Question on a headdress

[Ozzy]

My friend has presented me beret with an emblem. At the end of 70-s' in the beginning of 80-s', he served as the Soviet military adviser in Angola. This is beret by he has picked up near Luanda in one of padded armoured cars of South-African Army. It would be desirable to find out, what unit carried such headdress. Also, it would be interesting, what else badges wear with it beret.

Here is how this emblem looks.


http://www.photohost.ru/pictures/53327.jpg

[Chet Mystery]

The latin reads:

Neither rashly nor timidly

[baboon6]

I'll try and find out for you... the guys at the War Museum here should know.

[Beer Monster]

I may have some info. It may below to "Springs Regiment" of the South African Infantry Corps (Citizen Force)?

I've never heard of them but in this article (http://www.geocities.com/sadfbook/2cobus.htm) the guy makes refernece to:-

"Then I got this letter saying that I was allocated to Springs Regiment"

"They gave us this Springs regimental badge which is a swan. I think the motto is `Nic te mere, nic te mede', meaning 'Not timid, not bold.'"

It does appear on Regiments.org (http://www.regiments.org/regiments/southafrica/lists/sa1980.htm) under the SA Infantry Corps (Citizen Force) list.

I'll see what else I can find ....

[baboon6]

Good work! And the beret is green(I orginally thought it was black), which means it is SA Infantry Corps.

[baboon6]

It definitely is Regiment Springs; I received an e-mail confirming this from the War Museum today.

[colonel]

Yes, Springs Regt it is. It would be interesting to hear how the beret ended up in Luanda, Angola as our troops in the operational area in those days did not generally wear their unit berets there but rather the standard brown bush hat.

Ozzy, ask your friend for some more information on the how things were for the Soviet advisors in Angola during the 70's/80's. There has never been any info published on the conditions of the 'other side' during the Angolan campaign and I would be keen to hear more.