More than three decades since the counterrevolutionary attack of the elite UNITA forces on Sumbe - Juventud Rebelde - Diario de la juventud cubana

This March 25 marks the 35th anniversary of the counterrevolutionary attack by the elite forces of UNITA on Sumbe Author: JR Archive Published: 03/25/2019 | 05:19 pm

This March 25 marks the 35th anniversary of the counterrevolutionary attack by the elite forces of UNITA on Sumbe, in Angola, where a large number of Cubans helped, hence JR presents a group of works that have been published in the printed format and that were digitized due to the significance of this historic date.

In Angola, on March 25, 1984, three elite UNITA battalions attacked the city of Sumbe, capital of Kuanza Sul province. Among its objectives was to take advantage of the surprise of a city far from the tensions of the combative confrontation with the enemy, to occupy it for a few days, to form a provisional government there, as well as to capture hostages among the Cuban, Soviet, Bulgarian and other nationalities civilian aid workers who there they provided their services.

Despite the fact that there were no troops in the city, the courage of the Cuban civilians, of whom seven died -doctors, teachers, builders-, along with members of weak Angolan law enforcement, the only ones who participated in the combat , prevented the bandits from carrying out their objectives. This story is part of a book in preparation, Carlos Lahitte Lahera, at the time a colonel and head of the Fight Against Bandits of the Cuban Military Mission in Angola, narrates the events from his point of view.

Operation N'Gunza

-Luanda, respond, it's urgent! They are attacking us! I repeat: UNITA is attacking us!

-Keep in touch. I'm going to notify the Military Mission…!

It was the early hours of a Sunday morning, as beautiful as all sunrises in Luanda, although the temperature was torrid and dampened the entire body. He had many plans for the day: write to the family, put some personal things in order... But a military man's plans change in seconds.

A subordinate interrupted my thoughts. He came with the order to report urgently to Major General Leopoldo Cintra Frías, Polo, (at that time head of the Military Mission in Angola), since a force of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) was attacking the city of Sumbe.

At the moment I imagined that it was a bandage that had been operating in that area for some time. It never crossed my mind that it was a full-scale attack by three well-trained South African battalions, commanded by Brigadier Chendovaba, notorious for his murder and looting, and one of Jonas Savimbi's trusted men, head of the UNITED.

At that time we had the appreciation that Chendovaba did not have enough troops, but he, after a strong offensive that we had made against him, had regrouped and prepared a small well-studied strategic operation against Sumbe, in the greatest secrecy, which had three elite battalions: in total, some fifteen hundred troops.

We still did not know this figure, but a little later they confirmed the seriousness of the situation: Sumbe was under siege, there were several civilians killed and wounded, and they were fighting against bandits, who had entered a large part of the city. Cubans and Angolans bravely resisted in the Provincial Commissariat (government palace).

Operations begin

The order was sent to the General Staff of the Southern Troop Group, in the province of Huambo, for the air force to start operating in Sumbe, a coastal city, embedded in a valley and surrounded by hills covered with endless shacks , kimbos call him there.

The first hours of the day are difficult for an air operation in this area, as it is embraced by a thick fog that the natives call cacimbo, which makes visibility from the air very difficult.

Later we found out that the first helicopters, which arrived after ten in the morning, and without the protection of the MI-25, were received by the Unitas with rifle volleys. They managed to damage several MI-8s and a MIG-21. The surrounding elevations favored them, as well as low flights. When the gunships arrived, the danger of shots coming from the ground was reduced.

The response of the combat planes was very fast and effective, despite the fact that our pilots had not operated in that area. The bombardment paralyzes the Unitas, which slows down a possible new attack against the Angolan population and Cuban civilians, who were already decimated and had no capacity to resist.

I left for the province of Benguela –which borders with Kuanza Sur- under the orders of Major General Ramón Pardo, second in command of the Military Mission, where we would set up an advanced staff. We arrived around ten in the morning, coinciding with the time when the bombardment began in Sumbe. Three landing helicopters and a battalion of special troops from Huambo and Malanje provinces were already in Benguela.

We still did not know the composition of the enemy, if they had Cuban prisoners, the exact places where they were fighting... We knew something about the situation there through a plant that transmitted from a UNECA truck, in the beach area. He was the liaison for Filiberto Arteaga –the head of the Cuban civil mission in Sumbe-, with Luanda. With him I investigate the operational situation. I notice that he is worried about his people, but I encourage them to resist, and I inform him that we are already coming with reinforcements.

