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Abstract
SADF conventional warfare capacity exhibited a decline during the 1950s,
followed by belated efforts at rearmament and consolidation during the
1960s. However, Operation Savannah, the SADFs intervention in the
Angolan civil war during 19751976, as the forces first involvement in a
conventional-type war since 1945, exposed SADF weaknesses, but also
strengths. Authorised amidst debilitating secrecy by a miscalculating South
African government, Savannah demonstrated significant South African
military equipment inadequacies, particularly in terms of artillery, armour
and the need for an infantry combat vehicle. Savannah also gave hints of
SADF strength residing in the resourcefulness of its personnel and their
aptitude for mobile warfare. But rapid and effective Cuban military
intervention also showed that SADF conventional warfare reaction and
capacity needed urgent attention. This article attempts to address some of
these themes while following the course of this first battle by the SADF
after thirty years of relative peace.
Keywords: Operation Savannah, Border War, Task Force Zulu, SADF
1960s and 1970s