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Union Defence Force (South Africa)
) , headquarters = Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa , commander-in-chief = , commander-in-chief_title = Sovereign of South Africa , minister = , minister_title = , commander = , commander_title = Chief of the UDF , age = , conscription = , active = , ranked = , reserve = , deployed = , amount = , percent_GDP = , domestic_suppliers = , foreign_suppliers = , imports = , exports = , history = World War IRand RebellionWorld War IIBerlin BlockadeKorean War , ranks = South African military ranks The Union Defence Force (UDF) ( af, Unie-Verdedigingsmag) comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1 July 1912, when the Defence Act (No 13 of 1912) took effect, two years after the creation of the Union of South Africa, until 1957 when it was reorganised and renamed the South African Defence Force ...
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Union Defence Force Emblem
Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** Union (Union album), ''Union'' (Union album), 1998 * Union (Chara album), ''Union'' (Chara album), 2007 * Union (Toni Childs album), ''Union'' (Toni Childs album), 1988 * Union (Cuff the Duke album), ''Union'' (Cuff the Duke album), 2012 * Union (Paradoxical Frog album), ''Union'' (Paradoxical Frog album), 2011 * ''Union'', a 2001 album by Puya (band), Puya * ''Union'', a 2001 album by Rasa (band), Rasa * Union (The Boxer Rebellion album), ''Union'' (The Boxer Rebellion album), 2009 * Union (Yes album), ''Union'' (Yes album), 1991 * Union (Black Eyed Peas song), "Union" (Black Eyed Peas song), 2005 Other uses in arts and entertainment * Union (Star Wars), ''Union'' (Star Wars), a Dark Horse comics limited series * Union, in the fictional Allian ...
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Jan Smuts
Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 to 1924 and 1939 to 1948. Smuts was born to Afrikaner parents in the British Cape Colony. He was educated at Victoria College, Stellenbosch before reading law at Christ's College, Cambridge on a scholarship. He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1894 but returned home the following year. In the leadup to the Second Boer War, Smuts practised law in Pretoria, the capital of the South African Republic. He led the republic's delegation to the Bloemfontein Conference and served as an officer in a commando unit following the outbreak of war in 1899. In 1902, he played a key role in negotiating the Treaty of Vereeniging, which ended the war and resulted in the annexation of the South African Republic and Orange Free St ...
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South African Naval Service
The South African Navy (SA Navy) is the naval warfare branch of the South African National Defence Force. The Navy is primarily engaged in maintaining a conventional military deterrent, participating in counter-piracy operations, fishery protection, search and rescue, and upholding maritime law enforcement for the benefit of South Africa and its international partners. Today the South African Navy is one of the most capable naval forces in the African region, operating a mixed force of sophisticated warships, submarines, patrol craft, and auxiliary vessels, with over 7,000 personnel; including a marine force. With formerly deep historical and political connections to the United Kingdom, the first emergence of a naval organisation was the creation of the South African Division of the British Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1913, before becoming an nominally independent naval service for the Union of South Africa in 1922. In its history, South African naval vessels and personn ...
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South African Air Force
"Through hardships to the stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = * World War I * World War II East African campaign (World War II), East African Campaign North African campaign, North African Campaign Battle of Madagascar, Madagascar Italian campaign (World War II), Italy Balkans campaign (World War II), Balkans * Korean War * South African Border War * Angolan Civil War, Angolan Bush War , decorations = , battle_honours = , battle_honours_label = , flying_hours = , website = , commander1 = President of South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa , commander1_label = Commander-in-chief#South Africa, Comman ...
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South African Army
The South African Army is the principal land warfare force of South Africa, a part of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), along with the South African Air Force, South African Navy and South African Military Health Service. The Army is commanded by the Chief of the Army, who is subordinate to the Chief of the SANDF. Formed in 1912, as the Union Defence Force in the Union of South Africa, through the amalgamation of the South African colonial forces following the unification of South Africa. It evolved within the tradition of frontier warfare fought by Boer Commando (militia) forces, reinforced by the Afrikaners' historical distrust of large standing armies. Following the ascension to power of the National Party, the Army's long-standing Commonwealth ties were afterwards cut. The South African Army was fundamentally changed by the end of Apartheid and its preceding upheavals, as the South African Defence Force became the SANDF. This process also led to ...
