3 Parachute Battalion

3 Parachute Battalion
Active July 1977 – present
Country  South Africa
Allegiance
Branch
Type Infantry (Paratroopers)
Role Airborne Infantry
Size Battalion
Part of South African Infantry Corps
Army Conventional Reserve
Garrison/HQ Tempe, Bloemfontein
Nickname(s) Parabats

3 Parachute Battalion is a Citizen Force paratroop unit of the South African Army. It was established in July 1977 within the formation of the Parachute Battalion. Later it was a battalion within 44 Parachute Brigade. As a reserve unit, it has a status roughly equivalent to that of a British Army Reserve or United States Army National Guard unit.

Background

With the implementation of one year National Service in South Africa in 1968, 1 Parachute Battalion struggled to administer the Permanent Force and the Citizen Force parabats.[1] To prevent the loss of these trained national servicemen at the end of their one-year service to other units of the South African Defence Force, it was decided to form a new citizen force parachute unit to take these men. The battalion was formed at Tempe in July 1977 of five rifle companies. On 20 April 1978, 3 Parachute Battalion and other parachute units became part of the newly formed 44 Parachute Brigade. 3 Parachute Battalion would take part in Operation Reindeer in Angola during 1978, Elements of this battalion took part in the parachute drop over Cassinga.[2]

References

  1. Pitta, Robert (1993). South African Special Forces. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1855322943.
  2. http://www.warinangola.com/

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, January 10, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.