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...
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...
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...
32 Battalion (sometimes nicknamed Buffalo Battalion, or Portuguese: Os TerrÃveis 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 South...
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...
McAleese served in the British Army's Parachute Regiment and Special Air Service (SAS), the Rhodesian Special Air Service and British South Africa Police, and South Africa's 44 Parachute Brigade. As a mercenary or contractor, he worked in countries including South...
Da Costa was born in Lobito, then a lively coastal town in the Benguela province of Angola, to a white Portuguese father and a mother from one of the local tribes. In early 1976 Da Costa arrived at Buffalo Base in the Western Caprivi with a group of ex-FNLA soldiers,...
2Lt. Jacobus. G. Hoon and 2Lt. Pierre Lundberg together with Cpl's I.J. Pretorius and Daniel. J. Schutte were the first Permanent force leader group who trained the first group of Pathfinders in September 1978. After the initial deployment at 101Bn, Capt Pierre...
He started his career at 1SSB and then attended the School of Armour after becoming involved in the development of the Rooikat armoured fighting vehicle. But it was in Southern Angola where he made his name commanding the armour part of 32 Battalion’s Support Group....
He was a sergeant in 1 Recce Commando, qualifying in 1977. After years of operations, including as a mountaineering instructor, and team leader, he left for Wits University to study further. Soon, he was back at 1 Recce Regiment and eyed (wrongly) with much suspicion...
Oliveira Martin Gomes was separated from his family as a teenager in the chaos of the Angolan Civil War and found his way to Walvis Bay, South Africa. It was there were he was recruited into the newly formed 32 Battalion, having shown a proficiency in English and a...
Schalk W. Fourie served in 1 Reconnaissance Commando/Regiment between 1978 and 1988. As such, and as a demolitions/explosives expert, he was involved in all major Special Forces missions of that era. SW started his military career as a national serviceman at 1 Special...
This is the American M26, a High-Explosive-Fragmentation (HE-Frag), Anti-Personnel (AP), delay (DLY) detonating, hand-grenade which has a notched fragmentation coil liner including the M26A1, A2 and A3 and is manufactured in various countries. Its distinct lemon shape...