Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Campaign to award soldier who sank Nazi ship the VC
ACAMPAIGN has been launched for a Victoria Cross for a black solider forced to fight with a spear and who sank a German ship with a bomb he made from a can of milk.
Job Maseko served with South African forces as the Allies fought against Rommel’s troops in North Africa in the Second World War.
But for a time his only weapon against the Germans’ modern equipment was a spear as black South Africans were barred from becoming combatants.
He was also on less pay than white South Africans and had to live in substandard military accommodation and subjected to racist taunts.
Job and other black colleagues were eventually given rifles and ordered to fight on the frontline despite a lack of ammunition and training.
He later built a bomb from a milk can which he used to sink a German ship.
Campaigner Bill Gillespie says it “could well have assisted in the decisive Allied victory by Montgomery’s troops barely three months later”.
Bill, of Milverton, Somerset, says his “bloody-mindedness” carried him through his time in the war.
He says he should have been awarded a Victoria Cross for risking his life to sink the German ship.
British generals nominated Job for a VC but his South African commanders found the idea alarming.
Instead he was awarded the Military Medal, the lowest honour at the time, for “ingenuity, determination and complete disregard of personal safety”.
He was later given a reduced pension because of his colour and died a pauper.
Bill said: “I hate injustice of any sort. I think this incident concerning Job Maseko requires addressing and redressing.
“I am therefore starting a petition for Job Maseko to be posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.”
Job came from a humble background; when the war broke out he was working as a delivery man 30 miles from Johannesburg.
Native Africans were not allowed to enlist in South Africa’s armed forces but the need for large numbers of men to fight prompted a change.
Even though black, Indian and mixed-race troops were then allowed to enlist from 1940 onwards, their roles were strictly non-combatant.
Only the white troops were given military training with actual firearms and rifles.
Initially, the only weapons the African troops of the Native Military Corps were allowed to handle were spears.
Job worked as a stretcher bearer in the Western Desert, braving heavy fire to rescue wounded men.
When Tobruk fell to the Germans in June 1942, Job and his fellow soldiers were taken to a PoW camp.
The white troops were sent to PoW camps in Europe, but the prisoners of colour were retained in Italian PoW camps in Africa.
They were forced to work as manual labourers under horrific conditions.
There Rommel spoke to him and reprimanded the commandant for his savage treatment of Job. That led to Job being tortured by his guards.
He was later detailed to offload ships laden with military hardware, ammunition and vehicles.
Bill said: “Job created a bomb using a condensed milk tin, some cordite and an extremely long fuse.
“On the evening of June 21, 1942, and before they were due off the still overloaded ship, Job placed his home-made bomb deep in the hold.
“He lit the fuse and ran to join his friends on the dock.
“Job waited and a few hours later there was an almighty explosion. Apparently, the ship sank almost immediately.
“It was a large vessel and would have resulted in a significant depletion of German equipment destined to oppose Montgomery at El Alamein.
“It is anyone’s guess, but this small act by a very brave man could well have assisted in the decisive Allied victory by Montgomery’s troops barely three months later.”
Job later escaped from the Italian PoW camp in Tobruk and walked for three weeks though the desert and enemy lines to El Alamein.
In October 1942 he became a stretcher bearer with the 1st South African Infantry Division in the Second Battle of El Alamein.
He attained the rank of lance corporal during his service.
After the war the Apartheid rule meant he received much less of a military pension than white colleagues.
He was struck and killed by a train on 7 March 1952.
At the time of his death he was so poor that his funeral was paid for by borrowed and donated funds.
He was buried in the Payneville Township Cemetery in Springs, South Africa.
In his honour, the township of KwaThema near Springs has a primary school named after him as is the main road linking Springs to KwaThema.
In 1997 the South African Navy renamed the missile attack craft SAS Kobie Coetzee as SAS Job Masego.
In 2007, South African director Vincent Moloi made a documentary about Job Maseko and the South African 2nd Infantry Division called