Major General Daniel Hermanus Pienaar (27 August 1893 – 19 December 1942) CB DSO & two bars was a South African World War II military commander.

"[5]: 7 During the early stages of Operation Crusader, the 5th South African Brigade was destroyed on 23 November 1941 at Sidi Rezegh.

Over the following week, Pienaar was first ordered to hold position at Taieb El Esem and later to move north to relieve the encircled 2nd New Zealand Division of XIII Corps.

Instead, Pienaar defied his superiors;[9] his brigade withdrew from Taieb El Esem and was then slow to move north to relieve the 2nd New Zealand Division, who were then partly overrun and forced to retreat.

approach of the British, which led to the decimation of the Commonwealth and Indian divisions that bore the brunt of so much of the fighting in the Desert War.

On 20 November 1942 he was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) "in recognition of the supreme gallantry and magnificent achievements of British and Dominion Troops and their Commanders in the present operations in the Middle East".

[16] The plane crashed 16 km (9.9 mi) from the airfield at Kisumu when a combination of pilot fatigue and an electrical fault in the undercarriage which could not be raised, resulted in a loss of speed and failure to maintain height and it flew into the water.

An infantry regiment, the exhibition hall at the South African National Museum of Military History and a suburb of his home town, Bloemfontein, were later named after him.

More than once he had hard words with higher authorities when he thought insufficient attention was being paid to the safety and comfort of the footsloggers who were bearing the brunt of the fight.

"[12]: 178 Numerous streets throughout South Africa have been named after him, including: Aliwal North, Port Elizabeth and Queenstown in the Eastern Cape; Nelspruit, Middelburg and Volksrust in Mpumalanga; Bloemfontein and Ladybrand in the Free State; Thaba Tshwane military base in Pretoria, Centurion East, Florida North and Florida Hills in Gauteng; Stellenbosch in the Western Cape;