South African Border Wars
A podcast by Desmond Latham
Categories:
113 Episodes
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Episode 73 – A 1984 cease-fire as the SADF and FAPLA conduct joint patrols
Published: 10/2/2022 -
Episode 72 – Cuvelai III: A Ratel destroyed by a T54 and an Impala narrow escape
Published: 9/25/2022 -
Episode 71 – The Battle of Cuvelai II: Bundu-bashing into Soviet T54/55s
Published: 9/18/2022 -
Episode 70 – Operation Askari missteps at Cahama and Cuvelai
Published: 9/11/2022 -
Episode 69 – Operation Askari begins with a reconnaissance drone
Published: 9/5/2022 -
Episode 68 – UNITA overruns Cangamba with SAAF help but Russia gets proactive
Published: 8/28/2022 -
Episode 67–A rifle grenade in a ribcage, an Ionde minefield mishap and a Dragon
Published: 8/22/2022 -
Episode 66 – Another MiG shot down and Russian VIPs arrive
Published: 8/14/2022 -
Episode 65 – Ops Meebos where SWAPO AA fire downs a Puma
Published: 8/7/2022 -
Episode 64 – Another Maputo raid and Hearts and Minds in the Kavango
Published: 7/29/2022 -
Episode 63 – 4 Recce and the Rhodesian SAS target Beira fuel depot and port in a series of raids
Published: 7/18/2022 -
Episode 62 – Rhodesian SAS and the Recces plan an assassination attempt on Robert Mugabe codenamed “Lark”
Published: 7/5/2022 -
Episode 61 – The Recces first Seaborne Operations and how the British High Commissioner’s Rolls Royce was blown up
Published: 6/24/2022 -
Episode 60 – Tsumeb farmers suffer repeated blows as SWAPOs Operation Typhoon sows destruction in the Triangle of Death
Published: 6/12/2022 -
Episode 59 – A SWAPO ambush leaves 11 dead as a Ratel is blown up at Effense Chana
Published: 6/2/2022 -
Episode 58 – SWAPOs “Danger” Ashipala switches tactics as he dispatches 150 men to the Triangle of Death
Published: 5/26/2022 -
Episode 57 – Operation Super: The incredible 1982 Battle of Cambeno Valley, SWAPO’s Point Zero
Published: 5/18/2022 -
Episode 56 – SWAPO takes aim at the Kaokoland and 32 Battalion hit by SAAF friendly fire
Published: 5/10/2022 -
Episode 55 – Operation Daisy where a Mirage shoots down a MiG in a first for the SAAF since the Korean War
Published: 4/29/2022 -
Episode 54 – Operation Protea wraps up but the Russians and Cubans want revenge
Published: 4/19/2022
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.
