As we heard last episode, By 6pm on the 24th August 1981, Battle Group 20 was in control of its objectives, having destroyed at least four tanks and capturing vehicles, guns and ammunition. The fort and water tower, key targets in the town, were eventually reached and taken. The bridge was reached by the combat teams by 17h30 and was immediately prepared with demolition charges by the engineers. It was found later that FAPLA and PLAN officer and their Soviet advisors had hurriedly fled the town while the FAPLA and SWAPO soldiers held their positions and fought furiously. And so the sun had set on a long day’s fighting, but Battle Group 20s rest was going to be interrupted in the early hours of the morning. I was part of that group dug in overlooking the river alongside a road out of Xangongo. Before dawn, we began to hear the sound of tanks approaching, the first sound you hear is the deep bellow of the powerful engine, then the squeaking of the tracks. There were T34’s approaching. Little did we know that there was another incident that took place in the north when a convoy tried to leave Xangongo and drove into Captain Jan Hougaard’s combat team ambushed the troop carriers. Now it was onwards to Ongiva and the commanders once again caucused in the main HQ tent that night. This was going to be another tough nut to crack. The town was defended by two battalions protected by 23mm AA guns, a tank squadron of T34s, as well as an armoured car company with BTR-23s and an artillery battery with both 82m and 76mm field guns. Dippenaars 20 Battle Group was going to spearhead the attack, assaulting from the northwest. He’d then hold the areas taken an allow Serfontein to continue phase two of the attack – swinging past 20 alongside and also striking from the north west.

Desmond Latham

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 by unconventional warfare as well as conventional. At times SADF soldiers would be on foot, walking patrols or SWAPO on foot, launching attacks across the border. But there were motorised heavy vehicles, tanks, artillery, air bombardments and mechanised units rolling into attack each other. For some that was a nightmare, for others, freedom. At times youngsters from the suburbs of Pretoria or Durban were fighting experienced soldiers from Russia and Cuba. For veterans the territory would come to be known as “Nam” as the experience replicated the American experience in Vietnam to some extent.

Episode Summary

Clips