We quickly organize the counterattack. I asked General Pardo to let me lead the group, since I knew the area and already had an idea of ​​how events could have happened, although I was unaware of the enormity of the enemy forces.

I went out with the three helicopters. When we arrived at Sumbe - an hour's flight from Benguela - we made a turn around the city to observe the situation and find out where the enemy could be, in order to pursue them later. They shot at us from a hill and hit the ship.

Later I learned that the Chendovaba command post was located there.

We disembarked at noon, between the bottom of the police station and the sea, near the building where the UNECA builders were staying, but there were no more enemies. Arteaga brought us up to date on the situation. We immediately loaded some of our wounded into the helicopters and sent them to Benguela.

I stayed there with a platoon and later, almost dark, the helicopters made a second landing of troops that we regrouped with the first ones to repel a possible new attack, but the Unitas did not return.

Later conclusions

Savimbi is a suspicious man. His concerns are those of an ambitious man who has betrayed several times. The fact of designating Brigadier Chendovaba, one of his trusted men, gave an idea of ​​the magnitude of the operation underway. The plan could not fail.

Taking Sumbe meant a strategic coup that would give UNITA a lot of “prestige”. His idea was to take Cuban, Soviet, Bulgarian and Czech civilians hostage, to create a great international scandal with it.

In that territory there was no military detachment because the city is on the coast and the coastal strip from Luanda to the province of Mozámedes, to the south, is a corridor in which enemy tribes of UNITA are settled that do not allow operate. That strip remained indomitable for them all the time, which led us to trust ourselves a little and not station troops there.

In reality, the combat was decided in the area of ​​the church and the police station, where Cubans and Angolans, led by the Cuban Juan Castillo –at that time lieutenant colonel and advisor to the Angolan provincial security- fought with courage and efficiency -although not very organized-, which gave time for the aviation reinforcement to arrive, which definitely scared off the attackers.

That was the decisive action, that of our civilians against UNITA. The Cubans and Angolans who resisted with their weapons fought practically hand to hand against the gigantic commando that had the mission of taking the area. It is there where seven of ours fall fighting, with all heroism.

Epilogue

By noon, the situation had been completely under control. The bandits withdrew without being able to take the place, thanks to the resistance made by Cuban and Angolan civilians, led by Arteaga, Castillo and Ramos da-Cruz, an Angolan, who was then governor of the province.

Around twelve, when General Polo arrived, the city remained in that tense calm left by combat. But no more shots were heard. During his tour he was able to appreciate the havoc caused by the attack that left many buildings destroyed and damaged.

Six days later, on March 31, Operation N'Gunza, named after one of the names Sumbe received throughout its history, ended.

Chendovaba, according to what a UNITA prisoner recounted years later, gathered what was left of his decimated troops after the combat and justified the spectacular defeat he had suffered by assuring the presence of Cuban atomic submarines in the port of Sumbe.

Years later, Chendovaba would die betrayed by Savimbi…

By Calixto Ferral Recio and Ernesto Rojas

The dove did not fail you

Mobile 63 for Military Mission, mobile 63 for 60 Answer, it is urgent! They are attacking us!

The Renault truck trudged up the hill with its powerful engine revving. Its gleaming white bodywork was to attract all enemy gazes from miles away and from every hill around Sumbe. But you didn't stop to think about it.

You were heading from the beach to the Sumbe Provincial Party building, capital of Kuanza Sul, a region more than 300 kilometers from Luanda, capital of the People's Republic of Angola.

The morning was hot. Sweat made your armpits wet. But you didn't have time to notice that either. Bullets and shrapnel were flying in all directions and you had two life-or-death missions: one, to bring these twelve men that they were on your truck up to the height of the hill, from where they could better control the situation. The other, more important, establish radio communication with Luanda to report on the situation.

Mobile 63 for 30! Mobile 63 for UNECA! It is urgent, UNITA is attacking us. And although you couldn't be sure, you added on your own The city has been taken!

Wake up under the bullets

Still dark, at five in the morning you shot out of your bed, overheated by the sticky weather that reigns at night in Sumbe. Among the many voices that were shouting a multitude of things, you distinguished that of Arteaga, the head of the mission, demanding your presence.

Curl, fuck, get down. The kwacha (the UNITA) is a few blocks from here!

You had slept soundly that morning... since when? It was…Yes, March 25, 1984. Sunday morning. And what you had planned for that day was not exactly taking part in a war. , but at the party they gave to say goodbye to a group of colleagues who were finishing their time of collaboration, and for that nurse's birthday... what was her name? It was also carnival day in Sumbe.

