Episode 18 – The Battle of Ebo - the first major defeat for the SADF during Operation Savannah

Welcome back to the South African Border Wars podcast with me, your host, Dez Latham. This is episode 18, and folks back home were in for a bit of a shock. The invasion of Angola by the SADF during Operation Savannah had been an exercise in support of both UNITA and the FNLA, but the government had said that South Africans were merely technical advisors. The reality was hundreds of SADF troops were directly involved in the fighting and had fought all the way to south of the capital, Luanda. This was almost a thousand kilometers inside Angola. As we heard last episode, by the end of November, a group of liaison officers and artillery had been evacuated by ship from Ambrisette, north of the FNLA headquarters at Ambris. The Nationalist Party government had been relying on the MPLA backed by Cuba and the Soviet Union fighting a war on two fronts, both in the north and the south. But the collapse of the FNLA in the north, which Pretoria still had not fully grasped, was going to throw the strategy into some chaos. The withdrawal of the CIA and a Congress decision coming in December, which would ban further military support, put pay to the overall grand strategy. And the grand strategy was to weaken the MPLA until they were forced to the negotiation table, thereby protecting Southwest Africa, which was the main reason why the SADF went into Angola in the first place. In mid-November, the SADF made two major changes. They had withdrawn Task Force Zulu Commander Colonel van Eerden and Task Force Foxpats Commandant Eddie Webb and had them replaced. The new Task Force 101, as it was known, would be led by Major General van Deventer, and he had seven orders. First, he should continue assisting UNITA in the south and the FNLA in the north. The problem, as I explained, was that Holden Roboto's FNLA was a spent force. Second, van Deventer was told to ensure control over the area up to the Kwanzaa River, just south of the capital. His third task was to ensure protection of the strategically important Benguela railway line. Fourthly, that he should flush out FAPTA troops at places behind the South African line, such as Sorima, but there were many other towns and regions where FAPTA continued to lurk. Major General van Deventer's fifth task was to secure the safety of SADF soldiers and their equipment deep inside Angola, and then ensure they could withdraw completely. Then he was called on to remove all SWAPO members along both sides of the Angolan-South West African border. And if all this wasn't enough, his seventh task was to destroy all electricity services to Luanda. The SADF and UNITA had already damaged much of the infrastructure, including water and power services, to the capital, but not all. Van Deventer was restricted to the use of no more than 2,500 SADF soldiers. The first task was to ensure the security of the city and the roads of Luanda. The second task was to ensure the security of the city and the roads of Luanda. But the main order was really defensive: organize an orderly and secret withdrawal of the SADF from Angola. Now, of course, this was just not going to be easy, because the Cubans and the MPLA's armed wing FAPLA had begun to move south. The South Africans had been assessing the chances of taking Luanda and still believed it was possible, but it would mean a force of 1,500, and casualties would probably top 40 percent. That just wasn't acceptable politically, so Luanda pretty much was out of the plan. Some changes to the personnel of Task Force Foxbat were planned. Captain Holm now led Battle Group Alpha, including 88mm mortar sections. There was also an armoured car squadron commanded by Lieutenant Durand, which was to move out of Sela in central Angola and then head northwest towards Luanda. They were joined by two infantry companies, one from UNITA and the other FNLA. The Battle Group arrived at Ebou at 0900 on the morning of Sunday 23rd November for a coming fight that was to be a real test of character for the South Africans. And in a sign of the increasingly complex operation, a Cessna 185 spotter plane was available to assist the men on the ground and the artillery. So, as I said, the Battle Group arrived in Ebou early on Sunday morning, but the town was quiet. There were no residents anywhere in sight. The usual tactic was to fire a few rounds from the Irland, and artillery into enemy-held towns to assess whether they were prepared to defend it. Captain Holm duly ordered the rounds fired, and there was no response, so Alpha entered Ebou, which was a well-laid-out town featuring four sets of parallel streets and a main road with businesses. The Cubans, meanwhile, and FAPLA, had moved into a well-defended area to the northeast of Ebou, along the road to Dunumbiri. The South Africans were aware the enemy was located somewhere in that vicinity, but had no idea just how well set up the force was. Entrenched, with its heavy weapons ranged on the approach road to a vital bridge. Secondly, Captain Holm may have underestimated how effective the