1 Recce, volume 2. Alexander Strachan

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СКАЧАТЬ by a numerically superior Frelimo force – sometimes up to company strength – in follow-up operations.’

      During the last deployment of Du Toit’s team, 1 Recce’s commander, Cmdt. Jakes Swart, visited the group at Buffalo Range. Swart was accompanied by Maj. Hennie Blaauw, Alpha Group’s commander, and Capt. Woody Woodburne, SSO Ops Navy. Blaauw had come to orient himself to take over command from Venter, and was in the Tac HQ when Du Toit’s team made radio contact and confirmed that they had just had a contact (this was the ambush).

      A few minutes later Blaauw left the Tac HQ and as he stood talking to Swart and Venter some distance away, the signals officer, Lt. Bam de Wet, came rushing up to them. He had just received a report from Du Toit’s team that Du Toit had been fatally injured.

      Lt. Kokkie du Toit’s death on Friday 11 February 1978 brought to four the number of outstanding soldiers 1 Recce had lost in the space of four weeks.

      On the Sunday, everyone at the Tac HQ decided spontaneously to attend the service at the Methodist church in Chiredzi. According to Venter, their little group were the only men in uniform at the church: ‘I don’t think the congregation had seen soldiers in uniform at the church service before. Some of the churchgoers started talking to us, and an elderly man and his wife spoke to me in Afrikaans and thanked me that the South Africans had come to their aid. So the Recces’ cover was not watertight. But I don’t believe it had any repercussions in this case. The Recces did not look like Rhodesian soldiers, and the congregation noticed this but made no fuss about it.’

      * * *

      Hannes Venter and his counterpart in the SAS at Buffalo Range were now operating under enormous pressure. They deployed several teams on the Russian Front (in Gaza). The teams would parachute in, infiltrate to predetermined ambush positions and spring the ambush. They would then withdraw, move to the next ambush position and spring that trap too, after which large numbers of Frelimos would hunt the Recce and SAS teams of six to eight men. Two and sometimes more contacts per day were not uncommon; in fact, it was the norm.

      The daily firefights with Frelimo and Zanla guerrillas were frequently without sustained close air support. Helicopters and attack aircraft were simply not available at all times. Nearly every day the deployed teams were engaged in escape-and-evasion procedures while the Frelimo patrols followed close on their heels. Occasionally some of the team members would be injured, and no helicopters would be available to evacuate the casualties. The Rhodesian air force flew continually, and problems on the ground were attended to in terms of priority. Consequently, the deployed teams had to wait their turn to receive air support.

      Bravo Group was deployed for six weeks and had numerous contacts. Besides the four operators who lost their lives, there were injuries as well. The teams adapted quickly and did a good job in achieving their objective of disrupting the enemy. The use of the daily Telstar deployments gave everyone confidence, and the communication was excellent. It was, however, extremely stressful for one officer to sit in the Lynx plane on a daily basis while there was no support at the Tac HQ. To relieve the pressure, an operator officer was utilised as operational officer. Apart from manning the operations room, he also performed Telstar duties. This improved the command-and-control, and effective support was provided to the deployed teams.

      Cmdt. Swart subsequently decided to replace Bravo Group with Alpha Group. On 13 February 1978 Hennie Blaauw returned to Durban in the plane that evacuated Kokkie du Toit’s body. He gave orders to his group, and a couple of days later he was back at Buffalo Range where he took over from Venter. The rotation of the two groups was wrapped up within a few days.

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