Born to War Episode 7: A Bloody Valentines Day

The +-3000 SADF men deployed in South East Angola, together with their UNITA allies are still determined to drive the remaining FAPLA back East across the Cuito River. Doing this would expose Cuito Cuananavle to capture which is what FAPLA and the Cubans believe to be the ultimate objective of their enemies. As such they have built a series of defensive zones that provide 3 formidable lines between the SADF and Cuito Cuanavale. Breaching these defensive will require a maximum effort in January and February 1988. This episode covers this pivotal period in the War in Angola.

[@robert-trading-as-Bob69]

I was at School of Armour in 1989 and explored the recovered T54/55 Soviet tanks recovered from the battlefield for evaluation. I am not sure if I saw the photos or the damaged tanks themselves, but the APFSDS, or Sabot rounds were fired so close to the enemy tanks that the sabot (boot in French) barely had time to separate from the tungsten bolt that penetrated the T54/55's. The hardened plastic of the sabot dug two divots out of the stricken metal hull on either side of the bolts entry point.

[@danielbtwd]

The interesting thing about going into battle is that the 1st time is nowhere near as frightening as the other times. I remember even that my mind was ok, my body was freaking out. During the attack on the 21st it smelled like a braai, we slept within a few hundred meters from the 21 position, in the morning it smelled like a butcher's shop. In the morning we formed up to continue chasing them to the point we had to pull back because we had run out of ammunition. You cannot for the life of you imagine the noise. It was one thing driving for several hours through concentrated artillery and aerial bombardment and the odd skirmishes in between but the noise on arriving at their hq was incredible. The burping of the 23mm and it was like being in a popcorn machine. Ons vir jou suid Africa.

[@Vincegis]

I remember the Bev going ballistic on the radio when that 23mm was playing its tune. “Maak daai fokken ding dood” brrrrr all the 20mm’s went for good 40 seconds. Absolutely crazy deafening sound as you say.

[@danielbtwd]

@@Vincegis yes I remember his order coming in over the company net.

[@boxtapper8550]

I missed this OP and was on standby with ( DLI Campers), some of my friends were involved though. I did OPs Protea with 8th SAI out of Upington.

[@Metoo3232-pu2wc]

The first time you go into battle you have not seen what war does to human beings first hand. After you have seen your enemy and your friends blown into pieces you realize the randomness of death and how you could die at any moment. After that first battle it became frightening for me. Every single day I think about lying on the ground looking at my hand holding my gun and it is shaking like a leaf while artillery explodes all around me. No matter how hard I tried I could not stop my hand from shaking. It was like the hand did not belong to me like I was looking at someone else's hand. That never goes away for me. But when it was over I craved the rush I got from battle. It is the most powerful drug.

[@martinsiebert738]

Adrenaline

[@Vincegis]

My Rinkhals at 9:16. Quite a shock to see the vehicle worked with in ops Hooper. I was seconded as an ops medic to 4SAI, col Leon Nel was my Bev. Participated in the first two attacks in Jan 1988. The picture of that thick bush took me right back. Was casevaced out with a lot of guys with yellow jaundice. Lay in 1 mil for quite a while. Think i was booked off for a total of 1 month. Went back later to train the Unita commandos on the Quando river bases. This was after UN resolution 435. We were issued Unita greens and issued an Ak47. Weird images taking me back to being 18 year old op medic in the theater of war. All for nought

[@doppies2001]

when asked the question: "was it worth it ?" I always respond: "yes !" we bought Time ! and that in a Nutshell is what Life is all about. it was never for Naught !

[@bernard8793]

@@doppies2001 hahaha worth fighting for a country that has trown you for the dogs. Nobody appreciates your racism and fake sacrifice

[@boxtapper8550]

@@doppies2001 I agree with what you said. Those keyboard warriors talking against this will never understand . From a veteran of the Angolan bush war 8th SAI Upington & DLI, Salute.

[@johnwayneisthisme3475]

Good job... Awesome documentary...

[@eirevoortrekker7724]

These episodes have been incredible so far, thank you so much for your effort.

[@bartsaaiman1316]

Excellent account of what transpired 👏👌

[@markmerifield412]

Brilliant as usual, looking forward to seeing the next one.

[@jasonroach6209]

Thank you!

[@АльбертКац-ч5ю]

Good job Buffalo is excellent ! Cleaning area from Cubanian and russian forces ! They are all time not forgets !

[@SimplyRed66]

Great footage of the battle @ Cuito ...we burn them bad 🔥🔥💀💀

[@lowiq3409]

Dankie!

[@skuzapo9365]

Fkn Migs. Is one thing the Rhodesians enjoyed...total air superiority.

[@danielbtwd]

Yes that cactus system with its sensitive electronics was not in very good shape after travelling so far into such thick bush.

[@useryggfdcc]

But is was good enough to scare away the Migs.

