Episode 50 – Operation Protea begins and Xangongo and Peu Peu targeted but FAPLA’s 19th Brigade awaits

Last episode we heard how the South Africans had travelled overnight to reach the first target planned for Operation Protea, Xangongo. So we’ll return to the next moves later in this podcast, but we need to delve into what had happened in the air war first. There was an interesting moment – and a first for the Air Force on 20th August 1981. That was four days before the attack proper. Pilot Rynier Keet was strapped into the cockpit of a Mirage III at Ondangwa runway – the wingman of a section led by Commandant Mac van der Merwe. They were standby for a ground attack and had their underwing rocket pods attached which mean the Mirage’s were totally unsuitable for any air defence activity. At about 09h45 South Africa radar picked up fast-jet traffic on the Angoland side of the border heading straight for Ondangwa. It looked like an Angolan Air Force attack of some sort. The Mirage pair scrambled and were given an interception vector. The high-speed Mirages closed in on the Angolans head-to-head. As they approached 40 nautical miles to impact the South Africans were about to jettison their rocket pods to reduce drag and improve their chances against the MiGs when suddenly, the Angolan’s turned 180 degrees. Waiting for the SADF and deployed around Xangongo was FAPLA’s 19th Brigade. The brigade headquarters and two infantry companies were actually with an anti-aircraft battalion at Peu-Peu with the infantry basically protection companies as well as a mobile reserve for the brigade. The major strategic objective was the bridge over the Cunene River – the Xangongo Bridge – and there were two infantry battalions and a company of Military police guarding that structure. A tank company of ten T-34/85 tanks were also available to serve as a mobile reserve along with an armoured car company of ten more BTR troop carriers. There were two anti-tank battalions and an artillery company waiting for the SADF.