Eagle Strike, Jan Breytenbach

This is the story of an audacious, airborne assault, on 4 May 1978, on a SWAPO fortified base containing its military headquarters, logistical support, reserves and training facilities. The assault was supported by a very strong air strike by bombers and fighters as well as by air transport to drop the paratroopers into battle in one of the major, post World War para drops, 250kms deep behind enemy lines, and thus, of a necessity, the deployment of a veritable swarm of helicopters to extract the paratroopers back to safety, this execution of the whole intricate operation through a joint HQ deployed in the field. Unfortunately the subsequent uproar in the international media, based on allegations that this assault was a brutal attack on a refugee camp, did much to detract from the incredible victory the SADF had claimed for the paratroopers and the air force. Was it refugee camp as claimed by the Third World and the communist block, a SWAPO HQ and strategic military establishment as claimed by the RSA government and the SADF, or a mixture of both as claimed by the truth and reconciliation commission were the casualties mostly combatants or were they innocent civilians? This is the only personal account ever written by somebody on the SADF side who 'was actually there' and who was the commander of the paratroopers. It also brings to light much more than this brief outline, especially the dangerous nature of the whole enterprise through personal experiences, by paratroopers and air crews, and how and why it nearly became the most disastrous undertaking of the whole 'bush war' era through uncalled for meddling by an outsider who should not have been there.