Episode 34 – The SADF begin to take casualties as they attack Chetequera where hyaenas and jackals would feast

Welcome back to South African Border Wars with me, Your Host, this is Episode 34 and the SEDFI inside Angola. It's the 4th of May 1978 and Operation Randia is underway. It's the joint attacks on Kasinga and Chatequea. As we heard last episode, both assaults are not going according to plan. We ended up in Episode 33 alongside Battle Group Juliet as it began to move into Chatequea one of Swapo's main base networks just over the cutline or border. Juliet had arrived at its attack position north of the base and first managed to bypass a thick field of Mahungal, a type of corn, then we faced with bush and trees as they moved southwards towards the settlement. They had taken heavy fire so far and things were not going to improve. According to the initial plan, Major Fencell and his mechanized company would burst past the crawl lying north east of Chatequea and then head straight for the base. Remember Fencell could only see four of his 14 rottles, the bush and the grass and the trees were so thick? For a moment he wondered if he should dismount his infantry, who on board the bifle, troop carriers then thought better of it. Speed was of the utmost importance now and that would mean slowing down. As his mechanized units moved into the ramparts of the settlement, individual vehicles fell far out of the trenches and bunkers mainly because many were almost invisible, they'd been camouflaged so well. Some of these vehicles were towed out under fire but one rottle in particular had a harrowing few minutes after it fell through the roof of a bomb shelter, 150 meters from the base. The rattlemen supporting the unit managed to far off swap as soldiers but all attempts at executing the rattle failed at least initially. While they were trying to attach tow bars, machine gun and AK-5 was directed at the strandled rottle and the infantry nearby. The rattle number R-270-270 blasted the first line of trenches and huts with its 20-millimeter cannon and browning machine gun only to have a tree fall on the barrel of the cannon. That put its elevation mechanism out of action. As they advanced further firing the cannon, despite its inability to elevate, they drove into an antique where it stuck fast and took 45 minutes to get the vehicle to move while the fight continued past them. By now the rattles were split up, smoke, bush and grass along with the booby traps and hidden trenches causing some chaos. Each rattle was fighting its own localized battle. There was no one in command each vehicle was pretty much on its own. Second Lieutenant J. Olvach and managed to pull them together and despite losing contact with major funsale, they continued fighting through the village which took just over 10 minutes. The thick African bush was causing damage along with swap as heavy fire. Troops raffles were damaged as they aimed out of the loopholes when the vehicles scraped against the thorn trees, in one case swap or shut off the sides of a 20mm gun. The bulletproof vision blocks were also beginning to star while the AK and machine gun rounds did not penetrate the thick reinforced glass, they became almost useless making driving and firing more difficult. Trees were falling all over the place as the 90mm and 20mm guns ripped up the failures. Then rattle one of Bravo Company was hit by a forwarding branch which damaged its machine gun support. Shortly afterwards, it got stuck in thick sand. AK fire was raking the vehicles in one by one the South Africans dealt with each trench and defensive position, but the defenders continued fighting once again swap or did not turn and run but fought on which surprised the South Africans. The airtack had softened swap or up but they were not willing to go without a fight. Ratham and PJ Fushir told author William Sterncomb later that "the fighting was fierce, not as we expected, I think that everyone thought that the base would be deserted like the last one." The South Africans were starting to take prisoners including a youngster who walked out to rattle one three Chinese. He spent the rest of the battle riding inside the armored vehicle. Some of the defenders were being run over by these heavy rattles, others tried fighting back from trenches, their bunkers and behind trees, but most suffered the same fate. This was before the rattles were equipped with run flat systems and it was really a miracle that more had not been punctured up to now. A 75 millimeter recoillers gun then took out one of the South African ill and armoured cars, but the rattles opened fire on the crew with the browning machine guns. For a few minutes, swap of fighters tried to run to the 75 millimeter and were cut down. By now, the firefight had been going on for 10 minutes and a few South Africans had been slightly wounded by bullets which entered via the rifle ports. This idea of vehicles and men began emerging at the southern end of Chatequeta into open ground. Fourteen rattles that started