The South African 1st Parachute Battalion was set up under Commandant Willem Louw on 1st April 1961. This resulted after selected members of the South African Army received training and instruction at RAF Abingdon and from the British Parachute Regiment. Operations...
The 1 Reconnaissance Commando was the first South African special forces unit, founded by General Fritz Loots - the founder of the South African Special Forces, and the first General Officer Commanding of the South African Special Forces. He appointed 11 qualified...
1 Special Service Battalion (SSB) was established on 1 May 1933 in Roberts Heights (now Thaba Tshwane). In April 1942 the SSBs long and illustrious career with the Armoured Corps started when it was converted to an Armoured Car Regiment. In 1946, Special Service...
The South West Africa Territory Force, SWATF renumbered battalion numbers according to their geographical positioning on the border. The prefix 10 pertained to battalions operating to the west of the Kavango River, 20 to the Kavango or central region and 70 to the...
2 Reconnaissance Regiment was the Citizen Force, (Territorial Army), unit of the South African Special Forces. This unit was established in Pretoria as 2 Reconnaissance Commando in 1974.
3 SA Infantry Battalion's (3 SAI) inception was on 01 January 1962 at Lenz. It was moved to Potchefstroom on 05 December 1968 to train Citizen Force Members (National Service) as infantry soldiers. The unit was given operational status with two infantry battalions...
31 Battalion was a light infantry battalion in the South African Army and in later years became part of the SWATF. The battalion consisted of men recruited from the hunter-gatherer San people. It was later called 201 Battalion.
32 Battalion (sometimes nicknamed Buffalo Battalion, or Portuguese: Os Terríveis for The Terrible Ones) was an elite light infantry battalion of the South African Army founded in 1975, composed of black and white commissioned and enlisted personnel. Unlike other...
This is the Seaborne Special Forces Regiment in South Africa. The unit was first established as 4 Reconnaissance Commando in 1978, at Langebaan, and comprised the original Charlie Group of 1 Reconnaissance Commando. Initially, the compliment of 4 Reconnaissance...
4 South African Infantry Battalion (4 SAI) was a unit of the South African Infantry Corps established on January 1, 1962, at Voortrekkerhoogte in Pretoria, but was moved to Middelburg, in the old Transvaal a month later. The first troops began training in April...
In April 1978 the 44th Parachute Brigade was established by Colonel Jan Breytenbach, with the addition of 2 and 3 Parachute Battalions. This was followed in May by Operation REINDEER, South Africa’s first major conventional airborne operation. All three battalions...
5 Special Forces Regiment is based in Phalaborwa in the east of the northern Limpopo Province. It was established in Durban in 1976, with a sojourn at Duku Duku in northern KwaZulu-Natal. The unit moved into its present lines, near the Kruger National Park, in...
61 Mechanised Infantry Battalion Group (61 Mech) was a unit of the South African Infantry Corps. Although it was classed as mechanized infantry, it was a mixed force of infantry, armour and artillery. It was formed in 1978 as Battle Group Juliet (or Combat Group...
The Greys Scouts were raised as a mounted infantry unit at Incomo. They perpetuated the name of the volunteer unit raised during the Matabele Rebelion. The unit was formed as a mixed race unit of 150 to 200 men
The Infantry School was established as a self accounting unit on 1 October 1963. On 1 January 1964 the new Infantry School opened its portals in Oudtshoorn. During January 1974 the training of National Service Infantry Leader Group started at this...
Koevoet, Afrikaans for crowbar, also known as Operation K or SWAPOL-COIN) was the counterinsurgency branch of the South West African Police (SWAPOL). Its formations included white South African police officers, usually seconded from the South African Security...
The Rhodesian African Rifles (RAR) was a regiment of the Rhodesian Army. The ranks of the RAR were recruited from the black African population, although officers were generally from the white population. The regiment was formed in May 1940 in the British colony of...
The 1st Battalion, Rhodesian Light Infantry (1RLI), commonly The Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI), was a regiment formed in 1961 at Brady Barracks (Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia) as a light infantry unit within the army of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland....
C Squadron, SAS Regiment was formed during the Malayan Emergency by volunteers from Rhodesia. It was disbanded in 1953 and became the nucleus of "C" Squadron (Rhodesian) Special Air Service, operational from 1961. In June 1978 "C" Squadron (Rhodesian) Special Air...
