The Battle of Lomba, 3 October 1987: a tactical and operational analysis
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Date
2017
Authors
Scholtz, Leopold
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Humanities, University of the Free State
Abstract
The Battle of the Lomba, which was fought on 3 October 1987, was
the final contest between the South African Defence Force (SADF)
and Forças Armadas Populares de Libertação de Angola (FAPLA)
during the first phase of Operation Moduler. In this battle, 61
Mechanised Battalion Group (61 Mech; with a Ratel 90 squadron as
the battering ram) attacked the vastly superior Angolan 47 Brigade
and all but wiped it out. The basic question in this article is why and
how this happened? The answer lies in the tactical and operational
handling of both forces on a command level. On the one side, from a
professional viewpoint, the SADF leadership of 20 SA Brigade and 61
Mech did almost everything correctly, and even lay the foundation of
the victory before a single shot was fired. The Angolan commanders
did almost everything wrong. The tactical and operational lessons
learnt from the battle may provide material for officers’ training, and
these lessons are discussed as part of the conclusion.
Description
Keywords
South African Defence Force (SADF), Forças Armadas Populares de Libertação de Angola (FAPLA), União Nacional Para a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA), Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA), Namibia, Angola, Operation Moduler, Operación Saludando á Octubre, Ratel, T-54, T-55, Deon Ferreira, Bok Smit, 61 Mechanised Battalion Group (61 Mech), 47 Brigade
Citation
Scholtz, L. (2017). The Battle of Lomba, 3 October 1987: a tactical and operational analysis. Journal for Contemporary History, 42(2), 48-73.