Episode 14 – The assault on Benguela and its airport

[Music] Welcome back to South African Border Wars with me, your host, Des Leutham. This is episode 14, the assault on the port city of Benguela. And it's airport, which is not going to be easy as you'll hear. As the South African task force Zulu approached the city, they continued mopping up towns as they went. A combido, a group of Portuguese police appeared, who were part of the interim government. They warned Komodan Jan Blatenbach, our battle group, brother that there was an MPLA unit in some of the combido houses. Part of the group was sent south to secure the approach to the town while the rest entered. Measured Duan Slubit was driving point in his camouflaged armoured car when a strange event took place. A faplac commander rushed out of a building, rafled in hand, and greeted Slubit like a long lost brother. He obviously thought Slubit was a Cuban commander, although the major was famous for his bright red hair and beard, which is not exactly the look of the typical Cuban. When Slubit said he was not in charge, the faplac commander then rushed to Komodan Jan Blatenbach's armoured car. Behind and shouted, "Komodante!" Blatenbach quietly relieved him of his AK-47, and the faplac officer was taken prisoner. The faplac group in the town could be seen emerging then and moments later. The SCD of Open Fire, when it became apparent, they were going to be attacked. 12 faplac troops were gunned down, the rest surrendered. It was now the 3rd of November, 1975, and the South Africans were running out of time. Remember the political leadership in Pretoria had stipulated that they had to stop all attacks by the 11th of November, as that was the day of the Angolan elections. National party leadership back in Pretoria were trying to convince friends and the organization of African unity or OAU to support their actions in South West Africa. That was a palm tree, but B.J. Forster, the Prime Minister had devoted much time and effort to diplomacy in Africa, and he was hoping that the carrot and stick approach would buy the South African some support in the OAU. They were hoping that their decision not to overrun Angola entirely would be seen in a positive light. Some of an odd hope, even if you're willing to entertain the basic idea. South Africa was already in apartheid pariah nation, and here was Foster, thinking that black African leaders would somehow be swayed by his magnanimity. So, task force Zulu continued north towards Benguela with the clock ticking. A few kilometers from the city, they came across what looked like a training base, which turned out to be the Cuban-controlled centre for revolutionary training. A remarkable 30,000 kilograms of ammunition was discovered there, including 14 crates of AK-47 runs, and 75 millimeter mortars, along with Cuban-made sleeping bags and training manuals. Zulu-Nade set its sights on the city, still rolling northwards, while the men chewed on the Romanian pickles and pork rolls from Holland, as well as the tinned Russian and Cuban food, followed up by cigars from Herbana, which were also found amongst the material. S.A.D. of Hedge, General Constantin Felion, had given orders that those who entered the city should be the Angolan's fighting with the South Africans, that the S.A.D. of itself should avoid entering the city limits. Benguela is one of the oldest cities in Angola, founded in 1617 as Shao Philippe de Benguela, who also gave his name to the main current that flows up the Atlantic coast of southern Africa. The all-important Benguela-Zaire railway line terminated at that port, and was used to transport copper and other minerals from Katanga. More than 50,000 people, mainly white Portuguese, lived in the town before 1975, but most of these had fled by October of the same year. Benguela, by all reports, was a beautiful coastal city, and the South Africans prepared for the worst as they approached the outskirts. The FNLA troops operating with them were traveling quickly, and as they drove into town, the companies were ready for deployment at any moment. But the city seemed empty, at least it appeared so. The fapler units had apparently withdrawn, but there were small companies of men scattered around the city, which would soon make life very difficult for the invading force. At the same time, S.A.D. of headquarters in Rundu had no idea that task force Zulu had made it all the way to this Atlantic Ocean city already, and Commandante Linford kept trying to radio the news. In his book As the Crow Flares, he explains how he decided to head up a nearby hill, which overlooked both the city and the ocean. He and Corporal Hendrick Woodenstein were trying to radio Rundu from the higher ground, perhaps that would make a difference, he thought. So they drove up in one of the landfills. At the top of the hill was an old wood and stone chapel. It reminded Linford of the buildings he had seen in Lisbon suburbs, complete with a wall with blue paving. He looked over the wall, and saw there was a sheer clip down to a road that ran into a village on the outskirts of Benguela. He wrote, "From where I purchased I could see the entire spectacle that made up much of Benguela, the distinctive Lusitanyan red tiled roofs, some imposing white painted administrative structures that would have done any African capital proud, the modest harbour, and finally the ocean that stretched away towards South America." He was enjoying both the view in the welcome fresh sea breeze, when suddenly around the bend in the road below him drove a truck full of fuplar soldiers. The Commandant opened fire from his perch down onto this vehicle, while his corporal