EG ('Papa') Brits, became part of the 11th SA Armoured Brigade. In March 1943 the Field Force Battalion was disbanded and other ranks and some of the officers were transferred to the SSB, thus providing a nucleus of battle-tested veterans. The unit sailed for the Middle East with the 6th SA Armoured Division in April 1943. In 1944 the division crossed the Mediterranean Sea to take part in the Italian campaign. The regiment played a prominent part in numerous actions during the campaign. In 1946, SSB was resuscitated as a Permanent Force unit and reorganised on a two-battalion basis with the 1st Battalion as an armoured unit and the 2nd Battalion infantry. The former became a training regiment in 1953 and the latter was renamed the 1 South African Infantry Battalion (1SAI) in 1951. Regimental symbols The cap badge is a spray of three protea flowers, bound by a ribbon bearing the initials and motto. Regimental motto: Eendrag Maakt Mag (Unity is Strength) Red tabs The South African Defence Act (Act No 13 of 1912) was vague in its description of where members of the Union Defence Force could be deployed. Because the act could be interpreted as not making provision for active service by UDF units beyond the Union's borders and "the prevailing tense political climate", Field Marshal Jan Smuts, the prime minister, declared that only volunteers would make up a fighting force beyond the country's borders. The volunteers were required to sign a document known as the 'Africa Oath', in which they declared that they would be prepared to fight anywhere in Africa. They were distinguished from other members of the UDF by orange-scarlet shoulder tabs worn on their uniforms and commonly referred to as 'red tabs'. According to Professor Andrè Wessels of the Department of History at the University of the Orange Free State, Bloemfontein, "the wearing of these tabs caused a lot of resentment, by stigmatising both those who were prepared to fight and those who opposed active involvement (depending on one's political outlook), and was one way of exerting pressure on UDF members to volunteer for active service". The author Alan Paton mentioned the red tabs/flash in his 1953 novel, Too Late the Phalarope. The South African Police also wore them and they were derogatorily called the "red lice". Leadership Battle honours Italy 1944–1945, Florence, Gothic Line, Celleno, The Greve, Po Valley Museums The regimental