3 Parachute Battalion is a Citizen Force

paratroop A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World ...

unit of the

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. ...

. It was established in July 1977 within the formation of the Parachute Battalion. Later it was a battalion within

44 Parachute Brigade 44 may refer to: * 44 (number) * one of the years 44 BC, AD 44, 1944, 2044 Military *44M Tas, a Hungarian medium/heavy tank design of World War II *44M Tas Rohamlöveg, a Hungarian tank destroyer design of World War II, derived from the 44M Tas ta ...

. As a reserve unit, it has a status roughly equivalent to that of a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Army Reserve A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve ...

or United States

Army National Guard The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized Militia (United States), militia force and a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States A ...

unit.

History

With the implementation of one year National Service in South Africa in 1968,

1 Parachute Battalion 1 Parachute Battalion (''Ex Alto Vincimus'') is the only full-time paratroop unit of the South African Army. It was established on 1 April 1961 with the formation of the Parachute Battalion. After 1998 this unit was renamed to Parachute Train ...

struggled to administer the Permanent Force and the Citizen Force Parabats. To prevent the loss of these trained national servicemen at the end of their one-year service to other units of the

South African Defence Force The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence F ...

, it was decided to form a new citizen force parachute unit to take these men. The battalion was formed at Tempe in July 1977 of five rifle companies. On 20 April 1978, 3 Parachute Battalion and other parachute units became part of the newly formed

Operations

3 Parachute Battalion would take part in

Operation Reindeer Operation Reindeer, which began on 4 May 1978, was Apartheid South Africa, South Africa's second major military operation in Angola, carried out under the Apartheid regime, the first being Operation Savannah (Angola), Operation Savannah. The So ...

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

during 1978, Elements of this battalion took part in the parachute drop over

Cassinga Cassinga or Kassinga is a town and commune in the municipality of Jamba, province of Huíla, Angola. It is situated on an old and important two-track road from Jamba to Huambo. Established as an ore mine and during the Civil War allegedly u ...

History

Operations

Leadership

Battle Honours

References

Further reading