SWAPO's military wing PLAN had created a specialised infiltration unit called Volcano. Members of this unit had spent the second half of 1982 receiving training from East German, Cuban and Russian instructors and were regarded as best PLAN soldiers.  By January 1983,...
South African Bush War
Operation Fakkel
On 11 January 1983, 32Bn Sergeant Dave van der Merwe and the four members of his reconnaissance team were flown by helicopter to a point 20 km east of the Virulundo mountain, 65 km south of Varai. It took them four days to hike to the top of the mountain, which...
Operation Meebos
The aim of Operation Meebos was to prevent FAPLA from re-occupying the towns of Xangongo and Ongiva.The secondary aim was to pinpoint and destroy enemy headquarters and caches and to disrupt its logistical routes. As an added instruction the force had to keep the...
Operation Kerslig
Operation Kerslig (Operation Candle Light) was a South African Defence Force special forces raid on an oil refinery outside Luanda, Angola. The raid took place on 30 November 1981 by members of the 1 and 4 Reconnaissance Regiments
Operation Domino
Operation Domino was a combined military operation in May 1981 that involved the South African 32 Battalion, 44 Parachute Brigade, and 5 Recce. The operation's objective was to set up vehicle ambushes on the road between Xangongo and Lubango, and to destroy storm...
Operation Zulu
On 4 January 1981, 32 Battalion’s Alpha, Bravo and Charlie companies joined forces with a company from 1 Parachute Battalion to seek and destroy SWAPO’s Northern Front headquarters, believed to lie west of Ongiva. The parabats deployed south-east of Mongua in...
Operation Loodvoet
Intelligence had indicated that SWAPO’s Far Eastern detachment was operating from a base at Chana Namaudi, but Still’s platoon found no sign of enemy presence there, despite spending the whole of 1 April in stopper group positions on the edge of the chana, while 32...
Operation Makalani
On 20 February, Sector 10 HQ issued Operational Order 2/80, authorising 52 Battalion and 32 Battalion to conduct an operation to clear the area north of Beacon 6 to Beacon 13 of SWAPO. From his tactical headquarters at Ogongo, Deon "Falcon" Ferreira would command six...
Operation Driehoek
When radio intercepts indicated that SWAPO was stockpiling supplies for a possible attack on Eenhana or Elundu, it became necessary to disrupt the so-called Far Eastern Front. Measured against the frequency of contact with the enemy, Operation Driehoek (triangle) was...
Operation Revenge
A SWAPO operation / attack on the South African Defence Force (SADF) base at Katima Mulilo on August 23, 1978, in retaliation for the preceding South African Operation Reindeer. This response involved a bombardment of rockets launched from Zambia, which killed ten...
Operation Reindeer
On 22 April 1978, a group of SWAPO hijacked a bus travelling between Oshakati and Ruacana and drove the 73 passengers aboard across the border into Angola. Three days later, the South African government formally accepted proposals for a negotiated settlement to the...
Operation Kropduif
Six months earlier, during Operation Bucksaw, it had been determined that there was a major SWAPO base some six kilometres north-west of Chana Golf. Aerial reconnaissance photographs of the base had been taken, and documents captured at Tofima during Seiljag 3...
Operation Seiljag 3
This offensive differed from its predecessors in that all the 32 Battalion companies were deployed in Owamboland, and spent the first seven days attacking designated targets in the ‘shallow’ area between four and nine kilometres inside Angola. A tactical headquarters...
Operation Seiljag 2
Operation Bucksaw was followed almost immediately by deployment of a 32 Battalion company south of the Angolan border, with Alpha, Delta and Foxtrot companies finding themselves north of the border yet again on 17 May. At 18h00 on 27 May, Second Lieutenant H...
Operation Bucksaw
Operational Order No. 21, issued by 101 Task Force on 28 March 1977, required 32 Battalion to pinpoint enemy bases or groups on the Angolan side of the border between beacons 26 and 38 as part of Operation Bucksaw. However, for the first time 32 Battalion was ordered...
Operation Seiljag 1
The next deployment against SWAPO by the officially renamed 32 Battalion was in November 1976, and involved ‘special operations’ companies under command of Omauni base, as well as companies deployed in Owamboland and acting under command of a battalion headquarters in...