Origins Union Defence Force Military Districts The command's origins may date to the formations of Military districts, No 5 and 6 in 1926, which then became Transvaal Command in 1934. Thereafter there were several quick name changes: Roberts Heights & Transvaal Command ; Voortrekkerhoogte & Transvaal Command 1939, and then Transvaal Command . Later the command became Northern Command in 1946; Northern Transvaal Command in 1959. In 1939 Roberts' Heights and Transvaal Command, with its headquarters at Roberts' Heights (now
Thaba Tshwane), contained
6th Infantry Brigade, 1 Field Survey Squadron SAEC, the artillery depot, parts of the
Special Service Battalion, elements of the Permanent Garrison Artillery, and the Artillery School. Its headquarters was in
Pretoria, and within its command boundaries, it contained a number of important
Active Citizen Force field formations, notably
81 Armoured Brigade (part of
8th South African Armoured Division). Depending upon the command boundaries, it may also have included
72 Motorised Brigade with its headquarters at
Johannesburg and
73 Motorised Brigade with its headquarters in the Johannesburg suburb of Kensington.
Under the SADF In the early 1980s it became clear that the sheer size of Northern Transvaal Command's territory made command and control as well as logistical functions extremely difficult. These as well as other security considerations led to the decision to subdivide Northern Transvaal Command into three Commands in 1984: Northern Transvaal Command (Pretoria);
Eastern Transvaal Command, probably covering what later became the
Eastern Transvaal (
Nelspruit); and
Far North Command (
Pietersburg) (commanded in succession by
Charles Lloyd and, from February 1987,
Georg Meiring). The two new Commands were regarded as theatres and as such also had responsibility for conventional operations (and units) within their areas. For example,
Far North Command had
73 Motorised Brigade within its area.
Amalgamation with Witwatersrand Command into Gauteng Command == Groups and Commandos ==