Natal Command

Under the Union Defence Force, South Africa was originally divided into 9 military districts. Lieutenant Colonel J. Daniel {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|SAStC}} was Officer Commanding on 3 September 1939.{{cite web|title=Order of Battle Union of South Africa Union Defence Forces Natal Command Staff 3 September 1939|url=http://niehorster.org/017_britain/39_south-africa/army_command/sa_nc_staff.htm|access-date=24 December 2014}}{{dead link|date=February 2024|bot=medic}} The command included the 1st South African Brigade at Pietermaritzburg with two battalions of the Royal Natal Carabineers and the Umvoti Mounted Rifles, the 7th South African Infantry Brigade (including the Natal Mounted Rifles), two batteries of the South African Permanent Garrison Artillery, and the Natal Field Artillery on 3 September 1939.{{cite web|url=http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/939BIBG.pdf|title=South African Army 1939 - 1940|access-date=12 January 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140824033043/http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/939BIBG.pdf|archive-date=24 August 2014}}{{cite web|title=Union Defence Forces of South African — Peacetime Administrative Organization Natal Command 3 September 1939|url=http://niehorster.org/017_britain/39_south-africa/cmd_natal.html|website=World War II Armed Forces — Orders of Battle and Organizations|access-date=24 December 2014}}

Brigadiers Harold Willmott and Deon Ferreira{{cite web|title=Senior Offisiere in Bevel - Senior Officers in Command|url=http://sadf.info/InCommandArmyOfficers.html|website=sadf.info|access-date=24 December 2014}} served as officers commanding Natal Command after the Second World War.

From August 1974 84 Motorised Brigade was based at the Old Fort Road Military Base in Durban. While the brigade was part of 8th South African Armoured Division rather than Natal Command, its units were mostly located within the command's boundaries. These included the Durban Light Infantry (located nearby in their historic buildings within the Greyville Racecourse), the Durban Regiment, 84 Signal Unit SACS, 15 Maintenance Unit SAOSC,{{Cite web |url=http://www.rfdiv.mil.za/docs/15%20MAINTENANCE%20UNIT.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2014-12-27 |archive-date=2014-12-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227114928/http://www.rfdiv.mil.za/docs/15%20MAINTENANCE%20UNIT.pdf |url-status=dead }} 19 Field Engineer Regiment SAEC, and Natal Field Artillery. Other units seemingly associated with the brigade included the First City Regiment and Regiment Port Natal, both infantry units.

File:SADF era Natal Command insignia.jpg

In the early 1980s, the command included headquarters at Durban, 5 South African Infantry Battalion at Ladysmith, 15 Maintenance Unit in Durban, and two Commandos, the Tugela Commando and the Umvoti Commando,{{efn|Incorrectly called Umvoiti Commando by Keegan}} both based in Durban.John Keegan, World Armies, cited in Lt Cdr Carl T. Orbann USN, 'South African Defense Policy,' Thesis for the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA., June 1984, 124. It seems reasonably clear that in the research for World Armies a number of units assigned to the command at the time were missed.

84 Motorised Brigade became 9 South African Division in 1992, and later 75 Brigade, before disbanding {{circa|1999}} with the creation of the 'type' formations.

File:SADF era Natal Command Commando structure.jpg

For Territorial forces a structure of "groups" was established during the 1980s. Each of these regional groups fell under the authority of a Command and exercised operational control over a number of units, mostly Commandos.

Natal Command had three Groups (originally four) under command.

• Midland Commando
• Midmar Commando
• Natalia Commando
• Umkomaas Commando
• Umvoti Commando
• Weenan-Kliprivier Commando
• Griqualand East Commando

• Bluff Commando
• Durban North Commando
• Durban South Commando
• Highway Commando
• Oribi Commando
• South Coast Commando
• Umgeni Commando

• Drakensberg Commando
• Dundee and District Commando

• Insele Commando
• Northern Natal Commando
• Pongola Commando
• Tugela Commando
• Umkhombe Commando

SANDF director of facilities Brigadier General G Mngadi said the beach front property, formerly occupied by Headquarters Natal Command and later by the Joint Operations Division's eastern Joint Tactical Headquarters, “was leased by the National Department of Public Works for the South African Defence Force on a 99 year lease from the erstwhile Durban Corporation, now known as the Ethekweni Municipality.”

