South Africa. Army. Battalion 32. - The Battle of Savate: 32 Battalions greatest operation

Published by Zebra Press
an imprint of Penguin Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd
Reg. No. 1953/000441/07
The Estuaries No. 4, Oxbow Crescent, Century Avenue, Century City, 7441
PO Box 1144, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa

www.zebrapress.co.za

First published 2015

Publication Zebra Press 2015
Text Piet Nortje 2015

Cover photographs Department of Defence Documentation Centre and Leon Grobler

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owners.

PUBLISHER: Marlene Fryer
MANAGING EDITOR: Robert Plummer
EDITOR: Bronwen Leak
PROOFREADER: Mark Ronan
COVER DESIGNER: Monique Cleghorn
TYPESETTER: Monique van den Berg
INDEXER: Sanet le Roux

ISBN 978 1 77022 779 8 (print)
ISBN 978 1 77022 780 4 (ePub)
ISBN 978 1 77022 781 1 (PDF)

For those who fought in the Battle of Savate In remembrance of those who fell

Compiling this book brought back many memories, especially when I read the recollections of the men and realised that I had been involved in some of the incidents they described. To everyone who contributed, even if it was only one sentence, your recollections appear in this book under your name. Please accept these simple references as my acknowledgement and gratitude to you, not only for helping me, but also for preserving the history of the Battle of Savate. I could list the names of the veterans who provided me with information and their personal experiences, but I prefer to use the space to tell the story of the battle.

Nevertheless, there are a few former 32 Battalion members who have made a tremendous effort to help me and whom I wish to thank individually:

Colonel Jan Breytenbach, for allowing me to include his opinion of the Battle of Savate in this book.

Justin Taylor, for unselfishly authorising me to use his personal memoir, A Whisper in the Reeds, which is the most complete memoir regarding service with 32 Battalion that I have ever read.

Kevin FitzGerald, for going to the effort of calling together former Reconnaissance Wing men to answer my questions and offer their recollections.

Frans F.L. Smit, who was responsible for the declassification of the 32 Battalion files for my book The Terrible Ones. Not only did he answer my wish for a speedy declassification, but he also found the official Operation Tiro-Tiro war diary, which was not recorded on any index list and was hidden away between other files.

Stefanus van der Walt, for allowing me to use his 2010 Savate Day address, Let us remember, which appears in . He also supplied most of the material concerning the 2012 Savate battlefield tour. Without his help and support, this book would never have seen the light.

Peter Williams, who managed to convince a few guys who, for years, had promised to give their recollections but never produced to produce.

Anton Roets and Marius Scheepers, two former 32 Battalion men who do not feature in the book, but whose video recordings of the 2012 Savate tour added to my knowledge.

Several people who are not former 32 Battalion members also went to great lengths to help me and deserve my thanks:

Tinus de Klerk, who unselfishly sent me documents covering aspects of Operation Tiro-Tiro that he found in files other than the 32 Battalion ones, while researching his own Special Forces publication.

Angela McIntyre, for her work on the oral history project, Missing Voices, about the untold stories of the apartheid era. Some of the interviews she conducted with former 32 Battalion men, including a Portuguese-speaking soldier, have been incorporated into this book. Her work is available from the William Cullen Library at the University of the Witwatersrand. Michele Pickover and Gabriele Mohale from the library kindly provided me with copies of the Missing Voices interviews.

Linda de Jager, of Endgame Media, carried out extensive research for her own television production, and unselfishly allowed me to use her interview with one of the Battle of Savate veterans.

Louis Engelbrecht, for sharing his life story and amazing military career with me, and for allowing me to use his story in this book. Unfortunately, for security reasons, I am unable to write about his military achievements; however, I am sure that both his late parents would be extremely proud of him.

Because I do not live in South Africa, Lourens Etchell spent many hours at the Department of Defence Documentation Centre doing research on my behalf, working through thousands of documents and sending me photographs of document pages. If it were not for his dedication, this work would have taken much longer.

Eugenio Camacho, who graciously travelled to Cuangar to conduct interviews with Savate veterans. His efforts helped me to either confirm or contradict facts in my email correspondence with the FAPLA acting commander.

During the battle, only the Chief Staff Intelligence (CSI) operative was allowed to take photographs. The Battle of Savate images that appear in this book were taken by him and come from the official 32 Battalion operations photograph album and the Department of Defence Documentation Centre photograph library. These photographs are of poor quality because, due to the operations security classification, the film was developed by CSI rather than professionals. The rest of the photographs were taken by various people, some of whom indicated that they had received them from someone else, who had, in turn, got them from someone else, etc. Most of the 2012 battlefield tour photographs are from Justin Taylor and Stefanus van der Walt.

I owe much gratitude to Marlene Fryer and Robert Plummer of Zebra Press for agreeing to publish this book. By doing so, they have ensured that important South African military history is preserved for generations to come.

Special thanks go to my wife, Mariana, and our children, Ruann and Marin, who both followed in my footsteps to become soldiers in the British Army. Ruann is a full-time soldier in the Royal Welsh Regiment and Marin is part-time with the City of Edinburgh Universities Officers Training Corps while she studies at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. My familys support has never wavered over the years, and they cheerfully tolerate my endless hours at the computer. Without your love and understanding there would be no books. You are and always will be my most important concerns.

On 21 May 1980, under the codename Operation Tiro-Tiro, 32 Battalion attacked and routed, without air or artillery support, the FAPLA brigade at Savate, a small Angolan town in the Cuando Cubango Province 75 kilometres north of the border with South West Africa. Fifteen members of 32 Battalion were killed in the action and many more wounded. It was the highest South African casualty rate in a single skirmish since the start of the Border War. Overall, however, Savate was a significant victory for 32 Battalion. According to reports, FAPLA suffered heavy casualties and the invaders captured a great many vehicles, weapons, ammunition and other equipment, as more than a thousand FAPLA cadres fled the base.

Operation Tiro-Tiro, or the Battle of Savate, as it became known, was the first time the SADF had engaged FAPLA in battle since 1975. And, despite the record number of casualties, it was 32 Battalions biggest victory since its formation in March 1976. Even though the Border War came to an end in 1989 and 32 Battalion was disbanded in March 1993, to this day a remembrance service and parade are held annually on the Sunday closest to 21 May to commemorate the Battle of Savate, and to remember 32 Battalions victory and the price they paid.