The pioneers of landmine proof vehicles, landmine explosions and terrorist attacks in Rhodesia and South Africa

Image courtesy of Peter Stiff

I have just finished reading Peter Stiff's book, Taming the Landmine and found this really riveting stuff, to be honest I have not really looked back in time in this theatre and time of war. However on finding out that Rhodesia and South Africa were the pioneers of landmine proof vehicles and counter insurgency bush warfare which involved terrorism, I was now hooked and I may continue in this avenue for a while, while I give in to my quest for knowledge on our fantastic past.

I look back and I bet some of the early days must have been harrowingly scary for those on the front line of terrorism. Seeing the technology grow from some daring or desperate ideas into what we had to protect us in the form of the vehicles was purely amazing - I cannot recommend this book more highly.

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The Enemy

Who was he???

I guess if one had to say the Angolan Bush War had a variety of nations involved in this conflict, it could be described as a mini world war. There was the Angolans themselves, Cubans, Russians, Zambians South Africans, Rhodesians and Namibians.

Lets look at the average soldier in this conflict, he was poor but highly motivated though either indoctrination via politics or by belief, he was not provided with uniforms or sufficient training but was given decent Russian origin weaponry in great amounts.

Was he prepared to die for his country / beliefs, most of them would and this makes this enemy a very dangerous adversary indeed. There was however the farmer type who was forced into this conflict by political bullying and threats. This man was no motivated and was more likely to surrender or run away when confronted or when in a contact.

FAPLA Tank

Cuban Cooker

Mig

Swapo foot

Koevoet and Swapo

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here represent only their respective authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of any of the other contributors to this website.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This website may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not been pre-authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of political, economic, scientific, social, art, media, and cultural issues. Material on this site is distributed without profit to persons interested in such information for research and educational purposes. If you want to use any copyrighted material that may exist on this site for purposes that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Cuito why the controversy???

Making sense of Cuito Cuanavale.

In short, I think much of the argument over whether the battle for Cuito was a legit ops stems from some of the following information. The battle for the town of Cuito started in Aug 1987 with a MPLA/FAPLA advance from this area towards the South Eastern UNITA strongholds around Mavinga/Jamba.

The SADF responded and in conjunction with UNITA forces launched Operation Modular. Once the Angolans were forced to retreat, they launched Operation Hooper (Jan-Feb '88) to inflict maximum casualties on the retreating SWAPO / MPLA / FAPLA forces.

The Angolan government asked for help from Cuba and Fidel Castro responded which influenced the birth of Operation Packer with the it's main aim of driving the Cuban/FAPLA/MPLA forces west of the Cuito river which ended in the stand-off artillery bombardment of Cuito Cuanavale.

The SADF never intended to take the town, what would they do with it? They had not only stopped the advance, but inflicted such serious casualties and materiel losses that both the Soviets and Cubans never again supported such aggression and soon after an agreement around Namibian independence was signed (one of the conditions being Cuban withdrawal from Angola) So in effect this was the turning point for the war.

The only way to salvage some pride or propaganda from this was to paint it as a battle for this one town when that was in fact only the very short final stage of a crushing blow to MPLA designs on South Eastern Angola.

One should remember that this was the Cold War and everyone feared Communist expansionism and in South Africa's case that fear was not unfounded. Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and others had all fallen to Communist backed regimes and they were clearly next sitting on vast mineral wealth and being able to control the strategic sea route rounding from Europe around Africa to the Far East.

As for Angola, the Cubans often wanted to portray SA as an imperialist force to hide their own intentions (what were they doing in Angola???). SA's only concern had been to keep control (though UNITA) over the southern areas of Angola bordering Namibia to deny SWAPO easy access from close bases. They never had any interest in invading or occupying Angola, they always had a small mobile force, not a large occupying forces. And occupation – besides being next to impossible and leaving SA vulnerable – would have given others (Soviet/Cuban) the pre-text for much large operations. Of course on several occasions when SA was drawn into large scale action, they were so effective and covered so much ground that observers could be forgiven for thinking they wanted to invade. I'm thinking of Operation Savannah ('75) when they advanced 3,000km in just over 30 days and perhaps Operations Protea in '81.

And as for weapons and tactics, the SADF had a history stretching back to WWI with training and equipment to match most modern western armies, while the MPLA had only been in existing for 5-10 years and FAPLA was an irregular force at best. SA didn't have air superiority, but they used the terrain (sand, trees) as a force multiplier, by hiding during the day and moving at night with their wheeled vehicles not being restricted only to the few main roads. Olifant tanks traveled on the perimeter of columns to protect vulnerable Ratel APCs. They also deployed a new ZT3 Ratel with ATGM (anti-tank guided missiles) and in addition to the Olifant and 90mm guns of some Ratels were effective enough against enemy armor on the few occasion that it was required.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here represent only their respective authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of any of the other contributors to this website.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This website may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not been pre-authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of political, economic, scientific, social, art, media, and cultural issues. Material on this site is distributed without profit to persons interested in such information for research and educational purposes. If you want to use any copyrighted material that may exist on this site for purposes that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Returning state-side

What happened to the SADF veteran of the Angolan Bush War....

