Speaker 1Welcome back to South African Border Wars with me, your host, Des Latham. This is episode 33 and we're inside Kasinga on the 4th of May 1978 with the SADF paratroopers and SWAPO who are going toe-to-toe. Episode 32 outlined the detail of the jump. Now we're going to follow the action inside the town which was SWAPO's HQ in southern Angola. We'll also hear about the mobilization of the SADF mechanized battalions far to the south, just against the cut line, the border between South West Africa and Angola. They were heading for Chetekweta and other bases and this force was going to face its own set of challenges. Remember, there were different groups of SADF paratroopers doing different things at Kasinga that cool morning in May. Charlie Company had settled into its assigned stopper position east of the town but they were already 45 minutes behind Chetekweta and Angola. The entire attack was supposed to take two hours so this was a bad sign. Even more of an issue was that Alpha and Bravo main assault groups which had landed almost two kilometers off their assigned drop zone southwest of Kasinga. This was mainly because the C-130 and C-160 pilots had waited until a few extra seconds before they hit the green buttons as they flew over the town because they couldn't see the zones. The wind had blown dust and smoke from the Canberra and Buccaneer bombing runs over these points and confused them. Swart, the commander of Alpha Company was now trying to figure out the quickest route back into town which lay to his northeast. Rapidly moving and facing mild resistance from Swapu these few dozen men eventually reached the Techemoteti road which ran south of the town and then swung north, compass in hand. They reached the vehicle park in the south of town which still contained the bus that had been hijacked by Swapu a few weeks earlier. Suddenly a platoon on his left ran into fire from insurgents' positions around the vehicles and a fire broke out. And a skirmish developed. One of the Swapu fighters was a woman dressed in camouflage who was firing rapidly on the South Africans. It turned into what the paratroopers called a spirited defense. Particularly by one man who then found a perfect spot under one of the vehicles in the car park. The paratroopers were under strict orders not to destroy the vehicles so he was difficult to dislodge. Eventually though, the Swapu man ran out of ammunition and was then shot. According to some eyewitnesses, he rolled out from under the vehicle after running out of ammunition. And shouted that the paratroopers couldn't shoot him as he had dropped his rifle. It's always a confusing situation in a firefight. He was shot dead later during debriefing. Apparently there was some discussion about whether or not he was surrendering. As you know, the South African soldiers were under strict orders not to shoot any POW or surrendering man or woman in cold blood. Alpha Company continued moving north through the town. Then came under fire from a small bunker. One of the men crept up to it and tossed it away. The man was shot in a grenade and the firing stopped. There were five Swapu fighters inside. Now they were all dead. Still advancing, Alpha headed northeasterly and they were moving quickly towards what they thought was Swapu's headquarters. You know by now, if you've been listening, that the intelligence buffins were hopelessly wrong about the building they'd selected as Swapu's HQ. The building they'd identified as the HQ was actually a general store while Swapu's building was on the opposite side of the road and further north. Swapu moved along the sides of this main road and were unopposed until they ran slap-bang into the heaviest resistance the South Africans were going to face in the entire Battle of Kasinga. This was the actual Swapu HQ. A long, low building defended by a 14.5mm anti-aircraft gun and two 12.7mm Desch heavy machine guns. After firing on the passing aircraft, then at the floating paratroopers, the operators of these three dangerous weapons had dropped the muzzles to horizontal and were ready for their arrival. They opened up on Alpha and the Parabats threw themselves onto the ground. Nearby, the commander of the entire operation, Colonel Jan Breitenbach, approached at such close quarters that he was hit on his wrist by shrapnel. They were pinned down. SWAT's men managed to move past the headquarters and closed in on the trenches on the western and northern sides of Kasinga. Again, they were forced to the ground by the heavy machine guns which ploughed dust alongside the troops. They now lay in a line almost to the Techemuteti Road, but there was a small gap to that important route. SWAT knew by now that the mortar platoon which had jumped with Alpha Company was missing in action. They'd have to try and dislodge the heavy machine guns and the anti-aircraft weapons some other way. His platoon continued to draw fire and as SWAT peered from his defensive position, he saw a number of SWAT pro fighters heading northwards from the centre of town. They were getting away and only Witt's