South African Border Wars
Un pódcast de Desmond Latham
Categorías:
113 Episodo
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Episode 53 – Soviet officers die and one is captured at Ongiva as Operation Protea enters DDay+5.
Publicado: 6/4/2022 -
Episode 52 - Operation Protea D+1, Xangongo falls and the attention shifts to Ongiva
Publicado: 29/3/2022 -
Episode 51 – Xangongo the target as Operation Protea begins and the story of a freak smoke rocket shot
Publicado: 21/3/2022 -
Episode 50 – Operation Protea begins and Xangongo and Peu Peu targeted but FAPLA’s 19th Brigade awaits
Publicado: 14/3/2022 -
Episode 49 – SWAPO uses FAPLA as a defensive screen in southern Angola and the plans are laid for Operation Protea
Publicado: 6/3/2022 -
Episode 48 – Russian specialists set up anti-aircraft missiles and Special Forces ops accelerate across the cutline
Publicado: 27/2/2022 -
Episode 47 – 32 Battalion’s Colonel Ferreira hauled over the coals for attacking FAPLA and Impala’s drop napalm
Publicado: 20/2/2022 -
Episode 46 – The attack on Smokeshell leaves 17 dead – the largest SADF loss in a single day’s combat since 1945
Publicado: 13/2/2022 -
Episode 45 – The SAAF begins flying Impala’s at night and Operation Sceptic aka Smokeshell begins
Publicado: 13/2/2022 -
Episode 44 – The Recces kayak to Savate as 32 Battalion preps for Operation Sceptic aka Smokeshell
Publicado: 30/1/2022 -
Episode 43 – Sonja Dressel shoots up a PLAN platoon and political change sweeps southern Africa
Publicado: 22/1/2022 -
Episode 42 – The Triangle of Death in 1979 and an introduction to Tannie Pompie
Publicado: 14/1/2022 -
Episode 41 – A Rhodesian Airlines Viscount downed at Kariba and an old Zambian man stares down the SADF
Publicado: 6/1/2022 -
Episode 40 – 61 Mechanised Battalion special edition with former commander Roland de Vries
Publicado: 23/12/2021 -
Episode 39 – Both the SADF and SWAPO reorganise and 61 Mech is born
Publicado: 13/12/2021 -
Episode 38 – 32 Battalion ends Ops Reindeer then SWAPO attacks Katima Mulilo in the Caprivi
Publicado: 1/12/2021 -
Episode 37 – A Cuban counter-attack causes chaos at the Cassinga LZ and Pretoria’s political strategy backfires
Publicado: 21/11/2021 -
Episode 36 – Paratroopers in Cassinga face off against T34s as the Cubans infiltrate the battle zone
Publicado: 9/11/2021 -
Episode 35 – Cassinga finally surrenders but the Cubans in Techamutete mobilise their T34s
Publicado: 31/10/2021 -
Episode 34 – The SADF begin to take casualties as they attack Chetequera where hyaenas and jackals would feast
Publicado: 23/10/2021
Much has been written about the South African Border war which is also known as the Namibian War of Independence. While the fighting was ostensibly about Namibia, most of the significant battles were fought inside Namibia’s northern neighbour, Angola. South Africa’s 23 year border war has been almost forgotten as the Cold War ebbed away and bygones were swept under the political carpet. South African politicians, particularly the ANC and the National Party, decided during negotiations to end years of conflict that the Truth and Reconciliation commission would focus on the internal struggle inside South Africa. For most conscripts in the South African Defence Force, the SADF, they completed matric and then were drafted into the military. For SWAPO or UNITA or the MPLA army FAPLA it was a similar experience but defined largely by a political awakening and usually linked to information spread through villages and in towns. This was a young person’s war which most wars are – after all the most disposable members of society are its young men. Nor was it simply a war between white and black. IT was more a conflict on the ground between red and green. Communism and Capitalism. The other reality was despite being a low-key war, it was high intensity and at times featured unconventional warfare as well as conventional. SADF soldiers would often fight on foot, walking patrols, contacts would take place between these troops and SWAPO. There were many conventional battles involving motorised heavy vehicles, tanks, artillery, air bombardments and mechanised units rolling into attack each other. The combatants included Russians, American former Vietnam vets, Cubans, East Germans and Portuguese.
