South African Army Officers 1939-1945

South African Army Officers
1939-1945

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Brink,
George Edwin
G.E. Brink

27.09.1889
-
30.04.1971

...	...
Lt.Gen.	?

CB	1941	?
CBE	1942	?
DSO	1917	?

...	-	...	...
			War of 1939-1945, served Abyssinia, Egypt, and Cyrenaica as GOC, 1st SA Division (CB, CBE); GOC Inland Area, South Africa, 1942-1943; DirectorGeneral of Demobilisation, South Africa, 1944-1948.

de Villiers,
Isaac Pierre
I.P. de Villiers

20.08.1891
-
11.10.1967

...	...
Maj.Gen.	?

	CB	1942	?
	MC	?	?

...	-	...	...
			Served War of 1939-1945, Middle East (CB); GOC Coastal Area Command

Pienaar,
Daniel Hermanus
"Dan"

Son of Willem Daniel Johannes Pienaar and Cornelia Petronella Horn.
Married D.H. Pienaar, of Pretoria.

19.08.1893
Bosduivenkop, Ladybrand, Orange Free State
-
19.12.1942
(air crash)
[Thaba Tshwane (Old No. 1) Military Cemetery, Gauteng, South Africa, L.1]

T/2nd Lt.	...-23.12.1919 [126242]
Lt.Col.	(1935)
Col.	(1938)
Brig.	?
A/Maj.Gen.	?

CB	24.11.1942	Middle East
DSO	14.02.1941	Middle East
DSO	09.09.1942	Middle East 11.41-04.42
MID	30.12.1941	Middle East 02.41-07.41
MID	24.06.1943	Middle East 05.42-10.42

1911			joined Department of Defence
1914	-	1919	served European War (despatches)
			South African Staff Corps
16.07.1926	-	(03.1931)	staff officer, General Staff Section, Union Defence Forces (Pretoria)
04.01.1935	-	(01.1937)	Officer Commanding, Orange Free State Command (Bloemfontein)
17.10.1938	-	(05.1940)	Officer Commanding, Roberts' Heights [later: Voortrekkerhoogte] and Transvaal Command (Voortrekkerhoogte)
12.06.1940	-	10.03.1942	Commander, 1st South African Brigade (East Africa, Italian Somaliland)
10.03.1942	-	19.12.1942	General Officer Commanding, 1st South African Division (Libya, Egypt)

Literature: E. Rosenthal, General Pienaar : his life and his battles (1943)

Stephens,
Leo William Keating
L.W.K. Stephens

Married; at least one son.

His son writes: "On returning to SA in 1919 my father became active in Boy Scouts and part time soldiering; he was involved in putting down the miners strike in Johannesburg in early 1920s, then transferred to Transvaal Horse Artillery, retiring in 1937 as Regimental Major (commanding officer). At outbreak of WW2 he was recalled and helped form First SA Heavy Artillery Brigade, which he did and took to Kenya in November 1940 where they did further training and advanced into Abyssinia in early 1941 when Italy declared war. Their war was more of chasing the Italian Army across Abyssinia until their surrender at Gondar in late 1941/early 1942, then the Brigade moved to Egypt where my father fell ill with dysentery and was invalided back to SA where he later commanded the artillery training camp at Potchefstroom until early 1944 when the SA Railways for whom he had worked since 1908 (Started as ‘tea boy’ aged 11 in Cape Gov. Railway before union) requested his return to his job as a Superintendent Purchasing dept – Head of Coal buying. He retired in 1957 on reaching 60 and had 49 years of accredited pension service; he died in 1967."

1897
Cape Town
-
1967
Cape Town

2nd Lt.	17.12.1917
Lt.	17.06.1919
...	...
Lt.Col.	(1941)

17.12.1917			commissioned, Royal Garrison Artillery - Special Reserve of Officers
			served World War I (blown up on the Somme, only survivor of his platoon)
?	-	1937	transferred to Transvaal Horse Artillery (eventually as Regimental Major)
1940	-	1942?	Commander, 1st Medium Brigade South African Heavy Artillery (Kenya, Abessynia, Egypt [illnes])
1942?	-	1944	Commandant, Artillery Training Camp Potchefstroom

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