platoon which had landed north of the town could try and slow these men and women down. A support group under Corporal Papendorp moved into the town. They headed to the bushes near the buildings from where the SWAT pro fighters were fleeing and hosed it with a machine gun and RPGs. Immediately afterwards, Witt assaulted the building but ran into heavy fire. They fought their way into the building and eventually the fighters inside were all silenced. Some of the defenders jumped into a trench running north to south along the main road and survived. Nine others did not. Their bodies were left inside the building. Witt turned his attention to the trenches lying east to west below the building complex and there he regrouped his men. Luckily the mortar platoon had also managed to get into position but now they were likely to hit their own men in friendly fire if they opened up. Witt was on the radio calling for them to wake. It was 09:15 and Witt's men set off but now they were using SWAT pro's trench system themselves. It was too dangerous out in the open. The complex was overrun by the South Africans who counted another SWAT pro fighter in uniform lying dead in the trench. It was time to head further down the trench that trench that lay south to north but they were heading south to north. Southwards towards the other South African units. It was now that Witt's luck ran out. Up to then the only casualty was the man who had knocked himself out. Remember last episode I explained what happened when the paratrooper cut himself loose dangling from a tree and ended up unconscious being carried around by his buddies. The ground support buccaneer which had been circling above was sent in under the impression that Witt needed his help and strafed the complex with rockets. He then died for cover but two riflemen were wounded by the shrapnel although they could still walk. Things were escalating. That was friendly fire. A white vehicle with a red star was spotted by the SA Air Force Cessna and that vehicle was heading towards Kasinga from the north but it was taken out by a volley of hollow charge and anti-personnel rockets. Brandenbach thought at the time this may be SWAT pro's commander Dimo Hamambo who was in Kasinga. What he didn't know was that he had been shot and left his men and women to fight on alone. At this point Witt still had no idea that Alpha Company were nowhere to be seen. They should have arrived at the trench system he had under observation but of course you know they were so far out of town they had not managed to make it to their target areas quickly enough. The "Brainmann" as Brandenbach was called then informed him that the attack was no longer on a west-east direction through the middle of Kasinga but south-north. The target was a large bunker and now Witt asked permission to assault that position. Brandenbach gave him the go-ahead and the platoon commander and a second trooper ran the 20 meters to the bunker and threw grenades into the open ports. There were 20 SWAT pro fighters inside. All died. To the south, Bravo Company which had finally managed to gather itself together was moving north and reached the Tecumeteti road by 0930 and they had not fired a single shot. That was going to change the situation quite quickly. Hugo McQueen, who was in charge, realized he was now on the fringe of Kasinga. After Brandenbach gave him permission by radio he swung northwards up the right-hand side of the main road, rolling up the trenches on the eastern section of town. This is where McQueen's men ran into the General's store, somewhat confused. Their maps of course had indicated it was SWATers HQ. Just north of the store there were more trenches and as they approached three paratroopers were shot and fell. The Company Sergeant Major Warrant Officer Norman Richards along with two riflemen, Packham and Kuhlman went down. This kind of close quarters shooting match was going on all around Kasinga right now. Richards and Kuhlman were close to a cluster of huts and they didn't know that SWAT fighters were inside. Richards took the round through the chest directly over his heart. He should have been dead almost immediately. But he wasn't. In a coincidence, a fateful moment if you like, the round passed through his shirt but bounced off a pencil flare in his pocket and then gave him a flesh wound over his left ribs. It was a miracle. If Richards wasn't religious before this operation perhaps he was afterwards. Packham then ordered the men forward to support Richards but SWATers spotted the section and their heavy fire had hit Kuhlman in the neck. It was pandemonium but the South Africans did not panic. The section managed to pull the two wounded men behind a hut but as Packham stuck his head around the other side trying to get if a shot at the machine gun that was firing non-stop he was also hit in his arm and chest. Later he described the hit as "like sticking a finger in a wall plug." He collapsed, dazed from the shock, lying in the open with the machine gun's rounds kicking up the sand around him. A medic nearby called