The Vrystaatse Artillerie Regiment (Afrikaans

Afrikaans

Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...

 for Free State

Orange Free State

The Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...

 Artillery Regiment) is an artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

 regiment

Regiment

A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...

 of the South African Army

South African Army

The South African Army is the army of South Africa, first formed after the Union of South Africa was created in 1910.The South African military evolved within the tradition of frontier warfare fought by commando forces, reinforced by the Afrikaners' historical distrust of large standing armies...

. As a reserve unit, it has a status roughly equivalent to that of a British Territorial Army or United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Army National Guard

Army National Guard

Established under Title 10 and Title 32 of the U.S. Code, the Army National Guard is part of the National Guard and is divided up into subordinate units stationed in each of the 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia operating under their respective governors...

 unit. It is part of the South African Army Artillery Formation

South African Army Artillery Formation

The South African Army Artillery Formation is the controlling entity of all South African Army artillery units.-Regular units:* Artillery Formation Headquarters* School of Artillery* 4 Artillery Regiment...

.

History

In 1854 the Free-State became an independent Republic. The British forces withdrew, leaving behind four 9-pounder garrison guns in the Queen's Fort in Bloemfontein. This was for many years the only ordinance the Free State Republic had. The Free State Artillery Corps was founded in 1864 and housed in Queen's Fort. By the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War, the corps was commanded by Major FW Albrecht. The unit served on the Western front, Natal front and into the Geurilla phase of the War in 1902.

In 1922 3 Permant Battery was formed. This unit was split up on 1 July 1926 into two units namely 4 Burgher Battery and 5 Burgher Battery. In 1932 these two were renamed 1 Oranje-Vrystaat Veldartillerie and 2 Oranje Vrystaat Veldartillerie.

On 1 February 1940 these units were joined as 12th Field Battery and did sterling service in Egypt. The took heavy casualties at Tobruk and El-Alamein.

on 18 April 1946 the unit was renamed 6 Field Artillery Regiment.Was based at Tempe, Bloemfontein, but relocated to Kroonstad in 2007.