were shouting at him from behind. "Hey Commandant, stop that bloody noise! I've got HQ on the air, but with that racket I can't hear what they're saying." Corporal Brunenstein obviously had no idea that there were bound to be joined by white Commandant Linford called a pretty grim-faced bunch of cutthroats armed to the teeth. The truck turned and made its escape, Linford's rounds striking the signs, and flying in amongst the fuplar troops. But Brunenstein had got the all-important message across to SA HQ in Rundu in South West Africa. He said, "We've been travelling due west since we lost made contact, have now reached a coast, the Atlantic, been doing some fighting with some chaps we met here, over." The reply from HQ in Rundu was joined out by the signs of heavy fighting inside the city, artillery and automatic weapons. Brunenstein and Linford didn't try and reply, but left aboard their 4-bar 4-and-drove quickly back down the hill. Fuplar units and the Cubans left behind in Benguela were now putting up a heavy fight. Colonel Farnedden, who led task for Zulu, had an important decision to make. The South Africans were suffering from poor intelligence gathering, and had been told that a ship by the name of Martana was sailing from a nearby town carrying 50 armed cars and 700 Cubans, and they were heading to Benguela. That turned out to be false information. In fact, the MPLA leadership had been in discussion with the Cubans, and it was agreed that both Benguela and Lobito, the other port a few miles away to the north, would be difficult to defend. They had decided to concentrate most of the heavy weapons in the capital of the Wander, awaiting the South Africans arrival. But the SDF did not know this, and Farnedden was making decisions virtually blind when it came to the enemy's intentions and their deployment. Now there was stiff defense being shown by Fuplar and Benguela, so Farnedden decided to go ahead with the plan agreed earlier, and deploy Alpha Company under Comodan Lindford's south of the city to take control of the civilian airport. Little did Farnedden know that he'd sent Alpha straight into one of the heaviest battles of operations of Anna. As they approached the airport at 3pm on the 4th of November, all hell broke loose. Fuplar and Cuban artillery stationed on hand ground to the north of the airfield spotted the South Africans in open fire. The sand soldiers of Alpha Battle Group would pin down and could not move, as the batteries of rockets artillery and mortars aimed at their position were substantial. The main weapon that the South Africans feared the most was the Red Armissa, which I mentioned before. They were usually arranged in batteries of up to 40 fired simultaneously, a technique that the Russians had used against the Germans in the Second World War. They are loud and intense, and I've experienced these going off around me. They make a high pitched streak as they fly overhead, and the concomitant explosion is air-splittingly loud. Remember these missiles were 126mm in size, significant ordinances. These must not be confused with the other famous Red Eye named later by NATO, American Shoulder fired man, portable air defense system or man pads. I'll explain now why the South Africans came to give the Russian weapons the name Red Eye. Alpha Battle Group were also being attacked by heavy machine gun fire from inside the nearby Kimbo, or Scottacamp, a shantytown which had grown outside the airport. This was not looking good for the South Africans. It was vital to control the airport as a strategic position. Any reinforcements and material that was urgently needed by the defenders would have arrived there, along with the port that had already fallen. Alpha Battle Group arrived at the airport building and took control of the ground floor. The first floor was being peppered by machine gun fire and mortars, so it was safer downstairs. Commandant Linford surveyed the high ground and the town from this ground floor and realized they were in a tough predicament. He recognized that the machine gun fire was coming from the shantytown. The remnants of Fapler, including those troops he'd fired on from the hill, were now inside their jumble of corrugated iron shelters, and from there they were keeping up and intense fire. Fapler troops tried to storm the airport, but the sand troops with Linford repulsed these attacks, leaving dozens of bodies lying across the African landscape. Fapler resulted to trying to bomb Alpha Battle Group into submission. Commandant Linford took stock of his position. He knew that Fapler was well armed. They had dozens of RPG 7s and RPG 2s, along with AK-47s. This was Moscow's contribution to the Angolan Bush War, hardware that was being exported across the world to Central America, Asia, and Africa in massive numbers. The Americans were busy at the same time exporting their own weapons to the same regions, along with a French the British, the East Europeans, and the Chinese. It was a time of violence, folks, everyone had an automatic weapon, and a reason to want to use it. From El Salvador to Afghanistan to the Philippines, the Cold War was exacting its price, and Commandant Linford and his sand troops, along with the immediate enemy Fuplar, were beneficiaries of this intractable war. Included in the list of arms facing the SEDF at this airport, really 120mm BM-21 grad Soviet rockets, and Linford recognised when they were being fired by the glowing red eye in the centre of the missile, thus christening the feared armament. The challenge for Linford right now was that he had nothing to throw back at Fuplar. When operations of Anna was launched, the SEDF was armed