only six could be seen. Worse, Lieutenant Flaesha radio to say that two of his ill aunts had been hit and damaged by a swiper fire and his crew had suffered serious casualties. However, there was also kind of minor miracle. None of them mechanised infantry on the buffles had been killed, nor had any rattle been knocked out in spite of the mortars' shot and shell flung at them. There was no doubt that the rattles, though, had taken a battering. All had some kind of damage and only five of the fourteen were now still fully serviceable. When Flaesha's ill aunts arrived, it is clear that his men were in far more trouble. Two commanders had been killed and one seriously wounded while one of his armoured cars was knocked out and a second was out of action because of the dead commander. Flaesha's ill aunts had been focused at a point south of Chatequeta in dense bush which had hampered their visibility, although they managed to fire dozens of 90 millimeter high explosive shells and hundreds of 7.62 millimeter machine gun rounds at Swapar. Ilant-14 Bravo took the brunt of Swapar's return fire. It was squarely in the field of fire of the dreaded 75 millimeter recoillers gun. Trooper B. Hermesace, who survived, explained that "We began firing our machine gun, but we had problems with stoppages. We were under fire all the time. We fired two 90 millimeter shells at where we'd seen the enemy move just as the commander was about to load the third shell, there was a tremendous explosion and the car began to burn. The commander was killed instantly, while the driver Trooper A of Jones was wounded by Shrapnel in the shoulder. Hermesace and Jones realised their commander was dead and jumped out of the armoured car, which was now burning fiercely. Combat Team 2's Corporal R.G. Keynes ran through heavy close range fire to lead these two to his island, but things weren't over for the naughty cars. The second fatality was caused by an 82 millimeter mortar bomb. Island, one four Charlie's team leader was also killed when he opened his hatch to get a better view of an enemy position and the mortar exploded a few feet away from the island. He survived initially, but died on the way to the medics. Meanwhile, the islands were peppering the hats and trenches with 90 millimeter shells. In the heat of combat, an island crew loaded a wounded Swapar fighter on the armoured car to take as a prisoner, moments later though he stopped moving, he had succumbed to his wounds. As words seep through the South African forces, that two commanders were dead, their mood changed. For some reason, they thought they were immune, that the attack would be all on Swapar, and that they were in some sort of safe bubble, which sounds crazy, but such was the level of confidence, which was now severely shaken. Only two nights earlier, the dead men had been talking about what they were going to do with their national service was over. Now their lives were over, leaving only loved ones and friends to try and come to terms with this personal disaster. And on the other side, the villagers in Swapar were going through similar thoughts. The tenant breeder of combat team one led a mechanised platoon, 38 men and four rifles, and as they approached the base from the north, he spotted the first trenches and ordered the troops out. He quickly realised that they had arrived on the eastern edge of Chatequetta and not the top, and swung his platoon to the right, to the west, directly into the middle of the bomb out base. They started coming across mangled bodies, and the trail of devastation through Chatequetta was huge. It was definitely not a pretty sight, one rifleman told, but it was in combat. The platoon now was coming under fire as they swept the base, and they emerged in the south side. Like other South African units, they had failed to check the western edges of the base, which was going to cause the SID a bit of a problem in a short while. Possibly one of the strangest events of Chatequetta was what happened to E. S. Jameson of Rathall 3-1 Alpha, who was wounded in the hand by Shrapnel from his own grenade. He had thrown the M-26 into a trench, and someone inside through the grenade out again, the fragmentation grenade exploded on the lip of the trench, wounding Jameson. Then the 12 swap of fighters inside, climbed out and surrendered. The medics meanwhile had treated a wounded woman soldier and other swap of fighters, who had a range of injuries, including bullet wounds and arms and legs and shrapnel wounds, to the head. It was a bloody encounter, but slowly the South Africans fought their way south, clearing the trenches as five aloe wet gunships circled overhead. Two of these though were hit by ground fire and withdrew, but the rest continued supporting the men on the ground. The platoons then began to regroup on the south side of Chatequetta, and Major Finzail began phase 2, mopping up operations, Rathallmen were sent to inspect the southern trenches, and he followed in as Rathall as backup. But the mopping up turned into