Battle For Angola by Al J. Venter

Author:Al J. Venter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The End of the Cold War in Africa c 1975-89
Publisher: Helion & Company
Published: 2019-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

Perry’s assessment of the South West African People’s Organisation – SWAPO – is instructive. As he says, SWAPO’s intent was to use its guerrilla forces to reshape Namibia in the image of Angola, using that country as a base of operations.

SWAPO cadres operated mostly small, compact units, using terror tactics to achieve their aims, much the same as ZANLA and ZIPRA did during the Rhodesian War. It was the battalion’s task to hunt down these foreign-based insurgents and for that the unit used its seasoned trackers to follow spoor before choosing the time and place to attack.

32 trackers knew the African bush better than most, the majority having been raised in the wild and customarily, they led ambush teams to encampments where many of the guerrillas were killed as they slept.

One of the operational strengths of 32 Battalion – and something that it developed into something of a fine art – was the ability of its small teams to infiltrate SWAPO bases without being spotted. For this reason, it was standard procedure for white operators in the field to cover their exposed parts of skin, the face especially, with a cream appropriately named Black is Beautiful. With time, these compact ‘sticks’ would become an enormous asset in gathering intelligence, to the extent that 32 reconnaissance leaders – some of whom had previously served in the Rhodesian Army – became legends in their own right. 32 Battalion soon became proficient at tracking much larger groups of guerrillas, having first established the lay of the land and chosen the time, manner and place for these attacks to take place.

The unit was excellent on improvisation, especially while Commandant Deon Ferreira ran the show. They experimented with the concept of placing a patrol well ahead of the main body of SADF troops in the hopes of running into the enemy, which happened often enough. The ploy then would then be to supposedly flee in total disarray in the direction of the main force. SWAPO, always eager to score points, would follow into the jaws of a well-prepared ambush.

As one unknown observer noted, this eventually led to the formation of a Reconnaissance Wing with training taking place under the legendary Staff Sergeant ‘Blue’ Kelly who, together with Ron Gregory, arrived towards the end of 1977 at a base situated at Omauni. Sergeant Major Pep Van Zyl initially helped with the selection and Kelly later moved on to Special Forces where he apparently had a distinguished career.

The observer goes on:

Training was based on that employed by South Africa’s Reconnaissance Regiment, with the emphasis on small unit tactics. A typical recce team would consist of three to five men, all dressed in SWAPO kit and armed with Eastern Bloc squad weapons such as PKM and RPD machine guns. Effectively, this would give them an edge in fire-power to compensate for their lack of numbers.

There was special emphasis on demolitions, tracking, advanced medical aid, bush craft, navigation, fire control and small boat handling, canoeing especially. Every one of them would be small arms experts and jump qualified.

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