Battle of Cuito Cuanavale

Battle of Cuito Cuanavale
Part of the Angolan Civil War and the South African Border War
Mavinga Jamba Menongue Cuito Cuanavale Rundu Luanda Battle of Cuito Cuanavale (Angola)
Date Intermittently between 14 August 1987[3] – 23 March 1988[1] (7 months, 1 week and 2 days) Location 15°09′50″S 19°10′23″E / 15.16389°S 19.17306°E / -15.16389; 19.17306 Cuito Cuanavale, Angola Result South Africa and UNITA defeat a major FAPLA offensive towards Mavinga, inflicting heavy casualties on FAPLA and preserving UNITA's control of southern Angola. Remaining FAPLA units repel several South African and UNITA attacks near the Tumpo River. Withdrawal over several months of most South African and UNITA troops from Cuito Cuanavale under Operation Displace[5] Round One of Tripartite Accord talks commences[1]
Belligerents
National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FALA) South Africa South African Defence Force South West African Territorial Force (SWATF)	People's Republic of Angola People's Armed Forces of Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) Cuba Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) South West African People's Organisation People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) African National Congress Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK)[1][2] Military advisors:  Soviet Union[1]  East Germany[3]  North Korea[4]  Vietnam[4]
Commanders and leaders
Arlindo Pena Ben-Ben Abreu Kamorteiro Demosthenes Amos Chilingutila Magnus Malan Andreas Liebenberg Deon Ferreira Piet Muller	António França Petr Gusev Ulises Rosales del Toro Arnaldo Ochoa Leopoldo Cintra Frías
Strength
UNITA: 28,000 militants[6] 37,000 irregulars[6] 24+ T-55 tanks[6] South Africa: 700 combat troops[1] (later up to 3,000)[7] 13 Olifant tanks[5] 120 Ratel infantry fighting vehicles[5] 1 battery of Valkiri[5] 2 batteries of G5 howitzers[5] 1 troop of G6 howitzers[5] 12 multirole fighter aircraft[5] 4 bomber aircraft[5]	FAPLA: 6,000 combat troops[1] (later up to 18,000)[6] 150 T-55/62 tanks[1] ~97 BRDM-2 scout cars[1][7] 80+ armoured personnel carriers[6] ~43 BM-21 Grad[1][7] 96 multirole fighter aircraft[5] 8 bomber aircraft[5] Cuba: 300 advisory personnel[1] 3,000 combat troops (February, 1988)[1][8] 32 T-55/62 tanks[9] Auxiliary forces Soviet Union: 1,000 advisory personnel[3] East Germany: 2,000 advisory personnel[3] PLAN: 7,000 guerrillas[1] MK: 900 guerrillas[1]
Casualties and losses
UNITA: 3,000 dead[6][10]  South Africa: 86 dead 90 wounded[11] 5 tanks lost[3] 5 Ratels lost[3] 6 other armoured vehicles lost[5] 2 aircraft shot down 1 aircraft crashed[5]	FAPLA: 4,768 dead[7] 10,000+ wounded[6] 94 tanks lost[3] 65 APCs lost[7] 12 aircraft shot down[6]  Cuba: 42 soldiers dead[8] 7 pilots dead[4] 3 pilots POW[4] 70 wounded (UNITA claim)[6] 6 tanks lost[1] 6 aircraft shot down[4] MK: 100 dead[2]  Soviet Union: 3-4 dead[12][6] 31 wounded (UNITA claim)[6]

Part of a series on the
History of Angola
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See also
Years in Angola
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The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale was fought intermittently between 14 August 1987 and 23 March 1988, south and east of the town of Cuito Cuanavale, Angola, by the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) and advisors and soldiers from Cuba, USSR, Vietnam, ANC and SWAPO against South Africa, and soldiers of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) during the Angolan Civil War and South African Border War. The battle was the largest engagement of the Angolan conflict and the biggest conventional battle on the African continent since World War II.^[13] UNITA and its South African allies defeated a major FAPLA offensive towards Mavinga, preserving the former's control of southern Angola. They proceeded to launch a failed counteroffensive on FAPLA defensive positions around the Tumpo River east of Cuito Cuanavale.

Following a number of failed attempts to take the settlements in 1986, eight FAPLA brigades mustered for a final offensive—Operação Saludando Octubre—in August 1987 with extensive auxiliary support from one of Angola's closest military allies, the Soviet Union.^[14] The FAPLA offensive took the form of a two-pronged, multi-divisional movement southwards towards Mavinga, a major UNITA stronghold and logistics centre.^[14] Once Mavinga was in its hands, FAPLA intended to expel the remaining insurgents from Moxico Province and pave the way for a final assault on the UNITA headquarters at Jamba.^[14] The Soviet Union supplied FAPLA with over a billion dollars' worth of new military hardware for the purpose of this offensive, and between 4 and 9 Soviet advisers were attached to each FAPLA unit on the brigade level.^[15]

South Africa, which shared a common border with Angola through the contested territory of South West Africa (Namibia), was then determined to prevent FAPLA from gaining control of Mavinga and allowing insurgents of the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) to operate in the region.^[16] Saludando Octubre prompted the South African Defence Force (SADF) to underpin the defence of Mavinga and launch Operation Moduler with the objective of stopping FAPLA's advance. After weeks of preliminary skirmishes, the two armies met at the Lomba River on 6 September.^[17] Throughout September and October, the SADF repulsed several FAPLA attempts to cross the Lomba and destroyed most of the latter's vital bridging equipment.^[14] Repeated counterattacks by the SADF's 61 Mechanised Battalion Group resulted in the annihilation of FAPLA's 47 Brigade and the loss of its remaining bridgeheads, sending the remainder of the FAPLA units reeling back towards Cuito Cuanavale.^[18][19]

During the second phase of the campaign, the SADF and UNITA made several unsuccessful attempts to encircle and destroy the surviving FAPLA forces before they could establish new defensive positions east of Cuito Cuanavale, an initiative known as Operation Hooper.^[20] However, FAPLA succeeded in concentrating its forces within a cramped perimeter between the Cuito, Tumpo, and Dala rivers known as the "Tumpo Triangle".^[14] Here they were protected by the terrain and by extensive minefields. They were also reinforced by a number of Cuban armoured and motorised units, who had become more directly committed to the fighting for the first time since the beginning of Cuba's military intervention in Angola in 1975.^[21] Over two months the SADF and UNITA launched six unsuccessful assaults on the Tumpo Triangle under the auspices of Operation Packer. Protected by multiple minefields, the defending FAPLA and Cuban troops held their lines in the Tumpo Triangle.^[22] The SADF and UNITA disengaged in March 1988, after laying a series of minefields southeast of Cuito Cuanavale to dissuade a renewed FAPLA offensive.^[22]

Both sides claimed victory.^[23][24] The Cuban and FAPLA defenders had interpreted the SADF's Tumpo Triangle campaign as part of a larger effort to seize the town of Cuito Cuanavale itself and presented their stand there as a successful defensive action.^[22] The SADF claimed that it had achieved its basic objectives of halting the FAPLA offensive during the Lomba River campaign without needing to occupy Cuito Cuanavale, which would have entailed unacceptable losses to its expeditionary force.^[25][26][17]

Today, the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale is credited by some with ushering in the first round of trilateral negotiations, mediated by the United States, which secured the withdrawal of Cuban and South African troops from Angola and Namibia by 1991.^[27]