Portugal's Guerrilla Wars in Africa: Lisbon's Three Wars in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea 1961-74

2013·151.64 MB·english

by  Al J. Venter

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Published by Helion & Company 2013
Designed and typeset by Farr out Publications, Wokingham, Berkshire
Cover designed by Euan Carter, Leicester (www.euancarter.com)
Printed by Gutenberg Press Limited, Tarxien, Malta
Text © Al J. Venter 2013
Maps © as follows – Africa 1974 © Al J. Venter; Angola at the end of the war in 1974 © Dr
Richard Wood; Portuguese Guinea © Al J. Venter; Coastal regions of Portuguese Guinea
© Revista da Armada; Mozambique © Dr John P. Cann.
Photographs © Al J. Venter unless noted otherwise
ISBN: 978 1 909384 57 6
EPUB ISBN: 978 1 910294 30 7
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Front cover: Portuguese marines on patrol in Guinea waters. (Author’s photo). Rear cover:
When a vehicle hit a mine, there were invariably casualties, which was when the air force
would be tasked with uplifting casualties and flying them to the nearest hospital. In this
stretch of the “Hell Run” – from the Zambezi to Mwanza, on the Malawi border – it would
have been the clinic at Tete. (Author’s photo)
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While the United States was fighting a bitter war in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s, Portugal battled
an equally resolute bunch of guerrillas in a spate of insurgencies that stretched halfway across Africa.
Very little was known of these conflicts at the time, because South East Asia tended to hog the
headlines. While these tropical insurgencies might have lacked the intensity and sophistication of
what was going on in Vietnam, tens of thousands of people were to die in Portugal’s African wars.
Ultimately, these conflicts would radically alter the political dynamics of the continent. Indeed, it was
the beginning of the end of white rule in Africa…
A luta continuo!
Dedication
In the realms of recent African history, particularly with regard to Lisbon’s role on the continent, one
writer stands out above all others and that is my dear old friend and colleague René Pélissier. You
have been a fount of knowledge and inspiration, which is why I dedicated this book, with thanks, to
you René.
Former United States naval captain John Cann – whom we all know as Jack – also figures strongly as
a friend, a colleague and a ‘co-conspirator’. His breadth of understanding of Portugal’s efforts in
Africa encompasses much and we have learned a lot from his books. Thank you Jack.
Contents
Glossary
Foreword by Capt John P Cann USN
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Part 1: Portugal’s Wars in Africa
1. Tete Convoy in Mozambique
2. Landmines
3. A Bitter War in Angola
4. Bush War in West Africa
5. The Conflict in Depth
6. The Enemy
7. Road to the North
8. Mixed Fortunes of War
9. Cabinda: the War North of the Congo River
10. Cabinda and an ongoing Guerrilla Struggle
11. Why Portugal Lost her Wars in Africa
Part II: War in Portuguese Guinea
12. Death of a Guerrilla Fighter
13. The War in Portuguese Guinea
14. Operation Trident – Striking at an Elusive Enemy on the Offshore Islands
15. In the Heart of an African Military Struggle
16. Jungle Patrol in Portuguese Guinea
17. Portuguese Guinea-Bissau’s North and East
18. Bissau – Portugal’s Wartime Capital in West Africa
19. PAIGC – Portuguese Guinea’s Liberation Organisation
20. The Aviation Component in Portugal’s Colonial Wars
Part III: The War Continues
21. Land at the End of the Earth
22. Eastern Angola
23. Mozambique: Conflict along the Indian Ocean
24. Casualties of War
25. Last Word
Appendices
A African Troops in the Portuguese Colonial Army 1961-1974: Angola, Guiné-Bissau and
Mozambique
B The SAAF in Support of Portugal
C Offshore Operations In Portuguese Guinea
Notes
Select Bibliography
Glossary
A-76: military radio set
AAA: anti-aircraft artillery
ACIG: Air Combat Information Group
AEB: (South African) Atomic Energy Board
African National Congress: ruling South African political party, Socialist in orientation and in its
day, closely allied to Portuguese opposition groups like Angola’s MPLA and
FRELIMO
AK, AK-47: Avtomat Kalashnikova 7.62mm assault rifle
aldeamento: Portuguese protected camp
Armée de Libération Nationale—the military wing of the FLN nationalist
ALN:
movement
ALO: air liaison officer
ANC: African National Congress
APC: armoured personnel carrier
Armour-Piercing Infantry Light Arm System, French portable one-shot 122 mm
APILAS:
recoilless anti-tank rocket
AR-10: 7.62mm battle rifle later developed into US Army’s M16
ARMSCOR: Armaments Corporation of South Africa
Africans overseas who had ‘assimilated’ sufficiently to earn full Portuguese
Assimilado:
citizenship rights
AU: African Union (See OAU)
Bergen: military-style multi-part backpack
(South African) Bureau for State Security, generally referred to in its day as
BfSS:
‘BOSS’
BM-2: Stalin Organs
Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty, Soviet amphibious tracked infantry fighting
BMP-2:
vehicle
Bundesnachrichtendienst, West German/Federal Republic of Germany Federal
BND:
Intelligence Agency
Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozomaya Mashina, 4x4 (converting to 8x8)
BRDM:
amphibious ‘Combat Reconnaissance Patrol Vehicle’
‘Browns’: South African army personnel, or their uniforms (slang)
BSAP: British South Africa Police, Rhodesian police force
BTR: Bronetransportyor, ‘armoured transporter’, 8x8 armoured personnel carrier
C-4: Common variety of the plastic explosive known as Composition C.
CAS-sorties: Close air support sorties
CCB or Civil Cooperation Bureau: Secretive quasi-military organisation formed in latter stages of
apartheid rule in South Africa
Chef do Poste: Local Portuguese administrator
CIA: (United States) Central Intelligence Agency
CIO: Rhodesian/Zimbabwean Central Intelligence Organisation
COIN: Counter-insurgency
Comintern: Communist International, abbreviated to Comintern
COMOPS: Combined Operations
The Republic of the Congo (République du Congo), also referred to as Congo-
Congo-
Brazzaville or simply Congo. Not to be confused with Democratic Republic of
Brazzaville:
the Congo (Kinshasa)
CSI: Chief of Staff Intelligence, South African military
CSIR: (South African) Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
CT: Communist Terrorist: term used for Chinese Malayan guerrillas by the British
DF: Direction Finding
DGS: (Portuguese) Direcçao Geral de Segurança, General Security Directorate
DHQ: (South African) Defence Headquarters (in Pretoria)
DMI: (South African) Directorate of Military Intelligence
Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire, formerly Belgian Congo,
DRC:
also called Congo-Kinshasa
Degtyaryova-Shpagina Krupnokaliberny, Soviet 12.7mm heavy antiaircraft
DShK:
machine gun
D Tels: (South African) Directorate Telecommunications
ECCM: Electronic Counter-Counter Measures
ECM: Electronic Counter Measures
Executive Outcomes, mercenary group that ended civil wars in Angola and
EO:
Sierra Leone
ESM: Electronic Support Measures
EW: Electronic warfare
FAA: Forças Armadas de Angolanas, the Armed Forces of Angola
FAF: forward airfield
The Fusil Automatique Léger (Light Automatic Rifle), a self-loading, selective
FAL: fire battle rifle produced by the Belgian armaments manufacturer Fabrique
Nationale de Herstal (FN).
FALA: UNITA’s military wing
FAP: Força Aerea Portuguesa : Portuguese Air Force
People’s Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (Forças Armadas
FAPLA:
Populares de Libertação de Angola) – today Forças Armadas de Angolanas
FIA: Field Intelligence Assistant
FLEC: Cabinda Liberation Movement
Frente de Luta pela Independência Nacional de Guiné-Bissau/Front de Lutte
FLING: de l’Indépendence Nationale de Guinée, Struggle Front for the Liberation of
Portuguese Guinea
FLN: Algerian Liberation Group
FN: See FAL
Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola, National Front for the Liberation of
FNLA:
Angola
FRELIMO: Frente de Libertação de Moçambique, Liberation Front of Mozambique
Frent Patriotica de Libertação National: Guiné-Bissau liberation movement
FPLN:
with headquarters in Algiers
7.62mm battle rifle developed in the 1950s by the German armament
G3: manufacturer Heckler & Koch GmbH (H&K) in collaboration with the Spanish.
Adapted by the Portuguese Armed Forces
G-Car: Transport Alouette helicopter
GOC: JCFs General Officer Commanding Joint Combat Forces
GP: Garde Presidentielle
GPMG: General purpose machine-gun
Revolutionary Government of Angola in Exile (Govêrno Revolucionário de
GRAE:
Angola no Exílo)
Grupos Especiais: Portuguese Army Special Force units
Grupos Especiais Pára-Quedistas: Paratrooper Special Groups (volunteer black soldiers that had
paratrooper training)
Grupos Especiais de Pisteiros de Combate: special units trained in tracking
Glavnoye Razvedyvatel’noye Upravleniye – foreign military intelligence main
GRU:
directorate of the Soviet Army
HAA: Helicopter Administration Area
HAG: Helicopter Administrative Group
HC: Honoris Crux, South African combat bravery decoration in various grades
HEU: Highly enriched uranium
HF/DF: High frequency direction finding (radio system)
HK21: Heckler & Koch 7.62mm general purpose machine gun
HVAR: High velocity aircraft rocket, also nicknamed during WW2 as ‘Holy Moses’
IAEA: International Atomic Energy Agency
IDI: Illegal Declaration of Independence (British rendering of Rhodesia’s UDI)
IFP: Inkatha Freedom Party (Zulu-based)
IFV: Infantry fighting vehicle
INSS: (United States) Institute for National Studies
ISIS: (United States) Institute for Science and International Security
JARIC: Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre; JOC command centre
Joint-STAR: United States Air Force E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System
K-Car ‘Kill Car’ (as in Rhodesian war): Alouette helicopter gunship armed with machine guns