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Andries Brink
Lieutenant General Andries Jacob Brink, (21 July 1877 – 17 October 1947) was a South African military commander. An Afrikaner veteran of the Anglo-Boer War, he joined the Union Defence Forces (UDF) as a staff officer in 1912 and served in the First World War. He was Chief of the General Staff from 1920 to 1933, initially in command only of Defence HQ but, from 1922, of the whole UDF. He was also Secretary for Defence, head of the civil service Department of Defence, from 1922 to 1937. From 1937 to 1946 he was Commandant-in-Chief of the Burger Commandos, a home defence organisation. Awards and decorations On 1 January 1944, Lieutenant General Brink was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. The notice in the ''London Gazette'' reads as follows: Brink was also awarded the Dekoratie voor Trouwe Dienst and Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of th ...
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Henry Lukin
Major General Sir Henry Timson Lukin (24 May 1860 – 15 December 1925) was a South African military commander. He fought in the Anglo-Zulu War (1879) and the Basutoland Gun War (1880–1881), the Bechuanaland Campaign (1897), and the Anglo-Boer War when he was in command of the artillery during the defence of Wepener for which action he was awarded a Distinguished Service Order. From 1900 to 1901 he commanded the Cape Mounted Riflemen, from 1904 to 1912 he was Commandant-General of the Cape Colonial Forces and in 1912 Inspector-General of the Permanent Force of the Union of South Africa. Brig Gen Lukin transferred to the new Union Defence Forces in 1912 as Inspector-General of the Permanent Force. He commanded a formation in the German South West Africa Campaign (1914–1915), and commanded the 1st South African Infantry Brigade of the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force in Egypt (1916) and France (1916), at Delville Wood before being promoted to a divisional comma ...
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Citizen Force (South Africa)
The Citizen Force was a reserve component of the South African armed forces. It was established during the formation of the Union Defence Force (UDF) and reflected the UDF's mixed traditions, which drew on both the British model of a standing professional army as well as the Afrikaner model of a large citizen militia. The South African Defence Act (No. 13) of 1912 dictated that the UDF include a Permanent Force of career soldiers and a "Citizen Force" of volunteer reservists or conscripts mobilised during temporary crises.Library of Congress Country Studies: South Africa, Early Development of the South African Military, 1996 Prior to World War II, the Citizen Force consisted of a general manpower pool of white South African civilians who had received some military training in the past. They were periodically retrained for deployment in the event that they were mobilised for active service. The UDF had few professional career soldiers during the 1930s, so the bulk of its active man ...
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Christian Frederick Beyers
Christiaan Frederik Beyers (23 September 1869 – 8 December 1914) was a Boer general during the Second Boer War. Biography As a young man, he went to the South African Republic, Transvaal, where he took a prominent part on the Boer side in the Second Boer War, South African War, winning high distinction in the field and bearing the rank of general when peace was made in 1902. Beyers had much influence, as soldier and statesman, among the Afrikaaners, Dutch-speaking people of South Africa, and was, with Generals Louis Botha, Botha and Jan Smuts, Smuts, though in a less degree than they, one of the recognized leaders of the Transvaal Boers. When responsible government was granted to the Transvaal, Beyers became speaker of the Lower House. He showed in the speaker's chair remarkable gifts. He was acute, tolerant and rigidly impartial, thus making a deep impression upon English-speaking South Africans, who would have supported his claims to be the first speaker of the first Union o ...
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Artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and led to heavy, fairly immobile siege engines. As technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery cannons developed for battlefield use. This development continues today; modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility generally providing the largest share of an army's total firepower. Originally, the word "artillery" referred to any group of soldiers primarily armed with some form of manufactured weapon or armor. Since the introduction of gunpowder and cannon, "artillery" has largely meant cannons, and in contemporary usage, usually refers to shell-firing guns, howitzers, and mortars (collectively called ''barrel artillery'', ''cannon artillery'', ''gun artillery'', or - a layman t ...
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Regiment
A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted in one geographical area, by a leader who was often also the feudal lord ''in capite'' of the soldiers. Lesser barons of knightly rank could be expected to muster or hire a company or battalion from their manorial estate. By the end of the 17th century, infantry regiments in most European armies were permanent units, with approximately 800 men and commanded by a colonel. Definitions During the modern era, the word "regiment" – much like "corps" – may have two somewhat divergent meanings, which refer to two distinct roles: # a front-line military formation; or # an administrative or ceremonial unit. In many armies, the first role has been assumed by independent battalions, battlegroups, task forces, brigades and other, similarly s ...
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