The South African 32 Battalion “Buffalo soldiers”

The South African 32 Battalion “Buffalo soldiers”

When I was working in Darfur Sudan I had the pleasure to work with Individuals from South Africa and Rhodesia. Many of the Gentlemen were former RSA ond Rhodesian Military and had served in some special and interesting units from both of those armies.

I loved to sit around eating poikee and have a few drinks listening to these guys yarning about the Bush war in southern Africa, some of these cats were former Rhodesian light infantry, South African 61 mech and parabats. One guy told me his father in law was a member of the RSA 32 Battalion “Buffalo soldiers”, it was the 1st time I had personally heard of this unit. After doing a little research via the internet I located some pretty good detailed Information about this unit and its subsiquent disbandment.

The 32 Battalion song “The Ride to agadir” by mike Batt happens to be one of my favorite toons and I was surprised to see it as their song.

I also really dig the Cape Buffalo on the unit crest and the crossed arrows. These arrows are crossed at the fletches and are similar to the U.S. Army American Indian scouts from back in the indian wars.
here is a picture of the U.S. Army Indian scouts crossed arrows from back in the day that I have pinned to my old 3X Beaver Stetson – very similar.

Many people do not realize that the current crossed arrows used by the U.S. Army special forces were taken from the ww2 Unit the 1st Special Service Force, which in turn borrowed the symbol from the original scouts with a slight modification – the current arrows cross at the middle of the shaft.

There is a decent website dedicated to the “Buffalo Soldiers” and you can visit it here:
http://www.32battalion.net/
Please find Below a bit of information taken from the 32 Battion website. If you would like more information please follow the link above to view their site.

A SHORT OVERVIEW:
Known amongst Friend and Foe as “The Terrible Ones” (Os Terriveis) , this reputation was derived from operational successes and from its inception in 1975 until it’s disbandment it was the most feared Unit by it’s foes in Angola and South West Africa, and accounted for more enemy losses than any other Unit of the South African Defence Force. 32-Battalion was probably the most controversial unit of the SADF and its story virtually the untold story of the SWA/ Namibian Border War – a war which took place against the back-drop of the Cold War and which was in fact anything but cold in Africa. The Battalion, which also became known as the most successful counter insurgency unit of the SADF, was comprised mainly of former FNLA and other anti-communist fighters from Angola who had sworn allegiance to the South African government. Together with their South African officers, these troops forged a formidable Battalion that became known as the best operational Battalion of the South African Defence Force – if not one of the best in the world.
The Battalion did not only play an integral part during Operation Savannah in 1975
as well as all other major external operations of the SADF such as the Battle of
Cuito Quanavale in 1987/88 (one of the last great campaigns during the Cold War),
but from 1976 until 1989 the battalion was deployed on an almost permanent
basis to conduct offensive operations mainly inside Angola, acting as a buffer
between the SADF’s regular forces and its communist enemies.
This Elite Unit’s activities covered a wide spectrum ranging from counter-insurgency and guerrilla operations; reconnaissance missions through to semi-conventional and even fully-fledged conventional operations during the last phases of the war, when the Unit was also tasked more and more to assist Jonas Savimbi’s guerrilla movement, UNITA, against the FAPLA and Cuban onslaughts. Because of the nature of its work, the Battalion’s activities were highly classified and few were privy to the contribution the battalion had made towards the war effort in southern Angola.
The Battalion saw action all year round, which resulted in an unmatched Esprit de Corps that gave this Elite unit its unique and unconventional character.

32-Battalion became legendary among friend and foe, and was the most decorated SADF
Unit since WW-II.

After the 1989 Namibian settlement, made possible by the disintegration of the Soviet Block and the withdrawal of Cuban and other Communist nations troops from Angola, the unit was relocated to South Africa and all its foreign members were given South African citizenship. However, after the conclusion of the Namibian war, the usefulness of the battalion had disappeared under with the new political situation in South Africa led to the uneventful disbandment of the battalion in 1993.

 https://youtu.be/b7_y-F8VtSo