Regiment President Steyn | |||||||||
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SANDF Regiment President Steyn Emblem
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Country | South Africa | ||||||||
Allegiance | |||||||||
Branch | |||||||||
Type | Armoured Regiment | ||||||||
Part of |
South African Armoured Formation Army Conventional Reserve |
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Garrison/HQ | Bloemfontein | ||||||||
Motto(s) | VRYHEID, GETROUHEID, MOED (Freedom; Faithfulness; Courage) | ||||||||
Equipment | Olifant main battle tank | ||||||||
Battle honours |
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Commanders | |||||||||
First OC 1934 | Lt Colonel McHardy | ||||||||
OC 1941 | Lt Colonel W. P. Minnaar | ||||||||
OC 1943 | Lt Colonel A. S. Nel | ||||||||
OC 1988 | Commandant Dries Krause | ||||||||
OC 1988 | Commandant Gerhard Louw | ||||||||
Current OC | Major Braam Korff | ||||||||
Honorary Colonel | Colonel Jonie van der Linde | ||||||||
Insignia | |||||||||
Beret Colour | Black | ||||||||
Armour Squadron emblems | |||||||||
Armour beret bar circa 1992 |
Regiment President Steyn is an armoured 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. The Regiment was named after Martinus Theunis Steyn, the last President of the Orange Free State Republic and is stationed in the city of Bloemfontein (where it has the freedom of the city). It is part of the South African Army Armour Formation.
The Regiment was raised as a machine gun regiment in Bloemfontein and its surrounding districts in the Orange Free State on 1 April 1934.
Lieutenant-Colonel McHardy was the Regiment's first Commanding Officer.
Mobilisation for World War II took place on 5 June 1940. In order to increase the strength of the regiment, volunteers from Regiment De Wet and Regiment Louw Wepener and the Orange Free State Field Artillery (O.V.S. Veld Artillerie in Afrikaans) were transferred to it.
The Regiment arrived in Egypt in June 1941, as the Machine Gun Battalion of the South African 1st Infantry Division. The regiment saw a lot of action in the north African desert, most notably at Sidi Rezegh, where its 3rd Company went into action with 4 officers, 117 other ranks and 25 "natives", of whom only 1 officer, 44 other ranks and 9 "natives" survived.