Delville Engelbrecht then volunteered to try and save Packham. I'm sure most listeners would find this somewhat insane. The medic ran almost 60 meters to where Packham lay and tried to find a vein to slip in a gauge 18 needle for the saline drip which may save his life. At the same time, Suapo's machine gun was chattering away as the other members of the section kept up fire on the gunner's position. In what can only be called a moment of extreme heroism, Engelbrecht dragged Packham backwards between his legs to behind a hut. But the wounded man wasn't out of danger. He was in shock, bleeding heavily. It was vital to stem the blood and get the saline drip set up. Shock does strange things to the human body. Veins disappear when this sort of extreme wound is inflicted. Packham was moaning with pain. Engelbrecht then gave him a sosegon injection for the pain. Sosegon is a morphine derivative. Eventually, Engelbrecht managed to pick up the wounded man and carried him out of the immediate combat zone as he was muttering about his mother, his father, his girlfriend and the shop that he owned. At that moment, another soldier, Jokubas van der Merwe of Delta Company, purposefully jumped out of cover, drawing fire from the swapper machine gun. Fortunately, he was pirouetting like a professional ballerina and the rounds missed. All three received the onerous crux for gallantry later. While the critical battle for this strategic position would continue, we need to shift our attention now, almost due south of Kasinga, to join the men of Battle Group Juliet. This was the second of three phased attacks into Angola set for May as part of Operation Reindeer, the overland assault just over the cut line. That plan was to advance on Chetakweta and the various mechanized units began rolling out of there. Their training bases at 22 hours 40 on May the 3rd. The column emerged from Juliet's training camp into a bitterly cold semi-desert night. But there were three separate combat teams involved, starting from different positions. The first was Team Jobé, which was heading to attack the western targets just over the cut line, or on the left. The second was Team Serfontein, aimed at Dombondola through the center of the attack formation. And the third was the main assault on the right, which would pass their targets to the east, then turn from the north and attack back towards the south-west African border. Battle Group Juliet was tasked with this major assault 35 kilometers into Angola, aiming at Chetakweta, or what was known as Bravo. A few hundred SWAPO fighters were thought to be based there. In the darkness, Juliet refueled at Ondongo Air Base and then traveled north, uneventfully until they passed Omboluntu Mission Station around 12 kilometers from the Angolan border and in line with Beacon 10. The kilometer-long line of mechanized vehicles, including rattles, swung off the main road onto a dirt track. This is where Juliet first began experiencing difficulties. Despite the off-road capabilities of the vehicles, the sandy road just could not take the weight of armored machines, and the rattles, buffled troop carriers, and Eland armored cars began to bulk down. Towing and winching is difficult at night. A rattle of Combat Team 2's Major P.W. de Jong was so stuck, it took 40 minutes to dig it out. As with the SADF attack on Kasinga, the plans were going to go awry, as you're going to hear. Despite starting it before 11 p.m. the previous night, Juliet only passed the cut line at 10 hundred hours the next morning, easily observable in the bright sunshine. The infamous dust that clogs everything also began to take its toll, irritating eyes creeping into the innards of machines covering the firearms. The men were sweating now in the sun, their faces covered with a pale, thin mud. The troops and the biffles were being thrown around on the rough road. Men banged their heads into each other, some became cassock. They were swaying around on the top of the troop carriers like drunken sailors. Being open-topped, some were hit by the acacia thorn branches and slashed, losing their bush hats or leaving bloody trails across their arms and faces. Needless to say, Juliet was now way behind schedule. The dust had also taken its toll, and there was no time for many. As we are going to hear, this didn't bode well for the attack. Weapons were going to jam in the upcoming battles. Eventually, Juliet sped up, and they were now moving at 25 to 30 kilometers per hour, heading deeper north into the bush. It became thicker as they moved. At times, they'd come across dried oshonas, or pans that are covered in water during summer rains. Now they were white with dried salts and a pleasure to cross. The troops, who'd been dozing at times at this point, now were very much awake. They were aware they were in Angola, and the enemy could be anywhere. They began passing villages that appeared deserted, and then innocuously drove past a man on a bicycle. Then civilians stood watching as this serpent of death traveled by, seemingly never ending. Eventually, they reached their