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23-752: South African Infantry originated as the Infantry Branch of the Union Defence Forces in 1913. In 1915, the defence forces established the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force for war service outside Southern Africa. It included the South African Infantry , comprising twelve battalions, and the Cape Corps , comprising two battalions of Coloured volunteers. These units were disbanded in 1919. The Infantry Branch

46-508: A new role, that of conducting operations internally in South Africa in order to quell increasing levels of violence between various political groups. In January 1991 the Brigade conducted its first operational jump in an urban counterinsurgency role when 2 Parachute Battalion deployed to Natal as part of Operation Eardrum to quell the violence. The Brigade took part in many similar operations in

69-600: A proud history. This is particularly reflected in the many Battle Honours they have received. 11 Field Postal Unit Union Defence Force (South Africa) Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.132 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 390709829 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 05:43:30 GMT 44 Parachute Regiment (South Africa) 44 Parachute Regiment

92-499: A variety of different roles: The infantry corps contains a total of 26 reserve battalions in the following roles: Within the South African Army, there are six main types of infantry: 44 Parachute Regiment ( Bloemfontein ) – a brigade sized regiment consisting of the following units: Air Assault infantry are trained to be deployed using helicopters. Fast highly mobile skirmishers. Mechanised infantry are equipped with

115-413: Is a Regular Force unit. Second phase deals with specific equipment, weapons and tactics, general and specific to the type of Infantry, and is dealt with at the unit and its training areas. Third phase ramps up to a conventional warfare exercise usually held at Lohatla Army Battle School. Tactics such as fire and movement, as well as the amalgamation with other type formations, are done here, with expanding

138-723: Is the South African Army 's chief airborne infantry unit. It was created in 2000 by redesignating 44 Parachute Brigade , and is based at the Tempe military base near Bloemfontein . The first South African airborne unit was formed in August 1943, when a Parachute Platoon of the South African Air Force was established. However, this unit was disbanded before training could be completed. There were no further attempts to establish any airborne units until 1961, when selected members of

161-445: The Cape Corps . The volunteer black infantry unit plans eventually bore fruit with the formation of 21 , 111 , 113 , 115 , 116 (Northern Sooth, Messina ), 117, 118, 121 and 151 Battalions. Another battalion, 114 Battalion, was planned but not actually formed. Many of their members were Service Volunteers, members of all the population groups who were not compelled to do National Service (hence excluding white males). Eventually,

184-464: The Ratel infantry combat vehicle , a wheeled vehicle that can deploy over all terrain. Motorised infantry are equipped with various Samil trucks, that can be deployed over rough terrain, but is primarily a road vehicle. Since the mid-2000s, they have been using vehicles like Mamba . The organisation of South African motorised, mechanised, air assault and parachute infantry battalions are broadly similar,

207-621: The Corps became known as the South African Army Infantry Formation. The first female battalion commander appears to have been appointed in 2001. The specialised horse/motorcycle/dog-using battalion, 12 South African Infantry Battalion , was disbanded in April 2005. The previous General Officer Commanding up to 2012 was Lieutenant General Themba Nkabinde . Since 1994, South Africa's Infantry units have supported numerous operations for

230-745: The SA-AC's Infantry Branch, and the personnel of the South African Instructional Corps, were formed into the South African Infantry Corps . In 1972, continuous national service was increased to twelve months and by 1974, there were ten full-time motorised infantry battalions, besides the parachute battalion. The infantry reserve comprised 42 citizen force infantry battalions, a parachute regiment and over 200 commando internal defence units . Plans were in place to establish volunteer black infantry units along ethnic lines, comparable to

253-598: The South African Army received parachute training at RAF Abingdon . This was followed by the establishment of 1 Parachute Battalion under Commandant Willem Louw on 1 April 1961. On 26 August 1966, units of 1 Parachute Battalion (called Parabats ) first participated in operations as part of the South African Border War in South-West Africa (now Namibia ). This involvement was eventually to last for more than twenty years. In April 1978 44 Parachute Brigade

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276-844: The United Nations and the African Union across the continent, including in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC/MONUSCO), the Force Intervention Brigade in particular, Burundi (South African Protection Support Detachment, and African Union Mission in Burundi ), in the Comores , and with AMIS/UNMIS in Sudan. [REDACTED] The infantry corps contains a total of 15 regular battalions in

