Operation Argon (sometimes denoted simply as ''Operation Cabinda'') was an unsuccessful military operation carried out by

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

special forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

in May 1985 with the objective of destroying six fuel storage tanks at Malongo in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

Cabinda exclave Cabinda (formerly called Portuguese Congo, kg, Kabinda) is an exclave and province of Angola in Africa, a status that has been disputed by several political organizations in the territory. The capital city is also called Cabinda, known locall ...

Background

On 13 May 1985 a modified

South African Navy The South African Navy (SA Navy) is the naval warfare branch of the South African National Defence Force. The Navy is primarily engaged in maintaining a conventional military deterrent, participating in counter-piracy operations, fishery prot ...

Daphne submarine carrying a nine-man Recce team, as well as a back-up team, left

Saldanha Bay Saldanha Bay ( af, Saldanhabaai) is a natural harbour on the south-western coast of South Africa. The town that developed on the northern shore of the bay, also called Saldanha, was incorporated with five other towns into the Saldanha Bay Local Mu ...

and travelled to a spot some way off the

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

n coast near its border with

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

. The area contained oil storage installations run by the Angolans and

Gulf Oil Gulf Oil was a major global oil company in operation from 1901 to 1985. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies. Prior to its merger ...

, and because of this, several large military bases were also placed in the vicinity. The team had to travel by sea, and then by land, distances that were too far to travel in one night. They therefore had to spend a night ashore, and planned a ruse to make it appear that they had infiltrated from the East from Zaire, rather than from the sea.

Infiltration

The Recces landed on the coast at night on 20 May following an advance scouting party sent to gather

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on the beach where the party would land. Under ideal cloudy skies, the Recce team's trip had been slowed by the need to launch their boats further from shore than anticipated. The longer journey, as well as rough seas, threw off the precise timing of the mission. Near shore, Captain Wynand Du Toit noticed a small

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in the area of the landing zone and that the occupants were on shore around a fire. This forced the team to wait offshore until the boat left the area. They were now three hours behind schedule, and the danger of being detected grew. Upon landing the boats were hidden and a rendezvous point set up. The men climbed a

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and followed a route that skirted a small village and led to a road. They miscalculated the distance to the road and turned back, losing an hour of valuable time. Du Toit decided to continue and reach the lying up position (LUP) in a densely wooded area within the two hours prior to dawn. South African Intelligence and

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showed an uninhabited area, but in fact it was surrounded by camouflaged

People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola The People's Armed Forces of Liberation of Angola ( pt, Forças Armadas Populares de Libertação de Angola) or FAPLA was originally the armed wing of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) but later (1975–1991) became Ango ...

(FAPLA) bases. The hide was finally reached as day broke. This proved to be far from ideal as a hiding place, as it was not part of the jungle, but an island of dense growth some distance from the jungle. The Recces hid in the undergrowth and spread into a defensive perimeter, one man at an

observation post An observation post (commonly abbreviated OP), temporary or fixed, is a position from which soldiers can watch enemy movements, to warn of approaching soldiers (such as in trench warfare), or to direct fire. In strict military terminology, an ...

several yards to the north with a view of the course they had travelled. As dawn broke, the features of a well-hidden FAPLA base became clear some from the LUP. A few hours later, a small FAPLA patrol could be seen following the tracks in the dew that they had left earlier. The team watched as the patrol withdrew, and then came back with a larger patrol which passed the hide. At 17.00 a three-men patrol followed the team's trail directly to the thicket where the Recces were hidden. They stopped short of entering the brush, and returned to their base. Meanwhile, a second patrol approached the hide from the other direction, and opened up heavy fire on the hidden position. As

rocket propelled grenade A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is a shoulder-fired missile weapon that launches rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. Most RPGs can be carried by an individual soldier, and are frequently used as anti-tank weapons. These warheads are ...

s (RPGs) struck their position, Captain Du Toit ordered the withdrawal of his troops. They had no choice but to double back on the trail that brought them to this position the previous night. Two of the men were wounded as they exited the trees. FAPLA troops deployed west of the site opened up with RPD machine guns, RPG and many

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s. The team turned north, pursued by FAPLA soldiers. Another group of Angolan soldiers advanced from the west,

flanking In military tactics, a flanking maneuver is a movement of an armed force around an enemy force's side, or flank, to achieve an advantageous position over it. Flanking is useful because a force's fighting strength is typically concentrated i ...

the Recces so that they could only go east now. They could see a group of trees, but needed to cross of waist-high grass to get to this cover. Du Toit took two men and made his way through the grass as the rest of the team hid in the thicket. The small team drew fire as over 30 troops moved onto the exposed position. Two South Africans (Corporal Rowland Liebenberg and Sergeant Louis van Breda) were killed and Du Toit was wounded and later captured. The contact was over and two South African soldiers, corporals Liebenberg and Van Breda were dead. While Du Toit lay on his stomach, FAPLA soldiers approached and, thinking he was also dead, stripped his equipment – only then did they realise he was alive and shot him again through the neck. He remained awake with wounds in his neck, shoulder and arm as the FAPLA soldiers began to savagely beat him. The soldiers thought that he was a

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, though Du Toit tried to explain that he was in fact a

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officer. After being severely roughed up, he was finally taken to Cabinda for medical treatment then to a

Luanda Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...

hospital.

Aftermath

The remaining six Recce soldiers carefully made their way north, where they regrouped and were eventually picked up to be returned safely to

. Their escape was due in part to being ignored after the Angolans captured Du Toit. While imprisoned, Du Toit was interviewed by

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in August 1986. The Red Cross facilitated Du Toit's wife visiting him in prison on three separate occasions. Captain Wynand du Toit was finally to be released on 7 September 1987 after some 837 days of

solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...

in an Angolan prison in a complicated prisoner exchange arrangement brokered by

Jean-Yves Ollivier Jean-Yves Ollivier (born 8 October 1944 in Algiers, Algeria) is a French businessman who works primarily in the commodities sector in emerging markets. In addition to his business ventures, Jean-Yves Ollivier is active as a parallel diplomat, ...

. The exchange took place in

Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the Capital city, capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a popul ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

where Du Toit was swapped for two ANC members and 133 Angolan soldiers.The Modern Trek(Part 1) http://beta.mnet.co.za/carteblanche/Article.aspx?Id=4631 SSgt Queiroz was awarded the Honoris Crux for his actions during the operation.

Background

Infiltration

Aftermath

See also

References

Further reading