[@vapour250]

Was on the rooikat in 92, wonder how it would have done in these conditions

[@drphil5825]

13 Jan 88 sector 10 got revved

[@PetreBuzzed]

@10:35 "...Cuba and Angola accepted that all Cuban troops would have to withdraw from Angola for peace to be achieved.." but at what cost and return? I think you left out critical information and details here... and it would be fair if you had mentioned that SA administration also have to withdraw from Namibia and this what the settlement that resulted in Namibia gaining it's independence from Apartheid South Africa.

[@borntowar5581]

Keep watching the SA withdrawal from Namibia is discussed in later episodes

[@greywolf9676]

The South African Apartheid regeme should have deleted all light skin traiters,that is why we lost the war.I am pride to be a light skin member of the Boerevolk.

[@bernard8793]

Good videos showing them to my old comrades in Luanda we saved not only Angola but Namibia Zimbabwe and all of Africa this all could have been avoided if the Dutch just kept smoking weed in Amsterdam instead of playing Nazi Germany in Africa

[@bernard8793]

@John Stuart 🤣🤣🤣🤣boy how old are you? Learn to type before you talk to a man

[@siphompungose3459]

@John Stuart lol nice one bruv,well if you are born in Africa you are African regardless of ancientry

[@siphompungose3459]

@John Stuart you know the unfortunate sad part is that those brave soldiers died believing that they were fighting for their country ,the same country that forgot them, we as South Africa are all victims of bureaucratic manipulation whether from National Party and the bloody ANC .I may not align myself with what led these men to take up arms but I am as a young man who grew up in the new South Africa can appreciate their bravery and feel their pain.

[@boitumelotshwenyego6922]

@John Stuart Our problems started in 1652 when some Europeans hit our shores. Our lives were never the same again

[@brunofloriani]

@John Stuart The first ones in South Africa were actually portuguese, but they didn't colonise much except for some small trade posts and ports for vessels going around the continent, such as the Cape of the Good Hope (Cabo da Boa Esperança), even before the 1600's . The dutch colonised and settled there after some time.

[@adamsellane8783]

The problem with you and most of your subscribers is that they are not willing to live a morally clean life!

[@useryggfdcc]

What? Fighting against an atheist force is all worth it.

[@josephgomalo41]

It would be extremely appreciated if the presentation also showed in detail instances when FAPLA and the Cubans won some battles especially on Cuito Cuanavale.. ! The one sidedness shows the thirst of seeing African people getting slaughtered in a battle (Cowboys vs Indians!).. meant for domination of Africans... rather than the truth iand reality in the battle ground! The one sidedness simply shows lack of objectivity towards informing the public over what really happened during the war; but instead focusing on how efficient whites were in killing African resistors! Apparent race based bias in the presenter's mind. That's the reason why such depraved regimes in Rhodesia and Apartheid SA were resisted. Thats that type of hateful and racist thinking still pervades white people's mind in SA and rest of the world! Then they complain about farm killings>>??

[@boitumelotshwenyego6922]

In this war South African forces were used by the West and later dumped and flushed like a used toilet tissue. At first they scored decisive victories until Cuban arrived to help FAPLA mount a better resistance. Thats when the tide turned. South Africa at last had to retreat, the war was now embarrassing the West. Negotiations freed Namibia and set in motion the end of apartheid

[@borntowar5581]

Keep Watching ,I try to be historically accurate and non partisan. The later battles went more FAPLAS way. But early on the SADF was dominant.

[@lfield2494]

​@@borntowar5581 No sorry you are far from non-partisan. The detail of the war is certainly interesting, but your pro-SA bias is obvious in your presentation. You present the war almost entirely from the SA perspective, in fact you glorify the SA troops. If you had tried to investigate the FAPLA (and cuban) perspective you presentation would have more `legitimacy'. As with most pro-SADF presentations the UNITA forces are almost non-existent. Therefore you can claim 350 SADF troops defeated 1000s of FAPLA and Cuban forces . The focus on the `expertise of the SADF' and saying your video is non-political/partisan also conveniently ignores the legitimacy of the their war. Bit like focusing on how good the Wermacht were in WWII while forgetting they were invading the rest of Europe. No matter how you want to spin the `communist gavaar' angle the bottom line the SADF was fighting for white supremacy and all those guys in the bush war were doing their bit to support apartheid.

[@Catlady4185]

@@lfield2494 gross oversimplification

[@skuzapo9365]

Maybe a shortage of documentation and material to put together. The man has done well. I get the jist that the South Africans were on the back foot in the end. Is a brilliant documentary about a war I knew nothing about.

[@mariuspretorius5468]

Looks likel our mirage pilots were scared to mix it with the migs

[@mariuspretorius5468]

Looks like 0ur mirages were useless in Angola

[@borntowar5581]

Its more the missiles that were useless. SAAF never scored a missile hit in the whole of the BushWar all Migs 21's were shot down with guns.