Iron Fist From The Sea

Top Secret Seaborne Recce Operations (1978-1988)

Arne Soderlund, Douw Steyn

• Publisher: Jonathan Ball
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781868427789
• Topic: Historia
• Subtopic: Historia militar y marítima

From Cabinda in Angola to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania 4 Reconnaissance Regiment conducted numerous clandestine seaborne raids during the Border War. They attacked strategic targets such as oil facilities, transport infrastructure and even Russian ships. All the while 4 Recce's existence and capability was largely kept secret, even within the South African Defence Force.

With unparalleled access to previously top secret documents, 50 operations undertaken by 4 Recce, other Special Forces units and the South African Navy are described. The daunting Operation Kerslig (1981), in which an operator died in a raid on a Luanda oil refinery and others were injured, is retold in spine-tingling detail.

The book reveals the versatility and effectiveness of this elite unit and also tells of both the successes and failures of its actions. Sometimes missions go wrong, as in Operation Argon (1985) when Captain Wynand Du Toit was captured.

This fascinating work will enthrall anyone with an interest in Special Forces operations. Iron Fist from the Sea takes you right to the raging surf, to the adrenalin and fear that is seaborne raiding.

1

PRELUDE

OPERATION STARLIGHT

It was a dark moonless night but a broad arc of flickering lights to the west outlined the large port, with a lighthouse flashing every 7.5 seconds marking the entrance to the channel. There was little movement among the vessels anchored in the roadstead off the channel as, some 20 nautical miles (nm1) off the coast, the dark surface of the sea was cut by a periscope, heralding the stealthy approach of a submarine.

When about 10 nm off, the black hull slowly broke the surface and the first figures appeared on the bridge atop the conning tower. The low rumbling of exhausting gases completing the low-pressure blow could just be heard above the subdued voices as the Captain and bridge team scoured the horizon with their binoculars, sweeping through 360 degrees to confirm they were alone and could not be observed. Instructions were passed down the voicepipe and a minute later the door on the side of the conning tower swung open. The special casing party exited quickly, closing up forward of the fin.

The large torpedo-loading hatch was opened and the casing party, assisted by crew just inside the hatch, carefully brought out three partially assembled kayaks and positioned them on the casing. The six Special Forces members set to work in pairs, completing the final preparations of their two-man craft in the dark.

While this was going on, paddles and kitbags with mines and survival kit along with weapons were carefully passed up through the hatch, the menacing outline of a Thompson submachine gun, or ‘Tommy gun’, discernible even in the dark. These were passed to the operators2 dressed in dark nondescript coveralls, woollen comforters covering their heads, and with hands and faces darkened with burnt cork, who carefully secured their kit in the frail craft.

Barely 20 minutes after surfacing, all was ready and the submarine stopped in the water. Last-minute confirmation of the navigation marks to run in on was given by the Captain to the operators, before he and the casing party disappeared below.

The six men climbed into their kayaks. The submarine slowly began submerging and, as the kayaks floated free, the men took up their paddles and set out for the landing beach. Behind them, they could hear the last of the ballast air escaping as the boat submerged and headed out to sea to ensure her presence would not compromise the mission.

This scene could be from the script of the 1954 movie They Who Dare starring the legendary Dirk Bogarde and based on Operation Anglo, the Special Boat Section raid on Axis airfields on the island of Rhodes in September 1942. Or it could describe many of the other Special Boat Section raids on enemy targets in the Middle East during the Second World War, when they deployed from submarines of the 1st Submarine Flotilla based in Alexandria, using ‘folboats’ (folding boats) such as these kayaks and armed with weapons such as Tommy guns.

The activity described here, however, took place 30 years later, in 1972, and was a historic occasion, as it was the first true seaborne special operation carried out by the South African Defence Force (SADF) since its founding in 1912.

In the early 1970s, the apartheid policies of the Nationalist government, while soundly condemned by the outside world, were little threatened by the growing African nationalism both within the country and to the north of its borders. Internally, repressive measures were used to suppress any attempts to destabilise the black population, while externally there was a cordon sanitaire3 of friendly or neutral states that could be depended on to keep any external threat far away from South Africa’s back yard. These included what was then Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe) and the Portuguese ‘overseas provinces’ of Angola and Mozambique. On a security level, there was therefore a certain level of cooperation between these countries.

But all three were already fighting civil wars or insurrections within their own borders. In the case of Mozambique, Frelimo4 had already wrested control of some rural areas of the central and northern parts of Mozambique from the Portuguese authorities. An estimated 7 000 guerrillas were pitted against some 60 000 Portuguese troops concentrated mainly in the Cahora Bassa region to protect the dam and hydroelectric plant under construction at the time.

The ever-reliable Klepper – kayak training at Donkergat.

