SAMVOZA Veteran Mark Holder recounted his experiences from 1979
OVAMBOLAND
One of our outside bases close to the Angolan border was attacked, if I remember correctly it was Oshikoekoe they were hit by"Stalin Organs" mortars etc.
We were woken up and told to load all the extra ammunition onto the trailer and get it there as soon as possible.
We loaded up, hooked the trailer and got going. It was the rainy season so most of the "shonas" were filled with water. some shallow and fairly easy to negotiate and others full of mud and not so easy to get through.
The brain is a funny thing, you are driving with a trailer full of high explosives and ammunition behind you and even though you are sitting in an amour plated vehicle you still just imagine how high you will fly if one of those enemy warheads hit you.
We were getting close and hit one on the muddy "Shonas" the lead Buffel accelerated and just managed to get through. I was next with the trailer. Third gear low range, four-wheel drive engaged and I put foot.
About three quarters of the way through the Buffel started to drift and I lost traction. and we stalled. I tried to slowly edge out but nothing doing. So here we are stuck in the mud and not so far from us the camp that was being attacked. Not a happy place to be.
I indicated for the trailing Buffel to come past, they did, covering us with mud and water. But made it to the other side.
We climbed out connected our "Toggle Tows" - that white rope you are issued with when you arrive - and connected the Buffels in "Series" The front Buffel took up the slack on the second one and then on Me, and yes, the rope held and we got out, trailer and all. The kit we were issued was really very practical.
When we got to the Camp it was all over, and they had already tidied up. But there is always a story or two.
One of our guys and again I cannot remember his name, climbed to the top of the "Crows Nest" when the attack started and stayed up there the entire time directing our Mortars etc to the enemy installation. (He got a commendation). Apparently our guys were a lot more accurate and stopped the attack before too much damage was done.
They landed one mortar on the parade ground and one in the toilets. Their aim was really up to s**t.
This is a story we were told - the only injury from our side was one on the officers wanting to do his part, he grabbed a 60mm mortar ran to the top of the wallatjie, jammed his foot at the base of the mortar tube, took aim and let fly.
The mortar tube kicked back and hit him in the groin. I believe he spent a while in hospital.
We also did the fetch and carry for 32 Battalion occasionally. They would arrive at Ogongo and we would transport them to the heli-pad and fetch them again after their stint in Angola. They stripped the "Rat Packs"of all the sweets condense milk etc and left the rest.
On one occasion they stayed for longer than usual and I drove a section out on a local patrol. Very different to what we did. These guys were something else. They had absolutely no fear. Sat around a fire at night no guards posted, and an attitude of nothings going to happen here.
But you felt very safe with them. When we got back to camp the one guy was carrying his RPG7 over his shoulder with a projectile in the barrel and our wonderful Captain saw him. You can imagine the performance, how dare he walk through the camp like that etc. When the Captain had finished, this guy look at him and said. "F**k you its mine and I'll carry it any way I want", and he kept on walking. The Captain stormed off. We dropped them the next morning.
A couple of weeks later we went to fetch them and what a sight. These are NOT people you want to wake you up out of a sound sleep. Faces smeared with "Black is Beautiful", head bands, unshaven, Rambo would have left town if they were there. Glad they were on our side. And then the offload and there were bicycles radios, sunglasses and so much more.
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