Buffalo Volunteer Rifles

Buffalo Volunteer Rifles
Active 1876 to present
Country South Africa
Allegiance
Branch
Type Infantry
Role Infantry
Size One battalion
Part of South African Infantry Corps
Army Conventional Reserve
Garrison/HQ East London
Motto Nunc animus (Now with courage)
Battle honours
  • Gaika-Gcaleka 1877
  • Bechuanaland 1897
  • South Africa 1899 - 1902
  • South-West Africa 1914 - 1915
  • Western Desert 1941 - 1943
  • Bardia
  • South-West Africa/Zambia 1979
  • South-West Africa/Angola 1975 - 1976
  • South-West Africa/Angola 1976 - 1989
Insignia
Company level Insignia
SA Motorised Infantry beret bar circa 1992
SA Motorised Infantry beret bar

The Buffalo Volunteer Rifles (BVR) (formerly the Kaffrarian Rifles) is an infantry 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.

History

This unit was formed in East London in 1876, as the Buffalo Corps of Rifle Volunteers, for service in the 9th Frontier War. It disbanded in 1879. (East London is situated on the Buffalo River, hence the name).[1]

The unit was re-formed in July 1883 and was named after the region of Kaffraria, the 19th-century name for the region around East London. There had previously been many other units from this region, from which the Regiment can also claim descent: Kaffrarian Volunteer Corps, Kaffrarian Mounted Rifles (Kaffrarian Rangers), Buffalo Volunteer Rifles Corps, Buffalo Volunteer Engineers, Kaffrarian Volunteer Artillery Corps, Berlin Mounted Volunteers, Cape Mounted Yeomanry (1st Regiment), Frontier Mounted Riflemen (Brabant's Horse), East London Volunteers (Von Linsignen's Buffalo Corps and later Walkers Horse).[1]

On 1 December 1900 George Herbert Farrar was appointed as a Major in the Kaffrarian Rifles.

In 1913 it was embodied in the Citizen Force as the 5th Infantry (Kaffrarian Rifles), but regained its old name in 1932. The unit was temporarily amalgamated with the First City Regiment, as the First City/The Kaffrarian Rifles from 1954 to 1956. In order to keep pace with the changing political climate in South Africa, the regiment was renamed the Buffalo Volunteer Rifles in 1999.[1]

This Regiment and its predecessors took part in all of South Africa's armed conflicts, including the Bechuanaland Campaign (1897), the Second Boer War, World War I (when it fought in the then German South-West Africa and most of its members went on to serve in East Africa and Europe), World War II (when it fought in the Western Desert during 1941 - 1943) as well as in South Africa's "Border War" during 1975 to 1986 (when it fought in South-West Africa, Angola and Zambia).[1]

As of 2014 this regiment is considered to be a "fully integrated and representative" army unit. Members have been attached to the United Nations Operation in Burundi and recently a Rifle company returned from the Democratic Republic of the Congo after a six-month spell of active duty as part of MONUSCO.[2]

Regimental symbols

Alliances

Battle honours

The regiment claims four more battle honours, which have not been acknowledged:

Notes

  1. ↑ Because the Germans captured almost the entire regiment at Tobruk in June 1942, the regiment received no further World War II battle honours.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Englebrecht, Leon (17 June 2010). "Fact file: Buffalo Volunteer Rifles". defenceweb.co.za. DefenceWeb. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  2. ↑ "History of the BVR" (PDF). www.rfdiv.mil.za. Retrieved 2014-05-01.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, February 26, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.