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

This is episode 35 and we swing further north to pick up the story in Cassinga. Last episode I ended with the Battle Group Julient attacks on Chetequera to the south which was an overland assault using Ratels, Buffel troops carriers and Eland-90s. In Cassinga, the South African paratroopers had been dropped in by air and were on their way to finishing their task of overrunning SWAPOs base when they had stalled – Alpha Company was held up by an extremely motivated group of SWAPO figthters deployed at their Anti-aircraft battery which included a heavy 14.5mm gun amongst other automatic weapons. Bravo company were busy sweeping the area which was a women’s barracks near the hospital that for some reason the paratroopers referred to as the prostitutes area. I supposed it was because they weren’t use to women soldiers. So Snipers had pinned down Bravo company and they’d also been fired on an 82mm recoilless gun. After managing to silence both the snipers and the 82mm, Bravo Company commando Hugo Murray led his men north into Cassinga and it was apparent that the SWAPO fighters were now squeezed into the central and northern areas of the base. So SWAPO was fighting hard – they were trapped but they were not going to go quietly. These men and women also knew about the Cubans to the south – surely if they held off long enough their cavalry would save them.