While it did occupy some areas inside Mozambique, Frelimo relied on training and logistics facilities provided by Tanzania’s founding president, Julius Nyerere. When it became apparent to the local Portuguese authorities that this Tanzanian support was the critical factor in sustaining and escalating the war, they looked for means of disrupting the support.

In the early 1960s, the Portuguese had established contact with one of Nyerere’s most trusted friends, the first foreign minister of the newly independent country, Oscar Kambona. Kambona played a pivotal part in subduing the mutiny in the then Tanganyikan Army in 1964 but he began to fall out with Nyerere when the nation became a one-party state in 1965. After the 1967 Arusha Declaration, which was a political blueprint for the transformation of Tanzania into a socialist state, the rift became too great and, fearing for his life, Kambona went into exile in the UK.

At a meeting between the Portuguese and South African military intelligence agencies in Pretoria, it was decided that Kambona could be a viable replacement for Nyerere in event of the president’s downfall, and a plan was developed to enhance Kambona’s credibility and support within Tanzania. To achieve this, it was proposed to show that Nyerere’s supporters were becoming more militant, and to conduct operations within that country on a slowly increasing scale.

The SADF agreed to implement this plan with support of the Portuguese authorities in Mozambique. The targets would be low-value and unsophisticated, as well as of a nature that would avoid injury or loss of life. A study to ascertain potential targets that would attract the necessary attention came to the conclusion that they should be in the capital, Dar es Salaam (ironically, Arabic for ‘harbour of peace’).

The newly formed Special Forces, then known as the Operational Experimental Group and based in Oudtshoorn under the command of Commandant (Cmdt) Jan Breytenbach, were tasked with conducting what was to be known as Operation Starlight. The plan was for a small team to be taken to a position just off Dar es Salaam by submarine, and for them to then paddle to the beach in kayaks. Once ashore, they would place mines on a nearby road bridge and a few other small targets.

While the Operational Experimental Group included a clandestine sea group that had undergone certain specialist training overseas, it had little experience and no training with the Navy in the procedures to be used in this highly classified operation. It also had little specialised equipment. With little time in hand, it quickly established an intense training and preparation programme.

The men chosen for the operation were the Officer Commanding (OC) himself, Cmdt Breytenbach; the Sergeant Major, Warrant Officer (WO) Trevor Floyd; Staff Sergeant (SSgt) Kernaas Conradie and SSgt Koos Moorcroft; and two naval members, WO Ken Brewin and Chief Petty Officer (CPO) William Dewey, both divers and qualified parabats5 whose nautical skills would be invaluable during the training and insertion.

The team started sea training at Mossel Bay where, using Klepper kayaks, they spent many days venturing out to sea in all weather and sea conditions, learning the hard way, and even attracting the attention (although not the suspicion) of the local National Sea Rescue Institute, which was called out by concerned residents on a particularly rough day. During this period, the two naval members were also cross-trained to ensure their proficiency with weapons and Special Forces procedures.

The use of a submarine, with its crew of about 50 officers and men, did pose a minor security risk, and it was decided to identify any possible threats in terms of procedures and routines before the operation. SAS Maria van Riebeeck (under Commander (Cdr) JAC ‘Jaap’ Weideman, and informally referred to as Maria) was sent on a dummy patrol mission while the Operational Experimental Group team was being worked up.6 Only the Captain, First Lieutenant (and Second in Command, or 2IC) and Navigator were in the picture with respect to the destination.

On the vessel’s return, it was possible to identify any possible sources of leaks and implement changes or amend procedures. One aspect that facilitated a higher level of security was the cohesiveness of submarine crews, created by their interdependency and camaraderie due to their living circumstances aboard.

In late March, the ship’s company of SAS Emily Hobhouse (under Lieutenant Commander (Lt Cdr) LJ ‘Woody’ Woodburne and informally referred to as Emily) was summoned for a briefing at their headquarters at SAS Drommedaris (later renamed Hugo Biermann), where an officer from Military Intelligence informed them that the training they were about to embark on was classified as it covered the development of a new capability in the SADF that could not be revealed to anyone outside of the briefing. Coming only a few months after the boat’s arrival in South Africa, this new challenge was an unexpected surprise, and it was a serious but solemn crew that left the briefing, knowing that a very busy and active few months lay ahead.

Few realised that they were preparing for the first combat operation of its kind since the Second World War, and that it would be classified as top secret and remain so for some years. Every aspect of the training and preparations in which they would be participating would be just as classified. Even when under way to the target area, only the very basics of the operation were explained, and not the target or any specific details.

Once the members of the Operational Experimental Group were confident in basic skills, they commenced training aboard the submarine tasked for the operation – initially Maria but later Emily. Aboard the submarine all the procedures for the operation were finalised and dress rehearsals conducted.

An indication of the lack of equipment was the discovery that, after all the preparations at sea, the kayaks were no longer seaworthy and had to be replaced with three civilian Kleppers purchased from a commercial source – by the father of one of the team members! Being dark blue rather t...