Some stories didn't make the book. I had enough material to contextualise my bicycle ride. Here's a story that was left out.
The battle group has laagered in some hilly terrain. Again it amazes me how a big formation of
armoured vehicles seems to melt away into the bush. Once the camouflage nets are pulled over the
Ratels it becomes difficult to see them and often I have walked close to a
platoon’s position without noticing their vehicles until I was quite close. Our Ratel 81s are lined up twenty metres apart and facing in
the same direction in case we have to come into defensive action but this seems
unlikely. The corporal tells us to
relax. I stand for a while looking out
at the hills. Rounded and lush with
thick, green -forested slopes they offer
us some protection from the enemy.
Perhaps it is the novelty of seeing hills after so much time spent in
the relatively flat and densely wooded bush that gives me this good
feeling. Maybe it is because it may be
more difficult for the MiGs to find us here.
The rainy season has started and there are clouds hanging low over this
high ground and for some reason it reminds me of a scene from a Vietnam War movie. I saw Platoon last year. I went with my friend Steve while we were
home on rare long pass. We were about to
be sent to the Border. My Dad came with
us and wanted to know our thoughts, now that we were soldiers. But I couldn’t relate to these celluloid
soldiers and I had no experience of war.
I don’t muse on this for long.
This war that I’m in is so far removed from war in the movies that I
don’t even try to find a connection.
Instead I walk over to my number three’s seat and dig out today’s open
rat-pack from the storage bin in the door.
I want to have a snack: a dog
biscuit and cheesy. Before I can bite a
hole in the cheesy there’s a shout from the corporal’s vehicle: “Kom by jou wapens!” But the other men have wandered off to catch
up with friends in the other platoons.
“Morris, Andersen! Fetch the other
manne, we’re coming into action!” He
gives no explanation and the urgency of his order is enough to get me running
in the direction some of the missing crews walked in. There’re not far away and soon we are all
running over the uneven ground and back to our vehicles.
The four crews quickly align mortar barrels and bearing and elevation is
put on the sites and there’s no need for me to remove charges because we are
firing just within our four and a half kilometre range. I don’t have time to dwell on the nature of
the danger, though the thought flashes through my mind that maybe our laager is
being advanced upon. Our bombs are
quickly in the air and they must be on target because there are no corrections
and we’re told to keep launching those bombs as fast as we can. Then it’s over. As suddenly as we came into action we’ve been
stood down.
There was no warning. The target
was so far away that I heard no shots or engine sounds. For a while the action is a mystery. Later, at a briefing, we find out that an
element of 32 Battalion had been surprised by some FAPLA tanks. They wanted support from heavy artillery but
the G5s were engaged in bombarding a more important target. An 81mm mortar is useless against a tank but
we were the only support available so we were brought into action. The FAPLA force was on top of the 32 element
so our bombs were landing amongst our own troops but the situation was so
desperate that their commander insisted that we continue the bombardment. The FAPLA soldiers were so surprised by the
sudden deluge of our high explosives that they stopped advancing long enough
for the 32 Battalion soldiers to make good their escape.