When I got back state-side, it was in time for my 40 day milestone which was so exciting as I would be able to see all my family and friends. My thoughts at the time were like I suppose many returning troops, I hope they know what I have gone through, please dont ask questions and what if they notice I have changed ect..... They were valid concerns!!!

I was in the bush for the last 7 months and found coming back a bit scary. The one was any loud trucks, a plane flying over or driving a car in busy city traffic.

My first few days back in Bethlehem were pretty much uneventful. However, I still had issues like my 6th sense when someone was behind me un-announced still stayed with me and walking in the bush alone and without my R4, this scared the daylights out of me for a couple of years.

During the 40 days I had left in the army, I had to see a psychiatrist every week so they could judge whether the civvies would be safe with my return as some troops came back with Bossies (Shell-Shock or PTSD) and had to be professionally cared for.

I guess you could say I was one of the lucky ones and found to be sane enough to klaar out - which in itself was great. This still did not stop the nightmares or the voices one hears in the dark or the images imprinted in one's memory, it does not take away the memories or the fears that go with the memories or the heightened senses one has..... I am left to deal with these myself.

Much later, like some twenty odd years later all the above have diminished to such an extent I can live a so called normal life, however I do feel the experience has changed me in that I don't do well with friendships any more and I have become a bit of a loner so I don't have to feel people rely on me and vice versa. Dont get me wrong I have the best relationship in the world with my wife and my kids, we do have some friends but this is on my terms. So, I guess I am still affected in some ways and I will be until I take my last breath......

Pictures

SWAPO sabotaged these electricity poles

Attacks on local infrustructure

Bivvie for the night

Guard post

Collecting water from a Shona in Ovamboland

RPG-7 Practice 25 Field

In Angola

Orders

Rifle grenade practice 25 Field

Mine detecting vehicles

View from water tower

Detting a mine

Detcord and a detonator

RPG-7

WW2 Browning 50 cal AWESOME firepower 

Kwevoel truck hit by RPG-7

Casspirs on patrol

TB set up

Water tiffie station

T55M1 tanks in Angola

Landmines

This was a part of my training I did at 26 Field, it was great fun and by the time I was sent to the border, this was pretty much my main function other than general infantry support and reaction patrols.

We started our training with learning the MMD Mk3 metal detector, we then had some training with general metal detecting, then on some inert mines and finally went out on the mine range with live practice smoke mines. We were all threatened with an oppie by our respecting corporals for the first person to trigger a mine the entire platoon would be op fokked. 

This was a pretty daunting task and terrifying to think at any moment one could stand on a anti personnel mine. We were asked to pretend that these were not practice mine but real ones and if you engaged this was a pretty scary thing to do, thankfully I found my mine but 3 were triggered so yes we did have a playful oppie, it was more for the corporals amusement and a bit of extra PT rather than a full blown op fok. 

During classes we were shown and taught the in's and out's of all known mines we may face on the border from the AP mine to the TM57 and cheese mines. We were shown the easy way and the hard way to deactivate mine found and the art of uncovering them with a mine stick and a knife. Here we had no sissy bomb suits just you and the device.

When a vehicle detonates an anti tank mine the blast and concussion is normally deadly as the body is not capable to sustain the force involved, the shock wave will strip the clothing from your body and can result in such bad tissue damage the flesh liquefies. The blast itself  will destroy most civilian vehicles with pretty much 100% mortality rate for the occupants. The pictures below show the destructive force of a landmine and a civilian truck, both occupants died from the blast. 

Civilian MAN truck detonated an anti tank mine

 During the era where South Africa was placed under an arms embargo, our country had to fend for ourselves and the SADF created some fantastic military vehicles, most were mine proof in some way and the SADF are considered the world leaders in mine proof vehicles with the USA and some other countries now using our creations.

The SADF Buffel was designed in such a manner that if one was damaged by a mine the vehicle could be repaired in a couple of days and be back out again, they were simplistic effective and safe vehicles.

When a mine was found on the border, in most cases we just used a 50 foot length of rope and a grappling hook, the hook was gingerly placed with two hooks just under the bottom rim of the mine and then you walked to the end of the rope, sat down, took up the slack and then lay flat on your back. The rope was pulled which in turn lifted and detonated the mine - bravo and what a feeling, the concussion from a tank mine was something else.

22 Field (Piet se Gat)

Buffel

Well what does one say about 22 field, the base with the shooting range, demolitions range, more tin shacks to live in and a crazy Zebra.

