Episode 30 – A four phased blueprint to attack Cassinga as Operation Reindeer is good to go for May 4th 1978

Welcome back to South African Border Wars with me, your host, Tess Latham. This is episode 30 and it's the start of Operation Rainier, one of the most important ops conducted by the SADF during the entire border war. It involved two different attacks, one by A on Crosinger, and the second a ground assault by a mechanized battle group targeting Chatequetta and its satellite bases for the South East. Crosinger was 250 kilometers across the border, the Cutline, and this was going to be tricky from the start. We heard last episode about the high-risk factor, and as with many airborne assaults, this one was not going to go too well for the South Africans at times. While the chaotic extraction saw T-34 tanks making it all the way to a key helicopter administration area, and the final minutes were touch and go. This Crosinger itself could be compared to the size of Oshikati at that time. There were many civilians amongst the troops, and this was going to cause the SADF quite a bit of trouble, as they bombed then assaulted this medium-sized and golden urban area. A large number of women were being trained as soldiers here, and many were training as a family, in other words, their husbands or partners and their children were also living alongside. It's a bit like the SADF base at Fort Treca Huqta in Pretoria, while it's a training area for different army commands, there are also schools. By the way, Fort Treca Huqta was targeted by the ANC's MK and the POC's Upload over the years. Civilians living openly inside a military zone are often collateral damage. That's where the similarity ends, because after the operation Swapo claimed it was not a military base, but Crosinger was a refugee camp, more later about this debate. So the paratroopers who gathered just before the attack in May 1978 were a mixed crowd. Just where in the middle to late 20s, older than the national servicemen who were to dominate later in-takes. There were farmers, businessmen, company executives, trade unionists and artisans. One was a journalist who worked for an anti-apartheid newspaper, and another was a well-known radio and TV producer, as well as being an actor. One was a trupy by the name of Fitzgerald, who was called Major, because he was close to 40 years of age. All three parachute battalions were fiercely competitive, and wore the famed Burgundy beret of the parabets, as they were known, were just the bats. Colonel Jan Bratenbach, who commanded the attack, decided to split that force in two. Those landing on Crosinger would number only 377, and comprise of two support platoons, four rifle companies, and two independent rifle platoons. That was below normal strength. Isn't it crazy to imagine that the SEDF were allowed to assault a major target with fewer airborne troops than was thought necessary? There were five main companies. Purple Company would be commanded by Captain Hadith Swat, and had three under-strength rifle platoons as its own support group, including two 60-millimeter mortars without base plates. They were just too heavy to lag around. Brother Company was led by Captain Hugo McQueen, and had two rifle platoons and two 60-millimeter mortars also sans base plates. Charlie Company was led by Commandant Monty Forbes, and had only two rifle platoons, but no support weapons. Charlie Company was headed up by Captain Tommy Smith, and comprised of two rifle platoons, and once again, no mortars. The independent platoons that would land were commanded by Lieutenant Pit Butter, of three parachute battalion, and the other was the attack force's only full-time group, a rifle element from one parachute battalion led by Lieutenant Jan Bratenbach. The heavy weapons, such as they were, included a mortar platoon with 60-millimeter tubes from one power battalion, and an anti-tank platoon, commanded by Lieutenant Peter Peters. They had RPGs and were joined by a specialist group from intelligence, along with two engineer officers who'd carry out demolitions, and finally, there were two medical teams each led by a doctor. The latter, we're going to be very busy indeed. The remaining men, 120, were designated as echo company, and Major Wesley Forey headed that group that would remain airborne, flying along the cutline, and would be redirected to Kasinger based on how things turned out. It's also amazing to think just how the vast majority of these men were not full-time soldiers, and yet they were about to attempt something the SDF had never done, and airborne assault on a static defensive target. The other really interesting fact was that a large number of top brass were about to throw themselves out of the C160s and C130s into a proper battle. Bratenbach was going in the border in Aloit as his mobile HQ. He was already a rank too high for battalion command, but had refused to entertain office jobs. Two of his subordinates, Braten Forbes, were battalion commanders in their own right, and at the OC of 44 Parachute Brigade Brigadier MJ Duplicy, it basically meant the entire HQ staff were going to jump. The reason for the number of high ranking officers going in was precisely because of the high number of non-permanent staff men attacking Kasinger. The vast majority had never seen combat, and highly experienced combat commanders were required to fight alongside them. So the plans were laid, and preparations made. The combined drop on Kasinger would take place at the same time as a ground attack on Chitikwera further south. The Kasinger attack combined both containment and outright assault, with part of the force used in a landing from the