Page 616 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo I

616 XXXIX Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

– where 4RC was formally established on 17 July 1978. This was a multi-racial unit that
could be used for a wide range of Special Forces tasks. It specialised in seaborne opera-
tions (especially attack diving), but could in practice undertake any task that could be
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reached by the SAN. The SADF had a small Special Forces capability, but – thanks to
the SAN – had a large strategic reach. The SAN played a crucial role in transporting the
Special Forces to targets, in extricating them again, and provided essential general sup-
port. In the course of the past few years, several books that deal with the role played by
the SADF’s Special Forces “up north” have been published, but in only a few of these
books are there any references to the role played by the SAN – and when mention is
made of the SAN ships, submarines and crews, the details are vague.
4RC was dependent on the SAN to take them to as near as possible to their targets.
They developed the ability to launch boats from SAN ships, and launching apparatus
was developed to be used on board the SAN’s frigates, strike craft and combat support
ships. 4RC also continued to operate from the submarines. The Special Forces took part
in several operations on the east and west coasts of Africa, as well as on Lake Kariba. 14
In 1981, in the run-up to Operation Protea, Recces boarded the combat support ship
SAS Tafelberg in Saldanha Bay. They then sailed, accompanied by two strike craft, to
some 14 km off the port of Lobito in Angola. The Recces had been practising clandes-
tine seaborne operations for some six months. Four teams went ashore at Lobito and
seriously damaged or destroyed an oil and petrol depot, a cement factory, and a gas
factory. Before the attack took place, photos of the targets had been taken through the
periscope of one of the SAN’s submarines, while photos had also been taken by mem-
bers of 4RC from a Zodiac boat which one night took them into the harbour. Operation
Amazone was, from a SADF point of view, a huge success, boosted the moral of the
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Special Forces and led to a more daring approach to special operations.
This led to Operation Kerslig (Candlelight): an attack on the oil refinery at Luanda.
The raiding party was taken to just off Luanda on board SAS Protea, while a reconnais-
sance was conducted by boat crews operating from a strike craft. After the reconnais-
sance party took photographs of the target, they went to SAS Protea, where the films
were developed, the raiding party accordingly briefed, and final preparations made. One
SADF soldier was killed and several others injured when one of the charges went off
prematurely. The oil refinery was damaged, but not destroyed, and was only out of ac-
tion for a few weeks. Consequently, Operation Kerslig was not a resounding success for
the SADF. However, it was also a daring joint operation. Other operations followed.
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Not long before the end of the war, the SAN acquired a ship that was ideally suited
for joint operations. SAS Drakensberg is the largest ship thus far designed and built in

13 P Matthyzen, M Kalkwerf and M Huxtable, “Recce”: a collector’s guide to the history of the South African
Special Forces (Johannesburg, 2010), pp. 45-46.
14 Matthysen, Kalkwerf and Huxtable, pp. 46-47; P Els, We fear naught but God: the story of the South African
Special Forces “The Recces” (Weltevredenpark, 2000), p. 145.
15 P Matthew, Parabat: personal accounts of paratroopers in combat situations in South Africa’s history
(Weltevredenpark, 2001), pp. 154-155; J Greeff, A greater share of honour (Durban, 2008), pp. 269-295.
16 Greeff, pp. 295-321; Stiff, pp. 357-358.