I was transferred from 26 with about 60 other guys to 22 to continue with our 2nd phase training and obtain my Demolitions Certificate, I still did all the other courses such as the famous Bailey |Bridge building course and counter insurgency ect. 

Bailey Bridge on the Dems. Range

Did I enjoy my stay at 22, hell yes....  I guess the reputation this camp had was unfair, we had our bad times but in all for the months I was there what a laugh. I will go as my memory brings out stories.

Border training

The first funny, we had this Zebra that hung around the camp, one could say it was a mascot or something, no one new where it came from or the story behind it, any way, had a few beers and I decided I was going to try and break in this donkey in pyjamas. We got hold of the poor animal and put a rope around it's neck, led it down to the small pond in front of the car park and in my wisdom I thought the water would help me break it in. Two of my mates held the animal while I mounted it and then all hell broke loose, in 2 seconds I was thrown off and next i was being chased down the car park. I headed for the administration building, went through the door and to my horror the Zebra was right behind me looking like some devil type animal hell bent on revenge. I continued running and headed for the dining block and this was full of troops having lunch. What happened next was mad, the Zebra just focused on me and kept on coming. It eventually was caught and taken outside and off it went. I was pretty much the laughing stock for a while - totally deserved I guess.

Dinner

I guess all old Sappers have heard of Piet se Gat, this was a great place to visit and get away from army life for a few hours, the walk to it was about an hour or so and what you were faced with was a huge hole in the ground which had been eroded by a water fall with the sides eroded in with a huge pool to swim in. I spent a few days there messing around, pity no pics though, a really pretty place.

Braai and Biltong

I have quite a tale to tell about the darker side of mankind, I was AWOL one night with my local girlfriend and she drove me back to camp at about 01:30, I was dropped just before the Equestrian centre and made my way to the camp through the outskirts and the brush. I was about 500 meters away and I saw blue flashing lights everywhere. My firsts thoughts was, shit I'm busted, I slowly and stealthily made my way and saw SAP vehicles and an ambulance, cops were everywhere. I stood up and blended in, I asked a mate what the hell was going on and was told a troop from Delta Bungalow had been murdered, he believed he was attacked with a tar pole whilst asleep and his skull was smashed to bits. It turned out the camp was having a braai and the attacker stole some weed (marijuana) from this chaps kas, when he was confronted he attacked and beat up the owner of the weed pretty badly. He later returned once everyone was asleep and kicked out one of the fire bucket poles from outside the front door and smashed his head in with it. No one new how many hits he made, but the chap was in a mess. Needless to say we never saw him again, nor heard what happened to him, one can only guess he got his due deserves.

That's how you make Biltong

During demolition training I will never forget the range itself, it was a huge circle with massive craters everywhere, I guess it looked like a lunar landscape picture, I recently looked for the three camps on Google Earth and was totally amazed at the satellite image, moon like as I thought - see pic below.

A bad horse day - We were pretty lucky during our down time, we were allowed to ride the camp's horses and I was ok with horses, but definitely not an expert rider. This particular day I chose a wonderful steed, a stallion of I don't know how many hands but he was pretty intimidating. The group took four horses out for the day's ride around the shooting range and surrounding areas. On the way back we got to the shooting range road and my horse took off, it seemed to know we were heading back to the stables. We all decided to have a race back to the stables. We were at full gallop and the chap on guard at the gate came out of the guard hut only to see four horses closing fast, he did not have time to open the boom, we all jumped and successfully made it in one piece. My ride decided to head through the paddock which was shorter than the road, I thought OK and let him go. I then saw the gate open and was sure I would be first in, unfortunately the sliding gate was not open wide enough and both my knees and thighs hit both the side of the gate and the gate post, I came to an abrupt halt on impact and came off the horse backwards, I experienced a pain like I had never felt before. I was sure I had broken both my legs. Off I went to hospital crying like a baby, thankfully nothing broken but I ended up light duty for two weeks and in crutches and had the worst bruising to my entire upper legs, black and blue - again this did not help with my reputation.

Bush Warfare

On a Sunday morning some idiot decided to go and surprise the main gate guard, he took a fire extinguisher from the admin block and emptied it on the poor guard who was caught in the hut sleeping like a baby, the hut, the road the guard, everything was white powder. The officer on duty was not impressed so first thing in the morning the whole camp was tree'd aan (formed up in our platoons) and asked for the culprit/s to come forward, none did. So the whole camp dressed in full kit was given something like a tyre, a marble(concrete block) or a telephone pole and we had to march to town to get the extinguisher filled and march back, 15km in and 15km back. If we had found out who had done this we would have pretty much done some harm after this.

22 from space (click pic to see larger image)

 I guess this camp was my best experience in Bethlehem, we had a load of fun in both training and messing around, the only down side was we were pretty far out of town.