Essential Services Protection Corps

Essential Services Protection Corps
Active1939 – 1950
DisbandedOctober 1950
CountrySouth Africa
AllegianceUnion of South Africa South Africa
Size8,468
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Brigadier C.H. Blaine

Essential Services Protection Corps was a Union Defence Force (UDF) unit formed in South Africa in October 1939. It was formed to maintain internal security, guarding essential infrastructure in the country during the Second World War.

Background

The unit was formed on 29 October 1939 under the command of Brigadier C.H. Blaine and initially consisted of the Cape Town, Durban, East London, and Port Elizabeth companies.[1][2] By December of the same year, two further companies were added.[1]

The men enlisted were 45 years or older and consisted of ex-servicemen.[1][3][4] They were to guard essential infrastructure such as roads, railways, ports, airports, waterworks, and power stations.[1][3] It started with a complement of fifty-six officers, 2,400 ranks and three hundred non-white personnel and this rose to 8,468 men of all races.[1][5][6] It was merged into the Auxiliary Services in October 1950.[1] The unit recorded 275 war dead.[7]

Formation

It consisted of two regiments. Lt-Col. J. Spence commanded the 1st Regiment. It consisted of an Inland Company, Cape Town Company, Durban Company, East London Company, and Port Elizabeth Company.[1]

The 2nd Regiment was commanded by Colonel P. Imker Hoogenhout and consisted of the Roads Company under Lt-Col. B. Gould.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Standard encyclopaedia of Southern Africa / 4 Dev - For. Cape Town: Nasou. 1971. p. 390. ISBN 978-0-625-00320-4.
  2. ^ van der Waag, Ian (2011). "Smuts's Generals: Towards a First Portrait of the South African High Command, 1912–1948". War in History. 18 (1): 33–61. ISSN 0968-3445.
  3. ^ a b Monama, Fankie L. (November 2019). "Civil Defence and Protective Services in South Africa during World War Two, 1939-1945". Historia. 64 (2): 82–108. doi:10.17159/2309-8392/2019/v64n2a4. ISSN 0018-229X.
  4. ^ Fedorowich, Kent (2005). "German Espionage and British Counter-Intelligence in South Africa and Mozambique, 1939-1944". The Historical Journal. 48 (1): 209–230. ISSN 0018-246X.
  5. ^ "SA Forces in the Second World War". Scientia Militaria, South African Journal of Military Studies. 19 (3): 22–48. 1989.
  6. ^ Fokkens, AM. "Afrikaner unrest within South Africa during the Second World War and the measures taken to suppress it" (PDF). University of the Free State. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  7. ^ CWGC. "Search Results". CWGC. Retrieved 2023-03-06.


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