Regiment Oos Transvaal

Regiment Oos Transvaal
Active 1 October 1964 -
Country  South Africa
Allegiance
Branch
Type Reserve Artillery
Part of
Garrison/HQ Benoni
Motto(s)
Insignia
Collar Badge Bursting grenade with seven flames
Beret Colour Oxford Blue
Battery emblems
Beret bar circa 1992

Regiment Oos Transvaal is a reserve force regiment of the South African Army Air Defence Artillery Formation.

History

Regiment Oos Transvaal [1] was established on 1 October 1964. Its first headquarters was a Magistrates Court office in Brakpan in 1968, but by 1975, its Headquarters had moved on to Benoni. Renamed Apex Military Base, it was opened officially by Lt Gen Geldenhuys in 1976.

Equipment

Regiment Oos Transvaal was originally meant to be equipped with 35mm Oerlikon but by December 1964, a decision was made that Regiment Oos Transvaal would use Bofors and Oerlikon guns, comprising a Bofors regiment, two 40mm Bofors batteries and a 35mm Oerlikon battery. In 1977 however the Regiment had been equipped as a 20mm anti-aircraft cannon regiment, with six batteries each of 18 guns.

Operations

Regiment Oos Transvaal supplied its R Battery for service in Operation Savannah in January/March 1976 while its P Battery served in the same border area from March to May. Regiment Oos Transvaal formed part of a reaction force in 1980 but by 1983, members of the Regiment were involved directly in a number of operations.

Present day

Regiment Oos Transvaal is currently equipped with the Oerlikon GDF Mk.5 35mm gun.[2]

Regimental symbols

Previous insignia

Battle honours

Freedom of the city

The Freedom of Brakpan was granted to the Regiment on 14 April 1984.

References


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.