MacCaulay
Banned
So I was reading a book about the Bush War in South-West Africa Territory, and I came across a quote from a man who did his National Service on the border:
"We had very sophisticated radio equipment, and between them and the interpreters, they would tune in to the MPLA, East German, and Russian frequencies and listen in. They had MiG 21s and MiG 23s...the Russians had the most experienced pilots flying the most sophisticated planes. As you went down the scale, you had the Cuban, who could fly reasonably well, but the lowest or worst were the MPLA pilots, who didn't have the expertise or skill of the others."
In the book, An Unpopular War by JH Thompson, there are interviews with "troeps" who mention going out on raids into Angola and SWAT and capturing or picking up documents or weapons caches from SWAPO or the MPLA. At some points, like around Cuito Cuanavale, the South Africans even engaged the Cubans in conventional combat that lasted for days.
The South Africans went far and wide to prepare strikes, even to Kinshasa to scout out possible sites along the Congolese border from which to launch raids on ANC in Tanzania.
But this all makes me wonder: there were reports (in Jane's Defense, I posted one about that earlier and I'll get that out again) of chemical weapons usage in the Angolan Civil War in the mid-90s. These were most likely of a type that was developed by the Soviets.
Now suppose that at some point (probably either during the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale or during the last big MPLA push in '89) chemical weapons supplied to the Angolans by the Cubans from the Soviets were used against South Africans in any way shape or form.
What happens next?
"We had very sophisticated radio equipment, and between them and the interpreters, they would tune in to the MPLA, East German, and Russian frequencies and listen in. They had MiG 21s and MiG 23s...the Russians had the most experienced pilots flying the most sophisticated planes. As you went down the scale, you had the Cuban, who could fly reasonably well, but the lowest or worst were the MPLA pilots, who didn't have the expertise or skill of the others."
In the book, An Unpopular War by JH Thompson, there are interviews with "troeps" who mention going out on raids into Angola and SWAT and capturing or picking up documents or weapons caches from SWAPO or the MPLA. At some points, like around Cuito Cuanavale, the South Africans even engaged the Cubans in conventional combat that lasted for days.
The South Africans went far and wide to prepare strikes, even to Kinshasa to scout out possible sites along the Congolese border from which to launch raids on ANC in Tanzania.
But this all makes me wonder: there were reports (in Jane's Defense, I posted one about that earlier and I'll get that out again) of chemical weapons usage in the Angolan Civil War in the mid-90s. These were most likely of a type that was developed by the Soviets.
Now suppose that at some point (probably either during the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale or during the last big MPLA push in '89) chemical weapons supplied to the Angolans by the Cubans from the Soviets were used against South Africans in any way shape or form.
What happens next?