Pieter Grobbelaar

Pieter Hendrik Grobbelaar
SSA DSO
Born (1908-09-16)16 September 1908
Porterville[1]
Died 22 June 1988(1988-06-22) (aged 79)
Allegiance  South Africa
Service/branch South African Army
Years of service 1933 – 1965
Rank General
Battles/wars World War II
Awards

General Pieter Grobbelaar SSA DSO (16 September 1908 – 22 June 1988)[2] was a South African military commander. He joined the South African Army as a part-time Citizen Force soldier in 1929 and became a full-time Permanent Force member in 1933.[3]:92

Military career

During World War II he commanded 7th Reconnaissance Battalion as a Lieutenant Colonel, and was second in command of 12th Motorised Brigade of 6th Armoured Division in Italy.[1]

After World War II he served as Officer Commanding Orange Free State Command, OC Northern Transvaal Command and the South African Military College.[3]:93

He served as Army Chief of Staff from 1953 to 1958, as Inspector-General from 1958 to 1959, as Deputy Commandant-General from 1959 to 1960, and as Commandant-General, i.e. chief of the South African Defence Force, from 1961 to 1965.[4]

Awards and Decorations

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Who's Who of Southern Africa 1964. Wootton & Gibson (Pty) Ltd. 1964. p. 367.
  2. ↑ "GROBBELAAR Pieter Hendrik 1908-1988". eggsa.org.
  3. 1 2 Nöthling, C.J.; Meyers, E.M. (1982). "LEIERS DEUR DIE JARE (1912-1982)" (Online). Scientia Militaria - South African Journal of Military Studies (in Afrikaans). 12 (2): 89–98. doi:10.5787/12-2-631. ISSN 2224-0020. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  4. ↑ Leon Engelbrecht. "Fact file: Chiefs of the SANDF, past and present". defenceweb.co.za.
Military offices
Preceded by
Stephen Melville		 Commandant General South African Defence Force
1961 – 1965		 Succeeded by
Rudolph Hiemstra
Preceded by
Hendrik Klopper		 Chief of the South African Army
1953 – 1958		 Succeeded by
Nick Bierman
Preceded by
Harry Cilliers		 Commandant South African Army College
1950 – 1952		 Succeeded by
Petrus Jacobs
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