essentially with light weapons, and it was the experience of fighting Angolan forces armed with heavy weapons that was to lead to a rapid and successful upgrade of the SED defence force. The shock of facing these 120mm rockets, and all the SEDF could do is bury their heads behind the nearest wall, was an experience that the soldiers did not want to repeat. The answer to the grad was the Valkyrie, a multiple rocket launcher with 24 tubes and fired 127mm or 5 inch projectiles. That was actually a re-engineered version of the Soviet 122mm. Back in 1975 though, Linford's men had a few World War II Arab bazookas, which they used to fire back at Fuplar, but these were hardly an effective response. After every Fuplar volley, the building was threatened, the missiles and shells were peppering the structure, although it was in a bad place. The men were lying close to the sheet-glass windows of the airport boarding area, and risk being cut to pieces by the flying glass, and that meant they needed to move position. It was now an hour of fighting, and the SEDF were pinned down. A mortar duel began between the SEDF 82mm mortar section and Fuplar and Cuban 122mm rockets, each moving quickly to avoid being targeted by the other. Command on Linford decided to try and outflank the Fuplar attackers, and crawl back to his Land Rover with his corporal following nervously. They took off down the runway, heading for a small patch of trees on the far side at full speed. But the Fuplar gun is up here to be waiting for justice maneuver, and began to focus their mortars and missiles on the Land Rover, or Gary, as they known in the SEDF, now zig-zagging along the runway. There's only a few moments later that one of these rockets exploded close to the vehicle, the shock knocking both men senseless. Seconds later they were gained consciousness and managed to make it to a ditch at the side of the runway, out of direct view of the Fuplar artillery. However, this artillery unit was well trained, and had seemingly ranged this very position, reaching from 122mm rockets to their mortars, which began to creep closer and closer to where they had taken up their new position. But help was at hand, because across the runway, Alpha Group's mortars section was not able to target the red eyes, after spotting the rising dust every time they were fired. At the same time, Bravo Group's four companies led by two armored cars, swept westwards to outflank the machine gunners, hiding in the shanty-time. And when Undinford managed to make his way to the safety with the corporal, their ears buzzing from the close call. The South Africans eventually drove off the Fuplar artillery and machine gunnests. At the same time, intermittent fighting in the town saw the SEDF inextrably taking control of the port and the suburbs over the next 24 hours. Fuplar had lost dozens of men, the South Africans, had a few men on the wounded list, but considering the weight of ordinances fired at them, they were almost unscathed. Torn broke on the 6th of November, and in Benguela, fighting continued. At around 9am, a Dakota supply plan began circling Benguela Airport. Command Undinford was dialed trying to deal with the ringing in his ears, caused by the near-miss, and the aircraft circling wasn't helping the matter. The operations officer standing nearby said he didn't know whose plane was none rescheduled. They immediately thought it must be an MPLA plan with suppliers for Fuplar, so ordered Alpha Battle Group to open fire on the Dakota with the automatic weapons. The troops let rip with everything they had. Unfortunately, the South Africans were firing at their own Suplar plane. In what must truly rank as an example of exemplary courage under fire, the pilot lined the plane up to land despite the rounds thudding into his aircraft? Undinford then ordered to cease fire, deciding that if the plane was landing, they could take control of the aircraft intact. The Dakota landed in Julie's text to the apron, only then did the air crew realise they'd landed in the middle of a fire fight, and tasked for Zulu realised they'd almost shut down their own Suplar aircraft. It was Julie unloaded, and the pilot gunned the engines and took off once more heading back to the safety of South West Africa. It was decided then that Battle Group Bravo should clear the Shantytan area, straitling much of the approach to the airport, while Alpha would provide covering fire. After that insured the Shantyt area was clear, Alpha would move forward and sweep the city CBD. Fuplar commanders had also decided it was prudent to leave, and within an hour both the Shantytan and the city itself had been taken by the SEDF with surviving Fuplar and Cuban units withdrawing. The SED defence forces now set to continue its drive towards Lobito Bay. Unite companies arrived to take over the city of Manguela, and that night officers and some of the men of Tosk for Zulu went into town which was somehow showing signs of life. In an incongruous moment locals and some of these men sat together at bars and restaurants that night, which miraculously sprang back into action. It was only hours after the battle for the city, and already people were trying to get on with their lives. The next phase of Operation Savannah would see Foxbat to the east, as well as two other battlegroups X-ray and Yankee feature in the drive to secure the south of Manguela. We'll hear more about them next episode. Please rate the podcast on iTunes if you have the inclination. You can head off to the website abwarpodcast.com or email any comments or messages from there, and you can also direct message me on Twitter @dezlaven. Until next, goodbye. [Music]