 April 1944.
Italy: Eighth Army
Detachment of 12th Motorised Brigade
thumb|right|200px|Troops of the 6th South African Armoured Division arriving in Taranto, Italy. April 1944|alt=Soldiers carrying kit-bags approaching the photographer, while walking on an embankment next to a river with steel girder bridge in the background.
Regrouping was still in progress after arrival in Italy, when the 12th Motorised Brigade with artillery and support elements was ordered to move to the area of Isernia to prepare to relieve the 11th Canadian Infantry Brigade in the Cassino area and to come under command of the 2nd New Zealand Division in the British X Corps. These were the first division troops to enter combat in Italy.
Initial advance after the fall of Rome
Having formed part of British Eighth Army's reserve, the division was moved forward and attached to the Canadian I Corps after the Canadians and Polish II Corps had breached the Hitler Line north of Cassino. After Rome had been taken by the Allies in early June 1944, the division was ordered to move up the Via Casalina to take over the spearhead of the Eighth Army's British XIII Corps. To bring the division up to a full complement of three brigades, the British 24th Guards Brigade was placed under command, an association which lasted to the spring of 1945. The division advanced with the Tiber River to the east and Lake Bolsena to the west at a rate of per day, outstripping their flanking units. On 10 June the Armoured Brigade which was leading the advance, came up against the anti-tank screen of the newly arrived German 365th Infantry Division south of Celleno. For the first (and only) time Brigadier Furstenburg was able to deploy all three of his armoured regiments and his motorised infantry battalion in battle to gain an important victory. Lieutenant-Colonel Papa Brits (Special Service Battalion [SSB]) and Lieutenant-Colonel Bob Reeves-Moore (Imperial Light Horse / Kimberley Regiment [ILH/KR]) received DSOs for their leadership in the defeat of elements of the 365th Division.
thumb|right|200px|[[Field Marshal JC Smuts (Prime Minister), Major-General Poole (GOC) and Lieutenant-General Sir Pierre van Ryneveld (SA Chief of Staff), in Chiusi, Italy, 24 June 1944. The visit was to discuss the implications of the surrender of A Coy, First City/Cape Town Highlanders.|alt=Three officers facing to the left looking at a document / map]]
By 17 June, the Imperial Light Horse of the 11th Armd Bde had been stopped by the parachutists of the Hermann Göring Division on their first attempt to enter Chiusi but by 23 June, the town had been taken by the Cape Town Highlanders. During this attack on Chiusi, "A" Company of First City/Cape Town Highlanders was leading the attack up the terraces around the town. During the night of 21–22 June, the company was surrounded by strong German infantry elements closely supported by tanks and its surviving members were forced to surrender by noon on 22 June. Since the disaster of the surrender of the 2nd Infantry Division at Tobruk two years previously, the surrender of South African troops in the field had become a sensitive matter. This prompted Prime Minister Smuts, who had been meeting the British Chiefs of Staff on 21 June, to divert his aircraft to Orvieto airfield on his way back to South Africa to discuss the political and military consequences of this event with the division command. The Eighth Army's XIII Corps advance on Florence was led by the British 6th Armoured Division on the right, British 4th Infantry Division in the centre and the South African 6th Armoured Division on the left. The division advanced in two columns through Rapolano and Palazzuolo until they encountered the LXXVI Panzer Corps on the Georg Line, a delaying position on the north side of Route 73.
The strength of the Panzer Corps was not known initially and the leading elements of XIII Corps continued to probe forward expecting the German line to crumble under pressure without the need to launch a full-scale attack. The Corps fed in more battalions in an attempt to secure the Monte Lignano high ground and fighting for the hill continued on 6 and 7 July, but the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division continued to hold the heights.
