Episode 39 – Both the SADF and SWAPO reorganise and 61 Mech is born

This is episode 39 and SWAPO has just mortared Katimo Mulilo as revenge for the airborne assault on Cassinga. Ten SADF troops died in the bombardment as you’ve heard – a single Redeye rocket accounted for the deaths as the men huddled in a prefabricated building in the early hours of 23rd August 1978. Combat Team Bravo had set off about an hour after the bombing of Katima and as we’ve heard, found that SWAPO had retreated from their forward bases. However Combat Team Alpha was going to find things a little hotter. They set out at dawn on the 24th and crossed the cutline at 07h05 and half an hour later caught up with SWAPOs rearguard. Fire was exchanged without any losses and then just before 8am the Combat Team ran into an ambush. A high volume of small arms fire was let loose in Alpha’s direction and they returned fire, killing five SWAPO troops but around 50 others made off into the bush. Just after 8am, Alpha discovered a SWAPO base but it had been hastily evacuated. Helicopter support was called in and at 09h25 another group of SWAPO was discovered a short distance away – six more were killed in that sharp exchange. In October 1978 General Constand Viljoen appointed the first commander of a permanent mechanised warfare unit in the operational area and of course, Commandant Johann or Dippies Dippenaar was the man to lead it. And so 61 mechanised battalion group came into being on January 1st 1979 consisting of two mechanised infantry companies in Ratel 20s, an armoured car troop in Eland90s – later they’d be traveling in the powerful Ratel 90s. Also embedded – a 140mm G-2 battery from 4 artillery field regiment, a support company and a combat engineer troop from 16 Maintenance Unit. Later on a tank squadron was also added – but that’s for later. SWAPO and PLANs deployment also shifted at this time. The headquarters of SWAPOs armed force was at Lubango – the town we heard about during Operation Savannah.