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investigate; their report detailed the frustration and despondency related to overcrowding which had been one major contributing factor, as had the failure of the airlift to repatriate the published number of troops per day. The first official statements on 24 and 31 May declared that the repatriation rate by air would be 500 a day. From 1 July, this figure was amended to 300 a day. The average daily number of men repatriated during the first twenty days of July was only 108. The court assessed the total cost of the damage at ÂŁ22,768,431. By 25 January 1946, 101,676 men had been ferried back to South Africa. The last aircraft left Egypt on 26 February 1946 included Major
General Poole; it arrived in
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shipping had been delayed, and that further announcements would be made later. Food was in short supply and the lack of adequate numbers of chefs caused extended queues and delays at meal times. The standard of discipline deteriorated further as the men arriving at the depot were split up alphabetically by surname, and then according to their demobilisation categories (A, B, C, etc., based on their initial date of volunteering for service abroad). This meant that men were grouped together with fellow soldiers and
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115:(SAAF) were to be merged to form No. 4 Group. This Group was to be used in an Intensified Transport Service/Shuttle Service to move 5,000 troops per month by air commencing 1 July 1945. A further 15,000 men were to be transported home by sea during the second half of the year, resulting in the repatriation of 45,000 soldiers by the end of the year. In addition to the
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whom they did not know and unit structures were lost. Morale declined even further when it was decided that 500 volunteers would go home as a top priority to assist in the demobilisation process back in South Africa, their return home irrespective of their demobilisation category. In addition, all
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was appointed to command the depot. A public address system was installed to keep everybody in camp up to date on the latest news and free outdoor film-shows were implemented. On 26 August, the
Director General Officer - Administration (DGQ-A Italy & Egypt), appointed a court of enquiry to
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A protest meeting was held on 20 August where a crowd of 1,500 men were addressed by various individuals. As the size of the crowd increased, the meeting became violent. The usually disciplined soldiers became a mob bent on trashing, looting and burning and their first objectives were the two
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was soon overcrowded and by 20 August 1945, the depot, designed to hold 5,000 men was holding 9,000. An official announcement on 9 August stated that 3,000 to 5,000 men were expected to be repatriated by sea at the end of the month, but less than a week later it was announced that the expected
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of the 6th
Armoured Division, flew in from Italy to address the troops, promising that immediate steps were to be taken to speed up the rate of repatriation. To tighten up on discipline and improve morale at Helwan, the housing of troops on a unit basis was instituted and a
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were controlled by
Egyptians; the men felt that they were being exploited by inflated prices charged by these traders. There was also unhappiness over the two cinemas, when men who had bought tickets frequently found that they were unable to get in due to lack of space.
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Egyptian owned cinemas which were set alight. The mob then split up and further
Egyptian premises, blocks of shops, motor cars, bungalows and book stalls were set alight. They also set fire to one of their own messes and broke down and looted the
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as well as many other South
African troops serving as divisional, corps and army troops would require transportation back to South Africa for demobilisation. On 1 May, the
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and other troops in Italy, there were thousands of recently released South
African prisoners of war who had been held in Italy. These men were from the
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realised that no plans had yet been made to get all men back and instructions were prepared, whereby No. 1 and 5 Wings of the
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suppressed the news of these events and that they were prohibited from being published in local press reports.
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By the beginning of April 1945, it had become obvious that the war was coming to a close and that the
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was caused to local businesses, but after placating the unhappy soldiers, they were repatriated to
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battles in the western desert. Their numbers had not been factored into the demobilisation plans.
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Ordinary
Springboks: White Servicemen and Social Justice in South Africa, 1939-1961
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Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 151, 24 December 1945, Page 5.
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Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 104, 4 May 1945, Page 5.
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World War II crimes by the
British Empire and Commonwealth
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Military history of South Africa during World War II
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390:Flying Boat Eyewitnesses - 35 SQN Shuttle Service
365:. Department of Defence, Republic of South Africa
74:. Property damage in the range of millions of
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701:Attacks on buildings and structures in Egypt
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363:History of the South African Air Force
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337:. Aldershot and Burlington: Ashgate.
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641:Riots and civil disorder in Egypt
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499:1986 Egyptian conscripts riot
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386:"Facts about Durban"
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331:Roos, Neil (2005).
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80:South Africa
64:Helwan riots
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32:Helwan riots
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125:Sidi Rezegh
661:1945 fires
621:1945 riots
610:Categories
395:29 October
369:29 October
298:29 October
293:PapersPast
272:29 October
218:29 October
213:PapersPast
91:Background
194:Citations
176:brigadier
138:north of
308:cite web
228:cite web
45:Location
166:store.
157:Trouble
86:History
681:Helwan
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181:Durban
136:Helwan
129:Tobruk
68:Helwan
50:Helwan
164:NAAFI
150:NAAFI
140:Cairo
54:Egypt
397:2010
371:2010
339:ISBN
318:link
314:link
300:2010
274:2010
238:link
234:link
220:2010
145:NCOs
127:and
62:The
40:1945
37:Date
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
