Hillcrest Commando was a

light infantry Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history. They have a more mobile or fluid function than other types of infantry, such as heavy infantry or line infantry. Historically, light infantry often fought ...

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 ...

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 formed part of the

South African Army Infantry Formation The South African Army Infantry Formation supervises all infantry within the South African Army. History Origins: Union Defence Force South African Infantry originated as the ''Infantry Branch'' of the Union Defence Forces in 1913. In 1915, ...

as well as the South African Territorial Reserve. Hillcrest was a Commando from 1962 to 1983 and was the first English commando in Pretoria. Hillcrest was however a Regiment from 1983 to 2003.

Origin

Hillcrest's two tailed lion

Hillcrest was an exclusive English speaking unit, but on the Minister of Defense's persistence that they should speak both official languages it was decided to " instead of one tail, our lion will have two tails as the Minister insisted". This is a play on words as the Afrikaans word for languages is Tale.

Operations

With the SADF

Area of Responsibility

As a commando, Hillcrest deployed as far north as

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

Commando to Regiment

Hillcrest became a Regiment in 1983 whereafter it did border camps in the Far North Command. Hillcrest was assigned to Group 29 at Ellisras and to the

Soutpansberg Military Area The Soutpansberg Military Area (SMA) Headquarters was situated in Messina in the Northern Province of South Africa. The size of the area for which the SMA was responsible for was approximately . History After the independence of Zimbabwe and it ...

near

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as part of 73 Brigade and as part of Far North Command Pietersburg In March 1994, the Regiment supplied platoons to assist the SADF in resolving the

AWB AWB may refer to: * .awb, a filename extension for Adaptive Multi-Rate Wideband computer files * Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, a South African neo-Nazi separatist political and paramilitary organisation * Air waybill, a receipt issued by an inter ...

Bophuthatswana Bophuthatswana (, meaning "gathering of the Tswana people"), officially the Republic of Bophuthatswana ( tn, Riphaboliki ya Bophuthatswana; af, Republiek van Bophuthatswana), was a Bantustan (also known as "Homeland"; an area set aside for mem ...

civil unrest. In April 1994, the Regiment called up 3 companies for duty in the East Rand and Johannesburg after the 29 March Shell House massacre.

With the SANDF

The Regiment was part of the first National Defence Force parade held in Pietersburg on 11 November 1994.

Amalgamation into Tshwane Regiment

In December 2002, Regiment Hillcrest with other structures in the Greater Pretoria area was amalgamated into the new

Tshwane Regiment Tshwane Regiment is an infantry regiment of the South African Army. As a reserve unit, it has a status roughly equivalent to that of a British Army Reserve or United States Army National Guard unit. History This Regiment was originally establ ...

Leadership

*1962: Cmdt M. Malone *1984: Cmdt W. Louw *Last OC: Lt Col Brenton Geach *1994: RSM Tertius Zitzke

Dress Insignia

SADF Regiment Hillcrest commemorative letter