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A first attempt to invade German South West Africa from the south failed at the Battle of Sandfontein, close to the border with the Cape Colony, where on 26 September 1914 German colonial forces defeated the Union Defence Force (UDF), although the surviving UDF troops were left free to return to South Africa. [6]
German South West Africa (German: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 [1] until 1915, [2] though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles.
By 17.00, German troops halved the distance separating them from the South African positions, employing high explosive shells. At around 18.00, the South African troops raised the white flag. German casualties amounted to 14 dead and 46 wounded, while the South Africans lost 16 men dead and 51 wounded.
South Africa is Germany's largest trading partner in Africa. [14] Trade between the two countries is very sizable and worth a total of EUR 12.6 billion (2008). [9] In 2010, Germany was South Africa's fourth largest trading partner after China, the United States and Japan, with trade totaling 35.478 million rand (3.718 million Euro). [15]
The colonial forces for German South West Africa consisted of volunteers from the imperial army and navy (including some Austrians), but essentially consisted of members of German regiments. Before their deployment to Africa these troops were prepared for their special tasks and future environment. Such a training base was at Karlsruhe.
As the German forces had been restricted to the southern part of German East Africa, Smuts began to replace South African, Rhodesian and Indian troops with the King's African Rifles and by 1917 more than half the British Army in East Africa was African.
British troops aided by South African soldiers, staged their attack from South Africa, landing on the strategic island on 4 May 1942 [17]: 387 to preclude its seizure by the Japanese. The South African 1st Infantry Division took part in several actions in East Africa (1940) and North Africa (1941 and 1942), including the Battle of El Alamein ...
Troops took much of the territory, including Walvis Bay in the north, in 1915. In early 1915 the South African troops began moving into German South-West Africa. South African forces quickly moved through the country, but the Germans fought until cornered in the extreme north-west before surrendering on 9 July 1915.