Episode 36 – Paratroopers in Cassinga face off against T34s as the Cubans infiltrate the battle zone

Welcome back to South African Border Wars with me, your host, Deiz Latham. This is Episode 36 and we're at the tail end of Operation Randia, and we kick off this episode by viewing the SADF attack on Krasinger alongside Captain Joseph Kobo of the ANC's armed wing Mkonto-Wesizui, the spear of the nation. On May the 4th 1978, the day of the airborne assault on Krasinger 250 kilometres in Angola, Captain Kobo was travelling back to that town, having picked up provisions and was part of a convoy of vehicles. It was Ascension Day. Kobo's convoy was speeding towards Krasinger and he was in a confident mood. The convoy had radio to head hours before and everyone was looking forward to an upcoming celebration. That wasn't Ascension Day. It was the fall of France's military stronghold at Dien Bien Fou in Vietnam to Viet Minh General Yip in May 1954. Mk along with Swapu and Fuplar were going to celebrate the French defeat. It was a symbolic victory. It also had led directly to America's involvement in Vietnam. And here in Africa, the guerrilla movements were fighting to overthrow their colonial masters so naturally they viewed the fall of Dien Bien Fou as a shining example of how to go about crushing Western armies. The French had created Dien Bien Fou as a kind of massive military bait believing they lure General Yip into attacking and then defeat his forces. It was the same mistake they had made against the Germans in both the First and Second World Wars so you'd imagine by now the French military would have ended the strategy of using a static fortress, particularly against a highly motivated and mobile army. Krasinger was similar in many ways but in reverse. It was the essay of who viewed the town as a static exposed target and were the highly mobile army. They reversed the revolutionary logic if you like. So with the prospect of a partier head Captain Corboh was in a good mood as the convoy drove through the lush and golden landscape. When he'd awoke in that morning in Covango it was already daylight, the convoy had dallyed slightly longer than usual. Later you would tell people that a higher hand had held him back and he ended up as a priest in the Eastern Cape, but first things first. Had he awoken earlier and had the convoy left at the prescribed time near dawn he would have arrived in Krasinger as the first Buccaneers and Mirages of the essay Air Force swooped. So he was around 8 kilometres from the base that fateful morning when he saw the black smoke rising above the horizon to the south as they travelled along the dirt road. At first he thought it may have been an accident of some sort, perhaps the ammunition done blew up. One of the engolan troops alongside Corboh a futter soldier then pointed out that they were fast moving glinting shapes above the town, attack jets. Captain Corboh further recognised these as Mirages and he suddenly realised that Krasinger was under attack by the essay Air Force. His response was to speed up so they could perhaps render assistance as they drove the soldiers travelling with him were mesmerised by the sight. Even another sight caused the flutter, white puffs in the sky above the town. These were parachutes and for a while Swapo and Fuplimin alongside Captain Corboh laughed saying some of the planes had been shut down by their anti-aircraft guns. But then these white puffs became a cloud of white and Corboh felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Adrenaline kicked in because he knew then that Krasinger was under airborne assault by our paratroopers. That caused the convoy to stop dead in its tracks. Driving willy nilly into a large group of paratroopers was suicidal and reckless that'd be swallowed up as there were only around two dozen men with Corboh. Soon the black smoke covered the horizon pushed onwards by the wind that it caused the paratroopers so much trouble that morning. With their vehicles halted and engines off they heard the distant explosions and thumps which sent shockwaves through the air. Wild animals were running past them even goats which broke cover to flee northwards away from the destruction. Corboh and the Fuplar drivers were shocked. They leapt out of their vehicles and took cover. Weapons cocked waiting for the booze as they called the South Africans. Their Corboh lay with his colleagues for at least four hours watching the smoke and hearing the fighting. Gradually as the sun began to slide westwards, explosions eased as the ammunition that had been set alight blew up and the thumps then died away. Then the ground began to shudder under Corboh's feet. This time they heard sounds of heavy engines and tracks squealing from behind. It was the T-34 tanks and a mechanized brigade approaching commanded by a Cuban major. This was not the Tecumutetti tank brigade based south of Kasinga but a second based at Jamba 50 kilometers away to the north which had been ordered to head to the town and take on the South Africans. Epsen Corboh who was a motivated soldier volunteered to join the tank brigade and the mechanized troops he wanted to ride with the infantry into a counterattack on the SEDF while sitting on a T-34. For some reason the Cuban major believed Corboh was actually a unita soldier and would sabotage his tanks. After an argument and