Douw Steyn - Iron Fist From The Sea: South Africa’s Seaborne Raiders 1978-1988

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Reprinted with corrections 2015

Designed and typeset by Farr out Publications, Wokingham, Berkshire
Cover designed by Euan Carter, Leicester (www.euancarter.com)
Printed by Henry Ling Ltd, Dorchester, Dorset

Text Danil Steyn and Arn Sderlund 2014
Photographs see Acknowledgements section.
The authors have made every reasonable effort to trace the copyright holders of material appearing in
this publication, and to credit them accordingly. Any correspondence regarding this matter should be
directed to the authors, c/o the publishers, at the above address.

Cover photographs front: Operators of 4 Recce Regiment conduct a training exercise on the Atlantic
coast; rear: Into the surf Recce Operators test their boat drills against the elements.

ISBN: 978-1-909982-28-4
EPUB ISBN: 978-1-910777-46-6

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Contents

List of illustrations

Photographs in colour section

T ake a community of Dutchmen of the type of those who defended themselves for fifty years against all the power of Spain at a time when Spain was the greatest power in the world. Intermix with them a strain of those inflexible French Huguenots who gave up home and fortune and left their country for ever at the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The product must obviously be one of the most rugged, virile, unconquerable races ever seen upon earth. Take this formidable people and train them for seven generations in constant warfare against savage men and ferocious beasts, in circumstances under which no weakling could survive, place them so that they acquire exceptional skill with weapons and in horsemanship, give them a country which is eminently suited to the tactics of the huntsman, the marksman, and the rider. Then, finally, put a finer temper upon their military qualities by a dour fatalistic Old Testament religion and an ardent and consuming patriotism. Combine all these qualities and all these impulses in one individual, and you have the modern Boer.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

They were a deeply specialised reconnaissance and sabotage unit capable for a long time to act in isolation from the main forces in the enemys territory often relying only on one selves. Commandos of the Defence Force of South Africa not only developed their own extremely effective and ruthless system of selection and training but also enriched tactics by specific techniques and modes of action. From a professional point of view, their experience is invaluable and unique.

The Russian Veterans of Angola

Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. Therefore we ask ourselves; will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone, and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?

British actor Sean Bean

Preface

The Iron Fist from the Sea

The last and most important battle of any war is writing its history

I am, first and foremost, a soldier and if anyone had suggested 30 years ago that I would one day help write a book, I would have laughed at you. I dont look like and have never considered myself to be a Rambo type of man. In fact, most people who are not aware of my past would probably comment that I am a well-educated, quiet and methodical family man someone who could be easily missed in a crowd. This is exactly the type of man that Special Forces looked for when recruiting men to serve in the Reconnaissance Commandos (later Regiments) during the mid-seventies to late eighties the period covered in this book not the blood-crazed mass murderers the media sometimes depicted us as.

My mental strength and ability to remain silent, however, has been severely tested in recent years as I read the spate of books emerging on the market featuring individual operators and their involvement in the organizations military successes during the border war period of 1977 to 1989. In my view, most of these books have only addressed the sensational actions of a few radical operators and have failed to document what it was really like to be a recce operator or commando; the camaraderie and pride we felt to be part of what was an elite group of men; the best South Africa had to offer young men mostly recruited straight from school or university that were moulded into a deadly, highly efficient force of professional well-trained fighting men.

Generally known as recces, our role in the border war went largely unnoticed by the South African public at the time but not so for the liberation movements, the armed forces of our neighbours and their various foreign advisors who regarded the South African Recce Commandos with a combination of begrudging respect, fear and hate.

With the help and support of General Officer Commanding Special Forces, many of the veterans both army and navy and the assistance of Russian specialist Sergei Kolomnin (who provided valuable inputs from Soviet military specialists who worked in Angola during the 1980s), we have been able to produce this accurate history of the seaward operations undertaken. This book thus documents the history of 4 Recce Commando (later 4 Reconnaissance Regiment), the men I served with and the operations we undertook from 1978 until 1989. Regarded as one of the most reticent regiments in the Special Forces, 4 RRs story has never been properly recorded that of the seaborne saboteurs; the iron fist from the sea.

4 RR was an extremely insular group even within the larger South African army structure. Over the period 1978 to 1989, only 480 soldiers of which more than half were black qualified as operators in the elite Reconnaissance Regiments. Of these, only 45 served in 4 RR. All had to successfully complete the gruelling selection process, which included stretching physical and mental ability as well as willpower to the limit; also proving superior leadership skills, initiative, strength and fitness. These were the attributes that singled out the true operators from the thousands of hopefuls. The units training was as secretive and as specialized as the operations we were being trained to execute. 4 RR was a highly-trained professional unit and its members mentally prepared to fight anywhere in the world at a moments notice and always under extra pressure as they never enjoyed home ground advantage and never could afford to make a mistake and smile about it because it was a matter of life or death.

The regiment was, in many ways, a ghost unit as its existence was largely kept secret even within the SADF. It provided the capability to conduct deadly raids well beyond the land borders of SA extending the reach of the Defence Force as far as Cabinda on the West Coast and Tanzania on the East Coast. Transported and supported by units of the SA Navy, the men of 4 RR often with elements of 1 and 5 RR executed numerous clandestine raids north of our borders and were responsible for attacks on a number of Eastern Bloc merchant vessels in Angolan and Moambican ports as well as numerous strategic targets in the coastal zone such as oil facilities, transport infrastructure and even ANC offices. Harbour facilities, navigational aids and even locomotives were targeted with success.