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| Cape Corps | ||||||||||
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 Cape Corps emblem | ||||||||||
| Active | 1781-1878, 1915-1991 | |||||||||
| Country |  South Africa | |||||||||
| Allegiance | ||||||||||
| Branch | ||||||||||
| Type | Infantry | |||||||||
| Role | Motorised Infantry | |||||||||
| Size | One Battalion | |||||||||
| Part of | South African Infantry Corps | |||||||||
| Garrison/HQ | Cape Town and Kimberly | |||||||||
| Motto | Fortiter et fideliter | |||||||||
| Battle honours |
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TheCape Corps and its predecessor units were the main military organisations in which theColoured members ofSouth Africa's population served.
As one of the military units of South Africa with one of the longest histories, the Cape Corps reflects the history of South Africa's Coloured population to a great extent.
In the 1770s, the Dutch authorities established the first Coloured military unit, the Free Corps. The unit consisted solely of Coloured recruits and no white people were allowed to join except as officers, marking the beginning of racially segregated units in themilitary history of South Africa.[1]: 51
The second Coloured unit to be formed was the Bastard Hottentot Corps (Dutch: "Corps Bastaard Hottentoten"), which was organised in 1781 by theDutch colonial administration of the time.[1]: 51 Based inCape Town and drawing its members from men of mixed Hottentot and White ancestry, this unit had about 400 members under the command of Hendrik Eksteen and Gerrit Munnik.[1]: 51 The unit was disbanded in 1782 when French mercenaries arrived in the Cape.
In 1793 this unit was re-formed in Cape Town as thePandour Corps with 200 men under the command of Captain Jan Cloete, only to be disbanded again in 1795.[1]: 52
The unit was re-formed again under thenew British colonial administration in May 1796, this time under the nameHottentot Corps. It was headquartered inWynberg and consisted of about 300 men. In 1798 the headquarters were moved toHout Bay.
On 25 June 1801 theCape Regiment was formed. It was organised as aBritish imperialregiment of tencompanies and retained all the personnel of theHottentot Corps.
With the Dutch taking over colonial administration of the Cape once again, theCorps Vrye Hottentotten ("Corps of Free Hottentots") was formed on 21 February 1803. It was later renamed theHottentot Ligte Infanterie ("Hottentot Light Infantry") and saw action against the British expeditionary force to capture the Cape colony from the French alliedBatavian Republic during theNapoleonic Wars at theBattle of Blaauwberg.
When the British returned to the Cape following theBattle of Blaauwberg in 1806 the DutchHottentot Ligte Infanterie was disbanded and reformed asThe Cape Regiment in October 1806 a Britishline regiment. Major John Graham was transferred from the93rd regiment of foot to lead the newly formedCape Regiment.[2] Headquartered in Cape Town, initially based at Rietvlei, it was organised as a typical colonial unit with British officers and Coloured other ranks. In later years, the Regiment also had a troop of lightcavalry added.[3] Following theCongress of Vienna and the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1814 the Dutch Cape Colony was formally transferred to the British as theBritish Cape Colony.
On 24 September 1817 the Regiment was reduced in size (a previous order to completely disband having either been ignored or rescinded) to two small units of about 200 men for the defence of the Cape Colony's eastern frontier. The two units were named theCape Cavalry (consisting of one troop ofdragoons) and theCape Light Infantry.Mathew Richmond, coming from theRoyal Military College, joined them in 1817.[4]
In 1820 these two units were again combined under a unified command and renamed the Cape Corps. TheCape Mounted Riflemen (Imperial) were formed on 25 November 1827; the Corps was reorganised asbattalion ofmounted infantry.
In 1850 some soldiers effectively mutinied by joining Coloured rebellion in theeastern Cape; the regiment was subsequently reconstituted as mixed unit with both White and Coloured members. Some years later, in 1854, the recruitment of Coloured members for the battalion was completely halted.
The battalion was completely disbanded in 1870 when military service was abolished for Coloureds, although its name and traditions were appropriated in 1878 by another (all-White)Cape Mounted Riflemen.
As part of South Africa's efforts forWorld War I, theCape Corps was re-formed in theCape Province bySir Walter Stanford, as a single battalion in December 1915 as part of the Union Defence Force. In 1916 the Corps was expanded and a second battalion raised. The original battalion was redesignated the1st Battalion and the new unit (which was disbanded in 1918) as the2nd Battalion.
In order to provide additional troops for South Africa's participation inWorld War II, theCape Corps was reconstituted again on 8 May 1940, partly from the Association of the 1915-1918 Corps.
This unit was assigned the role of a non-combatant service corps with a pioneer battalion and five motor transport companies. It was later expanded to include several motorised infantry battalions, infantry battalions,prisoner of war (POW) guard battalions and POW escort battalions. At its peak strength, the Corps had about 23,000 members. On 13 October 1942 the Corps absorbed the South AfricanIndian and Malay Corps (IMC) but was itself disbanded at the end of hostilities in 1945.
In 1947 theCape Corps was reconstituted as a Permanent Force Coloured service corps only to be disbanded in 1950 by the newly electedNational Party, which abolished military service for Coloureds.
TheCape Corps was reformed again in 1963, as a non-combatant Coloured service corps; it was considered to be the successor to all the previous Coloured and Cape Corps units since 1796. The Corps was designated a Permanent Force unit of theSouth African Defence Force in 1972.
In 1973 the unit was renamed theSouth African Cape Corps Service Battalion. When the South African Defence Act was amended in 1975 to give Coloureds "equivalent status to whites" in theSouth African Army, the battalion was renamed theSouth African Cape Corps Battalion, its combatant status was restored and the first Coloured officers were commissioned.
During the period 1979 to 1989 theSouth African Cape Corps (SACC) was substantially expanded:
In 1990 the SACC was reduced to a single battalion and redesignated9 South African Infantry Battalion which was reroled as a seabornelight infantry unit.Currently, as a result of the post-1994 transformation of South Africa, Coloured soldiers, sailors and airmen serve alongside their fellow South Africans in a fully integratedSouth African National Defence Force.
| Awarded to the Cape Mounted Riflemen |
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| Awarded to the 1915 Cape Corps |
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The 1915 Cape Corps did not inherit the battle honour of the Cape Mounted Riflemen.
The Cape Corps' most famous combat operation is the Battle of Square Hill, part of the preliminary fighting for theBattle of Nablus, which took place in what was then known asPalestine on 16, 17 and 18 September 1918. It was this battle in particular which earned the Cape Corps its combat reputation and for which thePalestine 1918 Battle Honour was awarded.
While known as theSACC this unit served regularly in Namibia during theSouth African Border War.
