From what I have been able to find, in mid 1941 the Italian coast defenses at Kismayo & Mogadishu were restored to operation and manned by South African gunners from the 1st & 2nd Special Service Detachments, Coast Artillery, SAA. I know that prior to June 1940 there were two coast batteries at Kismayo & one at Mogadishu all armed with 120mm/45, so I assume these were the batteries restored to operation. Can anyone shed some light on these two units? I have them arriving in East Africa in March-April 1941, but that's all I have been able to find. Thanks in advance!!!
Have you tried what appears to be a semi-official history: Bisset, W.M.: Coast Artillery in South Africa in Nöthling, C.J. (ed.): Ultimo Ratio Regum: Artillery History of South Africa (Pretoria, 1987). This online tome may contain help, ignore it states anti-aircraft as that role included coastal defence till march 1940: https://www.gunners.org.za/wp-conte...FRICA-AIR-DEFENCE-ARTILLERY-CORPS-HISTORY.pdf Another tome, it goes up to June 1941: ALLIED GROUND FORCES IN EAST AFRICA 1940-41 - Orders-of-battle and strengths Part II 1941 Often the term used is the Union Defence Force, that may alter search results. A 2004 talk in South Africa by an officer assigned: MARCH 2004 newsletter - Cape Town - South African Military History Society - Title page It may be worth looking at the site itself, it is the only website I have found that cover their history. Google suggests somehow the guns at Kismayo were the 12-inch coastal defense gun M1895 (305 mm) and its variants the M1888 and M1900; minus any explanation. This online book refers to: From: Full text of "Ex-Italian Somaliland" Have you tried searching with the Italian spellings for the two cities? That might help. Chisimaio for Kismayo.
Unfortunately, according to WorldCat Bisset & Nothling's books do not appear to be held by any library outside of South Africa. I am familiar with the tomes you provided & the Military History Society's website, they have been very valuable sources of information, and in act were where I first heard of these two Detachments. As for the batteries, a number of online sources, including La Regia Marina http://www.icsm.it/regiamarina/difcosteng.htm confirm that the batteries were armed with 120mm/45 (4.7"). The largest guns listed for any of the coast artillery batteries in AOI were 152mm (6") at Massawa. One of the questions I had was how many of the original guns were put back into service & The quite you provided seems to answer that quewstion for Kismayo.
Is there a library @ Fort Wynyard? Not sure if it has survived though, long time ago I visited it. Any war diaries in the SANDF Archives in Pretoria?
My understanding is that there is no online catalog for the South African National Defence Force Archives. So I have no way of determining what they hold, short of paying them a visit (which is not likely to happen in my lifetime...)
I suspect it is difficult researching SA subjects during WW2. When those heroes returned home after 1945 they were treated like nothing by the new Afrikaaner government. The current SA government seems reluctant to open those old wounds.
I thought that could be an issue, although the National party only took office in 1948 and by then the records created overseas were back in Pretoria. From own, very limited research some South African records are in the UK National Archives, so a war diary was in the UK and the operations record was in Pretoria. The Artillery Corps History I referred to was instantiated by the new South African state and is comprehensive.
Bev, Two of us here have used a SANDF archive researcher successfuly and I will PM their details in a moment.
