When the bloody tide of communism began rolling across the continent in the
1960s, the West preferred to sit and watch, or even help. The however some
nifty soon realized that this seemingly chaotic surge had a clear
objective: to drive the white man out of Africa and thumbing third world
hordes. And even if the white man was much larger, hands tied by political
treachery and cowardice, there were still many who stood and fought in an
epic struggle that continues to this day.
The warning shot
After the great colonial powers withdrew from Africa, the only left white
players are Portugal, Rhodesia and South Africa. Made complacent by years
of peace and comfort, the Portuguese colonial administration could hardly
stop Angola and Mozambique to twist quickly forgotten; overthrow of the
Salazar regime in Portugal by simply pronounced the communist blow.
Mozambique became a typical African dictatorship, while Angola was shared
by three armed groups: the MPLA, FNLA and UNITA.
South Africa, realizing that he was next to the menu, began supporting
UNITA and FNLA in particular against the MPLA, which was strongly supported
by the USSR and especially Cuba. Unfortunately, the MPLA has always managed
to take power in Angola, and it was not long before he found a new target:
South-West Africa, a rich protectorate in the South African minerals.
The South West African People Organization (SWAPO), first the runt of the
litter African Marxist who survived on meager documents of the Eastern bloc
and treacherous Western governments began to gradually gain power . In
1972, political possums in the UN gave him recognition and in 1976, the
MPLA led SWAPO used its bases in southern Angola as a staging area for
raids in South-West Africa.
Modus operandi of SWAPO was not different from other terrorist groups in
black and red of their time: infiltrating an agricultural area away at the
border, killing whites met the flame of a farm or two and come back. Arn
Durand's autobiography perfectly summarizes:
Fill your head with the Marxist Communist ideologies. Obtain an RPG-7, an
AK-47 and mines and hand grenades, to a Cuban or Chinese camouflage uniform
and walk across the border of another country. Shoot and kill the locals
that n t support your ideas. Schoolchildren abduction at gunpoint, walk
them to your training bases to indoctrinate and fill the head with your
bullshit to force them to do what you do. You're looking shit and you're
bound to get your head detached and ideas crap poured into the fine white
sand.
& # 8211; Zulu Zulu Golf & # 8221;, 2011
Ovamboland, the northern part of South-West Africa, has quickly become a
battlefield, with its Ovambo native tribe division into factions and
pro-anti Swapo - the former determined to maintain the status quo in a
comfortable administration fair in South Africa, which is proposed to to
help drive the white "Namibia" and seize power over it.
Ops K
South Africa responded quickly, dispatching its army to keep the SWA
Angolan border. But SADF, despite being very good at conventional warfare,
lacked the flexibility to intercept raids SWAPO, not to mention that at the
time, he was not allowed to cross the border with Angola. guerrilla
invaders could not be addressed by something much faster and much less
hierarchical than the army & # 8211; something that South Africa has not.
Securing the length of the Angolan border-SWA needed tens of thousands of
soldiers.
The solution came in 1978 with the arrival of Johannes "Hans Sterk" Dreyer,
a brigadier general of the South African Police in the area of
operations. After serving in Rhodesia in the period when she SAP has helped
with efforts against insurgency, he knew how the most formidable military
unit in the country, the Selous Scouts operated. While acknowledging the
usefulness of the local population for intelligence gathering, he rejected
the Scouts infiltration tactics as unfit for the flat landscape near
Ovamboland without relief.
Instead, he opted for a unit of highly mobile hunter-killer that would
track and pursue the guerrillas over immense distances. Operating on a
small budget, Dreyer was able to recruit 60 Ovambo and six white policemen
to man two pickups and two cars, arm them with weapons trophy. His critics
were in stitches this motley outfit, but quickly fell silent when, in 1979,
after seven days of pursuit, he intercepted a terrorist Warband, killing
two people. This was soon followed by another long chase and more dead
terrorists; in less than a year, the men of Dreyer killed SWAPO 50-80 per
month.
Johannes Dreyer figure founder and father of Koevoet
But the official recognition of the unit was still far; until then, "K Ops"
is supported in any way it could, including stealing supplies and equipment
from military bases. In addition, the status of the unit announces meant
that all their kills were credited to the army; these two circumstances
have paved the way for a mutual resentment that sometimes bordered on
hostility. Three years later, Dreyer went to bigwigs with statistics.
Despite the massive military presence in the Angolan border K Ops was no
enemy contact and kills all deployed units combined. Removed by
incontestable facts, the Ministry of Defense finally began to cough money.
the Crowbar
The first sign of the willingness of the government was a lot of Hippo
APCs, to counter the abundant use of SWAPO landmines. Dreyer's men showed
their gratitude in a very unorthodox way - using arc welders and angle
grinders for Hippos open at the top, add ports and install a support weapon
that could accommodate even guns 20 mm. Back in South Africa's engineers
were horrified, but later ended up incorporate the changes in the new MRAP
vehicles the army has Buffel, while Koevoet as Ops K came to be known, got
the Casspir.