Mngadi says that as a result of the consolidation of the facilities footprint in Durban, the facility had become superfluous and was returned to the city on October 16, 2009.{{cite web|last1=Engelbrecht|first1=Leon|title=Old "Natal Command" site vacated|url=http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5697:old-natal-command-site-vacated&catid=47:Logistics&Itemid=110|website=defenceweb.co.za|publisher=DefenceWeb|access-date=24 December 2014|date=3 December 2009}}

{{Post-start|caption=Natal Command{{cite book|author=Anonymous|publisher=Natal Command|title=Natal Command:A Brief History}}|float=}}

{{Post-header|post-name=Officers Commanding}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 November 1926|post-incumbent=Col J. H. Breytenbach {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|DSO}}|to-date=30 June 1933}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 July 1933|post-incumbent=Col K. R. Van Der Spy {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|MC}}|to-date=22 January 1937}}

{{Post-member|from-date=23 January 1937|post-incumbent=Lt Col John Daniel {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|CBE|SAStC}}|to-date=14 February 1940}}

{{Post-member|from-date=15 April 1940|post-incumbent=Col{{efn|Later Maj Gen}} B F Armstrong {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|DSO}}{{cite journal|last1=Nöthling|first1=C.J.|last2=Meyers|first2=E.M.|title=Leiers Deur die Jare (1912-1982)|journal=Scientia Militaria: South African Journal of Military Studies|date=1982|volume=12|issue=2|doi=10.5787/12-2-631|url=http://scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/631|issn=2224-0020|language=af|format=Online|doi-access=free}}|to-date=11 June 1940}}

{{Post-member|from-date=12 June 1940|post-incumbent=Col John Daniel {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|CBE|SAStC}}|to-date=16 June 1944}}

{{Post-member|from-date=17 June 1944|post-incumbent=Col W. T. B. Tasker {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|OBE}}|to-date=12 January 1945}}

{{Post-member|from-date=13 January 1945|post-incumbent=Lt Col W. Grewe-Brown|to-date=21 January 1945}}

{{Post-member|from-date=15 February 1945|post-incumbent=Brig J. B. Kriegler {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|CBE}}|to-date=17 May 1945}}

{{Post-member|from-date=4 June 1945|post-incumbent=Col H. C. Daniel{{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|CBE|MC|AFC}}|to-date=18 October 1953}}

{{Post-member|from-date=19 October 1953|post-incumbent=Brig W. H. Hingeston {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|CBE}}|to-date=30 June 1955}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 July 1955|post-incumbent=Col C. S. Leisegang {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|DSO}}|to-date=12 February 1956}}

{{Post-member|from-date=16 Dec 1956|post-incumbent=Col P. J. Jacobs {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|SM}}|to-date=30 January 1958}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 February 1958|post-incumbent=Col C. A. Frazer {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|SM}}|to-date=31 July 1963}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 August 1963|post-incumbent=Col P. F. Van Der Hoven|to-date=30 June 1966}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 July 1966|post-incumbent=Brig P. E. Ferguson {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|SM|MC|ED}} |to-date=31 May 1968}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 June 1968|post-incumbent=Brig J. W. Blatt {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|SM}}|to-date=31 December 1970}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 January 1971|post-incumbent=Brig I. S. Guilford {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|SM}}|to-date=16 January 1973}}

{{Post-member|from-date=17 January 1973|post-incumbent=Brig P. S. I. Jay {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|SM}}|to-date=31 December 1973}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 January 1974|post-incumbent=Brig H. C. Davies {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|SM}}|to-date=31 December 1977}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 January 1978|post-incumbent=Brig C. J. Lloyd|to-date=21 November 1980}}

{{Post-member|from-date=22 November 1980|post-incumbent=Brig P.E.K. Bosman {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|SM}}|to-date=31 August 1983}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 September 1983|post-incumbent=Brig M. B. Anderson|to-date=31 December 1985}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 January 1986|post-incumbent=Brig J. H. Pretorius {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|SD}}|to-date=31 July 1992}}

