Cape Town Highlanders Regiment The Cape Town Highlanders Regiment is a mechanised infantry regiment of the South African Army . As a reserve unit , it has a status roughly equivalent to that of a British Territorial Army or United States Army National Guard unit . History . Descendants of Scottish immigrants to South Africa raised the Cape Town Highlanders in 1885 . On 24 April of the same year , their services were accepted – since then , this date has always been celebrated as the regiment ' s official birthday . The regiment first saw active duty during the Bechuanaland Campaign that was fought in the Northern Cape in 1896 . At the outbreak of the Second Anglo - Boer War the regiment was again mobilised for active duty . During the war the regiment or elements thereof took part in several actions , including the relief of Kimberley . The Duke of Connaught and Strathearn became colonel - in - chief of the regiment in 1906 , and the regiment ' s name was thus changed to the " Duke of Connaught and Strathearn ' s Own Cape Town Highlanders " . When the regiment was embodied in the Citizen Force in 1913 , the title was changed to " 6th Infantry ( Duke of Connaught and Strathearn ' s Own Cape Town Highlanders ) " . During World War I the Cape Town Highlanders first fought against Germany in German South West Africa , but was subsequently combined with the Transvaal Scottish Regiment to form the 4th South African Infantry ( South African Scottish ) Battalion , part of the 1st South African Brigade . ( The South African Scottish , like various similar units , was formed by the South African government since a clause in the Defence Act of that time prohibited existing units from serving so far outside the country ' s borders . ) After fighting in the Senussi Campaign in North Africa the brigade was shipped to France , where it took part in many battles between 1916 and 1918 , including the famous Battle of Delville Wood . The title was changed again , in 1932 , to " Cape Town Highlanders ( Duke of Connaught and Strathearn ' s Own ) " . At the outbreak of World War II in 1939 the regiment was again mobilised . However , it did not fight in the first campaign of the South African Army in the war , the Abyssinian Campaign of 1940 to 1941 . However , in mid - 1941 , the regiment was briefly sent to Egypt to escort thousands of Italian prisoners of war to internment camps in South Africa ; it returned to Egypt in late June of the same year to join the newly arrived South African 1st Infantry Division in the Western Desert . The Cape Town Highlanders fought in all of the major battles of the Western Desert Campaign , including the Battle of El Alamein . Indeed , the regiment is one of only three in the world ( all of them South African ) to have not only the usual two Alamein battle honours – " Alamein Defence " and " El Alamein " – but a third , " Alamein Box " , which resulted from a separate action during the initial defence . This action played a significant role in halting Rommel ’ s advance on the tired and depleted British Eighth Army . During the regiment ' s subsequent deployment to Italy , the regiment was temporarily combined with South Africa ' s senior Scottish unit , the First City Regiment , to form the First City / Cape Town Highlanders . This combined unit fought from Battle of Monte Cassino to the Alps , culminating in the heroic capture at bayonet - point of the strategic peak of Monte Sole as part of the South African 6th Armoured Division . In 1947 , Queen Elizabeth ( later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother ) was appointed colonel - in - chief , and from 1948 until South Africa became a republic in 1961 , the regiment was the " Queen ' s Own Cape Town Highlanders " . The first significant post - war action of the Cape Town Highlanders took place in January 1976 , during Operation Savannah . This was the first large - scale incursion by the South African forces into Angola during the 23 - year - long " Border War " in South West Africa ( now Namibia ) . During the following years the regiment was mobilised several times , the last mobilisation occurring in October 1988 . During the late 1970s and early 1980s , South Africa ' s National Party government became increasingly concerned that the Regiment , whose rank and file were seen to be politically liberal and opposed to Apartheid , would not be prepared to suppress anti - Apartheid unrest internally in South Africa amongst local non - white township populations and white protestor groups in the Cape Town area . To gain control of the Regiment , the government flooded the unit ' s ranks with Afrikaners and other National Party supporters from outside of the main recruitment pool area ( Cape Peninsula ) , generally with the rank of NCO or above . This ethnic and political re - engineering of the unit totally altered the tone and culture of the Regiment which had formerly been based on English - speaking South Africans of Scottish or UK descent . The regiment was also mobilised in April 1994 as part of the efforts by the South African military to ensure a peaceful first fully democratic election . As a result of the subsequent abolition of conscription and the transformation of the South African Army , the Cape Town Highlanders Regiment returned to its original form of a volunteer regiment . In 2000 a contingent of the Cape Town Highlanders Regiment attended the Queen Mother ' s 100th birthday and paraded the regiment ' s Colour on Horse Guards Parade . The Drums and Pipes participated in a special parade centenary for the Queen Mother in Edinburgh , and carried on to participate in the Edinburgh Military Tattoo . With the death of the Queen Mother in 2002 , the regiment sent a contingent to participate in her funeral procession . The Drums and Pipes have since performed regularly at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo ( 2002 , 2004 , 2006 and 2009 ) . In 2006 , they were invited , together with the Queensland Police Pipe Band and 4 bands from the new Royal Regiment of Scotland to perform at Balmoral Castle for the Royal Family . The Band has also participated in the Basel Tattoo , Jinhae ( South Korea ) and at the Cape Town Tattoo , held in the Castle of Good Hope . The regiment is currently a mechanised infantry regiment in the SANDF and has sent members as part of the Peace keeping contingent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo ( DRC ) and Burundi . Battle honours . Awarded . The Cape Town Highlanders Regiment has the following battle honours on its regimental colours : The " Lost " colours . The South African Union Defence Act of 1914 prohibited the deployment of South African troops beyond the borders of the South Africa and its immediate neighbouring territories . To send troops to Europe to support the Commonwealth in World War I , Generals Botha and Smuts created the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force . However , because of the limitations of the Defence Act , they issued a General Order ( Order 672 of 1915 ) which stated that " The South African Overseas Expeditionary Force will be Imperial and have the status of regular British Troops . " " Status " was meant to imply administrative purposes , as Britain was paying for the maintenance of the force in the field for the sake of local political sensitivities . On 8 June 1916 the Adjutant General ' s office at Defence Head - Quarters issued a note stating : " . . . the force is raised locally for the purpose of assisting the Imperial Authorities . . . and it amounts to the Union Government having allowed the Imperial Authorities to recruit men in South Africa for this force . . . as it is certainly not raised under the Defence Act of the Union of South Africa , and this being the case , the Union Government can grant no commissions . Any such commissions will be of temporary nature and will lapse at the conclusion of hostilities . " As such , the below colours were awarded to the Unit , but because of the unit being an " Imperial Unit " at the stage of award , the right to bear the colours lapsed at the end of hostilities . The fifteen " missing " battle honours awarded for service in France and Flanders to the 4th South African Infantry ( South African Scottish ) battalion include some of the most famous in South Africa ’ s military history :