Uper Neighbourhood
44 Parachute Brigade was a parachute infantry brigade of the South African Army. It was founded on 20 April 1978, by Colonel Jan Breytenbach, following the disbandment of 1 SA Corps and the battle of Cassinga. Upon formation, the brigade was commanded by Brigadier M. J. du Plessis, who was assigned the task of establishing by working with the Parachute Staff Officer, Colonel Jan Breytenbach. At the time du Plessis was the commanding officer of the Orange Free State Command (OFS Cmd) and had previous experience serving in 1 Parachute Battalion. Breytenbach had also been a member of 1 Parachute Battalion and had also founded the South African Special Forces Brigade and 32 Battalion (South Africa), 32 Battalion. The location that was chosen for the brigade's headquarters was in the lines of the Orange Free State Command, OFS Cmd Headquarters, next to the old Tempe Airfield in Bloemfontein. The brigade's units initially consisted of two Citizen Force units, 2 and 3 Parachute Battalion ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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South African Army
The South African Army is the principal land warfare force of South Africa, a part of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), along with the South African Air Force, South African Navy and South African Military Health Service. The Army is commanded by the Chief of the Army, who is subordinate to the Chief of the SANDF. Formed in 1912, as the Union Defence Force in the Union of South Africa, through the amalgamation of the South African colonial forces following the unification of South Africa. It evolved within the tradition of frontier warfare fought by Boer Commando (militia) forces, reinforced by the Afrikaners' historical distrust of large standing armies. Following the ascension to power of the National Party, the Army's long-standing Commonwealth ties were afterwards cut. The South African Army was fundamentally changed by the end of Apartheid and its preceding upheavals, as the South African Defence Force became the SANDF. This process also led to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jakkals
The Jakkals is a small, agile weapon carrier and utility vehicle for airborne units of the former South African Defence Force and current South African National Defence Force. The Jakkals can be deployed by land, lifted by helicopter, air dropped and delivered via aircraft. Weapons mounted on the Jakkals include the 106mm M40 recoilless rifle, M2 Browning heavy machine gun, various general purpose machine guns as well as acting as a tractor for the Valkiri-5 multiple rocket launcher or anti-aircraft guns such as the ZU-23-2. It can also be deployed with a small trailer and used as a logistical support vehicle, especially for the 120mm mortars as with airborne artillery. The Jakkals has only been used in defense operations by the South African Airborne Units during the South African Border War The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occur ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Operation Klipklop
Operation Klipklop occurred during the South African Border War between the Republic of South Africa and SWAPO. The operation began at first light on the 30 July 1980 when South African forces attacked SWAPO facilities in Angola. The objective was a PLAN logistics base at the town of Chitado, 5 km from the Namibian border and 35 km east of Ruacana, with the aim of disrupting mortar attacks on the Ruacana hydro-electric scheme. Supported by Alouette III attack helicopters, 80 men were dropped by helicopters close to the town. Twenty seven defenders, possibly PLAN or MPLA soldiers, died in the attack that followed with the SADF destroying the MPLA base in the town on their withdrawal. This operation followed Operation Sceptic and preceded Operation Protea Operation Protea was a military operation during the South African Border War and Angolan Civil War in which South African Defence Forces (SADF) destroyed a number of South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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MPLA
The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, abbr. MPLA), for some years called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan left-wing, social democratic political party. The MPLA fought against the Portuguese army in the Angolan War of Independence from 1961 to 1974, and defeated the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) in the Angolan Civil War. The party has ruled Angola since the country's independence from Portugal in 1975, being the ''de facto'' government throughout the civil war and continuing to rule afterwards. Formation On 10 December 1956, in Estado Novo-ruled Portuguese Angola, the underground Angolan Communist Party (PCA) merged with the Party of the United Struggle for Africans in Angola (PLUA) to form the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola, with Viriato da Cruz, the president of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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SWAPO
The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia. Founded in 1960, it has been the governing party in Namibia since the country achieved independence in 1990. The party continues to be dominated in number and influence by the Ovambo ethnic group. SWAPO held a two-thirds majority in parliament from 1994 to 2019. In the general election held in November 2019, the party won 65.5% of the popular vote and 63 out of the 104 seats in the National Assembly. It also holds 28 out of the 42 seats in the National Council. As of November 2017, Namibian President Hage Geingob has been the president of SWAPO after being elected to the position at the party's electoral congress. History Background and foundation German South West Africa was established in 1884. Aft ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Air Assault
