Galeshewe Anti-Aircraft Regiment

Regiment Vaalrivier
Galeshewe Anti-Aircraft Regiment
Regiment Vaalrivier; Galeshewe Anti-Aircraft Regiment
	SANDF Regiment Vaalriver emblem
Active	1 January 1960–
Country	South Africa
Allegiance	Republic of South Africa; Republic of South Africa;
Branch	South African Army; South African Army;
Type	Reserve Air Defence Artillery
Part of	South African Army Air Defence Artillery Formation; Army Conventional Reserve;
Garrison/HQ	Vereeniging, Brakpan, Kimberly
Insignia
Collar Badge	Bursting grenade with seven flames
Beret Colour	Oxford Blue
Battery emblems
Beret bar c. 1992
Abbreviation	GAAR

Galeshewe Anti-Aircraft Regiment (formerly Regiment Vaalriver) is a reserve air defence artillery regiment of the South African Army.

History

Origin

Regiment Vaalrivier was established on 1 January 1960 as one of the Afrikaans medium anti-aircraft units. The unit was headquartered in Vereeniging.^[1]

Border War

Regiment Vaalrivier provided air defence in the Border War from 1976 to 1984 as part of 7 South African Infantry Division.

Equipment and operations

Regiment Vaalrivier was initially armed with 35mm Oerlikon and 40mm Bofors units. By 1975, the regiment only had three 35mm batteries of 12 guns per battery.

Regiment Vaalrivier provided air defence artillery for the border war in 1976 to 1980, stationing batteries at Grootfontein, Rundu, Ondwanga, Ruacana and Oshakati and once again Ruacana in 1980.

By 1984 forward, the regiment was involved in cross border operations as well.

Amalgamation

In 1997 members of Regiment Overvaal were amalgamated into the Regiment.

Migration

Regiment Vaalrivier moved to Apex Base in Brakpan in 2008, but eventually was transferred to Kimberley.

Name Change

In August 2019, 52 Reserve Force units had their names changed to reflect the diverse military history of South Africa.^[2] Regiment Vaalriver became the Galeshewe Anti-Aircraft Regiment, and have 3 years to design and implement new regimental insignia.^[3]

Regimental Symbols

Previous Dress Insignia

SADF era Regiment Vaalrivier insignia

Battle honours

Operation Savannah (Angola)

Freedom of the City

Regiment Vaalrivier received the Freedom of Vereeniging on 27 April 1963 and the Freedom of Vanderbijlpark on 31 October 1970.

References

^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "New Reserve Force unit names". defenceWeb. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
^ "Renaming process has resulted in an Army structure that truly represents SA". IOL. 16 August 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2020.

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[1] "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[2] "New Reserve Force unit names". defenceWeb. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2021.

[3] "Renaming process has resulted in an Army structure that truly represents SA". IOL. 16 August 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2020.

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