The South African Military Deployment on the Italy–France Alpine Border in June–July 1945:

Military, Political and Environmental Contexts

Abstract

This article reports on the South African military deployment on the Italy–France border in June and July 1945. The purpose of the study on which this is based, was to ascertain the military, political and environmental experiences of the First City/Cape Town Highlanders battalion, together with other units, that safeguarded the alpine border. The context was an illegal French military occupation of the valley, despite Allied Military Government instructions and international law. The literature review is limited as the event is not well known. There are, however, a number of secondary sources and the memoirs of veterans who served on the particular border. The methodology was to construct a historiographical narrative by securing and analysing the relevant primary sources. These dealt with the experiences of the First City/Cape Town Highlanders battalion and other units on the Italy–France frontier in June and July 1945; the way the troops coped with the environmental conditions on the frontier; and the way a timeline of events led to normalcy and peace on the frontier. The primary sources, primarily war diaries, showed that the units were highly efficient in their core task of safeguarding the upper Val d’Aosta, and tactful in their interactions with the Italians and the French. A map and timeline were produced to indicate dispositions of the battalion and key events.