page_title: 1 Special Service Battalion
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: 1 Special Service Battalion / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Rooikat armoured car at 1 Special Service Battalion, Tempe Base - Bloemfontein.
context_page_description: 1 Special Service Battalion is an armoured regiment of the South African Army and only one of two such in its regular force. The Regiment is based at Tempe near Bloemfontein.
  It was previously known in Afrikaans as 1 Spesiale Diens Bataljon.
context_section_description: Following World War II, the Special Service Battalion was re-organised into 2 battalions - 1 Special Service Battalion and 1 South African Infantry Battalion.
  When the South African Armoured Corps was thus officially proclaimed in 1946 and Special Service Battalion was included in the corps as the only full-time unit, its symbols and colours were incorporated.
  1 SSB also took part in the South African Border War, serving in South-West Africa and Angola.
  More recently, the unit also took part in Operation Boleas, which was a South African intervention in its neighbouring country of Lesotho in 1998.
  1 SSB had a sister unit for a number of years in the post-World War II era, designated 2 Special Service Battalion, which was based in the town of Zeerust. This unit has now been disbanded.
  
  1 SSB also detached squadrons to various battlegroups in the South West African campaign
caption: Rooikat at the entrance to 1SSB, Bloemfontein.
exif: {}