South African Border Wars

A podcast by Desmond Latham

Categories:

Society & Culture History

113 Episodes

  1. Episode 53 – Soviet officers die and one is captured at Ongiva as Operation Protea enters DDay+5.

    Published: 4/6/2022

  2. Episode 52 - Operation Protea D+1, Xangongo falls and the attention shifts to Ongiva

    Published: 3/29/2022

  3. Episode 51 – Xangongo the target as Operation Protea begins and the story of a freak smoke rocket shot

    Published: 3/21/2022

  4. Episode 50 – Operation Protea begins and Xangongo and Peu Peu targeted but FAPLA’s 19th Brigade awaits

    Published: 3/14/2022

  5. Episode 49 – SWAPO uses FAPLA as a defensive screen in southern Angola and the plans are laid for Operation Protea

    Published: 3/6/2022

  6. Episode 48 – Russian specialists set up anti-aircraft missiles and Special Forces ops accelerate across the cutline

    Published: 2/27/2022

  7. Episode 47 – 32 Battalion’s Colonel Ferreira hauled over the coals for attacking FAPLA and Impala’s drop napalm

    Published: 2/20/2022

  8. Episode 46 – The attack on Smokeshell leaves 17 dead – the largest SADF loss in a single day’s combat since 1945

    Published: 2/13/2022

  9. Episode 45 – The SAAF begins flying Impala’s at night and Operation Sceptic aka Smokeshell begins

    Published: 2/13/2022

  10. Episode 44 – The Recces kayak to Savate as 32 Battalion preps for Operation Sceptic aka Smokeshell

    Published: 1/30/2022

  11. Episode 43 – Sonja Dressel shoots up a PLAN platoon and political change sweeps southern Africa

    Published: 1/22/2022

  12. Episode 42 – The Triangle of Death in 1979 and an introduction to Tannie Pompie

    Published: 1/14/2022

  13. Episode 41 – A Rhodesian Airlines Viscount downed at Kariba and an old Zambian man stares down the SADF

    Published: 1/6/2022

  14. Episode 40 – 61 Mechanised Battalion special edition with former commander Roland de Vries

    Published: 12/23/2021

  15. Episode 39 – Both the SADF and SWAPO reorganise and 61 Mech is born

    Published: 12/13/2021

  16. Episode 38 – 32 Battalion ends Ops Reindeer then SWAPO attacks Katima Mulilo in the Caprivi

    Published: 12/1/2021

  17. Episode 37 – A Cuban counter-attack causes chaos at the Cassinga LZ and Pretoria’s political strategy backfires

    Published: 11/21/2021

  18. Episode 36 – Paratroopers in Cassinga face off against T34s as the Cubans infiltrate the battle zone

    Published: 11/9/2021

  19. Episode 35 – Cassinga finally surrenders but the Cubans in Techamutete mobilise their T34s

    Published: 10/31/2021

  20. Episode 34 – The SADF begin to take casualties as they attack Chetequera where hyaenas and jackals would feast

    Published: 10/23/2021

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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.