west, while the rest of the paratroopers would cut off any attempt at retreat. This stopper force would also be ready to prevent any angolan or swapper soldiers arriving from outside Kasinger. Particularly from the Fuplar Garrison at Tetra Matiti, which was going to cause so much trouble, as you're going to hear. Because the town was built up along both sides of a Ramrod straight stretch of the main road to Tetra Matiti, it was a long, thin group of buildings and structures. There were six roads adjoining, and as separate slightly elongated ring road to the east of Kasinger, which left the main highway and the south and rejoined it to the north. If you look at the map at Kasinger, a southern crossroads headed north east to southwest and ended at the river, which lay around a kilometer to the west or to the left as you look up. As I mentioned last episode, this was a tributary of the logic Kubunga River, as you drive north through the town, about 200 meters later, there's a small road that intersects to the east, to the right, and heads off to join the ring road close to the town's walled cemetery. Another 200 meters or so north of the main road in town, there's a junction, but only westly, and that little road ended at the river as well. A short distance further north, there's a wide junction, and the north-westly road would take you to where a tented camp lay, which was a few hundred meters away. This was a large camp of two-man tents that intelligence believed housed around five hundred swap of vets, resting after returning from infiltrations into southwest Africa, but they were wrong. It was a training camp for raw recruits, which was going to be a lot easier to overrun particularly since British platoon was going to land virtually on top of them. Continuing on that straight road through town, a deep ditch appears a few yards on the east side, or the right, from the wide junction. Then further on, another road joined from the right, and finally, the main thoroughfare joins up with the ring road, which headed north to the town of Kupilonga, around 60 kilometers north. I'm going to remind you about the layout constantly, because in this attack distances where gates would be really important, the longer the combat continued. SADF planners believed two hours would be enough to clear the town of Swapal competence before the barrage hoops were withdrawn to the helicopter admin area, or HAA, around 22 kilometers east. Having read various documents, I'm still not entirely sure who came up with the figure of two hours, probably General Fillion and Bradenbach, however that was hopelessly inaccurate. So you know how the road system worked at Kasinga, it's time to focus on the targets. At that time, as you approached Kasinga from the south, there were buildings on both sides of the road, which were occupied by Swapal sappers, or engineers. Further up this ram road, straight main road, the former mine buildings and transport park for buses. North east of the east were buildings thought to be Swapal headquarters, but that was also incorrect intelligence. The paratroopers only found that out during the battle. Further east, there was an orange orchard, which was going to play a role in this battle, and near the orchard, a group of barrack huts were located. These were also living quarters for mainly women. At 0800 hours on May 4th, the plan was the Canberra's and 4 of the Buccaneers would bomb Kasinga without warning. It was this act that doomed the civilians inside the town. From the SADF's point of view, had the issue of warning, the paratroopers would have been annihilated, because the element of surprise was called to overrun in Kasinga. The strategic zones for the bomb drop included the transport park and Swapal's headquarters, the latter of which was actually on the other side of town. The 10 camp to the north west was going to be bombed, and then Mirages would strip. Two other Mirages were on standby, back at Orn Dungwa, ready to scramble and assist should the dreaded MiG-21s appear. A scant four minutes after the bombing, the paratroopers would be dropped over their designated points. Butter and witzplatoons would land on Kasinga's northern edge to the left and right of the Tecumutetti Ring Road. The assault force of Alpha and Bravo companies, along with the mortar platoon, would land west of Kasinga on a narrow strip of land between the town and the river. This was taking a chance and did lead to a major hitch during the drop. Charlie Company under command and Forbes would land and take a position east of the town around a kilometre away. Delta Company and the anti-tank platoon would land on the southern outskirts and prepare to face both Swapal soldiers fleeing and the possible arrival of Cubans and the Fapal forces from Tecumutetti, 16 kilometres away, to the south. Meanwhile, a sessonist spotted plane would be buzzing about overhead while the paratroopers deployed, staying well out of the way, as they descended. Of course, Commandant Archimur, who was officer commanding of one parachute battalion, was on board, and his sharp eye was going to be invaluable. While all of this was going on in the north of the town, British independent platoons along with the bits, units with land on Cassinger's outskirts and then heads south along the Ring Road to the east. Phase one would see the units regroup off the landing, then phase two would begin. The assault force, or Alpha and Bravo, would head into the middle of town from the west, the left, and head eastly to the right. Alpha company was on the top of the east-west road and Bravo company at the bottom, and they'd all be moving together. British three barrier independent