| Operation Karton | |
|---|---|
| Part of the South African Border War and Angolan Civil War | |
 | |
| Location | Angola   Cangamba Operation Karton (Angola) |
| Target | Support UNITA's attack on Cangamba by means of artillery training and fire support. |
| Date | July – August 1983 |
Operation Karton (English: Operation Cardboard) was a secret military operation during August 1983 by the South African Defence Force (SADF) during the South African Border War and Angolan Civil War.
Cangamba is an Angolan town in the province of Moxico. It was garrisoned by soldiers of FAPLA's 32 Brigade and forty to sixty Cuban instructors and due to the conditions of the roads in the region, was supplied by air from Menongue. [1] : 166 During late July, UNITA had briefly raided the town but FAPLA failed to strengthen its defences. [1] : 167 UNITA sought the help of the SADF for mortar and artillery training as well as fire support in the next attack against Cangamba. [2] : Ch8 A SADF artillery team was formed and flown to a secret special forces base in the Caprivi where they met to train the UNITA artillerymen in captured Soviet 120 mm mortars and 76 mm artillery before moving northwards into Angola. [2] : Ch8
UNITA attacked on 1 August with between 3000 and 6000 soldiers with the SADF team assisting the next day with artillery observation. [1] : 167 The FAPLA troops in Cangamba called for reinforcements which were assembled in Huambo, Menongue and Lubango but would take a week to cross UNITA territory to reach the garrison. [1] : 167 The FAPLA garrison was bombarded by UNITA artillery for three days before attempting frontal assaults which incurred high casualties. [1] : 167 UNITA then resorted to digging trenches driving them closer to the Angolan positions. [1] : 167 The UNITA artillery attack continued and by the 7 August the FAPLA and Cuban troops were short of ammunition and water. [1] : 168 By this time the UNITA troops were being subjected to FAPLA/Cuban air attacks and took casualties. [1] : 168 On the 10 August, the FAPLA relief columns arrived covered by a FAPLA/Cuban air strike on UNITA positions. [1] : 168 The Cuban troop were said to be airlifted out while garrison and relief columns had to fight their way out. [1] : 169 Two days after the relief columns arrived, the South African Air Force (SAAF) was called in on 12 August to assist UNITA. [1] : 169 Canberra bombers and Impala aircraft were used to flatten the town and by 14 August the battle was over. [1] : 168
Although UNITA was able to displace FAPLA from Cangamba and central Moxico, the battle had proved to be far costlier than the quick seizure and show of strength that Savimbi had initially hoped for. The operation decimated around a third of UNITA's semi-regular battalions which significantly reduced its operational capacity in the short term.
Estimates of FAPLA losses range from sixty to seventy killed and 157 wounded to several hundred casualties, the majority of which were inflicted in the week of 2 to 9 August. ODP militia losses were not precisely recorded but were said to have been substantial during the initial UNITA assault. [3] Cuban losses totaled seventeen dead and thirty wounded. UNITA was said to have lost 1100 soldiers and possibly the same amount wounded. [1] : 169 [4]
Cuando Cubango is a province of Angola and it has an area of 199,049km2 and a population of 534,002 in 2014. Menongue is the capital of the province. The governor of the province is José Martins, who was appointed governor in November 2021.
The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale was fought intermittently between 14 August 1987 and 23 March 1988, south and east of the town of Cuito Cuanavale, Angola, by the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) and advisors and soldiers from Cuba, USSR, Vietnam, ANC and SWAPO against South Africa, and soldiers of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) during the Angolan Civil War and South African Border War. The battle was the largest engagement of the Angolan conflict and the biggest conventional battle on the African continent since World War II. UNITA and its South African allies defeated a major FAPLA offensive towards Mavinga, preserving the former's control of southern Angola. They proceeded to launch a failed counteroffensive on FAPLA defensive positions around the Tumpo River east of Cuito Cuanavale.
The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia, Zambia, and Angola from 26 August 1966 to 21 March 1990. It was fought between the South African Defence Force (SADF) and the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), an armed wing of the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO). The South African Border War was closely intertwined with the Angolan Civil War.
Operation Askari was a military operation during 1983 in Angola by the South African Defence Force (SADF) during the South African Border War.
Operation Displace was a military operation by the South African Defence Force during the South African Border War and Angolan Civil War. It involved maintaining the illusion that the SADF had remained in brigade strength east of Cuito Cuanavale at the end of April 1988 and the eventual withdrawal of all South African military units from south-eastern Angola during August 1988.
