Cape Garrison Artillery
| Cape Garrison Artillery | |||
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Cape Garrison Artillery emblem
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| Active | 1974 - | ||
| Country |
 South Africa
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| Allegiance | |||
| Branch | |||
| Type | Reserve Air Defence Artillery | ||
| Part of |
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| Garrison/HQ | Fort Wynyard | ||
| Motto(s) |
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| Battle honours |
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| Commanders | |||
| Officer Commanding | Lt Col. Bob Visser | ||
| Honorary Colonel | Vacant | ||
| Insignia | |||
| Collar Badge | Bursting grenade with seven flames | ||
| Beret Colour | Oxford Blue | ||
| Battery emblems |  |
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| Beret bar circa 1992 |  |
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The Cape Garrison Artillery (CGA) is a reserve force regiment of the South African Army Air Defence Artillery Formation. There have been two regiments of the name: one a coast artillery regiment, the other an anti-aircraft regiment. As a reserve unit, it has a status roughly equivalent to that of a British Army Reserve or United States Army National Guard unit.
The original regiment had a fragmented history.
The forerunner of the regiment was the Volunteer Sappers and Miners, formed in Cape Town in 1859. The unit was later called the Cape Engineers or Cape Town Volunteer Engineers. It disbanded around 1866.
A new unit, called the Cape Town Volunteer Engineers was formed in the Cape Colonial Forces in 1879. It served in the Transkei campaign in 1880 and 1881. In 1889, it added a coast artillery company, and the title was later changed to Garrison Artillery & Engineer Volunteer Corps. Engineering was discontinued in 1896, and the title was then changed to Cape Garrison Artillery.
The commanding officer of the unit at that time was Major le Vicomte de Montfort. The Regiment had an authorised strength of 320 men and was trained by the Royal Garrison Artillery. In 1898 the CGA was changed to a partially paid unit and thus lost its volunteer status.
The CGA was mobilized for participation in the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1899. Initially the Regiment had 373 members, but the figure increased to 560 (with some recruits arriving from overseas) by February 1900.
During 1900 the CGA was mainly used on the main western railway line of Cape Colony, as well as west of that line, assisting in garrisoning important posts. A small number of CGA members were also under the command of Sir Charles Warren in Griqualand West. Parts of the Regiment also joined Kitchener’s Horse.
Elements of the CGA were also involved in the attack on Jacobsdal on 25 October 1900.
During 1901 detachments of the Regiment were often stationed alongside the Cape Town Highlanders as well as other local troops in the west of Cape Colony and other areas, up to the German South-West Africa border.
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Wikipedia