Corboh was ID card being scrutinized, the Cuban allowed him and the dozen others to ride along with the assault group. Meanwhile the convoy vehicles drew themselves into a circular lager for all around the fence. Of course this is what the Boers did with the Oxwagens and the days gone by Corboh noted to himself with a touch of gallows humour. The tanks set a course southwards towards the smoke-filled Kasinga with a plan to swamp the paratroopers with a show of power. As they approached the town, fighting had already broken out again as the Tecumutetti tanks had arrived from the south and huge explosions rent the air once more. In Kasinga itself the paratroopers were being airlifted out of the town to the helicopter administration area, protected by the rear guard. The Cubans had arrived from Tecumutetti with the armoured personnel carriers and around half a dozen T-34s and as you heard last episode they were about to drive straight into a strafing and an ambush. There were about 100 Cubans and Fuplot troops in this column from the south which was trying to break up the organised airlift of the paratroopers. Unfortunately for the Cubans they drove into Pierre-Peters' anti-tank platoon. Earlier the South Africans in this platoon had watched the first wave of the paratroopers take off and were apprehensive about being left behind. I didn't know what was going on and we still didn't have any comms with anyone. Peters told Ryder, Willemstein, come later. I told my troops to get ready to fight our way back to the Cutline. They thought they may have to fight overland 250 kilometres all the way back to South West Africa. They had already laid 9 anti-tank mines in the W formation on a wide front across a crucial intersection south of Kasinger and then pulled back about 200 metres to set up the ambush and wait for the Cubans. They were monitoring the radio and heard the Mirage pilots say that big trouble was coming from the south. Not that they needed that message. Peters could already hear the roar of the T-34 engines. Eventually he counted as I said around half a dozen. The anti-tank platoon had 9 RPG-7 rocket launches and each team had five rockets to engage the tanks and BGRs. Back at Battalion headquarters at the landing zone in town, the LZ, the first information that the Cubans had arrived was relayed by a staff sergeant hopper of the anti-tank platoon. He came on air to report he'd sighted a whole lot of vehicles coming up the road from Ticumatiti. It's a time like these that soldiers either respond with fight or flight. Comedun Brunt at the LZ HQ asked hopper how many vehicles he'd seen. "I can't quite see but there's a whole house full." Hopper yelled down the radio, not an elegant estimation but effective. Colonel Braytonbuck then radioed in Dungwa back in South Africa for urgent extra air support. Immediately, two Mirage CZs and one Buccaneer scrambled from on Dungwa Airbase and flew north. That was at 1344, quarter to two in the afternoon. The attack aircraft were led by Colonel Oli Harris and this was going to be a difficult mission. They were armed with air to air not ground attack rockets, which meant they'd be using Korean war methods to attack the tanks using their 30-millimeter guns. It would be a classic strike on a convoy. But there was another major worry. The Angolan MiG-19s and 21s were worth it. The South Africans expected the Russian fatigets to arrive at any moment and that would be catastrophic for the helicopters, particularly if the pilots figured out that there was a central gathering point called the HAA to the east. Fortunately for the South Africans, another SAA force Mirage was in the vicinity. Captain Thrice Mare, he was halfway to Chetekwera on his third sortie of the morning loaded with 54 Holo charge and 18 anti-personal rockets and he heard the messages from on Dungwa. His navigator Ernest Harvey could remember the coordinates of Kasinger and fed these into the Mirage computer then they turned to provide extra air cover. Back south of Kasinger, Pierre Peters and his anti-tank company were waiting for the Cubans to come within range. The South Africans were highly trained but conscious of being few in number. They were exposed and could be cut off and outflanked by the Cubans. Having heard T-34's early one morning at an attack in Zangonggo later, I can attest to their terrifying sound. First you hear the squeaking of the tracks before you hear the powerful engines roaring in the still African night and that sound travels for miles. So you're lying and listening to the fearful beast approaching for what seems like ours. Peters and his men knew that the T-34 may have been a World War II relic and can't fire accurately on the move but it was a tank and they were flesh and bone. The Russian BTR-152s similar compared to the rifles they were outgunned, they were thinly armoured and opened topped, but when you're a soldier lying in an ambush with the tree, or pile of dirt as protection, the BTR is king. Furthermore, these armoured cars each had a 12.7mm heavy machine gun to assist the 12 men riding inside, and the machine guns could be used as anti-aircraft weapons. As this column approached the intersection with the small company of South Africa's lay sweating in the sun, the Cuban commander ordered them to spread out on other side of the road in fighting formation. He knew that it was likely the SADF had set up an ambush at precisely that point. Suddenly, one of the BTR's rolled over a mine laid by the South Africans. The blast flung the heavy vehicle into the air amid a fountain of dust and smoke, but the convoy merely paused for a second and then continued. Most of the South African paratroop anti-tank company had hoped this would cause the armoured convoy to turn and run, but they continued attacking. The tanks moved out and spread on other side of the road as well. One roared up on the left, straight into Peter's killing field. It fired straight at the South Africans, while the BTR has opened fire with the heavy machine guns. One of Peter's troops fired at the closest BTR with his anti-tank rocket, hitting it flash on the site. The vehicle came to a stop, and all 12 Cuban soldiers inside were dead. A second BTR continued to roll through the same spot and suffered the same fate. In a third, which was also hit, its flap was open at the back, and Peter's men fired a single RPG into the opening. Peter's couldn't believe what he was seeing. The armoured vehicles did not deviate. Then a fourth was hit. There was a long low building at the intersection, and the Cubans in the fourth BTR survived the rocket strike, left out of the vehicle, and ran to take refuge behind the structure. Unfortunately, what they didn't know was that the South Africans were now behind them. They were in full view. The South African paratroopers began to shoot each of these Cubans with a single shot rifle fire. One of the doomed Cubans tried to run into the building, but then he was hit in the back with an anti-tank rocket. The South Africans believed they had dealt this convoy of fatal blow, but of course, they had forgotten about the tanks. The first T-34 eased around the corner, out of the bush, and moved up the road straight towards the anti-tank position, zigzagging to avoid the rocket. To the parabets watching, it looked like a giant beetle trying to sniff them out. Then it hit another of the mines, but was not badly damaged. However, the loss of four BTRs and the threat of more mines caused the Cuban column to come to a grinding halt, yet that was also fleeting. The tanks then turned away from the road and began to advance to the right, or east of that road, heading straight into town and directly at the Puma's landing and taking off at the Lennox LZ near the hospital. In Andungwa, the top brass, when our ordering the Air Force choppers into the air, on mass, aware that the T-34s could cause a massacre. Five superfriends and twelve Puma's took off from the HAA, east of Kasinger, amid clouds of dust and leaves, and headed at speed and low towards the town, desperate to airlift the remaining paratroopers out for a possible catastrophe took place. Things were moving swiftly. The mirage piloted by Maria also arrived overhead at that point. Bratenbach and Brant were ordered to withdraw the remaining men north of the LZ. Keredet-Swart of Alpha Company received the order to pull back, and were now 200 metres past Lennox when the tanks came into view, heading straight for the LZ. Peters and his anti-tank platoon had also received orders and pulled back from his sudden position at the intersection. Later, Bratenbach was to call this a mistake, it created a gap in defences which the quick thinking Cubans exploded. The South African paratroopers from various companies began gathering on the east side of Kasinger in an orchard, and they took up a defensive position against the tanks. There were many, fearful looks being exchanged, as most men had R1 rifles, which were pretty useless against the T-34. Around them the smell of death and war was pervasive. For those that have fought know it well, it's cordart, excrement, blood, burning thatch, grass, fear. From the bushes around the bay, small groups of children ranging in age from between six to sixteen began appearing, and then gathered near the hospital. That was now well within range of the tanks, and the hospital was packed with Fuplar, Swapos, civilians, and a scattering of South African wounded. One youngster, a girl of about sixteen, walked up to Bratenbach. She said she represented a group of around eight children who had been abducted from St Mary's mission, three hundred kilometres south, and they wanted to go home. Bratenbach stared at the group. "Will you please take me home to my mother?" the child pleaded. The experienced commander of three tube battalion, almost broke, he says, at that point, as he explains in his book, "Eagle strike." He explained as gently as possible that there was no space in the helicopters the girl began to weep. This was the worst, most heart-breaking decision I have ever had to make in my whole military career. He admitted later. As I said last episode, the real victims of the wars of Africa have always been its children. The commander then had to make a quick decision, and he turned away leaving the young girl and the other abducted children to their fate. What happened to them remains one of the cruel mysteries of this terrible war. I have reached out to St Mary's mission stop to find out, and if they do tell me, I'll let you know." A few minutes later, the tanks responded approaching Kasinka, while Papla Swapo and some Cuban infantry began to appear in the north of the town, making the paratroopers withdrawal more difficult. The