platoons would attack the tented camp to the north-west. That was where they thought the vets were, but were actually raw recruits, and then fired almost directly south through the long thin-down until contact was made with Alpha Company. You can see already that there were many moving parts, and things with many moving parts, unfortunately, tend to experience many breakdowns. But would take on the houses east of the Tecumatiti otte de Paiva Road, where intelligence had indicated Cubans could be based, along with East Chirms. With the assault, we'd begin with a mortar platoon softening up the targets because these buildings at the north end of town were not earmarked for bombing by the SA Air Force. As the bit moved south, he was to close in on the trenches that had been spotted in aerial photographs and former stopper line. Then he'd remain in place there supposedly until just before they were ordered to withdraw. It lay mines on the main road and pull back. At the same time, Charlie Company to the east, the right of the long road through Kasinger, would hold the flank and cut off fleeing Swapo fighters, and secure a flat area, the SAD of named Renix. That was going to come into play for the last phase, which I'll get to in a second. Phase 3 would see the assault company subdue any remaining resistance and mop up while intelligence teams moved house to house collecting documents. The sappers would destroy equipment and installations while other engineers would deploy south to lay mines on the Tecumatiti road. It was also planned to abduct 15 insurgents back to south-west Africa. Then phase 4, the withdrawal would kick in around two hours into the battle. Peritruppers would be airlifted out from the landing zone LZ or Renix. Waves of choppers would then operate from the helicopter administration area 22 kilometers east. The first wave would drop the bats at the HAA, then fly back to Renix and repeat the process. But this time the second wave would see the wounded and airlifted troops transported directly to Yenhana due south and just inside the south-west African border. After refueling there, they'd fly back to the helicopter admin area east of Kasinger and pick up the first batch of parabats and then fly them to Yenhana as well. Job done. There were a few pertinent questions. The first was, could the SED have taken the time in two hours? If they left it much longer, then the Cubans and the popular would rock up from Tecumatiti and make life very difficult for the South Africans. The other question was, what day was best for this attack? There were the diplomatic machinations as I mentioned going on and the fact that a couple of thousand kilometers south outside Kimberley, the SED was putting on exercise quick silver for international observers as a ploy to divert attention. Pretoria was ongoing with its fine tuned diplomacy. Then of course, what of the weather? And importantly, what of the wind? While Braytenbach, the commander of this assault, was chewing his pencil, wondering about all of this, along with General Foulune, there was also the matter of timing that Overland mechanized the attack on the town, codenamed Viet Nam, Chetakwera. That was around 30 kilometers north of the South African border in the eastern section. So as we cover Operation Rainier, I'm going to speak about the eastern and western section, so it doesn't get too confusing if it isn't already. Intelligence reports also began to surface that Swapo had now become aware that the likely incursion into Angola by the SED was not going to be mid or late winter but earlier. They believed the SED would hold exercise quick silver then redeploy the units rapidly north, which meant they had attacked by mid May at the earliest. General Foulune was becoming more concerned because he had heard Swapo had predicted a winter attack. The final decision to attack on May 4 used pretty simple military strategy. The enemy would expect an attack Overland probably directed at its southern bases a little later, therefore the timing was crucial. Anyone who's been in a battle knows that surprise is everything, particularly if you're going to lob what we pile its core meat bombs out of airplanes over heavily defended camp in broad daylight. If the enemy is still planning and preparing, you end with a good chance of victory. And it was also this fact that led to Swapo and Angolan forces around Chetakwera being far better prepared than around Kasinger. The series of bases around Chetakwera particularly rather than Viet Nam, we're going to extract a lot of blood. While Chetakwera was really a collection of huts and trenches, the tactical importance was obvious. It was one of Swapo's main supply depots and the headquarters of the planet tanks on Avambalan. SEDF intelligence picked up that several other bases south of Chetakwera were formidable. Those in what was called the Domondola Complex. Four bases codenamed Domondola 1 and 2 and two others called Chattua and Hamuna. At least 570 Swapo insurgents were based there, all heavily armed with heavy weapons, such as 82 millimeter recoilless guns, mortars, RPG7s, anti-tank rockets and 14.5 millimeter anti-aircraft guns. This was going to be more difficult in many ways than Kasinger. The SEDF had bitten off quite a bit. Could they chew it all? Next episode, I'll start with the plans for the mechanized battle group assaults of Chetakwera and the opening salvo of Operation Randia. Please rate the podcast on your platform of choice. It helps increase the visibility of our series. For any messages you can mail me via the website abwarpodcast.com or direct message me on Twitter @desleeve. Until next, bye spate! [BLANK_AUDIO]