Major General Roland de Vries was a South African Army officer. He served as Deputy Chief of the South African Army before his retirement in 1999.

Early life

Military career

Roland de Vries joined the South African Army in January 1963, qualified as an officer in April 1964 and retired as the Deputy Chief of the South African Army in April 1999. He served in various training and operational positions.

Command

He commanded amongst others,

61 Mechanised Battalion Group 61 Mechanised Battalion Group was a unit of the South African Infantry Corps; although it was classed as mechanized infantry, it was a combined arms force consisting of infantry, armour and artillery. History Combat Group Juliet General Consta ...

, the

South African Army College The South African Army College is a training unit of the South African Army. History Origin of military training in South Africa South African military training can be traced back to 1786 when the Militere Kweekskool was established by the ...

7 South African Infantry Division 7 South African Infantry Division was a formation of the South African Army, active from the 1960s to 1999. History Origin of 7 Division from existing and new Brigades 7 Division and 17, 18 and 19 Brigades were established on 1 April 1965. Dif ...

and the Joint Training Division of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

Operations

His operational experience included various military operations in the former

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 ...

South West Africa South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1 ...

(

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 ...

) and Southern

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. Some of these were

Operation Protea Operation Protea was a military operation during the South African Border War and Angolan Civil War in which South African Defence Forces (SADF) destroyed a number of South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) bases in Angola. During the ...

(1981), Moduler (1987) and

Prone Prone position () is a body position in which the person lies flat with the chest down and the back up. In anatomical terms of location, the dorsal side is up, and the ventral side is down. The supine position is the 180° contrast. Etymolog ...

(1988) in Southern Angola. The latter two mentioned high intensity conventional battles subsequently led to the peace accord being signed between South Africa, Angola and the Cubans in New York on 22 December 1988.

Ratel Programme

He was a major contributor to the development of the

Ratel IFV The Ratel is a South African infantry fighting vehicle. It was the first wheeled infantry fighting vehicle to enter service worldwide and was built on a modified MAN truck chassis. The Ratel was designed in response to a South African Army speci ...

infantry fighting vehicle and its subsequent combat system and doctrine during the seventies. His book on mobile warfare, ''Mobile Warfare – a perspective for Southern Africa'', was published during August 1987 in South Africa, while he was a colonel. This book outlined his thinking on the development of operational concepts and military doctrine for mobile conventional warfare within the Southern African context. He is credited with being the main driver behind these concepts within the South African Army.

With the SANDF

Gen de Vries led the Transformation Team of the newly created South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in 1997 in developing a new integrated ''Leadership, Command and Management Concept'' for the Department of Defence. In 1997 he was appointed ''Chief of Joint Training'' and in 1998 as ''Deputy Chief of the SA Army''. This role entailed developing a new military strategy for the SA Army as well as planning and managing the army's transformation process. He retired as the Deputy Chief of the South African Army in April 1999.

Life outside the military

Gen de Vries is married to Henriette and they have four children Roland (Jnr), Elmarie, Melanie and Pieter. He currently manages his own business, but remains engaged in advisory support for corporate security services and the transformation initiatives of armies in Africa. His memoirs, entitled ''Eye of the Firestorm'', was published in May 2013.

Awards and decorations

General de Vries was awarded the following: * * * * * * * * * * * *