Written by: Johan Schoeman
2011/11/18 11:52 AM 

October, 1981 — Southern Angola

SWAPO had suffered heavy losses during Operation Carnation and Operation Protea which were executed in the western and southern theatres of Southern Angola. Because of this, the situation was as follows:

· The North-Eastern Front (NEF) was cut off from the rest of the SWAPO forces.

· The Northern Front (NF) Headquarters had dispersed and the guerrillas had fled in the direction of the command post.

· The morale of SWAPO was low due to the disruption and an acute shortage of food supplies.

· A battalion SWAPO guerrillas had arrived at the command post in order to lay ambushes towards the south as protection.

FAPLA forces had withdrawn towards the north to join units further north. They were busy with reconnaissance tasks in order to reoccupy towns in Southern Angola.

The on-going process of intelligence-gathering after Protea indicated to the South Africans that SWAPO had moved their command post to a position in thick bush northeast of Techamutete. Despite their heavy losses, SWAPO was planning another large-scale infiltration during the rainy season, early in 1982.

In order to disrupt these plans the SADF decided to seek and destroy the enemy headquarters by means of a ground force assault supported by the air force.

The target area was code-named Daisy, and the  operation called OPERATION DAISY. Located extremely deep inside Angola, up to 150 kilometres, the area of operations had to be supported by the Air Force and the decision was made to provide adequate fighter back-up for the ground forces due to the proximity of two major Angolan airfields at Lubango and Menongue. The target area was well within the MiG striking range. 

• If you are not a member of this WarBlog, you can view a SAMPLE of 5 photos of the operation here...
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• If you are a member of this WarBlog, you will have to log in to view ALL the photos of the operation here...

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Tags: Operation Daisy , Gallery , 1981 , SWAPO , 61 Mech Bn Gp

Categories: Operations

Location: Blogs Johan Schoeman's Personal War In Angola WARBLOG

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