In November 1987 I received my orders for the border, off to Sector 10 - Oshakati and the 25 Field Engineers Squadron. After my weeks pass I remember when we got the train up From Bethlehem to Bloem for the start of our Border tour. After we arrived we had one day and one night to assemble the huge convoys of Ratels, Samels etc. to embark on the 3 day trip up to Northern SWA which we new was to be Oshakati.
We, our platoon, were assigned the task of loading up 18 Buffels with stores and 3 shower units onto flat bed train trucks and once completed, we all boarded our respective train coaches. On our way up we stopped for the night in a Windhoek siding. Two of the guys in our coach got so pissed on Klipdrift Brandy and coke that they wandered into another SAKK (Coloured Corps) train also in the siding for the night. They suddenly returned around midnight all bravado and grabbed their R4s hastily putting magazines (empty) into them, then stormed out of the carriage.
Around two in the morning these two piss cats came back into the carriage screaming and one of them was bleeding profusely. All the commotion woke up our whole carriage and our Loot came out to see what the hell was going on. One of the two guys had the loose webbing (skin) between his thumb and his forefinger cut through with his R4 "tweepoot" wire cutter by one of the SAKK guys for interfering with him and his local Ovambo woman that he had picked up for a quickie. They (the two piss cats in our compartment) were "klaared on" (DD1's) and the next day the MPs took them away. We saw them about two weeks later in Oshakati and needless to say, they were choep still. What a trip and we had not even seen the enemy yet!
On the Curtain at Bloem, off to border boys..
Oshakati from the water tower
After the initial orientation, life at Oshakati started......Oshakati - What a place, Oshakati is situated on the Angolan Border in the Oshana region of Namibia and the camp is just outside tow. The town from memory was named so due to a water tower and the word Oshakati is Kwambi (the local tribe) for tower.
Sweeping the road to heaven....
Oshakati is used as the main base and is home to 25 Field Engineers and with its Ack-Ack-platforms and the huge radio mast, you cant miss this place, it's rumoured to be the highest structure in an other wise flat area with very sparse vegetation.
Recovered Cheese Mine
Our Pay was now R285,00 per month and we received R4,00 per day Danger Pay for being on the Border. Post Day was our lifeline and we always looked forward to the post arriving on Tuesdays and Fridays. Parcels and letters from family and friends were always awaited eagerly.
TM57 Landmine with AP underneath
Lets talk about landmines for a minute.....Should you be in a vehicle that detonates a mine, the following would more than likely happen, in a very short space of time it might feel as if the vehicle had just been in a massive accident. However the difference will be loss of hearing for a while and a huge headache if you are still lucky enough to be breathing.
The remains after a buffel detted a landmine.
Mood Picture
Freshening up in a local's waterhole
Some history of our Border War
The border conflict with Angola was characterised by a low intensity terrorist style war that escalated and spread over time throughout Southern Angola. By the end of the conflict in 1989, there had been large conventional ground and air battles that were fought between the SADF and Unita on the one side and FAPLA and Russian / Cuban forces on the other.
Ratels on patrol in Ovamboland
While the SADF and SWAPO skirmishes raged throughout the SWA conflict in the operational area. There were several cross border raids conducted by the SADF during the 23 year period of the war and whereby the attacking forces targeted SWAPO / FAPLA training and staging camps in Angola and South West Zambia. SWAPO on the other hand infiltrated SWA on foot from camps within Angola and Zambia.
Casavac of an injured soldier
These insurgents varied in size from hanfuls of individuals to forces of more than 100 soldiers armed with RPG7 rocket launchers, AK47 rifles, mines and mortars. Most insurgents were local farmers conscripted by promises that were trained by Cuba and Russia.
- 1 Operation Raindeer - 1978
- 2 Operation Safraan - 1979
- 3 Operation Sceptic (Smokeshell) 1980
- 4 Operation Protea - Aug/Sep 1981
- 5 Operation Daisy - Nov 1981
- 6 Operation Super - 1982
- 7 Operation Askari - 1983-1984
- 8 Operation Modular - 1987
- 9 Operation Hooper - 1988
On patrol
The insurgents targets were SADF bases in northern SWA, the local population of SADF sympathisers such as village chiefs, the placing of landmines on public roads targeting civilian and military vehicles and sabotaging infrastructure such as electricity pylons and water pipelines.
Sweeping a typical Ovambo village
Infiltration routes followed known water sources in this dry land and often made use of the local population from the scattered Ovambo villages in Ovamboland.
On patrol Ovamboland just outside Oshakati
Swapo Offce in Windhoek
Final thoughts
Final thoughts
"Give me 20 divisions of American soldiers and I
will beach Europe. Give me 15 divisions English and I will advance to
the borders of Berlin. Give me 2 divisions of those marvelous fighting
BOERS and I will wipe Germany from the face of the earth!.." - Field
Marshall Bernard L. Montgomery.(Commander of the allied forces WW2)
and
"The Americans fight for a free world.The English
mostly for medals. TheFrench and Canadians decided too late that they have
to participate. The Italians were too scared. The Russians have no choice. The Germans fought
for the Fatherland and the Boers?... Those buggers fight for the hell of
it!" - American General George 'guts and glory' Patton
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