SAAF Marauder
over Yugoslavia
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The South Africa Air Force received 100 Marauders IIs, using them to equip five squadrons of the Desert Air Force, although by the time the Marauders began to arrive all five squadrons had moved to Italy, where they remained until the end of the war.
The first squadron to convert to the Marauder was No.24 Squadron, SAAF, which received them in December 1943, replacing its Boston IIIs. As with all but one of the five SAAF squadrons to operate the Marauder No.24 used its aircraft against road and rail targets.
No.24 was followed by No.12 Squadron, SAAF, which replaced its Boston IIIs with the Marauder in January 1944, then by No. 21 Squadron, which replaced its Baltimore IIIs and IVs in 1944 and by No.30 Squadron, which was formed around the Marauder in August 1944.
The final South African squadron to receive the Marauder was No.25, which converted from the Ventura I in October 1944. Like the other four squadrons No.25 was based in Italy, but unlike the other squadrons No.25 used its aircraft over the Balkans, most often to support the Yugoslav partisans.