1939 TO 1945

Japan to further his ambitions of seizing power.

Hitler’s invasion of Poland in September 1939 resulted in Britain and France declaring war on Germany – Britain and France had guaranteed military support to Poland if it were attacked by Germany – and World War II was under way.

In September 1939, the Cape Times reported on the political debate raging in Parliament surrounding South Africa’s possible participation in the war.

By later that month, the country’s stance was emblazoned on the paper’s front page – “South Africa declares war on Germany”, the September 7 edition read.

“South Africa declared war on Germany yesterday. A proclamation to that effect by the GovernorGeneral Sir Patrick Duncan was published in a Gazette Extraordinary in the afternoon.

“The proclamation states that it is in the interests of the Union that peaceful relations with the German Reich be severed and that it be at war with Germany,” the Cape Times reported.

“Stated in the simplest terms, the union of South Africa through its government and through its people, takes its stand for the defence of freedom and the destruction of Hitlerism and all that it implies,” Prime Minister General Jan Smuts said in the Cape Times.

The South African Army numbered over 5 353, with an additional 14 631 men of the Active Citizen Force (ACF).

The war in Europe ended with an invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in the capture of Berlin by Soviet and Polish troops and the resulting German surrender on May 8, 1945.

Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945.

The Cape Times reported: “End of war in Europe.”

“The unconditional surrender of all German fighting forces was announced… yesterday.

“This afternoon at the latest the world will hear the news confirmed by the Great Powers in a simultaneous broadcast from London, Washington and Moscow,” it reported.

Following the Potsdam Declaration by the Allies on July 26, 1945 and the refusal of Japan to surrender under its terms, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9.

With an invasion of the Japanese archipelago imminent, the possibility of additional atomic bombings and the Soviet Union’s declaration of war on Japan and invasion of Manchuria, Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945.

This cemented the total victory of the Allies.

About 9 000 South African troops were killed during World War II.