Episode 47 – 32 Battalion’s Colonel Ferreira hauled over the coals for attacking FAPLA and Impala’s drop napalm

We heard about Ops Smokeshell over the past few episodes, the next major incursion into Angola will be Operation Protea. There’s quite a bit to cover before then. Ops Sceptic and particularly the battle for the SWAPO complex code-named Smokeshell had been a valuable learning curve for the SADF. At the same time, a new round of political negotiations were under way in June 1980, and General Magnus Malan had been appointed Minister of Defence in October. General Viljoen was now chief of the Defence Force and Lt General Jannie Geldenhuys took over as chief of the army in November. Taking a closer look at the attempt at restarting negotiations - when it came to the Namibian settlement talks, Foreign Affairs Minister Pik Botha had offered to reduce operational bases in the proposed DMZ from 40 to 20 on certain conditions. The diplomatic shouting match had barely died down before the SADF launched another invasion into Angola called Operation Klipklop. This began at dawn on the 30th July 1980 when SADF forces launched an attack on a SWAPO logistics base near Chitado, which was only 5 kilometers from the cutline and around 35 kilometers east of Ruacana. in Ovamboland, 32 Battalion was planning a special event. By mid-January 1981 Colonel Deon Ferreira was ordered to take personal command of further deployment inside Angola to find this missing SWAPO HQ. That would lead to something known as Ops Klipklop.