batch of choppers for the final lift home were about to arrive at the LZ at precisely that moment, but the SA Air Force dived down. The Buccaneer followed by two Mirages targeting the T-34s. The Mirage's call sign was Sunlum, which is a South African-Lap insurance company. Putingly, they were going to provide insurance against death by tank. On the ground, Charlie Company was about to face these machines. They had an RPG-7, but only one rocket lift, and now they were facing around six T-34s. Mathias and the platoon commander spotted the first T-34 through the trees heading towards his men. They ordered them to hold their fire until point blank, so that the single rocket would find its mark. But one of the troops fired early, actually killing the tank commander through the viewing slit. Mathias and launched his RPG immediately, which stopped the tank. It was not knocked out, just immobilized, testifying to the brute strength of the Russian Second World War fighting machine. Which was fortunate because the tank was now in sight of the Renix LZ. Two BTR armored troop carriers then tried to bypass the tank, but Charlie Company had more rockets, and they hit the lead vehicle with four of these. It blew up, and the second turned tail and retreated at full speed into the thick bush. This led to a level for a few minutes, at least on the east side of town, but on the north-west, it was another matter. South Africans holding the rear position there were suddenly attacked by a well-organized mixed Cuban and Fuplos, including a T-34 tank. The paratroopers scattered in front of this serious threat, and the tank moved forward slowly. It was this that doomed the crew, they weren't moving fast enough. Company commander Heri Stain received the Paniki radio message, and ordered one of the Petun commanders to take an RPG-7 gunner with him, and to outflank the position then take out the tank. A section of paratroopers joined him, and they moved forward, changing their route westwards. They crested a slight rise, and then saw the T-34 through the bush. The Cubans seemed to be lying on the turret, so one of them fired at him. The Cuban jerked upright, then was shot again, and died. Two other Cubans in the tank jumped out and ran into the bush. One was shot down, the other escaped. The Battle of Kasinger was just never ending. The S.A.D.F. was supposed to have been long gone, but the enemy kept on coming. Pratmbach had wanted the Buccanean Mirages to attack the armored targets in the sudden edge of the LZ-renics. It was imperative to take out the tanks, the BTRs, and our BODM armored cars, which had joined the Cuban and England Army assault. The one problem was, the Mirages' 30mm cannon was pretty useless against the T-34s. The Mirages were ordered to strafe the BTRs while the Buccaneer aimed at the tanks. It fired 12 rockets, and then another tank was blown up. The pilots of the Buccaneer thought he'd fired 36 rockets and therefore had 12 left, but somehow, between him and the navigator who selected the number of missiles for each strapping run, they had miscounted. So on their fourth run aiming at the third tank, when Captain Tris, as he was called, tried to fire his rockets, they were none left, but there were at least two tanks still roaming the battlefield. The remaining T-34s could so may him. So the two Mirages were sowing their own kind of mayhem as they strafe the open top BTRs in the south of town. Even blew up, rocking the Mirage, it had exploded with such power. Eventually, they destroyed five of these armoured personnel carriers, which were left burning alongside the road near Casinga. The Cubans had now moved many of the 14.5mm heavy machine guns off their damaged BTRs and were opening fire at the LZ. Alpha Company was lying alongside the Cemetery east of Casinga. Some of the men were lying up against the whitewashed stone tombs, reading the names of departed Portuguese Colonials and wondering if they would also be next. It was twenty minutes since the first T-34s had appeared and most of the paratroopers were gathered east and north east of the town. Blatenbach had made another mistake, which to his credit, he admitted later. As the fighting had died down earlier, he had wrongly come to the conclusion that the battle was done. He didn't realise. there were at least two more tanks lurking close by. So he now called in the choppers once more after they'd been warned off for the duration of this late battle against tanks. The only LZ that was operational of the three was Renix, at least that's what Brachenbach thought. To the north, Fappler and Cubans had already infiltrated into the town and using their dismounted 14.5mm heavy machine guns, reposing more than a problem. The air head, as it's known, the area ringed by paratroopers fighting off the attacks, moved in next rubly eastwards out of town, pushed away from Kasinger by the increasing level of Cuban and Fappler assaults. What happened next? We'll have to wait for the next episode. We'll also rejoin NK's Captain Cobber as he rushed into Kasinger from the north with the second Cuban brigade looking to cut the South African parabets off in the town. It was going to be a close call. Please rate the podcast on iTunes. You can also contact me by the website abwarponcast.com or direct message me on Twitter at there's Nathan. Until next, goodbye. [BLANK_AUDIO]