In return…In all your life you had seen so much shrapnel and so much shooting together, because when the Revolution triumphed in your native Santiago, back in 1959, you were barely a year old.

Waking up at five in the morning to the tremendous shouting and rumblings, you jumped without thinking and ran down the stairs. Still holding your shirt in your hand, you started the truck.

The first thing Arteaga entrusted to you - sacred thing! – was to urgently pick up the teachers and doctors who were sleeping in a property (building) in the center of town and were unarmed and defenseless.

By then, the headquarters of the Cuban forces had been established in the UNECA building in Sumbe, located in front of the beach. From there, the operator of the local plant made desperate efforts to establish contact with the one in Luanda to report the situation. But the results had not been successful so far.

When you arrived at that property you didn't find anyone. Instead, you verified that the enemy was so close that you could almost touch it with your hand. On your return, to your relief, you saw the group of Cubans taking refuge from the fire at a nearby service center. When they saw you, all those who could fit got into the cabin, about eight companions, and the rest got on the loading platform.

You hurriedly returned to the UNECA building. There Arteaga, together with Castillo – the MININT lieutenant colonel who directed military operations – handed out pepechá rifles (PPSH) to Cuban civilians so they could defend themselves against enemy incursions. You, of course, took yours.

What a day, friend! And this plant crap that doesn't want to communicate!

Don't fuck around, Rizo

Upon your return to the garage, Arteaga, with that serenity that characterized him, had entrusted you to establish radio contact with Luanda.

You had also been instructed to take these twelve men to the Provincial Party headquarters while you attempted communication.

Mobile 63 for 30... or for anyone, damn it! UNITA is attacking us...!

It would be 6:30 in the morning. When the truck's engine seemed to burst going up the hill, the voice of Juanita, the operator of the UNECA plant in Luanda, prevailed over the crackling static. a beneficent angel But the answer was the one you least imagined at the time.

Here 30, here UNECA. Good morning, Curly. Don't you think it's too early for bonches? How good it looks that you don't have a woman in Sumbe!

He said it so calmly and matter-of-factly that for a split second you wondered if the city was truly engulfed in a holocaust of explosions and shrapnel. Was she? Of course!

It's not a joke, Juanita, it's true! They are really attacking us. Notify the Cuban military mission soon!

Fortunately the shooting was quite loud and there was no need for further explanation. The detonations were heard through the horn of the Luanda device. The radio station's face was immediately transformed. After a minuscule pause, which seemed like a whole century to you, Juana replied:

Keep in touch. I'll notify the Mission right away!

Now that you were calmer, you returned to concentrating on the task of taking the improvised combatants to the Party.

Upon reaching the top of the ridge you found that the fire was frightful.

I slammed on the brakes, but even more so was the forced reverse gear I had to give. Imagine that the wheels of the Renault, a truck of at least eight tons, squealed against the pavement, just like in the movies!

The comrades who were on the vehicle dropped to the ground to avoid the enemy's fire, and you didn't hear from them until many hours later.

When you returned to UNECA there was no one left there. The command post had been moved further north, to near the border guard unit. In the new location you found Arteaga very worried and you gave him the news that you had finally you had been able to communicate with Luanda. That comforted him, as the situation was becoming increasingly difficult.

The local plant couldn't keep running, he explained. We had to start it up. The enemy is close and cannot capture it from us.

Now the only link we have with Luanda is the Dove, he told you. And she added. Show that we have them well placed.Try to situate yourself in a safe place and save the team at all costs. It is our only hope.

And boy was it.

The homing pigeon

Do you remember that the Renault truck you were driving was called "dove" because of its white cab, and that you insisted on keeping it clean and shiny.

Well, that love you had for him failed you. From that moment on he was the saving link.

You chose the place on the coast closest to the river, which you could reach with the vehicle, the area where the fishermen's huts are.

From there, while you saw the field planted with millet (corn), next to which you had passed so many times almost without noticing, you reported step by step what was happening. Juanita was no longer on the other side. She had been replaced by successive officers of the Cuban Military Mission.

It was not true, as you had initially assumed, that the city had been taken, although by now the possibility was no longer remote.

But, despite everything, the news you had to transmit was terrible. It is never pleasant to talk about injured or dead brothers, or to give reports and uncertain prognoses while you feel the lead prowling your skin...