a full-scale gun battle, as most of the swap of fighters and these trenches seemed to be unscathed. The South Africans were forced to sweep these clear, and then joined up with Funtbreda's platoon. It was then they heard about what was going on with combat team 3, which was pinned down, and they rushed to reinforce the furlough of the South Africans. But full 4-7 Foxtrot had taken some swap of prisoners, and delivered them into custody at the base's Parangaran, after which they moved back into the settlement to pick up loose equipment. Unfortunately for this section, swap of fighters on the western edge had been untouched so far, and these men and women began advancing towards the SETF units running from trench to trench and firing as they went. After an intense firefight with a number of swap and one of these defensive positions, the South Africans managed to lob hand grenades into the trench and the shooting stopped. The men and women in there who survived, surrendered and buffled 47 fox trotters. the tune collected the A.K.'s ammunition and other equipment and loaded it on the rifles. Swapo wounded within carried by the comrades to the medics, waiting near the parade-grunt. Mumping up, began and earnest, with dozens of Swapo being taken prisoner. One of the medics was busy banaging wounded men from both sides when he suddenly realized that the bunker on the corner of the parade-grunt had not been cleared. There were twelve Swapo fighters inside, but four were trapped under the beams which had collapsed under the weight of the rifles. They all surrendered. There were moments of personal reflection, in a hut, the South Africans found four women reading a Bible aloud and left them alone. In other huts, there were more women in combat for teagues lying dead. They were fighters. Then they came across the children who had survived and were crying. As you go into here, when you return to the battle of Kasinger, the misery of the children was heart-wrenching for these national servicemen. The real victims of war was always the kids. At 3.30 in the afternoon, Jettakweta was taken, all firing stopped. The attack had lasted hours longer than anticipated, as with Kasinger, and now the South Africans were facing a night inside Angoda, instead of heading back to South Africa immediately. The sappers were hired at work, trying to salvage and repair the damaged islands and rattles along with the buffles that had taken a battering. The doctors were working nonstop along with the medics trying to treat what looked like an endless stream of wounded. Then the counting started, 248 Swappers soldiers killed, 200 captured, and a large amount of war material was seized. On the South African side, two had died, ten were wounded. Sixty Swappers men and women were now being treated by the medics with shrapnel and bullet winds, some had fractures. Swappers soldiers who were taken prisoner asked for medicine for a variety of basic illnesses, including colds. It was a strange moment, as medics handed out cough drops to men and women they'd been trying to kill only moments before. Some of the Swappers wounded began to treat their own, working alongside the SAD of medics. Their stoicism impressed all who watched as the wounded refused to complain, nor showed pain. Finally, treatment complete, battle group Juliet's commanders began to consider their next move. It was 5.45 in the late afternoon, and they were supposed to attack a smaller base nearby called Mahama before lagging for the night. This was clearly out of the question, and tactical HQ back in Nandungwa ordered Commander Bestbeard to skip the Mahama attack and logger the vehicles immediately. Then, early in the morning, he was to head straight south to meet up with Combat Team Jabair. The battle-weary troops of battle group Juliet prepared for their unplanned overnight inside Angola next to Jettakweta. They were staggering with exhaustion, but still had to rotate guard duty around the Lagered vehicles. The SAPPERS laid mines to slow a possible attack by Swapu, or FAPLA overnight. The Team 1 and 3 covered the western, southwestern, and northwestern approaches, while Combat Team 2 covered the eastern side. Rap tanks were devoured, weapons cleaned, then most troops for the sleep. Some put not sleep. Wrathelmen, for sure, of the 2 and 3, listened to the Swapu prisoners of war cursing the South Africans, and saying Swapu will still win. Centuries could hear some of the infantrymen muttering in their sleep racked by nightmares. One medic said later, "You began to hear an even more horrifying sound." A night in Angola is something else. You hear the jackals and hyenas, which had come to chew at the bodies. They scream and yell and howl. Meanwhile further south, Combat And Jabair and his Combat Team had also decided to lie up after working over the bases, which were below Jettakweta. The initial plan was for Combat Team Serpentine to cross the Cutline east of Beacon 8, and advance north for around 4 kilometres. An attack a base called Domondola 2 