Operation Wallpaper was a military operation by the South African Defence Force (SADF) during the Angolan Civil War and South African Border War.
Operation Alpha Centauri was a South African military operation during the Angolan Civil War and South African Border War to halt an offensive launched by the People's Armed Forces of Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) towards Angola's Cuando Cubango Province. Its objective was to prevent FAPLA forces from reaching Jamba, a strategic town which functioned as the de facto headquarters of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and its armed wing.
Operation Moduler was a military operation by the South African Defence Force (SADF) during the South African Border War. It formed part of what has come to be called the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. The Angolan objective was to advance south-east to attack the UNITA at Mavinga. The SADF objective was to protect UNITA by stopping that advance. The advance was halted with heavy Angolan casualties. The South African forces and its UNITA allies then began offensive operations against the Angolan forces, who had retreated back to a defensive line east of the Cuito River with the objective of destroying them once and for all.
Operation Hooper was a military operation in 1987-88 by the South African Defence Force (SADF) during the South African Border War. This operation forms part of what has come to be called the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. The Cubans' objective was securing the town of Cuito Cuanavale on the west of the river from capture. The SADF objective was to drive the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) west across the river or to destroy them, so as to ensure that FAPLA was no longer a threat to the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) in the south-east. The FAPLA advance was permanently halted, UNITA lived to fight on for another 15 years. The SADF never attempted to capture the town. Both sides claimed victory.
Operation Packer was a military operation by the South African Defence Force (SADF) during the South African Border War and Angolan Civil War from March to April 1988. This operation forms part of what became known as the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. Operation Packer was a continuation of Operation Hooper, using fresh troops and equipment. The Cubans' objective was still to secure the town of Cuito Cuanavale to the west of the river from capture. The SADF objective was once again to eliminate the remaining Angolan forces on the east side of the river, so as to ensure that the Angolans were no longer a threat to UNITA in the south-east. Although at the conclusion some Angolan units remained in positions east of the river, the Angolan advance against UNITA was permanently halted, and UNITA lived to fight on. The SADF never attempted to cross the river or to capture the town. Both sides again claimed victory.
Operation Prone was a proposed military operation by the South African Defence Force (SADF) and South West African Territorial Force (SWATF) during the South African Border War and Angolan Civil War between May and September 1988. With the advance of the 50th Cuban Division towards Calueque and the South-West Africa border, the SADF formed the 10 SA Division to counter this threat. The plan for Operation Prone had two phases. Operation Linger was to be a counterinsurgency phase and Operation Pact a conventional phase.
Cuito Cuanavale is a town and municipality in Cuando Cubango (Kuando-Kubango) province in Angola. The names Kuito Kuanavale or Kwito Kwanavale are sometimes used, although this is a mutation of the original Portuguese name.
The Cuban intervention in Angola began on 5 November 1975, when Cuba sent combat troops in support of the communist-aligned People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) against the pro-western National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA). The intervention came after the outbreak of the Angolan Civil War, which occurred after the former Portuguese colony was granted independence after the Angolan War of Independence. The civil war quickly became a proxy war between the Eastern Bloc led by the Soviet Union and the Western Bloc led by the United States. South Africa and the United States backed UNITA and the FNLA, while communist nations backed the MPLA.
The People's Armed Forces of Liberation of Angola or FAPLA was originally the armed wing of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) but later (1975–1991) became Angola's official armed forces when the MPLA took control of the government.
The 1985 Aeroflot Antonov An-12 shoot down occurred on November 25, 1985, in Angola during the Angolan Civil War. An Aeroflot Antonov An-12BP cargo aircraft operated by the Soviet Air Force flying from Cuito Cuanavale to Luanda was shot down, allegedly by South African Special Forces, and crashed approximately 43 kilometres (27 mi) east of Menongue in Angola's Cuando Cubango province.
Operation Southern Cross (1986) was a military operation by the South African Defence Force during the South African Border War and Angolan Civil War.
Operation Excite/Hilti was a set of military operations by the South African Defence Force (SADF) during the Angolan Civil War and South African Border War.
Operation Cerebus was a South African Defence Force (SADF) special forces operation conducted in Angola during October 1985 during the South African Border War and Angolan Civil War.
Operation Magneto was a military operation in August 1985 to transport UNITA soldiers by the South African Defence Force (SADF) during the Angolan Civil War and South African Border War.
Operation Abrasion was a South African special forces military operation in December 1985 by the South African Defence Force (SADF) during the Angolan Civil War and South African Border War.