Tuesday, 23 March 1943 — War Diary

21 Squadron War Diary

Zuara

21 Squadron S.A.A.F. Middle East Command "V1" DAILY CASUALTY RETURN ********************* Date..23rd March 1943.

S.A.A.F. PERSONNEL On Strength. Casualties Total on Duty

Officers. 72 --- 72O's 4 1 3Sgts. 65 2 63C/Sgts. 37 --- 37Cpls. 45 --- 45L.A.M.'s 5 --- 5A/M's 144 --- 144NATIVES. 380 --- 380TOTALS. 752 3 749ATTACHED PERSONNEL. i. S.A. On Strength Casualties Total on Duty

Officers. 2 --- 2W.O's. 5 --- 5N.C.O's. 5 --- 5TOTALS 12 --- 12 ii. R.A.F. - R.A.A.F. ETC. --------------------------- On Strength Casualties Total on Duty

Officers. 1 --- 1N.C.O's. 17 --- 17Others. 3 --- 3TOTALS 21 --- 21CAPE CORPS On Strength Casualties Total on Duty

W.O.s 9 --- 9N.C.O's. 32 --- 32O/R's 113 3 110TOTALS 154 3 151 M E S S I N G S T R E N G H T --------------------------------

Officers' Mess. Sergeants' Mess. Mechanics' Mess. N.E.A.S.Mess. Strength......... Strength......... Strength......... Strength......... Att. S.A......... Att. S.A......... Att. S.A......... Others........... Others........... Others...........75 125 222 151Total.... 583 Casualties 10/ - 573.HOSPITAL:210010 F/Sgt Moore J. 21 M.R.S. (Wounded) 21/3/43280620 " Jarvis R.D. do 20/3/43301317 Pte Vertuin S. 8 C.C.S. 15/3/43301051 " Jantjies P.S. do 16/3/43DETACHED:95742 W.O.11 Mitchell W.H. Castel Benito 15/1/43100785 A/M Micklewright J.B. do "208141 " Armstrong D.C. do "98302 " Wooldridge D.H. do "578616 " Watkins R.J. do "0288120 Pte Friar H. Castel-Benito 14/3/43 **************************

Transcriber's Notes

S.A.A.F: South African Air Force.
A/M: Aircraftman.
S.A: South African, referring to personnel from the Union of South Africa attached to the unit.
W.O: Warrant Officer.
N.C.O: Non-Commissioned Officer.
R.A.F: Royal Air Force.
R.A.A.F: Royal Australian Air Force.
ETC: Et cetera (and so forth).

R.A.F. - R.A.A.F.: Royal Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force, indicating Commonwealth personnel integrated into the S.A.A.F. structure.