This machine virtually defined the tactics of the unit. Koevoet was divided
into tactical, each consisting of about 40 Ovambo, 4 white, 4 Casspirs
bristling with weapons and power vehicle Blesbok. The groups patrolled the
bush shifts a week, visiting villages and observations learn about SWAPO.
The time Spoor was picked up, hunting was: Ovambo would go to the front,
showing the Spoor with long sticks with Casspirs following closely, the
gunners on top to watch ambushes.
When the enemy was near, but not yet visible, one or two would often
Casspir frog leap forward from the main group to prevent them from
scattering or cut a path of possible evacuation. The moment contact was
made, trackers hit the ground while Casspirs rushed, encircling the enemy
in a hail of gunfire and grenade splinters white phosphorus. If victims or
overwhelming presence of the enemy helicopters are scrambled an airfield
nearby, providing extra firepower and vision; Koevoet relationship with the
Air Force was much kinder than the army.
Even by African standards, Koevoet was an anomaly. If the realization of
military operations as a police unit disintegrated into an apartheid state
was not enough, the unorthodox tactic they employees put in extreme danger.
Casspirs, while mining and evidence balls, offered no protection against
RPGs, and their open design on the top is very vulnerable gunners in
contacts, while trackers are not protected at all.
Koevoet often ignored the designations of the combat zone of the army,
which led to several incidents of friendly fire. Another feature is the
bonus system - the unit has cleared all the killed and captured terrorists
and their weapons and equipment, leading to cutthroat competition among
battlegroups.
Koevoet also engaged in a hearts-and-minds campaign improvised treating the
local natives with great cordiality and protect the SWAPO raids; This
contrasted sharply with their habit of decorating the bumper and the wheels
of their Casspirs with corpses as a warning to supporters of SWAPO. Some
trackers Koevoet were themselves former SWAPO Similarly the Selous Scouts,
especially qualified captives were offered to join the battle groups, while
others had paid employment as farm workers and cooks. However, most of the
fighting was still done by whites, as Ovambo refused or are simply afraid
to participate in contact.
The fear incarnate
Each Koevoet Casspir was an arsenal on wheels.
Resourcefulness and sheer brutality of the new unit paid: despite constant
attempts to terrorize SWAPO South West African population, very few have
succeeded and none were left unpunished. The full list of Koevoet
operations is far too long to provide here (especially considering that
most began as routine patrols), but it is crowned by their defense Tsumeb,
when more than 150 SWAPO on their way to a small mining town were
intercepted, dispersed and annihilated by several tactics before the army
even began to react. The few captives later confessed to having ordered
Tsumeb burn to the ground.
In his first, SWAPO was a force to be reckoned with. Armed by the Soviets,
trained by the Cubans and brainwashed into extreme Bloodroot, they were a
formidable foe even SADF, one of the most capable armies in the world. Yet
Koevoet did not even bother with the display of their camps during sentries
night in the bush - their reputation did the job just as well.
For SWAPO, the South African army represented pure evil, but it was a
familiar evil understandable. However, when he heard the unmistakable sound
of the engine of a Casspir and catch a glimpse of a uniform olive Koevoet
the agent was often all that was necessary for a guerrilla formed to panic
and flee. Not even 32 Battalion instilled this fear - the idea of an
enemy chasing you until you drop dead was much more terrifying than every
ambush, and mercy was not guaranteed even in case of transfer.
After South Africa said the UN to scram and allowed his troops to cross
into Angola, with Benzedrine syringes became standard issue for terrorists,
which now hinged on beating the survival Koevoet their root bases Angola
rather than the border. Few ever managed - monitoring Ovambo skills they
learned in childhood as herders, lined the supernatural, and Casspirs were
never far behind.
The facts speak for themselves: 11, 1615 contact with the enemy, killed and
3681 captured terrorists, 153 dead and 949 wounded policemen. It's 25: 1
ratio to kill, against the SADF average of 11: 1, as well as the total
number of staff Koevoet never exceeded 1,000.
The last look
Koevoet veterans gather to pay tribute to their fallen comrades. Pretoria,
2013.
To an outsider, Koevoet were barbarians - filthy, belligerent and totally
ruthless. Apartheid South was the favorite boogieman East and West Africa
communist subverted; once the existence of Koevoet was revealed, he also
became a target. People who have bled to make the people of South West
Africa were sleeping tight night were described as butchers depraved by
politicians and journalists who have never set foot outside their feet
sterile offices .
Koevoet was disbanded in 1989, its veterans either find new occupations or
become scattered throughout the world as private security companies.
contemporary governments of Namibia and South Africa prefer to ignore them
altogether - given the African tradition of exterminating any opposition,
it could be worse.
The result of the border war itself is unclear: while South Africa did not
accept the South-West Africa, he bled SWAPO in total impotence, preventing
them from establishing another bloody dictatorship and forcing them to join
more or less democratic means to maintain power. Modern Namibia owes its
peace and stability in Koevoet, FLAS and the sacrifices they made that day,
no matter how the government tries to deny it.
Read more: An Unsung Hero: Legend Danny Roxo
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