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military equipment needed for carrying out its tasks. Its main tasks were surveillance of the

sea routes, and defence-preparedness in the event of attack from sea or air.

Fortress components

Organization

Fortress headquarters were located in the Castle but many other buildings in central Cape

Town were taken over for a variety of command functions. The purpose of Fortress

Command was to co-ordinate the activities of the land, air and sea forces under its control
along the lines of a "combined operations" model. Fortress sub-centres were located at

Wynberg Military Camp, Simon’s Town Naval Dockyard, and the Royal Naval Air Station

at Wingfield – each being the base of a specialist military branch. Recruiting for the forces
initially took place at the Castle and later at the Central Recruiting Depot in Trafalgar

Place, Adderley Street.

The combat professional and volunteer military personnel were almost exclusively white
and male as the Defence Act of 1912 restricted combatants to South African citizens of

European descent. However, they were supported by a variety of para-military and civilian

units that played invaluable roles. There were, for instance, the Native Military Corps
(NMC), Non-European Army Services (NEAS), the Cape Corps (CC), and the Indian and

Malay Corps (IMC). They acted as drivers, messengers, stretcher-bearers, guards, military
policemen, sappers, and signalmen, frequently coming under fire in the course of carrying

out these duties. By the end of the war they constituted nearly 40% of the UDF personnel.

Many white women joined the Women's Auxiliary Naval Service (SWANS) and the

Women's Auxiliary Army Service (WAAS) carrying out clerical and transport functions.
Others joined the South African Women’s Auxiliary Services (SAWAS) – caring for

convalescing servicemen and those en route to different war zones. Older white men, and

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