long-range Cuban artillery could be, and thought his 88mm mortars would account for any defensive position. As we'll see, he was wrong. The defending FAPLA and Cuban artillery forces were equipped with BM-21 batteries, a 76mm fuel gun, and several anti-tank units as well as mortars, and these men were well-trained. SA-DF REFERENCES: SA-DF recon teams had spotted the artillery and the airline to armoured vehicles were sent to probe a bridge and also to look for an alternative crossing over the Mombasa River. But the recon teams had not seen the carefully hidden trenches dug around 50 yards off the main road in front of the artillery which would later turn out to be staffed with Russians and Cubans as well as FAPLA. Worse, heavy rains had turned the roads and the surrounding land into a quagmire. Further complicating this assault was the fact that there were two high hills overlooking the road and there were four connecting roads which joined the main route north making it even more difficult to plan an approach. As the airline armoured cars moved out of Ebu, an RPG-7 warning shot was fired by a FAPLA unit based on one of these hills called Dondo. The armoured cars ground to a halt out of sight and called in their air support. The Cessna flew overhead and reported that two vehicles were seen hurrying away from the hills so the order to advance was given once more. In front of the FAPLA positions was a jumble of granite copies which the first airline passed. Lieutenant J.W. Swanepoel was in this vehicle and decided to check out what lay off the road so he turned into the felt. His airline immediately bogged down and he had to be winched out. This should have been a warning but it wasn't heeded. The convoy continued moving slowly along the road for another three and a half kilometres when they came upon a secondary road on the right. A troop of airlines under Lieutenant Swanepoel were ordered to turn onto this road which climbed to higher ground so that they could take a look at what lay in wait for the north. The Cessna continued circling overhead. A second group of armoured cars under command of Lieutenant J.D. Toye began moving slowly towards the bridge over the Mabasa River. At the same time Lieutenant Swanepoel ordered his airlines to form a two-up or form up in two groups in other words and then drove into the felt parallel and to the east of D. Toye's troop which continued along the road. But the mud caught him out and two of Swanepoel's leading airlines bogged down again. The Cessna then spotted defences around the bridge and radioed another warning suggesting that there could be FAPTA troops waiting for the South Africans. D. Toye arrived at the bridge which was close to another secondary road that joined to the right. He then reported "I am at the bridge! There is nothing on the bridge! I am going in!" At that very moment his airline was hit by a Russian 76mm armour-piercing round that passed straight through the vehicle like it was butter. The driver Neil Lombard was killed instantly and the airline now out of control rolled into the Mabasa River. where it ended up on its side. D. Toye managed to close the hatch and he and the other soldiers were now lying inside the airline. Through the ports they could see a 122mm rocket launcher a few meters away. He tried radioing the position to his artillery but the airline antenna had snapped. Then all hell broke loose. Snipers opened up on the vehicles and the Cuban long-range artillery began to pepper the South African armoured cars that were still on the road. The Cubans had sighted the entire road all the way from the Mabasa River back to the Kopis almost 3km away and this area turned into a death zone. Back in Ebu, the FNLA and UNITA troops dived for cover as the town came under fire as well. For the first time in this entire operation, South Africans, UNITA and the FNLA were to fight together against the MPLA. A disaster was looming for the airlines that were leading the convoy. They were now exposed to various forms of artillery, rockets and mortars. A second airline was hit and knocked out but all three men inside, Lance Corporal P.C. van Ellevier, Aris Gibbon and W.A. Swart managed to wriggle out and find shelter in a nearby stream. It flowed into the Mabasa River and was deep enough to hide them from the snipers. 20 meters away the FAPL units were firing constantly at the airlines and the infantry that brought up the rear. Van Ellevier, Gibson and Swart were in for a very long day as you're going to hear. A third airline was hit and Corporal G. Buerta in command of the FAPL units was shot down. A second airline was hit and Corporal G. A fourth airline was hit and Corporal G. knew they had to try and escape the ambush. He also realized that the FAPL rocket launchers were not firing on him because he was so close to the FAPL attackers who would be killed in the explosion. A fourth airline under command of Captain Hugo then roared up to help but was also immediately hit. Hugo though managed to reverse at high speed, his airline still functioning as the round had hit his cannon. A fifth airline then