{{Post-member|from-date=n.d.|post-incumbent=Brig Harold Willmott {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|CBE}}{{efn|Unconfirmed by other sources}}|to-date=n.d.}}

{{Post-member|from-date=14 July 1992|post-incumbent=Brig Deon Ferreira {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|PVD|SD|SM|MMM}}|to-date=17 February 1995}}

{{Post-member|from-date=18 February 1995|post-incumbent=Brig{{efn|Later Maj Gen}} C. E. le Roux {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|SD|SM|MMM}}|to-date=23 November 2000{{cite book|title=Natal Command:The Military History of Natal 1486-1990|author=Anonymous |publisher=Unpublished manuscript}}}}

{{Post-header|post-name=Garrison / Command Sergeants Major{{cite book|title=Natal Command in Focus|author=Anon|publisher=South African Army}}{{rp|11}}}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 Jul 1927|post-incumbent=WO1 J. H. Nassey|to-date=31 May 1936}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 Jun 1936|post-incumbent=WO1 S. J. Riley|to-date=3 May 1940}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 May 1940|post-incumbent=WO2 K. W. Van Wijk|to-date=28 Feb 1941}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 Mar 1941|post-incumbent=WO1 E. A. Aylett|to-date=30 Jun 1946}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 Jul 1946|post-incumbent=WO1 K. N. Van Wijk|to-date=30 Nov 1946}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 Dec 1946|post-incumbent=WO1 T. W. Rochwell|to-date=31 Dec 1962}}

{{Post-member|from-date=29 Jul 1966|post-incumbent=WO1 E. H. van den Bergh|to-date=31 May 1971}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 Jun 1971|post-incumbent=WO1 R. H . Ueckermann|to-date=30 Apr 1974}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 May 1974|post-incumbent=WO1 D. J. Maritz|to-date=13 May 1982}}

{{Post-member|from-date=14 May 1982|post-incumbent=WO1 P. H. Rohrbeck {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|PMM}}|to-date=30 Sep 1992}}

{{Post-member|from-date=1 Oct 1992|post-incumbent=WO1 J. T. Moorcroft {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|PMD|VRM}}{{efn|Later Sgt Major of the Army}}|to-date=1 Nov 1993}}

{{Post-member|from-date=2 Nov 1993|post-incumbent=WO1 J.M. Goodrich {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|PMM|MMM}}|to-date=nd}}

{{Post-end}}

{{notelist|2}}

{{reflist|2}}

• South African Army Order of Battle 1940

• {{cite journal|last1=Bergh|first1=Willem|last2=Smith|first2=William|last3=Botha|first3=Willem|last4=Laing|first4=Michael|title=THE PLACE OF NATAL COMMAND IN THE HISTORY OF WORLD SCIENCE|journal=Military History Journal|date=June 1992|volume=9|issue=1|url=http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol091wm.html|access-date=20 October 2014|publisher=The South African Military History Society}}
• {{cite web|last1=Bergh|first1=Willem|last2=Smith|first2=William|last3=Botha|first3=Willem|last4=Laing|first4=Michael|title=The Place of Natal Command in the History of World Science|url=http://www.fad.co.za/Resources/natal/command.htm|website=Facts About Durban|access-date=20 October 2014}}
• {{cite web|url=http://kznpr.co.za/military-interest-sites/nggallery/kzn-military-interest-sites/durban-natal-command-s-29-50-14-e-31-02-05|title=KZN A Photographic Record - Natal Command}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/media%5C1999%5C9909/p9900927c.htm|title=MAGOOS BOMB MEANT FOR SECURITY PERSONNEL: TRC}}
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PlVlu1qURhAC&q=Natal+Command&pg=PA9|title=From Boys to Men: A Victim of Conscription|isbn=9780981207902|last1=Hesom|first1=Ross|year=2009}}

{{SA Army Units}}

Category:Commands of the South African Army

Category:Disbanded military units and formations in Durban

Category:Military units and formations disestablished in the 1990s