THE BRAWL

Standing tall at 6 foot 4 inches (almost 2 meters) an imposing figure lurches forward and sends Jimmy sprawling on a Cape Town sidewalk, a beer bottle flung from his right hand, smashed to smithereens. A limp torso props up a bleeding, concussed head against a brick wall. Oozing through hair cut in typical army style of short back and sides, blood infused with much liquor imbibed during the course of the night seeps onto the filthy pavement in the seedy underbelly of wartime Cape Town. Pubs, shebeens, doss houses and brothels frequented by seamen on shore leave, host with alacrity their clientele of bored, frustrated human troop ship cargo en route to the killing fields that beckon menacingly.

Cape Town was, after the entry of Mussolini’s Italy into the War in Europe in 1940, the hub of these troop transports evading the perils of the Mediterranean. Since the completion of the Suez Canal under the watchful eye of Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1869, the sea route around the southern tip of Africa had not seen this volume of circumnavigation. “Winston’s Specials”, Ozzies and all manner of recruits and conscripts from the extensive British Empire and Commonwealth, made up the complement of troops aboard some fifty thousand massive vessels ferrying their human cargo to far flung killing fields in Europe, North Africa  and the Far East. The concentration of Hitler’s war relentlessly spread from an island nation across the channel to the farthest reaches of human habitation. “One important consequence of the war was that it set millions into motion” (Smith, 2020)

It was on shore leave that Jimmy, one of the ‘Bombay Bowler’ (Stone, 2005) (pith helmet) brigade headed to the sands of North Africa, was to encounter a fellow Commonwealth recruit, equally inebriated and cantankerous. The ferocity of their argument enhanced no doubt by the presence of port city wenches intent on relieving them of their meagre army pay. Into the fray, the gigantic sailor’s friend once more preserved a semblance of peace amongst allies and used his imposing hulk to add ample weight to his intent. Jimmy hailed from Manchester’s industrial heartland and a long lineage of poolroom brawlers. At the age of nineteen he was no stranger to this belligerence which was but a dress rehearsal for the untrammeled barbarity of the battlefield. He was no match though for the Able Seaman charged with imposing sufficient discipline  and taking care of errant troops to ensure their bodies are delivered more or less intact to be blown to pieces in the Desert War by forces of that wily old “Desert Fox,” Erwin Rommel.

Shore leave could be perilous for Allied soldiers and sailors in Cape Town during the 1940s. The South African Parliament had joined the Allied war effort by a razor thin margin of 80 to 67. Had seven members voted the other way, South Africa would not have joined the war. Even the fact of the vote taking place had been an unlikely event, because Parliament was in recess at the time. They had had to call an urgent session to prevent the expiration of the Senate’s term of office and it happened as a quirk of history that the war question emerged just at that time. On 3^rd September 1939 Mr Chamberlain, British Prime Minister, announced that a state of war existed between Britain and Germany, and the South African Parliament met and voted for war to be declared on the 6^th. The split reflected the feeling amongst the electorate – those in favour of supporting the British and those who wanted to maintain neutrality, or even support the Nazis held their views implacably. At the extreme fringe of the anti-war segment was  the Ossewabrandwag (Ox-wagon Sentinel) who turned to sabotage and attacks on allied soldiers as well as South Africans in uniform who signed an oath to actively fight outside the country’s borders against the Axis enemies. The depth of feeling against allies and pro-war folk was such that life and limb was imperiled. (Steyn, 2020) It was not uncommon for neighbours and friends to bid those departing for the battlefields the worst – “We hope you never return!” In this milieu Jimmy and the petty brawl with a drunken ally from some other neck of the Commonwealth was of little consequence, except for Able Seaman Just Nuisance who acted as self appointed and officially recognised “Justice of the Peace” – in a manner of speaking.

Standing almost two metres tall when on his hind legs, Just Nuisance would unceremoniously end drunken fights between servicemen. This Great Dane, large even by Great Dane standards, would put his paws on the shoulders of an errant serviceman and preserve the peace. He would accompany these drunks on the trains as they made their way back to base in Simon’s Town before the bewitching hour – the minute to midnight curfew shore leave would determine. Lying on a full suburban train coach seat, his rank as an enlisted Seaman entitled him to free trips between Cape Town and Simon’s Town Naval Base where he was a loyal member of the HMS Afrikander, 35 kilometers away.

Many a “Jimmy” owed their lives and their dignity to Able Seaman Just Nuisance, whose trade was “bonecrusher” and whose religious affiliation “scrounger”. Between 1939 and his untimely death after a traffic collision in 1944, this fine specimen of a Great Dane, looked after his comrades in arms with dedication. Before his interment with full military honours in April 1944, Just Nuisance defied churlish train conductors, beat the threat of the Railways to have him put down  and served with distinction as Simon’s Towns most beloved and famous mascot.

 

 Acknowledgements/References: 

Sisson, T. (1985). Just Nuisance, AB: His full story. Flesch.

Smith, J. P. (2020). Race and hospitality: Allied troops of colour on the South African home front

                                during the Second World War. War and Society Vol 39, 155 to 170.

Steyn, R. (2020). Seven Votes: How WW2 changed South Africa forever. Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball.

Stone, R. (2005, 7 29). People's War. Retrieved from BBC Home:                                                         bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/15/a4608515.shtml

 ©Paul M Haupt