The South African Military Academy was established in 1950 as a branch of the<br />SA Military College, under the academic auspices of the University of Pretoria. A<br />mere three years later, in 1953, the Union Defence Force decided to relocate the<br />Academy to Saldanha and to establish it as an independent military unit under the<br />wings of Stellenbosch University. The relocation process took place during<br />1955/1956, shortly after construction of the Academy buildings at Saldanha had<br />started. As a result, Stellenbosch University agreed to accommodate the Academy<br />staff and students on the mother campus until the facilities at Saldanha were<br />completed. However, not all civilian students welcomed the military students on the<br />Matie campus, which culminated in the so-called ‘Battle of Wilgenhof’ in 1957.<br />This article investigates the origins, extent, outcome and consequences of the<br />conflict between military and civilian students on the campus of Stellenbosch<br />University in the mid-1950s. It contends that the conflict was rooted in cultural<br />rather than political differences, that the antagonism towards the military students<br />was in essence restricted to the residents of Wilgenhof and that the ‘Battle of<br />Wilgenhof’ had no lasting impact on the interaction between military and civilian<br />students at Stellenbosch University.