WW2 SOUTH AFRICA ARTILLERY REGIMENT (1939-1945) GUN CAP BADGE WITH KINGS CROWN AND RAISED SPIKE WHEEL

A WW2 SOUTH AFRICAN ARTILLERY REGIMENT (1939-1945) GUN CAP BADGE.  BEAUTIFUL BRASS BADGE WITH KINGS CROWN ON TOP AND SPINNING SPIKE WHEEL IN CENTER. ORIGINAL 3-LUG FITTING IN TACT.
 
ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND INTERESTING BADGES YOU CAN FIND. A MECHANICAL BADGE WITH THE SPIKE WHEEL TURNING AND SPINNING. UNDERNEATH THE KINGS GEORGE VI CROWN IS THE LATIN PHRASE UBIQUE WHICH MEANS EVERYWHERE.
 
Since the early days of artillery, gunners relied on horses to pull the guns. South African Artillery was always mounted and the last horses were used in the SA Artillery just before the outbreak of the Second World War. Because the artillery stayed a mounted corps to the last it is no wonder that the spike wheel became such an important symbol to artillery regiments.
 
SIZE: BADGE 65MM WIDE 45MM HIGH
 
CONDITION: IN GOOD VINTAGE CONDITION. WITH LUGS IN TACT.
 
THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARTILLERY REGIMENT:
After the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, General Jan Smuts, the Union's first Minister of Defence, placed a high priority on creating a unified military out of the separate armies of the union's four provinces. When World War I broke out in 1914, the South African government chose to join the war on the side of the Allies. General Louis Botha, the then prime minister, sent an infantry brigade and various other supporting units to France in order to fight on the Western Front. The supporting units included five batteries of heavy artillery, a field ambulance unit, a Royal Engineers signals company and a military hospital.
South Africa's contribution to World War II consisted mainly of supplying troops, men and material for the British North African and Italian campaigns. The 1st South African Infantry Division took part in several actions in East Africa in 1940, North Africa in 1941 and 1942, including the Second Battle of El Alamein, before being withdrawn to South Africa. The 2nd South African Infantry Division also took part in a number of actions in North Africa during 1942, but on 21 June 1942 two complete infantry brigades of the division as well as most of the supporting units were captured at the fall of Tobruk. 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 Cape Coloureds and Asians), about 9,000 were killed in action.
 
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