Description
The famous recce, operator, POW, public speaker and author have partnered with RECORDARE to supply an online outlet for his books – all books will be signed by the author himself.
Retired Special Forces Operator, Major Wynand du Toit, takes the reader on an epic journey through the South African border war where patriotism and dedication were essential and alive on both sides of the sword..
Operation Argon (sometimes denoted simply as Operation Cabinda) was an unsuccessful military operation carried out by South African special forces in May 1985 with the objective of destroying six fuel storage tanks at Malongo in Angola’s Cabinda exclave.
As stated in an email by Person X who worked at Malongo during Ops Argon :
“I worked in Malongo 1981-1989 and again 1998-2001. As you might already know, almost all expats in Malongo worked a 28 day on/28 day off schedule. I lived in Durban for part of the year.
So Operation Argon had a bigger impact on my life than it did on the lives of others in camp. And I had many questions. I was not in camp on the 21st. I arrived a few days later. Most of the guys believed that the Angolans had been tipped off. Security surrounding Malongo was very slack before the raid. Surprising, because we were a legitimate target. The Angolan government had to pay for Cuban and Russian support. And Malongo was the primary source of income. I always assumed that there was a gentleman’s agreement between Unita and MPLA. Whoever had power would need Malongo. Hence we were left in peace.
Although we were restricted to camp, occasionally someone would wander north along the beach and cross the camp’s boundary. No one was ever stopped orchallenged. I would often go jogging along the landside perimeter parallel to the Malembo Road. Never saw a soldier, patrol or checkpoint. On one occasion I was asked to search the Landana/Malembo area for old abandoned oil wells. Once again, no guards or check-points. There were guard towers in camp. But they were in disrepair and never used.
As one of the guys put it, ‘If the South Africans had just come ashore at the Malongo beach on Sunday afternoon, someone probably would have offered them a beer and a lift up the hill to the living quarters.’ Things were that relaxed.
That all changed after Ops Argon. Mine fields were placed in my old jogging area ( removed 10 years later by exKoevoet guys ). Strict no fly areas were set. As were coast watch posts.
It is very unlikely that Argon was discovered just by chance. The question was how did the Angolans know ?When I returned to Malongo in 1998, I was told by personnel that Savimbi had betrayed the Op. They had no proof.Said that, that was the accepted explanation in the security community. I think your story makes more sense.”
Bear in mind that Person X was on his 28 day leave cycle and only returned after the raid. The deployment of soldiers happened during that time. His name is being withheld at his request.
ISBN 9781991245892
Read more of this remarkable ex-soldier here: http://wynanddutoit.com