The division made good progress, advancing with two brigades leading the advance: the 12th Mot Bde astride the road defining the division's axis of advance and the Guards Bde on the right flank, on the slopes of the Chianti highlands. Radda was secured on the night of 17 July and orders were then received for the division to secure the heights of the Chianti Highlands. The Guards Bde took Mt. Maione by a night attack on the night of 18/19 July supported by the tanks of the Pretoria Regiment while 12th Mot Bde attacked to take Mt. St. Michele (Pt 892) on 20 July. The division now held the heights of the Chianti range, dominating the Arno Valley and the advances to Florence. on 24 July. The division had, however, outflanked the German Parachute Division, who then withdrew during the night of 24/25 July, allowing the South African, New Zealand and Indian Divisions to advance to the Paula Line which was reached on 28 July.
Kirkman again placed the South African and New Zealand Divisions as the spearhead of his Corps advance, this time to break the Paula Line and to take Florence. The New Zealand Division would carry out the main assault and the South African Division would neutralise the enemy on the high ground west of Impruneta and then clear Route 2 into Florence. The attack was scheduled for 30 July 1944. General Harold Alexander, commander of Allied Armies in Italy, had indicated that he had no intention of fighting in Florence and so Kirkman gave orders for the by-passing of the city. On 31 July the heavy artillery support for the attack had resulted in an ammunition shortage and Kirkman ordered a 24-hour pause for fresh supplies to arrive. An Imperial Light Horse / Kimberley Regiment patrol however found the smaller Ponte Vecchio bridge intact and crossed it under heavy shelling, entering into the centre of the city at 4 am, to be the first allied troops to enter Florence.
After reaching Florence, General Pool recorded in a Special Order of the Day, that the division had "... covered since leaving its concentration area at Taranto, its artillery had fired 201,500 rounds, the Divisional Engineers had built sixty five bridges (one a day!) and had made 196 major deviations necessitated by 'blows' and demolitions. The signallers had laid of telephone cable." The division was then withdrawn into Eighth Army reserve for rest and maintenance in the Siena / Castelnuovo area until 17 August, when orders were issued for the division to be transferred from British XIII Corps to U.S. IV Corps to partially replace divisions withdrawn to the U.S. Seventh Army for the assault of southern France. The 6th South African Armoured Division was assigned to their new Corps in the U.S. Fifth Army as from 22 August 1944 and was replaced in XIII Corps by the British 6th Armoured Division.
Italy: Fifth Army
Crossing the Arno River
thumb|right|200px|Pretoria Regiment Sherman on the summit of Monte Albano north west of Florence after crossing the Arno River|alt=Sherman tank on the crest of a hill.
To continue the main Allied thrust north from Florence, the Arno River first had to be crossed. Reconnaissance patrols from the First City/Cape Town Highlanders [FC/CTH] found suitable crossing points close to Le Piagge allowing the 12th Mot Bde to cross during the night of 28/29 August under light enemy artillery fire. Reports from prisoners indicated that the German forces in front of the division were withdrawing, and this was confirmed by the sound of demolitions ahead of them. Under sporadic shelling and some units encountering light resistance, the operation was completed by 3 September. General Pool, observing the lack of resistance ahead of the division, encouraged a rapid advance, but this was countermanded in order not to compromise the surprise of the main 5th Army attack north of Florence. The order to wait and hold the Albano Massif until further notice was deeply resented by the division command and was considered representative of the persistent inflexibility displayed by the Fifth Army leadership.
Apennines
The Eighth Army offensive on the German held Gothic Line was assigned the codename and had commenced on 25 August 1944. intercepts had shown that the Allies had a significant numerical superiority in manpower, armour, air and artillery, although there were concerns regarding the relative inferiority of Allied tank armour and gun power as compared to German equipment. The U.S. Fifth Army attack was launched on 10 September against the mountain bastions south of Bologna and was led by U.S. II Corps. As part of the plan, the 6th SA Armoured Division was ordered to advance along Route 64 leading to Vergato and Bologna and to capture the twin peaks of Monte Sole and Caprara di Marzabotto. The division's 24th Guards Brigade were first to encounter the Gothic Line defences when the Brigade met strong resistance from two battalions of the Lehr Brigade as well as two battalions of the 362nd Infantry Division, fighting from strongly fortified positions which had been prepared throughout the previous winter. Operation officially ended on 21 September 1944. By 28 September, the division was advancing on three widely separated axis, retreating German forces were demolishing bridges, culverts and roads and this, with traffic congestion on limited roads made passage extremely slow. It was then decided to hand over Route 66 to Task Force 92, as the South African Engineers were not able to maintain the three parallel routes simultaneously. This permitted the Guards Brigade to re-unite with the 11th Armd Bde in protecting the US II Corps western flank. Monte Vigese dominated the division's main line of advance. Two days of extended fighting in drenching rain against elements of the 36th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment brought no break through and Poole then decided to pause and prepare a divisional attack on the mountain, to be led by 12th Mot Bde with 11th Armd and Guards Brigades in support. After an extremely heavy artillery bombardment of more than 10,000 shells, the attack succeeded.
After this battle, the division was withdrawn for rest and maintenance. It was reassigned from U.S. IV Corps to direct command by the U.S. Fifth Army to enable the Army commander, Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, to coordinate the division's advance more closely with that of U.S. II Corps. In addition, the division was heavily reinforced with artillery and taking Combat Command B, an armoured brigade from U.S. 1st Armored Division, under command. The division's major task became that of thrusting north towards Bologna covering the flank of the U.S. 34th Division. Combat Command B was to advance on Route 64, the 24th Guards Brigade along the Setta Valley road, with 11th and 12th Bdes covering the high ground between the two. Opposing the advance was the 16th SS Panzer Grenadier Division. The following day the continuing rains had turned to floods, isolating the division elements on Hill 501 and suspending all air support from U.S. XXII Tactical Air Command. Mt. Sole was not attacked again and the division was returned to U.S. IV Corps command on 4 November. As winter set in, the U.S. Fifth Army entered a period of static winter campaigning patrolling from fixed defensive positions until February 1945.
Spring Offensive
On 18 February the 24th Guards Brigade was transferred from the division to the British 56th Infantry Division in the British Eighth Army. This ended an enduring relationship, particularly between the armoured Pretoria Regiment and the three Guards battalions. The division was relieved by the U.S. 1st Armored Division's Combat command 'A' (which took over from 12 Mot Bde) and U.S. Combat Command 'B' (relieving the 11th Armd Bde) and was withdrawn to Lucca.
thumb|right|200px|IV Corps movements into the Po River valley: April 1945|alt=Map of planned advance into Po River valley.
The final Italian offensive (codenamed ) plan was based on the use of three phase lines, "Green," "Brown" and "Black". The U.S. Fifth Army, now under Lucian K. Truscott, operating on the left and coordinated with the British Eighth Army, now commanded by Richard L. McCreery, on the right, were to initiate the "Green" phase with primary attacks by the U.S. 1st Armored and U.S. 10th Mountain Divisions. In the "Brown" phase, the South African Division would assault the two peaks of Monte Sole and Monte Caprara in the centre of the U.S. II Corps (and thus Fifth Army) advance. If all progressed well, "Black" phase would signal the start of the break-out attempt by the armoured divisions into the Po Valley. Intelligence had shown that the peaks the South Africans were to attack were defended by the German 8th Mountain Division.
Operations related to Phase Line "Green" progressed largely to plan and Phase "Brown" was initiated on 15 April. That night the South African Division was the first of the U.S. II Corps divisions to secure their objectives, taking Mount Sole in a series of well coordinated night attacks, assisted by the heaviest tactical bombing support they had received to date in the campaign.
These victories had created the opportunity for the armour to break through to Bologna as part of Phase "Black" and the South Africans linked up with the British 6th Armoured Division on 23 April and in the process cut the lines of retreat of the German 14th Panzer and 1st Parachute Corps between them. In addition, in their advance to the link-up, the South African Division had destroyed the German 65th Infantry Division.
General Mark Clark, the 15th Army Group commander, commented on the division's achievements during the Spring Offensive, stating:
End of the war
Axis surrender
thumb|right|200px|Entrance to Foiano Della Chiana Cemetery where 66 South Africans are buried, killed in the Chiana battles of June/July 1944.|alt=Stone pillar with plaque denoting name of cemetery.Early on 2 May the German Theatre commander, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, agreed to Field Marshal Alexander's surrender terms and broadcast orders to cease fire. The South African Division was north east of Milan by 3 May, when General Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin delivered the surrender of the German forces in Italy to General Clark in Florence. This was followed by Winston Churchill's announcement of the end of the war in Europe on 8 May 1945. The division held a major victory parade at the Monza motor racing circuit on 14 July 1945 attended by Generals Clark (15th Army Group) and Truscott (5th Army) as well as commanders of numerous formations in the region. During this parade, numerous US awards were made to men within the division, including the rank of Commander of the Legion of Merit being awarded to General Poole.
South African brigades were then deployed to the Swiss and French borders for frontier duties with 11 SA Armd Bde along the Swiss border, 13 Mot Bde around Turin, and 12 Mot Bde in the Aosta Valley contiguous to the Franco-Italian border which was drawn on the high ground separating the two countries.
Riots during demobilisation
By the beginning of April 1945, it had become obvious that the war was coming to a close and that the division as well as many other South African troops serving as divisional, corps or army troops with other formations would require repatriation back to South Africa for demobilisation. On 1 May, the Union Defence Force realised that no plans had yet been made to get all men back and instructions were prepared to move 5,000 troops per month by air commencing 1 July 1945 and 15,000 men by sea during the second half of the year, resulting in the repatriation of 45,000 troops by the end of the year. In addition to the 6th South African Armoured Division and other troops in Italy, there were thousands of recently released South African prisoners of war who had been held in Italy from the 2nd South African Infantry Division since the Sidi Rezegh and Tobruk battles in the western desert. Their numbers had not been factored into the demobilisation plans.
The staging depot at Helwan north of Cairo was soon overcrowded and the number of troops being flown back to South Africa were substantially lower than had been planned. In addition, the expected shipping had been delayed. Food was in short supply and the standard of discipline deteriorated further as men arriving at the depot were split up alphabetically and were not retained in their unit structures. and the last aircraft left Egypt on 26 February 1946, carrying Major General Evered Poole who arrived in Durban on 2 March 1946.
Casualties
General Poole gave the campaign statistics for South African casualties as follows: Killed: 711; Wounded: 2,675; Missing: 157; Total: 3,543.
Command and organisation
Higher formations served under
{|class="wikitable"
|style="background:#EBEBEB;" colspan="3" |Formation and period and the end of hostilities.
thumb|500px|Organization of South African 6th Armored Division as of 21 April 1944
{|class="wikitable"
|style="background:#EBEBEB;" colspan="3" | 6th South African Armoured Division HQ
|-
|width="100pt" |Date
|width="250pt" |21 April 1944 (Arrival in Italy)
|width="250pt" |2 May 1945 (End of hostilities)
|-
|Higher Formation:
|British XIII Corps
|US IV Corps
|-
|Commander:
|colspan="2"|Maj-Gen W.H.E. Poole
|-
|rowspan="1" |Division Troops:
|Royal Durban Light Infantry, South African Infantry Corps
|Support Battalion DSR
|-
|rowspan="1" |Reconnaissance:
|Natal Mounted Rifles, South African Armoured Corps
|
|-
|rowspan="7" |Division Artillery:
|Commander Divisional Artillery: Col J.N. Bierman
|Commander Divisional Artillery: Brig J.N. Bierman
|-
|colspan="2"|1st/6th Field Regiment, Cape Field Artillery
|-
|colspan="2"|4/22 Field Regiment, South African Artillery Corps
|-
|
|166th (Newfoundland) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery
|-
|colspan="2"|7th/23rd Medium Regiment, South African Artillery Corps
|-
|colspan="2"|1st/11th Anti-Tank Regiment, South African Artillery Corps
|-
|1st/12th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, South African Artillery Corps
|
|-
|rowspan="4" |Engineers:
|colspan="2"|17th Field Park Sqn, South African Engineering Corps
|-
|colspan="2"|12th Field Squadron, South African Engineering Corps
|-
|colspan="2"|8th Field Squadron, South African Engineering Corps
|-
|
|622nd Field Squadron, Royal Engineers
|-
|rowspan="3" |Signals:
|colspan="2"|6 SA Div Signal Squadron, South African Corps of Signals
|-
|colspan="2"|6 SA Div Artillery Signal Squadron, South African Artillery Corps
|-
|colspan="2"|14th Mot Bde Signals Squadron, South African Corps of Signals
|-
|rowspan="2" |Medical:
|colspan="2"|19th Field Ambulance, South African Medical Corps
|-
|colspan="2"|20th Field Ambulance, South African Medical Corps
|-
|style="background:#EBEBEB;" colspan="3" | 11th South African Armoured Brigade
|-
|Date
|21 April 1944 (Arrival in Italy)
|2 May 1945 (End of hostilities)
|-
|Commander:
|colspan="2"|Brig. J.P.A. Furstenburg
|-
|rowspan="3" |Armour:
|colspan="2"|The Pretoria Regiment (Princess Alice's Own) (PR)
|-
|colspan="2"|Prince Alfred's Guard (PAG)
|-
|colspan="2"|Special Service Battalion (SSB)
|-
|rowspan="1" |Infantry:
|Imperial Light Horse / Kimberley Regiment (ILH/KimR)
|4th/13th Frontier Force Rifles
|-
|style="background:#EBEBEB;" colspan="3" | 12th Motorised Infantry Brigade
|-
|Date
|21 April 1944 (Arrival in Italy)
|2 May 1945 (End of hostilities)
|-
|Commander:
|colspan="2"|Brig. R.J. Palmer
|-
|rowspan="1" |Brigade Troops:
|
|Regiment Botha/Regiment President Steyn (RB/RPS)
|-
|rowspan="3" |Infantry:
|colspan="2"|First City/Cape Town Highlanders (FC/CTH)
|-
|colspan="2"|Royal Natal Carbineers (RNC)
|-
|colspan="2"|Witwatersrand Rifles Regiment/Regiment de la Rey (WR/DLR)
|-
|style="background:#EBEBEB;" colspan="3" | 13th Motorised Infantry Brigade
|-
|Date
|21 April 1944 (Arrival in Italy)
|2 May 1945 (End of hostilities)
|-
|Commander:
|rowspan="8" |
|Brig. J.P. Bester
|-
|rowspan="3" |Infantry:
|Imperial Light Horse / Kimberley Regiment (ILH/KimR)
|-
|Natal Mounted Rifles / South African Air Force Regiment
|-
|Royal Durban Light Infantry (RDLI)
|-
|Artillery:
|15th Field Regiment, South African Artillery Corps
|-
|Engineers:
|5th Field Company, South African Engineering Corps
|-
|Medical:
|19th Field Ambulance, South African Medical Corps
|-
|Signals:
|18th Motorised Brigade Signals
|-
|style="background:#EBEBEB;" colspan="3" | 24th Guards Brigade
|-
|Date
|(Bde joined Div) 20 May 1944
|2 May 1945 (End of hostilities)
|-
|Commander:
|Brig. M.D. Erskine
|rowspan="8"|
|-
|rowspan="3" |Infantry:
|1st Battalion, The Scots Guards
|-
|3rd Battalion, The Coldstream Guards
|-
|5th Battalion, Grenadier Guards
|-
|rowspan="2" |Engineers:
|42nd Field Company, Royal Engineers
|-
|24th Independent Brigade Group (Guards) Workshop
|-
|Medical:
|137th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps
|-
|Signals:
|550th Company, Royal Corps of Signals
|}
Theatres of operation
Main theatres of operation: