The first major theatre of operations during the Second World War in which South African forces fought was East Africa. Key to the South African role in the campaign was the formation of the 1st sa Infantry Division in 1940. A range of medical units were under command. Using a ‘bottom-up’ view, this article – using a range of personal accounts, which complement richly veined material at the Department of Defence Archives in Pretoria – examines the service they rendered against the backdrop of the policy framework and theatre challenges. It reveals the connection medical personnel experienced between the motives that animated other South African men and women to volunteer for wartime service – travel, adventure, patriotism – and their professional ambitions regarding the growth of medical science in the fluid and varied conditions of a modern war. Sometimes the learning curve was steep; progress depended on good leadership and innovation of practice under often-extreme circumstances. But, as this article contends, they adapted to local conditions, trained on the job, and gained experience and battle-hardiness as the campaign progressed. Steady improvement and the growing size and sophistication of the Allied medical deployment led to remarkably few admissions – and fewer fatalities – from preventable illnesses and diseases as well as improving practice in the treatment and evacuation of patients from vast operational areas characterised by exterior lines and rapidly lengthening supply lines.

第二次世界大战期间，南非军队的第一个主要战场是东非。南非在这场战役中发挥的关键作用是组建第一特种部队1940 年的步兵师。指挥一系列医疗单位。本文采用“自下而上”的观点——使用一系列个人账户，补充比勒陀利亚国防部档案馆丰富的材料——审查他们在政策框架和战区挑战的背景下提供的服务。它揭示了医务人员在激励其他南非男女自愿参加战时服务的动机（旅行、冒险、爱国主义）与他们在现代战争的多变条件下发展医学科学的职业抱负之间所经历的联系。有时学习曲线很陡峭；进步取决于在往往极端的情况下的良好领导和实践创新。但是，正如本文所主张的，他们因地制宜，在岗位上接受训练，随着战役的进展积累了经验和战斗力。盟军医疗部署的稳步改进以及规模和复杂性的不断扩大，导致可预防疾病的入院人数和死亡人数显着减少，并改善了从以外线和快速发展为特征的广阔作战区域治疗和疏散患者的实践。延长供应线。