This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "School of Artillery" South Africa – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(January 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

School of Artillery
SANDF School of Artillery Emblem
Active	1934 – current
Country	South Africa
Branch	South African Army
Type	Corps school
Role	Artillery training school
Part of	South African Army Artillery Formation
Garrison/HQ	Potchefstroom, North West province26°40′16″S27°04′28″E / 26.67099°S 27.07446°E /-26.67099; 27.07446
Nickname	"Artskool"
Patron	St Barbara
Mottos	Per Scientiam Vires (Strength through Science)
Colors	Oxford blue and Postal Red
Commanders
Current commander	Col Tiger Johnson
Insignia
Collar Badge	Bursting grenade with seven flames
Beret Colour	Oxford Blue
Artillery Battery Emblems
Artillery Beret Bar circa 1992

TheSchool of Artillery is theSouth African Army's specialized artillery training school

Before the establishment of a South African artillery school in 1934^[1] there were a number of earlier artillery training establishments. The first was formed at the Cape in August 1786 with Lt.Louis-Michel Thibault, later better known as an architect, as head of the ‘Militaire School’. It did not operate for long.

Almost a hundred years later an artillery school was proposed by Capt W E Giles,Royal Artillery, in a document submitted to the Cape Colonial Government in March 1880. It was not accepted.

On 14 September 1912 when the five regiments of the SA Mounted Rifles were about to be established, a School of Gunnery was opened at Auckland Park,Johannesburg, in the lines of theTransvaal Horse Artillery. Its purpose was to train officers and NCO’s for the first three permanent batteries that were to be established. The school closed down when war broke out in 1914 after only two courses had been completed.

The next artillery training institution was the Artillery Training Depot, established at Wynberg Camp, Cape Town, in August 1915 to train the artillery batteries that fought inEast Africa, and later inPalestine.

A corps of South African Artillery was established by proclamation on 1 September 1934 to incorporate all the Permanent andCitizen Force units and on 7 September the two batteries lost their battery status and were formed into an Artillery Training Depot, armed with 4.5 inch howitzers, 18-pdrs and 3.7 inch howitzers.

The Depot staff was responsible for the training of all artillery recruits and all artillery units, exceptCape Field Artillery (CFA), which was the responsibility of theCape Command Training Depot.

By August 1935 the Artillery Training Depot was organized as a Depot Headquarters with three batteries. And on 24 October 1936 the title was altered to that of ‘Artillery School’. War was declared on 6 September 1939 and with no suitable area nearPretoria for gunnery practice, the School moved toPotchefstroom.

During the time the School was at Potchefstroom it underwent various changes of designation and became a unit of theCitizen Force when its title was altered toArtillery and Armoured Corps Training School (V), South African Artillery from 1 January 1944.

When the war was over it was re-established on 14 June 1946 as a Permanent Force unit known as theSchool of Artillery and Armour. It was housed in the main camp but when4 Field Training Regiment was formed in 1953 the School moved to the formerSA Air Force base below Hospital Hill.

Armour training was moved toBloemfontein in 1964, and the school became a separate unit known simply as theSchool of Artillery on 1 February 1964, a name it has since retained.^[2]

It was awarded the freedom ofPotchefstroom on 10 March 1978.^{[citation needed]}

The School conducts the following training:

Basic Instruction which includes: drill, safety, operation of muzzle loading, procedures for each position of a crew. Students are provided with knowledge of the various artillery systems, knowledge in the areas of observed fire, fire direction, and to manage maintenance.

Advanced Instruction includes: drill, safety, and operation up to battery level. Students are provided with the knowledge of manoeuvre force, target acquisition, survey, and counter-fire. Also included are typical field gunnery problems, fire direction, observed fire, and firing battery operations.

Officers are trained to manage fire direction operations, target acquisitioning, and deployment, in support management, maintenance and supply procedures, as well as communications/electronics. Officers may be eventually utilised as commanders, fire support officers, or fire direction officers.

Instructors Training: Students may also become Instructors in their own right after a period of time in the Formation.

The following subdivisions of the School of Artillery are headed by Chief Instructors or SO1 level senior officers at the rank of lieutenant colonel with the exception of Support Wing which is headed by major:

• Gunnery Wing (officers training)
• Regimental Training Wing (other ranks training)
• Training and Evaluation Wing (overall training supervisor and quality assurance)
• Management and Second in Command (staff functions including personnel, logistics, finance)
• Support Wing (security, intelligence, quartermaster, base maintenance, chaplaincy, OHS and RHQ)

Variant	Description	Comment	Image
G1 Howitzer	25 pounder, high explosive, anti tank and smoke shells	United Kingdom design
G2 Howitzer	5.5 inch medium gun, high explosive	United Kingdom design
G4 Howitzer	155mm, high explosive	Israel design, stopgap until the G5 cannon entered service
G5 Howitzer	155mm, high explosive, Samil 100 Gun tractor	South Africa design
G6 Howitzer	155mm, high explosive, Self driven	South Africa design

Variant	Description	Comment	Image
Valkiri MRLS	127mm rocket MLRS	South Africa design Unimog chassis, pre fragmented warhead, 24 launch tubes
Bateleur MRLS	127mm rocket MLRS	South Africa design Kwevoel chassis, pre fragmented warhead, 40 launch tubes

Variant	Description	Comment	Image
Vulture UAV	Vulture unmanned aerial vehicle	South Africa design. Used for target acquisition, fall-of-shot detection and fire correction in support of Towed and Self Propelled Gun Howitzer Systems.[3]

The prestigiousMaster Gunner award has been conferred on a large number of people serving at the School. This list includes at least two Commanding Officers, nine Officer Instructors (OI), four in the post ofSO1 Training & Evaluation, one Troop Commander, three second-in-commands (2IC) and four Battery Commanders.

Master Gunner

Master Gunner Badge (Qualification and Decoration) Black on Thatch beige, Embossed.Crossed gun barrels

Proficiency badges

General of the Gunners (Post) Black on Thatch beige, Embossed.Crossed gun barrels with grenade

Artillery No 1 (Qualification) Black on Thatch beige, Embossed.Gun image

• SA Gunners' Association

• Artillery units and formations of South Africa
• Army training units and formations
• Military education and training in South Africa
• Military units and formations in Potchefstroom
• Military units and formations established in 1934
• Educational institutions established in 1934
• 1934 establishments in South Africa

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles needing additional references from January 2015
• All articles needing additional references
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from April 2015
• Use dmy dates from June 2017