Sudan Defence Force

The Sudan Defence Force (SDF) was a Sudanese military unit formed in 1925, as its name indicates, to maintain the borders of the Sudan under the British administration. During the Second World War it also served beyond the Sudan in the East African Campaign and in the Western Desert Campaign.

The Sudan Defence Force consisted of a number of battalions, misleadingly styled 'Corps', which had a set area of operations:
*the Shendi Horse.
*the Sudan Camel Corps. ('the Hajana').
*the Western Arab Corps.
*the Eastern Arab Corps.
*the Equatorial Corps.In peacetime, the SDF comprised approximately 4,500 regular Sudanese soldiers. [ Keegan, John, "The Oxford Companion to World War II", p. 852]

During the Second World War, the SDF expanded greatly to counter the threat from the four neighbouring Italian territories: to the north-west, Libya, and to the east, Eritrea and the newly-conquered Abyssinia (Ethiopia). To accommodate the extra numbers, a new war-service battalion was formed:
*the Sudanese Frontier Force.In wartime, the SDF grew to as many as 20,000 men.

Background

The British did not have enough men to garrison their Empire exclusively with British troops and almost every territory had a local militia or an indigenous regiment. Prior to 1925, the garrison of the Sudan comprised a British battalion around the capital, and battalions of the Egyptian Army, both Egyptian and Sudanese,in the regional capitals.

The Sudan had been a territory loosely administered by Egypt, but in the 1880s it had fallen to the forces of the Mahdi. From 1885 to 1898 it was ruled, de facto, by the Mahdi and his successor the Khalifa (literally 'Successor'). Following the defeat of the Mahdists at the Battle of Omdurman, the Sudan was reorganised as an Anglo-Egyptian Condominium. The Head of the Egyptian Army was the Governor-General and there was still a large garrison, as the territory was huge and the remoter parts, such as Darfur, were not pacified until 1916.

In 1925, the Governor-General was assassinated, by an Egyptian nationalist, on a visit to Cairo. The Egyptian Army garrison of the Sudan was therefore deemed unreliable. The Egyptian battalions were sent home and the Sudanese battalions disbanded, to be reformed into Sudanese force, under British officers. The 'Condominium' was The structure of the new force was slightly different: a little looser and more territorial, to give a better esprit de corps and sense of responsibility in each 'Corps' for its own territory. Unlike the old battalions, with anonymous numbers, the names were intended to give a distinct, and regional, identity, like English county regiments.Recruitment in each Corps reflected the local ethnicities.

However, some continuity was maintained. The Egypt ruler, the Khedive, or Viceroy,had been, nominally, a subject of the Ottoman Sultan and so the SDF continued Egyptiantitles, which in turn continued Ottoman titles. The result was that British officers in the Sudan were called Bimbashi not Major, or an Arabic equivalent, and Kaimakam. Turkish expressions extended beyond the rank structure, too.

the Inter-War Years

The main duties of the SDF were internal security: assisting the police in the event of unrestor natural disaster. In such a vast country, companies could be detached on garrison duties far from the actual Corps headquarters.

In the mid to late 1930s, the SDF was used to counter the aggressive actions of Italian military forces under Marshal Italo Balbo based in Italian North Africa ("Africa Settentrionale Italiana", or ASI) Libya. In December 1933, the Italians probed various positions in the Jebel Uweinat area along the poorly defined border between the Kingdom of Egypt, the Sudan, and ASI. Responding to the Italian probes in the area, the SDF was ordered to occupy the Merga oasis and then the area around the Karkur Marr spring. [Kelly, Saul, "The Lost Oasis: The Desert War and the Hunt for Zerzura", p. 106]

World War II

As part of the Anglo-Egyptian "Condominium," the Sudan was at war with the Axis from the time Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939 and the United Kingom United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland declared war on Germany. Initially the war was limited to Europe and so the Sudan Defense Force had little to do other than preparation work should the land war reach Africa.

