Okatopi (’78)                                            Operation "Vasvat" (’78)

Operation "Vasvat" ('78)                                                                      Operation "Vasvat" – Wally Coetzee (’78)

After rollcall brunch will be served at the mess and then we hit the road again.... north ... past Miershoop, Okatopi (Okatope) and Omuthiya ... in 1978 Operation "Vasvat" was launched from Okatopi, more to the west of the north-south highway… during this operation cordon and search operations were carried out, with the help of the Airforce and elements of the Homeguard. The Homeguards were local people recruited to protect the traditional local headmen loyal to the political system of the time and were armed with old .303 rifles or even Portuguese / Spanish G3 assault rifles. Their clothing ranged from civilian clothes, military uniforms or even a combination of both. They often accompanied the security forces as guides or interpreters. Having them on patrol was often regarded as a possible security headache as one could not be that sure whether they were loyal to the security forces or actually supplied the enemy with information as well. As zero hour for this operation was at three o’ clock at night most of the teams got lost before first light .. the result was that choppers had to guide the lost souls in towards the deployment area and the element of surprise was lost … whether this operation was a success, only the high brass will know. On this Operation, the late Wally Coetzee, was still with Infantry School, Oudtshoorn as a trooper…. later, as a 2^nd Lieutenant, he was attached to 32 Bn where he lost his life during a contact in Angola (1979), only a few days before finishing his time as a National Service Man…  in the photograph above he is the first person to the left, that is facing the camera.

From Okatopi (Okatope) we travel north till we reach Omuthiya - the home of 61 Mechanised Battalion (http://saffer.pbwiki.com/61+Mech?SearchFor=61&sp=1) …. lot's of Ratels, Olifant MBT's, G5 - canon and perhaps a G6 or two as well, plus millions of flies… walk around and chat to the troopers… close to the 61 Mech base is the Infantry School, Oudthoorn's, training base where future junior officers and NCO's are trained prior to being deployed for their practical operational training as part of their counter insurgency phase of training..... another Border War fact - during the Bushwar the SADF suffered 1791 casualties (combat and all other types of casualties - re the official SADF lists / ROH), while SWAPO lost an estimated 11400 guerrillas in combat. Casualties of the total Bushwar for the other forces mentioned above, and civilians, runs into several hundred thousands. Actually just a small percentage of the casualties were operational losses, the biggest portion of the losses were due to vehicle- , shooting accidents or other non-combat reasons. In contrast with the official figures, it is estimated that the casualties could have been as many as 2104 (John Dovey's ROH) or even more… the fact that this list (JD's ROH) was published in Genl. Jannie Geldenhuy's latest book says it all. As the tour progresses more examples of Border casualties that do not appear on any Roll of Honour will be shown.... sad, but true. 
    

 
                 Ratel IFV with mine ploughs ('88)                                                                Ratel 20 IFV ('88)                                           

                          Olifant MBT ('88)                                                                               G5 in shelter ('88) 
     

                               Ratel ZT ('88)                                                                           Omuthiya Base ('88) 
 

     
                     Johann Labuschagne                                                           William Luiters

                                            Francois Loubser