At mid-morning, when their ammunition was about to run out, the first Cuban MIG-23s entered, and later the helicopters. The enemy went into total disarray and was unable to reach his goal thanks to your bravery.

Now, five years later, in this your fourth internationalist mission, you have returned to Sumbe, scene of that heroism, and you tell us everything that happened.

Even those dead have not stopped hurting, nor has this land penetrated as deeply as if it were yours.

You divert your eyes towards the point where the sky and the sea meet. Nostalgia invades you and a feeling alien to your usual joy clouds your gaze.

Your skin crawls. You fight a lump growing in your throat. You inhale strongly to relieve your lungs of that weight that has suddenly been born, and you perceive a peculiar smell of saltpeter in the environment, reminiscent of your country.

You observe how a seagull is lost in the distance with something in its beak, perhaps a recently caught fish. It seems to you that, like her, your Dove also covered the most spectacular distance of her life, that time she became a messenger . And she did not fail you!

By Ernesto Rojas and Calixto Ferral

Testimony of Colonel Orlando Calvo Montes de Oca, chief of the helicopter regiment in Huambo

The long distance to be covered in the air almost always stimulates thoughts, it is inevitable. You think about the house, the children, the family, they are moments, because the helicopter does not allow entertainment. These are inviolable rules, which is why we pilots must always have a clear mind, fully dedicated to resolving any unforeseen situation. It is understood that it is not the same to drive on land than to drive several feet high...

Flying in Angola is different from Cuba, it can play that trick on you, right? Huge distances, lack of efficient communications and weather conditions, generally do not help anything. Sometimes you get high or stick to the bushes, it depends on the enemy influence.

The memories are still fresh. Only six years have passed since the terrible events that broke out at 5:00 am on March 25, 1984... The subordinate had delivered a message labeled URGENT. It was the order to send, in the first instance, three MI-8 helicopters, armed with guns, in the direction of Sumbe, the capital of the KuanzaSur province, which was being attacked by a large UNITA force. It was to include two MI-25s, and another five MI-8s.

The only drawback was the (25), who could not cover the distance, without refueling, from Malanje, where they were, to Sumbe, so the Luanda road had to be used.

I order MI-8 out, direct to Sumbe. The squadron chief would attack the airport, where numerous bandits were entrenched.

II

The journey to Luanda lasted one hour fifty minutes. Major General Leopoldo Cintras Frías, head of the Cuban Military Mission, provided a detailed explanation of the events. He clarified that the situation was quite difficult for the Cuban civilian collaborators: doctors, teachers, builders, who were fighting, because we did not have military forces there.

A first message specified that ours were fighting in the area near the coast, next to a church. There were indications that Brigadier Chendobava, an experienced UNITA bandit leader, was leading the attack. It was pretty confusing news.

We left for Sumbe, a coastal city tucked into a kind of valley, surrounded by high hills, mostly full of traditional hamlets known as kimbos; this made the task extremely difficult.

On the way, we managed to communicate with Benguela, where the advanced command post of the operation was located, under the orders of then Brigadier General Ramón Pardo. They detail the last parts received. Then, close to the town, we contacted two MI-25s that came from Huambo.

We did a reconnaissance around the area. I order not to shoot. We did not know, for sure, the location of ours and the defenseless population. We went through the airport, we saw a candle on a platform in the terminal; the church, the coast, we comb everything. We can't communicate with anyone downstairs. We kept flying all the time. The presence of aviation always greatly influences the enemy.

III

The MI-25 is a tremendous device; looks like a weird bird with its beak down. It is used to give cover to the MI-8 that are generally landing. The crew was made up of the pilot, the operator and a flight technician.

We knew it was very difficult for UNITA to shoot us. From captured enemies we knew of their panic towards the 25. The first (8), who arrived without protection, were received with rifle charges. They managed to damage six ships and one MIG-21 aircraft. They favored elevations and low passes.

We were in the air for about 40 minutes. We were informed of the death of seven Cubans (builders and teachers). We marched to Benguela in search of fuel. In total, four landings were made. In the afternoon we took out 33 wounded, Cubans and Angolans, also under protest, our women, eager to remain at their posts.

At night at the airport we dedicated ourselves to repairing the breakdowns. He did not rest. I remember that we used one of my handkerchiefs to cover a hole. We resolved in any way to continue the mission. Later, blades arrived from Luanda and were placed right there. The moment required a lot of tension at work.