East Africa

From 10 June 1940, when Fascist Italy declared war on Britain and France, the SDF was involved in the East African Campaign. At first, the SDF went on the defensive against attacks into the Sudan by forces of the Italian Royal Army ("Regio Esercito") and the Italian Royal Air Force ("Regia Aeronautica") based in Italian East Africa ("Africa Orientale Italiana", or AOI). The Italians occupied the railway junction at Kassala, the small fort at Gallabat, and the villages of Ghezzan, Kurmuk, and Dumbode on the Blue Nile. In the first days of August, an Italian force of irregular Eritreans raided as far north as Port Sudan. [Cernuschi, Enrico. "La resistenza sconosciuta in Africa Orientale"]

The Sudan Defense Force fought on the "Northern Front" during the East African Campaign under the overall command of Lieutenant-General William Platt. In October 1940, three motor machine-gun companies from the SDF were part of "Gazelle Force", a mobile reconnaissance and fighting force commanded by Colonel Frank Messervy. [Compton, Mackenzie,"Eastern Epic", p. 32] The Frontier battalion from the SDF was part of Gideon Force commanded by Major Orde Wingate. In January 1941, during the British and Commonwealth offensive into the AOI, the SDF took part in the successful invasion of Eritrea. During this invasion, the SDF contributed machine gun companies, howitzer batteries, and other forces (including some homemade armoured cars).

North Africa

The SDF also played an active role during the Western Desert Campaign along the Sudanese border with ASI in North Africa. The SDF was used to supply the Free French and then the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) garrisons of the former Italian Fort Taj at the Kufra oasis in southeastern Libya. In March 1941, French and LRDG forces had wrested control of the fort from the Italians during the Battle of Kufra. [Kelly, Saul, "The Lost Oasis: The Desert War and the Hunt for Zerzura", p. 156]

SDF convoys of 3-ton trucks had to make a round trip of about 1,300 miles to keep the garrisons at Kufra supplied with petrol, food, and other vital supplies. The overall scarcity of petrol meant that LRDG patrols could do little more than guard Kufra against attacks from the north. They were unable to raid northwards from Kufra. In February 1941, the situation was somewhat improved when twenty 10-ton trucks were added to the convoys. Ultimately the SDF took over the garrison duties at the oasis from the LRDG. [Kelly, Saul, "The Lost Oasis: The Desert War and the Hunt for Zerzura", p. 156]

The SDF provided the garrison for Jalo Oasis.

In 1942, elements of the Sudan Defense Force were involved with countering Operation Salaam, the infiltration of German Brandenburger commandos into Egypt. Together with British intelligence agents, members of the SDF were ordered to intercept and capture the German intelligence ("Abwehr") commandos and their Hungarian guide, desert explorer László Almásy. [Kelly, Saul, "The Lost Oasis: The Desert War and the Hunt for Zerzura", p. 193]

Even after the Tunisian Campaign had ended in Allied victory, SDF patrols were busy thwarting German efforts to land agents behind the lines. The Germans continued attempts to make contact with Arab rebels. On 15 May 1943, a four-engine aircraft with German markings attempted to land at El Mukaram only to be engaged and shot up by a SDF patrol. The aircraft was able to take off and make good its escape, but it did so with casualties and flying on two engines. [Kelly, Saul, "The Lost Oasis: The Desert War and the Hunt for Zerzura", p. 247]

British Officers

Most of the officers of the SDF were British Army officers on secondment for a few years. The attraction was independence of command, sporting (game-hunting)opportunities in leisure hours and local promotion (1 rank).On the outbreak of war, many young men of the Sudan Political Service, the administrative service for the Condominium, were allowed to join up. One of these was:
*Wilfred Thesiger (Sir Wilfred Thesiger the desert explorer).
*Hilary Hook

ee also

* History of Sudan
* History of the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium
* East African Campaign
* Order of Battle, East African Campaign
* North African Campaign
* Auto-Saharan Company ("La Compania Auto-Avio-Sahariana")
* Bikaner Camel Corps
* Somaliland Camel Corps
* King's African Rifles
* Camel cavalry

ources

*
* Kelly, Saul. "The Lost Oasis: The Desert War and the Hunt for Zerzura". Westview Press, 2002. ISBN 0-7195-61620 (HC)

References