299-541: The advent of the Republic in 1961, almost all of these alliances fell away either as a natural consequence of changing alliances or on instructions from the authorities. Some units have maintained the alliances unofficially. With the change of government in 1994, South Africa once again became officially part of the Commonwealth, so alliances are once again possible. Some examples of alliances: Many South African units have

322-433: The following weapons: The number of vehicles is dependent on the type of unit and role. A parachute or air assault battalion deployed by air will largely be dependent on the 104 LMT Gecko airborne amphibious 8x8 light rapid deployment logistic vehicles assigned to 44 Parachute Regiment. The number deployed will depend on the airlift available. By some accounts, a Fighting Echelon (F-Echelon) would include 88 A-Vehicles, but

345-523: The following years, helping to minimise the violence sufficiently to allow South Africa's first democratic elections to go ahead in April 1994. The Brigade's first operational deployment in the post-1994 period was Operation Boleas in September 1998. It deployed two parachute companies and the Pathfinder Platoon to Lesotho to prevent a coup d'état. During 1998, the decision was taken to redesignate

368-413: The mechanised battalion however lacks a machine gun platoon in the support company and the internal security battalion lacks the same as well as other support weapons (mortars, antitank weapons and assault pioneers). A battalion musters about 34 officers, 776 men, or 810 all ranks. A company has nine rifle sections. A battalion has nine rifle platoons and 27 rifle sections. A battalion has at its disposal

391-435: The numbers can be higher. In September 2008 the motorised 5 SAI Bn deployed 113 Casspir armoured personnel and weapon carriers to a force preparation exercise (Seboka) and the mechanised 8 SAI Bn deployed 107 Ratels. The A- and B-Echelons, fully mobilised, can muster up at least another 90 B-Vehicles of various types. All basic infantry training is done at 3 South African Infantry Battalion Training Depot at Kimberley . This

414-547: The scope from the squad to section to the platoon to company, battalion, and brigade exercises. More specialized training is done on an ad-hoc basis. South African Infantry are trained in an assortment of equipment in addition to their personal rifles, such as: Improved 9mm version of the Z-88 pistol While South Africa was part of the British Commonwealth , many units formed alliances with British and other units. With

437-753: The unit as a multi- battalion regiment, but it was only during the year 2000 that this change became official. In 2001 regiment personnel formed the spearhead of the South African Protection Support Detachment deploying to Burundi . In 2012, the regiments' 1st Battalion participated in the South African military assistance to the Central African Republic operation, where the unit suffered 13 killed, with 27 injured and one missing in action in an ambush conducted by Séléka rebels. The Battle of Bangui was, however, considered

460-557: The units affected, the reorganisation went ahead from January 1954. In 1956 a further reorganisation was made necessary by the considerable increase in the number of citizens balloted for training in some areas. The Army was accordingly reorganised to consist of 32 Afrikaner-speaking units (including five infantry regiments, five tank units, and four armoured car units) and 20 English medium units (including ten infantry regiments, four tank units, and one armoured car unit). The changes were implemented with effect from 22 September 1956. In 1954,

483-506: The various black battalions amounted to about 16,000 troops, and some of the members of these battalions became Auxiliary or Permanent Force members. In the post-apartheid era, no ethnic or language-based infantry exists at all. By 1997, several units were reorganised: In the 1980s Regiment Port Natal appears to have been a component of 84 Motorised Brigade . It was amalgamated with the Durban Light Infantry about 1999. In 2000

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506-590: Was enlarged in 1934, and the mounted rifles regiments were converted to infantry in 1935. In 1943, the Infantry Branch was incorporated into the new South African Armoured Corps , which was divided into armour and infantry branches after World War II . Based on the findings of a committee led by Brigadier H.B. Popper in late 1953, it was recommended that some English-speaking units be converted to Afrikaans medium units, while other regiments should be amalgamated or contracted. Despite representations made by some of

529-531: Was established, with the addition of 2 and 3 Parachute Battalions. On 4 May 1978 South Africa's first major airborne operation ( Operation Reindeer ) took place. A large group of paratroopers, from 1,2 and 3 Battalions, attacked a large SWAPO base in Angola , successfully capturing it. (See Battle of Cassinga ) . Following the end of the Border War in 1989, the Brigade was scaled down slightly and began preparing for

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