Air assault is the movement of ground-based military forces by vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft—such as the helicopter—to seize and hold key terrain which has not been fully secured, and to directly engage enemy forces behind enemy lines. In addition to regular infantry training, air-assault units usually receive training in rappelling, fast-rope techniques and air transportation, and their equipment is sometimes designed or field-modified to allow better transportation within aircraft. The US Army field manual FM 1-02 (FM 101-5-1) describes an "air assault operation" as an operation in which assault forces (combat, combat support, and combat service support), using the firepower, mobility, and total integration of helicopter assets, maneuver on the battlefield under the control of the ground or air maneuver commander to engage and destroy enemy forces or to seize and hold key terrain usually behind enemy lines. Due to the transport load restrictions of helicop ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Operation Sceptic
Operation Sceptic (June 1980) was the largest anti-South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) sweep during the South African Border War up to that point. The operation was also known as Smokeshell though this was the codename for the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) base which was the main focus of the attack. This operation followed Operation Safraan and preceded Operation Klipklop. Overview Operation Sceptic was launched on 10 June 1980 as a lightning attack on a SWAPO base in Southern Angola but developed into an extended operation as more and more SWAPO caches were discovered in the territory. Sceptic was due to end on the 16 June but due to additional bases being discovered from intelligence gathered during the operation, the clashes continued and finally ended on 30 June with all South African Defence Force (SADF) forces back in SWA/Namibia by 1 July 1980. Operation Sceptic included serious clashes between the SADF and the People's Armed Forces for the Li ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fireforce
Fire Force or Fireforce is a variant of the military tactic of vertical envelopment of a target by helicopter-borne and parachute infantry developed by the Rhodesian Security Forces during the Rhodesian Bush War. Regiments involved included the Rhodesian Light Infantry or RLI, the Rhodesian African Rifles and the Rhodesian Special Air Service or SAS assisted by the Rhodesian Air Force. The Fire Force counterinsurgency missions were designed to trap and eliminate Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army and Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army insurgents before they could flee. Fire Force reacted to enemy ambushes, farm attacks, or observation post (OP) sightings, and could also be called in by trackers or patrols who had made contact with the enemy and then called for reinforcements. Fire Force was first deployed in January 1974, and saw its first action a month later on 24 February 1974. Fire Force was an operational assault or response usually composed of a first wave of 3 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Truth And Reconciliation Commission
A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state actors also), in the hope of resolving conflict left over from the past. Truth commissions are, under various names, occasionally set up by states emerging from periods of internal unrest, civil war, or dictatorship marked by human rights abuses. In both their truth-seeking and reconciling functions, truth commissions have political implications: they "constantly make choices when they define such basic objectives as truth, reconciliation, justice, memory, reparation, and recognition, and decide how these objectives should be met and whose needs should be served". According to one widely cited definition: "A truth commission (1) is focused on the past, rather than in ongoing events; (2) investigates a pattern of events that took place over a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Operation Reindeer
Operation Reindeer, which began on 4 May 1978, was Apartheid South Africa, South Africa's second major military operation in Angola, carried out under the Apartheid regime, the first being Operation Savannah (Angola), Operation Savannah. The South African operation consisted of an assault by 2 South African Infantry Battalion on two South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) base complexes, Chetequera and Dombondola, near to the then-South West Africa/Angola border; an assault by the elite South African 32 Battalion, 32 Battalion on SWAPO's Omepepa-Namuidi-Henhombe base complex around 20 km east of Chetequera; and finally, the attack the operation is most known for — a controversial Battle of Cassinga, airborne assault by paratroopers on Cassinga, a refugee camp and SWAPO's regional headquarters, 260 km inside Angola. The operation ended on 10 May 1978. Background Prime Minister BJ Vorster, John Vorster met his defence advisers in December 1977. They discuss ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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101 Air Supply Company
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. In conventions of sign where zero is considered neither positive nor negative, 1 is the first and smallest positive integer. It is also sometimes considered the first of the infinite sequence of natural numbers, followed by 2, although by other definitions 1 is the second natural number, following 0. The fundamental mathematical property of 1 is to be a multiplicative identity, meaning that any number multiplied by 1 equals the same number. Most if not all properties of 1 can be deduced from this. In advanced mathematics, a multiplicative identity is often denoted 1, even if it is not a number. 1 is by convention not considered a prime number; this was not universally accepted until the mid-20th century. Additionally, 1 is the s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |