Research shows that Germans arriving in the Cape in 1780's were mostly mercenary soldiers from Europe employed by the VOC to protect the Cape.  A very good read on the subject is the book:  Cape Town Between East and West:  Social identities in a Dutch Colonial Town by Nigel Warden.  (Google the name and read from page 176 on Soldiers and Cape Town Society and from page 188 about the mercenary soldiers arriving.)  

According to him the following regiments arrived in Cape Town;  Pondicherry, Le...
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