assembly area near Chiambo, 90 minutes late. They were only 10 kilometers inside Angola and needed to travel another 25, but the planned air attack had already been postponed, from 1,200 to 1,315. Battle group Juliet moved quickly now north, and were in position when the Canberras and Buccaneers bombed Chetakweta at 1,300 hours 30. The base began to burn as the heavy 1,000-pound bombs blasted Swapu's trenches and the mix of buildings. The aircraft whistled as they dive-bombed. The ground moved, and the rumbling sound was deafening. Some troops began cheering until one turned to another on a buffle and said, You know, there are people being killed there. The cheering died down as the troops realized some of them could also be doing the dying soon. No soldier cheers the death of their sworn enemy. Fate has a way of cutting us down to size. Immediately after the bombing, the mechanized units began moving towards Chetakweta from the north as choppers flew overhead. Ammunition was blowing up. Smoke was billowing around the target. Some on board the buffles began to wonder why they weren't attacking already. What had happened was that Commander Bespier couldn't make contact with the SA Air Force. He had to wait for his air controller to establish radio comms. Minutes passed, and still there was no word, and in these minutes, Swapu began to recover from the shock of the bombing. Bravo, or Chetakweta, was not the type of base where an aerial bombardment would do major damage. Many of the structures were underground bunkers and trenches. It wasn't a large town like Kasinga. And we've already heard that Chetakweta had been killed. We've heard how the ordnances used by the SA Air Force had not caused much damage because of the geography, the sandy soil that soaked up a large percentage of the blast power and scattered it upwards instead of sideways. Five minutes went by before radio contact was established and Combat Team 1 was sent forward under the command of Major Finsale. They rushed towards their forming up position near a large corral to the north of Chetakweta. Then he needed to move 8 kilometers, which took 10 minutes, so it was well over 15 minutes. 10 minutes before the first South African troops arrived in the slightly battered Swapu base. The combat team realized as they approached their target that they had a big problem, something that the intel people didn't pick up. Instead of open ground near the large corral, there was a field of mahangu, a type of maze, and the stalks were 2 meters high. That constricted the view of the target. Worse, Swapu began to direct extremely heavy fire in their direction, meaning the troops had to hit the ground and slow their fire down. The armored cars from Combat Teams 1 and 2 also had their view restricted. The target was to the south east, or to the left, and Swapu had opened up on them as well. They began moving along a road to the west of Chetakweta, peppered by small arms fire, and now and again an RPG. During the movement, a troop from Combat Team 2 got lost on the western side, far to the right as they moved, and this section was no longer of any use in the attack. Then a mortar group from Combat Team 2 also came under heavy fire, and couldn't deploy it. A support section of biffles made contact with the Swapu section, firing on the mortars, and managed to kill a number, all dressed in fatigues, including a woman. They overran the initial defensive position, and took two Swapu prisoners, a man and a woman. By now, Major van Zyl's mechanized company burst out of the corral, heading almost directly south towards the base, but their problem with visibility did not improve. They had moved out of the maze field, but were now obstructed by tall grass and some trees. They also began disengaging. They started bumping into large ant heaps, which are as hard as rock. You definitely don't want to hit one of those, driving at 20 km/h. The mechanized group and the infantry began to lose their way. Major van Zyl could only see four of his 14 throttles, the grass was so thick. The infantry wandered about 15 degrees further east to the left of the target, and missed the northwestern corner of Chetakweta entirely. That omission was going to cause the SADF some problems, as you're going to hear in the next episode. We must halt and take stock. The twin attacks on Kasinga and Chetakweta were not going too well. It needed some seriously quick thinking to recover, and fortunately, the SADF was imbued with soldiers who could turn on a ticky, as they say. Please rate the podcast on iTunes if you can, or if you want to send a message, you can do that through my website abwarpodcast.com, or direct message me on Twitter @DesLatham. Don't forget, you can follow along on the warinangola.com website, run by your host, Johan, if you want to check out maps of the operation. Johan has spent many years compiling thousands of documents about the war in Angola. So head off to warinangola.com and check out his wonderful resource. Until next, goodbye. Thank you.
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