tried to save Buerta but only one of his men managed to make it across to the car under heavy fire. The other remained isolated inside the armored car. It was chaos. At this point, seven airline armored vehicles had been knocked out or were too severely damaged to continue the attack. Three more were on their way. Would they get there in time or would the entire troop be wiped out? This was going to be close. The all-important eye in the sky now, the Cessna 185, was running low on fuel and had to return to Sela 70km away. Captain Holm back in Ebu had a big problem. Seven of his vital armoured cars were now in a killing zone along with a group of FNLA infantry that had joined in support. These men were lying in open positions and taking heavy fire from the Cuban and FAPLA artillery. He radioed for his artillery and mortar sections to lay down defensive fire but they were too far from the FAPLA positions. The South Africans realised that their artillery was limited. They did not have medium and long range weapons. Finally, reconnaissance groups located the FAPLA artillery positions. There were four 122mm rockets around 45m from the main road and about half a kilometre away across the Mabasa River Bridge. The recon unit reported that there were also about a dozen white men fighting the FAPLA. Later it was found that they were Russians. The FAPLA units were heavily armed apart from the artillery. They also had RPG-7s and AKs and continued peppering the armoured cars and prone FNLA infantry. Captain Holm had to get his artillery and mortar sections closer and ordered them to advance to the corpies in front of the bridge. Captain Harris, who commanded two FNLA platoons, began moving forward but they were immediately hit by a salvo of 122mm rockets. Staff Sergeant A.J. Benson was killed instantly and another Staff Sergeant, Stinnekamp, was critically wounded. The shrapnel had hit him in the head, the back and his leg. Stinnekamp had spent two months fighting in South Africa. Stinnekamp was fighting inside Angola as part of Alpha Battle Group. Now his war was over. Another group of UNITA soldiers, led by Lieutenant Van Niekerk, was also caught in the second FAPLA barrage. Seven UNITA mortar section troops were killed outright, 19 wounded. This was turning into a disaster. One of the FNLA wounded was the Portuguese officer commanding Almirindo Mourão da Costa, who had been hit five times in his left leg with shrapnel. He managed to crawl two kilometres, dragging his now useless leg, while his two eyes were on the ground. while his two eyes were on the ground, dragging his now useless leg, while his two eyes were on the ground, while his two eyes were on the ground, dragging his now useless leg, while his two eyes see tried to mobilize the FNLA troops, while his two eyes see tried to mobilize the FNLA troops, but they were caught in the open, and by the time the barrage ended, 27 were dead. Captain Harris and his NCO, Corporal André Diedrichs, managed to crawl out of the death zone, along with some of the FNLA troops, and it took them more than an hour to retreat the kilometre to safety. The FAPLA troops were arraigned along the top of hills along the road, and kept firing on the retreating South Africans and FNLA soldiers with AKs and RPGs. An SADF mortar section, led by Lt. Van Niekerk and Adjutant Officer Jeff Berger, and one of the armoured car privates, crawled towards the stricken Irlands near the bridge. One of the Irland troops jumped out of Swanepoel's damaged armoured car and tried to run back along the road, but was shot in the stomach by a sniper. Two others leapt from the Irland and dragged him out of the direct line of fire. He was eventually cazevacked to Ibu for treatment. By now, the medical orderlies were completely overwhelmed. Some of the wounded were moved to a small town called Tungadu. The soldiers were transported to a small town called Tungadu, seven kilometres further south along the main road, where Drs. Boerta and Haynes stabilized the cases before they were transported back to Cella. In two hours, four South Africans had been killed, along with at least 50 FNLA and UNITA troops. Seven armoured cars were out of action. The SADF artillery was trying to put up resistance, but their guns were out of range and failed to hit the poplar. Captain Holmes decided he would wait for Battle Group Bravo to catch up before they would make an attempt at retrieving the armoured cars. They began loading up the ammunition and other equipment in case the enemy followed up their successes with a direct assault. In the death zone, Lieutenant Jan Alberts and his damaged airline spotted a 76mm gun manned by Russians and opened fire. The artillery team melted away into the bush. Two SADF men who had been stuck in an airline were then quickly evacuated. A second later, the mortar section, which had been firing away, came under direct attack once more and Adjutant Officer Berger withdrew his team. Lieutenant van Niekerk back at Eerbo was desperately trying to coordinate matters. He wanted to extricate his men and leapt aboard a Honda motorcycle with a plan