44 Parachute Regiment is the
South African Army's chief
airborne infantry
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...
unit. It was created in 2000 by redesignating
44 Parachute Brigade, and is based at the Tempe military base near
Bloemfontein
Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legislative capital Cape To ...
.
History
Origin
The first South African airborne unit was formed in August 1943, when a Parachute Platoon of the
South African Air Force
"Through hardships to the stars"
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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 the South African Army received parachute training at
RAF Abingdon
Royal Air Force Abingdon or more simply RAF Abingdon was a Royal Air Force station near Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It is now known as Dalton Barracks and is used by the Royal Logistic Corps.
History
The airfield was opened in 1932, initially as ...
. This was followed by the establishment of 1 Parachute Battalion under Commandant
Willem Louw
Lieutenant-General Willem Petrus Louw (Bloemhof, 24 November 1920 – 4 July 1980) was a South African military commander. He joined the South African Army in the Special Service Battalion in 1938, and served in Italy in World War II.
Mil ...
on 1 April 1961.
The Border War
On 26 August 1966, units of 1 Parachute Battalion (called
Parabats) first participated in operations as part of the
South African Border War
The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Ango ...
in South-West Africa (now
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
). This involvement was eventually to last for more than twenty years.
In April 1978
44 Parachute Brigade was established, with the addition of 2 and 3 Parachute Battalions.
On 4 May 1978 South Africa's first major airborne operation (
Operation Reindeer
Operation Reindeer, which began on 4 May 1978, was South Africa's second major military operation in Angola, carried out under the Apartheid regime, the first being Operation Savannah.
The South African operation consisted of an assault by 2 S ...
) took place. A large group of paratroopers, from 1,2 and 3 Battalions, attacked a large
SWAPO base in
Angola
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, successfully capturing it. ''(See
Battle of Cassinga
The Battle of Cassinga also known as the Cassinga Raid or Kassinga Massacre was a controversial South African airborne attack on a South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) military camp at the town of Cassinga, Angola on 4 May 1978. Cond ...
)''.
![Static line para jump 1998](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Static_line_para_jump_1998.jpg)
Following the end of the Border War in 1989, the Brigade was scaled down slightly and began preparing for 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
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...
to quell the violence. The Brigade took part in many similar operations in the following years, helping to minimise the violence sufficiently to allow South Africa's first democratic elections to go ahead in April 1994.
Post 1994
The Brigade's first operational deployment in the post-1994 period was
Operation Boleas
The Southern African Development Community intervention in Lesotho, codenamed Operation Boleas, also called the South African Invasion of Lesotho, was a military invasion launched by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and led by ...
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 the unit as a multi-
battalion
A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions a ...
regiment, but it was only during the year 2000 that this change became official.
Peacekeeping in Africa
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
operation, where the unit suffered 13 killed, with 27 injured and one missing in action in an ambush conducted by
Séléka
Séléka CPSK-CPJP-UFDR was an alliance of rebel militia groups that subjugated the Central African Republic (CAR) on 24 March 2013. After its official dissolution in September 2013, the remaining rebel groups became known as Ex-Séléka. Sélà ...
rebels. The
Battle of Bangui
The Battle of Bangui occurred in March 2013, during the ongoing Central African Republic Civil War, and resulted in Séléka taking power in the Central African Republic. With the Central African Armed Forces and international soldiers absent, mo ...
was, however, considered a success for the Parabats as they killed more than 3000 Seleka rebels.
In 2014 the Regiment contributed one company to the
United Nations Force Intervention Brigade
The United Nations Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) is a military formation which constitutes part of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). It was authorized by the United Nations ...
which fought a number of engagements in the
DRC
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
.
Structure in 2004
As of 2004, the Regiment consists of the following units:
![SADF-Airborn-001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/SADF-Airborn-001.jpg)
* 44 Parachute Regiment Headquarters and Regimental Staff
*
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 Traini ...
(Regular Force)
*
2 Parachute Battalion (Reserve Force)
*
3 Parachute Battalion (Reserve Force)
*
44 Pathfinder Platoon
*
13 Signal Squadron
*
44 Medical Task Group (Detachment of
7 Medical Battalion Group
7 Medical Battalion Group is the specialist Airborne Medical Unit of the South African Military Health Service. The Battalion's main task is to render medical support to the South African Airborne and Special Forces.
Other specialties of the Ba ...
,
SAMHS)
*
Parachute Training Wing (South Africa)
Commandos is the special forces formation of the Singapore Army responsible for conducting special operations. Commandos are tasked with infiltrating behind enemy lines by raiding and reconnaissance operations using airborne raids, helicopt ...
*
Parachute Packing Wing
*
101 Air Supply Unit SAOSC (
Lyttelton, Gauteng
Lyttelton is a suburb of Centurion in Gauteng Province, South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the S ...
)
Leadership
Insignia
Previous Dress Insignia
References
{{SA Army Units
South Africa Parachute Regiment
Parachute
Airborne units and formations of South Africa
Parachute Regiment
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
Military units and formations in Bloemfontein
South Africa Parachute Regiment
Parachute Regiment