Operation Reindeer | |||||||
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Part of South African Border War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
South Africa | SWAPO | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
John Vorster Constand Viljoen Ian Gleeson | Unknown | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
SADF | Unknown | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Unknown | 2,200+ | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
7 killed 39 wounded |
SWAPO claim: 582-624 killed 400-611 wounded South African claim: 1,000 killed 200 captured |
Operation Reindeer, which began on 4 May 1978, was South Africa's second major military operation in Angola, carried out under the Apartheid regime, the first being 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 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 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.
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