This is episode 31 and it’s the start of Operation Reindeer – the twin assaults on Cassinga and Chetequera in Angola on May 4th 1978. 
 
Colonel Jan Breytenbach was the most important of these leading fighting forces on the ground at Cassinga code-named Alpha assisted by Commandant Deon Ferreira. SWAPOs code name for Cassinga was Moscow by the way so I will sometimes refer to it by that name. 
 
Seventeen medium-transport helicopters were going to be used to airlift the paratroopers out of Cassinga after they were airdropped in – and you know by now this would be the first major airborne attack carried out by the SADF anywhere. 
 
On May 2nd the South African government of John Vorster finally gave the go-ahead for Operation Reindeer on 2 May two days before the SADF would launch its invasion. 
 
The date was calculated to follow a United Nations Security Council debate on South West Africa. According to government officials later, this was to avoid making things difficult for the Big Five western nations who had been tacitly supporting Pretoria at the UN. 
 
The other target was Chetequera which was 30 kilometers from the cutline. Major Frank Bestbier was commanding the ground forces there.

This is episode 31 and it’s the start of Operation Reindeer – the twin assaults on Cassinga and Chetequera in Angola on May 4th 1978. Colonel Jan Breytenbach was the most important of these leading fighting forces on the ground at Cassinga code-named Alpha assisted by Commandant Deon Ferreira. SWAPOs code name for Cassinga was Moscow by the way so I will sometimes refer to it by that name. Seventeen medium-transport helicopters were going to be used to airlift the paratroopers out of Cassinga after they were airdropped in – and you know by now this would be the first major airborne attack carried out by the SADF anywhere. On May 2nd the South African government of John Vorster finally gave the go-ahead for Operation Reindeer on 2 May two days before the SADF would launch its invasion. The date was calculated to follow a United Nations Security Council debate on South West Africa. According to government officials later, this was to avoid making things difficult for the Big Five western nations who had been tacitly supporting Pretoria at the UN. The other target was Chetequera which was 30 kilometers from the cutline. Major Frank Bestbier was commanding the ground forces there.

This is episode 31 and it’s the start of Operation Reindeer – the twin assaults on Cassinga and Chetequera in Angola on May 4th 1978. 
 
Colonel Jan Breytenbach was the most important of these leading fighting forces on the ground at Cassinga code-named Alpha assisted by Commandant Deon Ferreira. SWAPOs code name for Cassinga was Moscow by the way so I will sometimes refer to it by that name. 
 
Seventeen medium-transport helicopters were going to be used to airlift the paratroopers out of Cassinga after they were airdropped in – and you know by now this would be the first major airborne attack carried out by the SADF anywhere. 
 
On May 2nd the South African government of John Vorster finally gave the go-ahead for Operation Reindeer on 2 May two days before the SADF would launch its invasion. 
 
The date was calculated to follow a United Nations Security Council debate on South West Africa. According to government officials later, this was to avoid making things difficult for the Big Five western nations who had been tacitly supporting Pretoria at the UN. 
 
The other target was Chetequera which was 30 kilometers from the cutline. Major Frank Bestbier was commanding the ground forces there.

Episode 31 – D-Day and Operation Reindeer begins

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.

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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.

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Episode 31 – D-Day and Operation Reindeer begins

Episode 31 – D-Day and Operation Reindeer begins

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