The South African Defence Act (Act 13 of 1912) made provision for a UDF that would be composed of a Permanent Force (or standing army) of career soldiers, an Active Citizen Force (ACF) of temporary conscripts, a Coast Garrison Force[1][2] and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (South African Division) (RNVR(SA)),[3] as well as any other defence arm that might in future be established to meet the defence requirements of the Union of South Africa.

[4][5] The 1912 law also obligated all white males between seventeen and sixty years of age to serve in the military, but this was not strictly enforced as there were a large number of volunteers.

[6] Initially, the Permanent Force consisted of five regular mounted regiments and a small artillery section as well as a headquarters, instructional and administrative staff.

Beyers resigned his post in September 1914 and the role was taken over by the Minister of Defence[1] The titles of the officers in charge of these sections were changed on 1 July 1915.

The posts of Chief of the General Staff and Secretary of Defence were combined on 30 September 1922, following the retirement of Sir Roland Bourne[9] The South African Army was created first by merging the existing military structures of the former British colonies and Boer Republics that had become the four provinces of the Union.

[1] The Great Depression put pressure on the Budget and 56 Citizen Force units were disbanded and the number of military districts was reduced from 16 to 6[4] The Special Service Battalion was started as a way of creating work for young people who could not find employment.

Ultimately, Lettow-Vorbeck fought his tiny force out of German East Africa into Mozambique and then Northern Rhodesia, where he accepted a cease-fire three days after the end of the war.

In addition to 5 batteries of Heavy Artillery, a Field Ambulance, a Royal Engineers Signal Company and a General Hospital were raised and sent to the front.

South Africans also saw action in the Middle East, with the Cape Corps deploying as part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in Palestine.

South Africa's contribution consisted mainly of supplying troops, airmen and material for the North African campaign (the Desert War) and the Italian Campaign as well as to Allied ships that docked at its crucial ports adjoining the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean that converge at the tip of Southern Africa.

Of the 334,000 men volunteered for full-time service in the South African Army during the war (including some 211,000 whites, 77,000 blacks and 46,000 coloureds and Indians), nearly 9,000 were killed in action.

In the 1950s, 2 Squadron ("The Flying Cheetahs") of the SAAF served as South Africa's primary contribution to the United Nations Command.