The firstever Special Forces for the SADF started with a small group of eleven men underthe command of Commandant Jan Breytenbach all handpicked by him in 1970. Theycommenced their training in Oudtshoorn and all 11 men did specialised coursesin something they were not qualified for in as yet. e.g. divers, demolition,parachute jumping. etc. The group was divided into two and also did courses inFrance in that year. Their first deployment took place into Angola. With theinflux of more members, the group was changed to a Special Forces Unit in 1972known as 1 Reconnaissance Commando.
It was decided that the unit was to be moved and in December 1974 the unitrelocated to the Bluff in Durban. The unit grew in numbers as more and more menqualified as Special Forces Operators. The decision was made to form threesubunits: Airborne (Commandant Swart), Seaborne (Commandant Kinghorn) andPseudo operators (Commandant Verster).
The Seaborne group moved to Langebaan (4 Reconnaissance Commando) the Pseudogroup to Dukuduku in Zululand (5 Reconnaissance Commando). A headquarterelement was stationed in Pretoria, under command of General Loots. In 1982 theymoved into their own Headquarter buildings just outside of Thaba Tshwane.
In 1975 a Citizen Force unit 2 Reconnaissance Commando, under the command ofCommandant Sybie van der Spuy, was formed to accommodate all members that hadleft the Permanent Forces units as citizen forces members. With theindependence of Zimbabwe, members of the Selous Scouts and Rhodesian SAS weregiven a choice to join the SADF. The members that took this opportunity weretransferred into two units: The Scouts as 3 Reconnaissance Commando inPhalaborwa and Rhodesian SAS as 6 Reconnaissance Commando in Durban. A yearlater these units amalgamated into the Permanent Force Units: 3 ReconnaissanceCommando became part of 5 Reconnaissance Regiment and 6 Reconnaissance Commandobecame part of 1 Reconnaissance Regiment when the Commandos became Regiments in1981. The volume of operations increased and more and more support personnelwere transferred into Special Forces to support the operators in their task.
The author served in Special Forces as a signaller for 5 ReconnaissanceRegiment and then Special Forces Headquarter for a number of years. He did hisparachute course with other support personnel at the age of 35. Hisresponsibilities included the training of operators in communications – radioand Morse code, the control of operational communications networks, plus allcryptography work.
This book on South African Special Forces depicts the Pictorial History fromthe beginning up to 1994. It is the 4th edition, and the 1st pictorialversion of the history of the South African Special Forces, Operators andOperations. There are more than 2000 pictures of 420 full color A4 pages boundin a hardcover showing pictures of events never before captured in one print.
FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINT - NOVEMBER 2014
