Pieter Grobbelaar

Pieter Hendrik Grobbelaar
SSA DSO
Born 16 September 1908
Porterville[1]
Died 22 June 1988 (aged 79)
Allegiance  South Africa
Service/branch South African Army
Years of service 1933 – 1965
Rank General
Battles/wars World War II
Awards

General Pieter Grobbelaar SSA DSO (16 September 1908 – 22 June 1988)[2] was a South African military commander. He joined the South African Army as a part-time Citizen Force soldier in 1929 and became a full-time Permanent Force member in 1933.[3]:92

Military career

During World War II he commanded 7th Reconnaissance Battalion as a Lieutenant Colonel, and was second in command of 12th Motorised Brigade of 6th Armoured Division in Italy.[1]

After World War II he served as Officer Commanding Orange Free State Command, OC Northern Transvaal Command and the South African Military College.[3]:93

He served as Army Chief of Staff from 1953 to 1958, as Inspector-General from 1958 to 1959, as Deputy Commandant-General from 1959 to 1960, and as Commandant-General, i.e. chief of the South African Defence Force, from 1961 to 1965.[4]

Awards and Decorations

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Who's Who of Southern Africa 1964. Wootton & Gibson (Pty) Ltd. 1964. p. 367.
  2. ↑ http://www.eggsa.org/library/main.php?g2_itemId=924904
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Nöthling, C.J.; Meyers, E.M. (1982). "LEIERS DEUR DIE JARE (1912-1982)" (ONLINE). Scientia Militaria - South African Journal of Military Studies (in Afrikaans) 12 (2): 89–98. doi:10.5787/12-2-631. ISSN 2224-0020. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  4. ↑ http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6243:fact-file-chiefs-of-the-sandfpast-and-present&catid=79:fact-files&Itemid=159
Military offices
Preceded by
Stephen Melville		 Chief of the General Staff of the South African Defence Force
1961 – 1965 		Succeeded by
Rudolph Hiemstra
Preceded by
Hendrik Klopper		 Chief of the South African Army
1953 – 1958 		Succeeded by
Nick Bierman