Talk:South African military ranks

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So far as I know, Jan Smuts was a field marshal in the British Army, not in the Union Defence Forces - hence my original note that the rank was never used. Dirk L

Actually, there seems to be controversy over whether Smuts held the rank in the British Army alone or within both the British and South African Armies. That's always the problem with ranks awarded in Imperial days. The British and Imperial Armed Forces continually swapped officers and effectively merged together. I have read that Smuts was acknowledged as an FM by the South African government as well. -- Necrothesp 13:02, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)