to ride directly back into the death zone. back into the death zone. Dust and smoke swirled as the men back at Ebu were trying to load spare ammunition into a truck. Just then a 122 millimeter round landed almost on top of Captain Holm, killing him instantly and a Corporal Taliat. Van Niekerk was knocked off the bike and lay semi-conscious bleeding from shrapnel in his back, his legs and his arms. Another officer, Lieutenant Creel, was hit in the neck and was in a serious condition. By now the artillery under Major Fenter had arrived at the nearby landing strip and opened fire on Fapla. Above them the Cessna 185 had returned but the artillery spotter aboard was airsick and began to provide incorrect coordinates. The artillery was firing far off target. The pilot broke with orders and then began circling the position. Finally the South African mortars were arranged correctly and began hitting the Fapla mortar sections. There was a brief lull in the enemy barrage and Captain Free of the airline troop took stock. He was aghast. There were now five armored cars still missing of the seven. Eventually he managed to ascertain the whereabouts of all except for two. Lieutenant Dutoise Ellant still lay on its side in the Mabasa River while the second commanded by Lance Corporal Pete van Elleveer was out of sight on the road but behind a bend. Free decided to leave these two for now. He had no idea where the six men from these two armored cars were. Had they been captured? By now 60 men were listed as dead or missing from the SADF The South Africans decided to withdraw from Evo leaving smoldering wrecks and some of the dead that could not be reached with the Fapla snipers continuing to let loose whenever anything moved. As the South Africans retreated they kept the airline barrels pointing backwards down the road in case the Cubans, Russians or Fapla followed. Later back at Sela they came across Commandant Breitenbach and Battle Group Bravo and the men of Task Group Foxbat who'd been fighting in Angola since October. Four South Africans were known to be dead. Eleven others were wounded, three critically. The big shock for all was that the commander Captain Holm had perished in the rocket attack at Evo. The SADF has a history of senior officers fighting at the front and now one had paid for this courage with his life. And there was more bad news. The crew of two of the armed cars were still listed as missing. Unbeknownst to the SADF HQ five of them were still very much alive. Lieutenant Johan de Toij and Corporal Jakhals van der Merwe had remained inside the Eland lying in the river with the body of their dead comrade Neil Lombard. Van der Merwe though had been terribly burned by leaking petrol across his lower body but was forced to remain silent. Mercifully at 1600 hours the artillery and gunfire stopped. Still no enemy appeared, but they were aware the Eland was in full view of the Fappler troops on a hill above the river. At 1930 it was dark enough and they decided it was now or never and they should move before the Angolans arrived. Leaving Lombard's body behind they grabbed a pistol and two hand grenades and food and crept out of the Eland. As they felt their way back along the road in pitch darkness they spotted the second missing Eland of Lance Corporal van Elavier. At that very moment van Elavier and two of his men were lying in the small stream where they had taken shelter nine hours before at the very start of the battle. It had also begun to rain. Van Elavier was aware of men walking on the road but of course had no idea it was fellow South Africans. The two disappeared into the night with the three other South Africans still lying in the stream bed. It then began to flood as the rain intensified so van Elavier and his two-man team decided it was time to move and carefully crawled back up to the road then headed off south. Both these desperate groups who were unaware of the other as they trudged back to Sela in the darkness with their thoughts. Fearful of Fapla following them. The next morning the 24th of November broke in gloom. Cessna pilot Captain Williamson had only four hours left in terms of flight capacity. Pilots are restricted and he'd already flown 11 hours the day before. Chillingly Captain Williamson had only one more day to live. More about that in our next episode. So by midday on the 24th the weather cleared and Williamson took off. Eventually spotted the two small groups of South Africans walking along the road to Sela at 3 30 in the afternoon. By six that night they had been evacuated by helicopter back to Sela and safety. Lombard's body remained where he died in the driver's seat of the Irland armored car in the Mavasa River. It was time for the Nationals party of BJ Foster to come clean about exactly what it had been up to in Angola but that's for next episode. Please rate the podcast on iTunes if you have the inclination. It helps increase the visibility of our story. You can direct message me on Twitter at Des Latham for any comment or contact me through the website abwarpodcast.com. Until next, pass back. Thanks for watching!