Quote:
Originally Posted by TiroFijo
Mike, what percentage of the casualties were inflicted by the air force bombing prior to the Parabats jump?
How well trained were the SWAPO? I understand their commander fled under the attack. But I'm sure it took bronze balls to advance against AA artillery and a hugely superior (in numbers) and determined enemy in entrenched positions, no matter what level of training disparity.
There was quite a lot of propaganda by the cubans and their allies after this raid, claiming unfair attack on a refugee camp, intentional killing of non combatant women and children, and BS like that. Just like the previous Cuito Carnevale "victory". But the truth is that the south africans almost always fared amazinly well against the soviet block/cuban supported armies and guerrillas.
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Yeah, by "turkey shoot" I didn't mean to imply in the least that it wasn't a hard fought and dangerous fight. On the contrary, I think the disparity in casualties shows what happens when highly trained professional combat troops meet irregulars who choose to stand their ground instead of running. I think there's not a soldier here who isn't impressed by the odds you paras faced that day...and all who've been in hard fought contacts would like to have seen the same outcome, the enemy stays in one place long enough so you can kill him in large numbers. Bravo.