8th Armoured Division (South Africa)

8 South African Armoured Division was a formation of the South African Army, active from the 1970s to 1999.

History
8 SA Division was established as an armoured formation on August 1, 1974, consisting of 81 Armoured Brigade, 82 Mechanised Brigade and 84 Motorised Brigade. It was, in many respects, a mirror of 7 South African Division.

A provisional 1977 order of battle had 8 South African Armoured Division organised as follows:

Brigades
By 1985, 8 SA Division consisted of 81 Armoured Brigade, 84 Motorised Brigade and 72 Motorised Brigade. 82 Mechanised Brigade was under command of 7 South African Division

81 Armoured Brigade


81 Armoured Brigade consisted of the following units:
 * 811 Tank Regiment,
 * 812 Tank Regiment,
 * 813 Mechanised Battalion,
 * 81 Medium Regiment
 * 81 Field Squadron,
 * 81 Signals Unit,
 * 81 Maintenance Unit
 * 81 Field Workshop,
 * 81 Field Ambulance,

82 Mechanised Brigade


82 Mechanised Brigade consisted of the following units:


 * 821 Mechanised Battalion,
 * 822 Mechanised Battalion,
 * 823 Tank Regiment,
 * 82 Field Regiment,
 * 82 Field Squadron,
 * 82 Signals Unit,
 * 82 Maintenance Unit,
 * 82 Field Workshop,
 * 82 Field Ambulance,

83 Mechanised Brigade
83 Mechanised Brigade consisted of the following units


 * 831 Mechanised Battalion,
 * 832 Mechanised Battalion,
 * 833 Tank Regiment,
 * 83 Field Regiment,
 * 83 Field Squadron,
 * 83 Signals Unit
 * 83 Maintenance Unit
 * 83 Field Workshop,
 * 83 Field Ambulance

84 Motorised Brigade


84 Motorised Brigade consisted of the following units


 * 841 Motorised Battalion,
 * 84 Field Regiment,
 * 842 Motorised Battalion,
 * 843 Motorised Battalion,
 * 84 Field Squadron,
 * 84 Signals Unit,
 * 84 Maintenance Unit,
 * 84 Field Workshop,
 * 84 Field Ambulance,

8th Armoured Division also consisted of the following diverse units:

Artillery
18 Locating Regiment,

Light Anti-aircraft
18 Anti-aircraft Regiment (35mm), 28 Anti-aircraft Regiment (20mm),

Medium Artillery
18 Medium Regiment,

Engineers
18 Field Squadron, 18 Engineer Support Regiment,

Armour
18 Tank Regiment, 18 Forward Delivery Squadron,

Signals
18 Signals Group

Maintenance
18 Maintenance Unit, 18 Field Workshop,

Medical
18 Mobile Hospital, 18 Field Ambulance Unit,

Military Police
18 Provost Company,

Recce
8 Combat Reconnaissance Brigade, 81 Armoured Car Regiment, 82 Armoured Car Regiment, 83 Armoured Car Regiment,

Disbanding
8 SA Division’s Brigades were disbanded in 1992 and the battalions and regiments came to answer directly to the divisional headquarters - the thinking was that these would be grouped into task forces as required. The concept was never put to a serious test. The formation was also renamed 8 SA Division. The Division was effectively disbanded on April 1, 1997, when its former units became part of 7 South African Division as 74 Brigade.