This video is from 'The Soldier's Friend' collection!
SADF photos website
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Short video clip made from video clips of the various South African Armed Forces.
The Border War lasted 23 years and involved South Africans, Namibians, Angolans, Cubans, Russians and Americans amongst others. During that period the SADF called up more than 25,000 white male conscripts each year (for a two year tour), totalling just over half a million men.
The war differed from the American experience in South East Asia, in that the technical and military superiority of the South African forces was capitalised upon throughout the campaign by the South African General Staff. In consequence, the war can also be seen as one-sided for the South African Army and Air Force - during engagements they had superiority of machinery and weaponry, utlised mine proof fighting vehicles such as the Casspir and the Ratel and even employed one of the world's finest pieces of mobile artillery, the G6 155mm Howitzer.
Engagements were almost always won, or else were low-loss retreats (often as small as a rugby pitch) injured servicemen were treated in M.A.S.H.-type units supported by SAAF Aerospatiale Puma helicopters, which were faster and carried more than the UH-1 in Vietnam. Soldiers would do a tour and generally were not required to return to unless voluntarily, although in some cases the Army offered incentives and in some cases for exceptional talents, enforced recruitment to Koevoet (a para-military Policing unit restricted to Namibian operations) and the Recces for more tours. For some men this lead to adverse effects causing much critical public reaction.
South African Air Force air-to-air engagements were also protracted, as tactics tended to resemble those of Israel - destruction of aircraft on the airfield, in the manner of the prosecution of the Six Day War in 1967, although the SAAF campaign only became full time in 1971-1972. Ground and air attack was executed by the Mirage F1 and Atlas Impala which had air superiority throughout. Tactical reconnaissance was performed by the Mirage III R2Z variant in 3 Squadron. Also during this campaign, the English Electric Canberra and Blackburn Buccaneer were first employed as jet strategic bombers. During the later stages, SAAF involvement became circumscribed because of growth in the Angolan/Cuban SAM umbrella.
Despite the revolutionary and liberation causes, the rigid Soviet style regimes of many of South African foes had disillusioned many within their own ranks, resulting in defections such as the one in 1989, when an Angolan pilot defected with his MiG-21MF to Namibia, where the plane was captured by South African forces (and is now displayed at SAAF Museum, in Waterkloof).
Where some Black, Coloured and Indian South Africans were fighting a struggle against apartheid inside South Africa's borders (many trained in Soviet Bloc countries), the Whites were conscripted to fight the rooi gevaar (Afrikaans for "red danger") of communism on its borders. Only white South Africans were conscripted, though Coloured (1 and 2 South African Cape Corps) and Black (21 Batallion) units served with distinction. The South West African Territory Force was recruited from Namibians of all races. Some white South Africans felt afterwards that they were kept in the dark about what really happened in their own country and on its borders during these years.
Tags: south african defence force sadf bushwar sap recce
