1 Recce. Alexander Strachan

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СКАЧАТЬ km from the target because the Chief of the Navy, V. Adm. J Johnson, was worried that the living coral reefs in the vicinity of the harbour could damage the submarine. When Breytenbach objected vehemently, Woodburne undertook to drop them off secrectly much closer to the coast.

      The six-man team assembled their three Klepper kayaks on the deck of the submarine and packed all their equipment and explosives inside. At 20:00 they were dropped about 14 km from the coast. They could see the lights of Dar es Salaam in the distance. The group was very tense, especially as it was the first time they were tackling an operation of this nature.

      Each team member was armed with an AK-47 with only one magazine. Koos and Trevor had each strapped a canvas pouch with a few extra cartridges to one of their legs as an emergency measure. The operators were all in civilian dress. If they ran into anybody on shore, the clothing would assist them to explain their presence with a fictitious story.

      The sailors helped to keep the Kleppers stable against the hull of the submarine with ropes while the team climbed in. It was difficult because the Kleppers could overturn easily, especially in rough sea conditions. Luckily, the sea was fairly calm that night, and everything went smoothly. The sailors released the ropes, and the submarine disappeared under the water. Now the team were thrown on their own resources. It was dead quiet around them, save for the sound of the water lapping against the Kleppers.

      They reckoned that in the favourable weather conditions they would be able to paddle at 6 km per hour and reach the Tanzanian coast within two and a half hours. Koos recalls that at that moment a great calm descended on him, probably because they had practised everything so thoroughly.

      Breytenbach, who paddled in front along with Floyd, navigated and led the formation. Koos and Kenaas were to the right of them, with Ken and Willie a short distance behind. At some point, a wave that came surging from behind suddenly thrust Koos and Kenaas’s kayak past that of Breytenbach and Floyd. An annoyed Breytenbach ordered them to keep to the established procedure.

      At the target area, the beach was dark and deserted. The two naval members stayed behind there to hide the kayaks and keep guard. By then the sea water had already washed off the ‘black is beautiful’ with which the team had camouflaged themselves on the submarine. To Breytenbach, this was a minor setback: ‘A white guy wearing black is beautiful actually just looks like a white guy wearing black is beautiful.’

      The streets were still busy despite the late hour, and passersby paid little attention to the four Recces in their civilian clothes. They first headed for the golf club, sneaked across the green lawns, and placed mines under the vehicles in the parking area. The golf club, which was frequented by dignitaries, had great publicity value. On the spur of the moment, even the British High Commissioner’s Rolls Royce got a mine against its engine block. All the charges were set with time-delay mechanisms. Then they returned to the Kleppers to fetch the charges for the bridge. They followed the course of the riverbed towards the target. Placing the mines on the bridge was nerve-racking, as there was a constant flow of vehicles over it. Everything went smoothly, however, and Breytenbach enquired whether there were any explosives left. Koos and Kenaas placed these against a power pylon to disrupt the power supply for good measure.

      Their task completed, the four operators withdrew to the beach where Ken and Willie were waiting anxiously. Everyone was now in a hurry to get out, and they launched the Kleppers through the waves at great speed. According to Koos, they ‘paddled so fast that one could have skied behind a Klepper’. They were about a kilometre away from the beach when the first charges detonated. When Koos looked back, he saw a horizon reddened by the blasts. At the golf club, too, the charges were now going off one after the other.

      They paddled uninterruptedly towards the RV point where the submarine would be waiting, determining their direction by constantly taking compass bearings. Excellent navigation was always a hallmark of the Recces. As this was still the pre-GPS era, the group had to rely on time and distance to reach the correct destination in the open sea without the benefit of fixed reference points. Fourteen kilometres on, they reached the RV point at about 04:00. To their dismay, however, there was no sign of the submarine – and their emergency plan was somewhat sketchy. Unlike today, there were no Barracuda boats, helicopters or other surface ships to pick them up. They had to fend for themselves, and the emergency plan was to paddle from island to island in the direction of South Africa – something they were quite game for, as they were exceptionally fit and resolute after all the training.

      They decided to wait for a while. By this time their throats were parched, tension was running high, and the adrenaline was pumping strongly. To their immense relief, the submarine surfaced nearby just after 04:30. They quickly dismantled the Kleppers and took them into the submarine. Later they would discover the reason for the delay: the submarine had become entangled in the nets of a fishing boat, and Woodburne’s crew first had to get rid of the problem before they could proceed to the RV point. Bits of fishing net were still twisted around the propeller of the submarine, and the naval divers went down to remove these the following morning.

      They remained in the vicinity of Dar es Salaam the next day to monitor the Tanzanian radio broadcasts from the submarine. From the broadcasts they were able to conclude that political commentators were generally of the view that the blasts were the handiwork of insurgents who had started an armed revolt under the leadership of Oscar Kambona.

      Back in South Africa, Woodburne and Breytenbach were each awarded the Van Riebeeck Decoration (DVR) for their part in the operation. The other team members all received the Van Riebeeck Medal (VRM) .

      But V. Adm. Johnson did not want to give permission for their next operation, an attack on the oil refinery at Dar es Salaam. He was still concerned about the risks that the uncharted coral reefs posed to the safety of a submarine. They had been very lucky to return unscathed the first time, he said. Although the Army was in favour of a follow-up operation, the Chief of the Defence Force supported Johnson in his decision.

      As a result of the Dar es Salaam operation, Breytenbach wanted the Recces to undergo more advanced seaborne training. They subsequently went to France for two to three months to complete an attack-diving course.

      In early 1973, Breytenbach started looking around for a suitable officer to serve under him as adjutant. This was a key appointment, as the adjutant was the unit commander’s chief administrative staff officer. He was responsible for various administrative functions and had to look after discipline in the unit together with the regimental sergeant major (RSM); thus he also served as the eyes and ears of the commander. Because he got to see all information, the adjutant was familiar with everything that happened in the unit.

      Capt. John More happened to be on his way to Pretoria to make enquiries about diving watches. There he bumped into his old friend Capt. Malcolm Kinghorn whom he knew from the Military Academy. At that point Kinghorn was working with controlled items of the SA Army – hence with anything that had a serial number, whether it was a watch, a pistol or a truck. He told More about the high living costs in the capital city, and that he was considering leaving the Defence Force for a career in tertiary education. More soon discovered how thoroughly Kinghorn had his finger on the pulse of all numbered items in the army; for instance, he could immediately establish the number of vehicles or weapons at any infantry unit and report back on it.

      Kinghorn’s skills could be of great advantage to them, More realised. He had outstanding writing skills, he knew the entire system at Army HQ, which included all the people, and he was an expert at organising projects. Moreover, he had a broad general knowledge and was a historian in his own right to boot.

      So More asked him if he would consider coming to Oudtshoorn, and suggested that he do the jump course at once in order to earn the extra R20 parachute allowance per month. No, said Kinghorn, he had high blood pressure and teeth implants, and wore glasses. And besides, he added, he had ‘no aspirations to become a hero’. But СКАЧАТЬ