Regiment Langenhoven

Regiment Langenhoven
	Regiment Langenhoven emblem
Active	1934
Country	South Africa
Allegiance	Republic of South Africa ;
Branch	South African Army ;
Type	Infantry
Role	Light Infantry
Size	One Battalion
Part of	South African Infantry Corps ; Army Territorial Reserve
Garrison/HQ	Oudtshoorn
Motto(s)	“Slaggereed”(Ready)

Last updated May 04, 2019

Regiment Langenhoven was a motorised infantry regiment of the South African Army. It formed part of the South African Army Infantry Formation. As a reserve unit, it had a status roughly equivalent to that of a present-day British Army Reserve or United States Army National Guard unit.

A regiment is a military unit. Their role and size varies markedly, depending on the country and the arm of service.

The South African Army is the army of South Africa, first formed after the Union of South Africa was created in 1910. The South African military evolved within the tradition of frontier warfare fought by Boer Commando (militia) forces, reinforced by the Afrikaners' historical distrust of large standing armies. It then fought as part of the wider British effort in World War II, but afterwards was cut off from its long-standing Commonwealth ties with the ascension to power of the National Party in South Africa in 1948. The army was involved in a long and bitter counter-insurgency campaign in Namibia from 1966 to 1990. It also played a key role in controlling sectarian political violence inside South Africa during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The United Kingdom (UK), officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and sometimes referred to as Britain, is a sovereign country located off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state, the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of 242,500 square kilometres (93,600 sq mi), the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world. It is also the 22nd-most populous country, with an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017.

History

Origin

Regiment South Western Districts^[1] was formed in 1934 and headquartered in Oudtshoorn. The Regiment was initially tasked as a machine gun battalion. (This is represented in their cap badge which shows two machine guns crossed behind a protea.)

Oudtshoorn, the "ostrich capital of the world", is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located between the Swartberg mountains to the north and the Outeniqua Mountains to the south. Two ostrich-feather booms, during 1865–1870 and 1900–1914, truly established the settlement. With approximately 60,000 inhabitants, it is the largest town in the Little Karoo region. The town's economy is primarily reliant on the ostrich farming and tourism industries. Oudtshoorn is home to the world's largest ostrich population, with a number of specialized ostrich breeding farms, such as the Safari Show Farm and the Highgate Ostrich Show Farm.

World War Two

The Regiment was not at full strength at the beginning of the Second World War and subsequently the Regiment was amalgamated with 11th and 12th Armoured Car Companies, forming the 5th Armoured Car Regiment. 5th Armoured Car Regiment then deployed to North Africa arriving at Port Tewfik in Egypt. The Regiment did not play a further role in the fighting directly as its personnel was allocated as reinforcement to depleted units from the fighting at Sid Rezegh. The Regiment did however volunteer for service with the 6th South African Armoured Division in Italy.

Re-mustering and Name Changes

The Regiment converted to a motorised infantry battalion in October 1956 and underwent a name change to Regiment Langenhoven after Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven, a South African poet. Between 1960 and 1966 the Regiment was however known as Regiment Outeniqua, this was short lived and by 1966 the Regiment reverted to the name of Regiment Langenhoven.^[2]

Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven, who published under his initials C.J. Langenhoven, was a South African poet who played a major role in the development of Afrikaans literature and cultural history. His poetry was one of the then young language's foremost promoters. He is best known to have written the words for the national anthem of South Africa, "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika", which was used during the apartheid era. He was affectionately known as Sagmoedige Neelsie or Kerneels.

Disbandment

The Regiment appears to have been disbanded in 1997.

Unit Insignia

SADF era Insignia

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References

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[1] ttp://www.saairforce.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4170

[2] ttp://www.warinangola.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1239&ParameterString=south%20african%20army&ParameterString2=Infantry