Isaac Pierre de Villiers
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Major-General Isaac Pierre de Villiers CB MC (1898-1967) was a South African military commander and police official. Originally an attorney by profession, he served in World War I. In 1928, he was appointed a lieutenant colonel in the South African Police, later succeeding to the post of Commissioner.
Maj Gen De Villiers volunteered for military service in World War II, and served as General Officer Commanding 2nd South African Infantry Division from 1940 to 1942. He trained the division, which incorporated a police battalion, and commanded them in internal security operations at the beginning of the war, then commanded the division in North Africa in 1941 and 1942. During this campaign units under his command, including New Zealand cavalry[1], were responsible for the capture of Bardia[2], but many of the South African division's personnel were taken prisoner of war at Tobruk. From 1942 to 1945, he commanded the Coastal Area Command, responsible for the coastal defence of South Africa.
[edit] Reference
Militaria - Official Professional Journal of the SADF (Vol 12/2: 1982)
- Black and Blue: Policing in South Africa, by John D. Brewer, 1994, Oxford University Press
- Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, 9 September 1942