in support of your bay. If that went well, Serpentine was the head of Domondola 1 and Heimuna to other smaller bases south east of Domondola 2. Another base further north east called Jettua was also in full special attention. The artillery shelled this base along with the 2 Domondolas while Mirage was strait and bombed Muhammad. The problem with this plan was when the South Africans approached Domondola 2, their first target it was deserted. But there was a great deal of material lying around. Weapons, ammunition, equipment, it was clear that Swapo had evacuated the base recently and hurriedly. civilians living nearby, it's all the SADF that the Swapo soldiers had disappeared in a north-westerly direction the previous day. In other words, away from the coming attacks on Muhammad and Jettakweta, they lived to fight another day. Serpentine set the empty base alight and handed out some of the food to the villagers. And that was the end of the action that Bethelgrip Serpentine saw during Operation Rendia, because HQ told him to pass up his scheduled attacks on both Domondola 1 and Heimuna. He never found out why, and to this day we're not entirely sure, perhaps the top brass suspected that both of these would be empty as well, given what the civilians had said about Swapo's departure. But something else had gone wrong. Combat Team Yabeh had got lost and bogged down, only managing to cross the cutline at 2.15 in the afternoon of May 4th. That was more than two hours behind the original schedule. Their misfortune was compounded by the fact that they then got lost again. This part of Angola is flat and featureless, and it's hard to discern from maps, where you are unless you hit a clear feature such as a large saltpan or specific tree. Seren Yabeh eventually arrived at his target, Chattuah. He was approaching from the wrong direction. He decided to swing his combat team south of the target and proceed up its eastern flank to the right. That was a calculated risk, and he radioed for artillery support to keep Swapo's head down in the small base, just in case. Unfortunately the shelling did not materialise, because radio communication had broken down. Still, Swapo failed to open fire on the South Africans passing within a K-range, let alone mortar-range. Yabeh ordered his men into the base, leading to a fight that lasted only half an hour and cost eight Swapo lines. A large hall of rifles and ammunition were found unloaded onto the rifles, but now the combat team was way too late to hit the next target, codenamed Vintuk, which laid ten kilometres north, and therefore just south of Chattuah. So combat team Yabeh also lagged like Juliet. Overnightward came from HQ in Andungwa for Yabeh to abandon his attack on any more bases, and the next day to head back to South West Africa at first light. He duly set off at O-630 with an SA Air Force light plane assessment, acting as a radio relay, and eventually he met up with Battle Group Juliet, which had also set off that morning heading south from Chattuah. One of the troops moving with Yabeh was listening to an international news bulletin and heard the reporter say that the SA DF was in Angola but was now moving out. That shocked the soldier, the information about the invasion into Angola was already making world headlines and they seemed to know more than the troops on the ground. Battle Group Juliet and combat team Yabeh made it across the cut line back into South West Africa at ten hundred hours in the morning of the fifth and midway between Beacon's eight and nine. The third phase of the operation involving three two battalion around twenty kilometres east of Chattuah was going to get underway. The string of small Swapo bases in the vicinity of Omabepa, Namudi and Humbia needed to be taken out and the task was tailor-made for three two battalion. Remember, this was a unit of Angolans mainly former FNLA troops, some Namibians and South African officers and NCOs. The Buffalo battalion, as it was known, was going to so havoc at the string of small bases given the code "Objective Charlie". They'd fired through this area between May the 8th and May the 10th, aiming at nearly a dozen different objectives in total. First however, we need to return to Kasinger to find out how things developed by the end of the battle. And as you're going to hear next episode, the planners worst case scenario had developed. Cuban and Pablo troops were going to try and stop the paratroopers getting away and they were bolstered by a number of T-34 tanks and other heavy weapons. If you want to follow the roots of these attacks by the way, head off to warinangolo.com where you hunt in the webmaster as loaded dozens of maps and other details about Operation Rendia. But right now, it's time to halt and secure the perimeter. Please rate the podcast on iTunes. It helps grow our audience. If you'd like to contact me, you can send an email via my website DesmondLatheM.com or you can also direct message me on Twitter. My handle is @desolatheM. Until next, Tutsits. [Music]