IV

We left on the 26th with the first clearings to take landing and assault troops. The command strategy consisted of encircling the bandits and preventing them from leaving. We knew that they had kidnapped various civilian collaborators of different nationalities: Bulgarians, Czechs, Portuguese, and that the population that refused to accompany them as hostages were murdered at close range.

At noon we accompanied General Cintras Frías to Sumbe. We landed in the coastal area, in front of the UNECA building. The city remained in that tense calm left by combat. No shots were heard.

We made an extensive tour accompanied by Filiberto Arteaga, head of the Cuban civil mission in the province (he later died in a traffic accident in Cuba) and other colleagues. They offered an overview of the operational situation. We were able to appreciate the havoc caused by the attack, for example at the Arteagase residence they were observing the impacts caused by two rockets. We headed towards Benguela at dusk.

On the 28th we supported an operation in the surroundings of Sumbe. Later we combed the Cambongo River where troop movements had been detected, we did not collide with them.

We evacuated an injured Racalist from the area. The boy was saved from being shot by a vest that a Soviet friend gave him.

At that moment I remembered Policarpo Álvarez, a pilot of the old guard, a combatant of the Rebel Army. We graduated in 1959. Everything happened in the difficult days of the siege of our troops by UNITA in Cangamba.

We had an MI-8 that got damaged twice. We removed the back hatch to drop supplies to our people in containers. We passed in low flight through the theater of combat. Everything changed at times. They open fire on the ship that was traveling ahead of us. I order you to leave the area quickly. We threw food, some of it, by the way, fell into the wrong hands. They fought almost hand to hand. I prevented entry to the other helicopter. They gave us eight impacts.

We return the next day. Passing at low altitude by the Cuito river, Policarpo spots some camouflaged tanks. We thought they were Cuban troops, but what a surprise! They start shooting at us. A young paramedic, who was accompanying us, answered him with the machine gun. Policarpo asks for the weapon and when he takes it, a bullet penetrates him and breaks his seat belt buckle. He could hardly speak. We took him to Menongue, some 160 kilometers away. He arrived alive. He died in the operating room.

That's what the pilots who went to Sumbe were like. Men who fell with their boots on, with plenty of experience. Many of them reservists. There were judges, taxi drivers, agricultural aviation, a bit of everything.

The commanders of the ship were awarded the Calixto García medal of valor, which is conferred by the Council of State, and the other participants received the congratulations of the head of the Military Mission.

V

On March 31, Operation N'GUNZA concluded, that was the previous name of Sumbe. It was a quick mission compared to others in which we participated, such as the cleanup of Cuito-Bié, Canganba or the seizure of Savimbi's Second Strategic Front in Malaje, where underground houses, artillery emplacements, airstrips were occupied...

A prominent role was played in Sumbe. We mobilized quickly, there was no truce. We would leave at dawn and return at night and leave the equipment ready to continue the next day. We took off from Benguelay the Huambo planes.

Epilogue

When we were flying in the direction of Kuanza Sul, a lot of things were going through my head. Coincidentally, in 1976 I had the honor of accompanying President Agostino Neto as a pilot on a tour of the province. I continue with that pleasant memory.

Every time I asked myself the same question, where are our people down there? Without communication... it's all so difficult. We cannot be confused when shooting. You shouldn't leave without doing anything.

From the moment other ships join us things change, although we are used to fighting in any situation. They were more eyes to scrutinize the earth and look for ours.

My last mission?, when I die. The big concern is when you get to the medical check-up, he does have the power to get you off the helicopter and put you to rest.

By Calixto Ferral Recio

Flight low over SUMBE

While the leaves of the trees tickle the belly of your helicopter dizzyingly, you think of a thousand things; in the concern of the day when the medical check-up sentences you to get off your ship to go to rest, at home, in your children, in your countrymen who are in danger.

No more than a few seconds the evocation lasts, because the low-altitude flight does not allow entertainment.

You have to have a clear mind, hold on with all your senses to the controls. Alert to any unforeseen event. Driving on the ground is not the same as dangerously hanging from fluttering blades... The weather conditions, the enemy presence... you have to stick to the treetops to evade the fire from ambushes.

But still, you cannot forget that you are heading towards a combat that promises to be fierce with the aim of saving your compatriots from UNITA.

Memories have not yet lost their current flavor, similar to the smell of recently fired gunpowder or a wound that still hurts. They remained in the memory of Colonel Orlando Calvo as if they were engraved on fire, even though ten years have passed. Thus The events that broke out at dawn on that March 25, 1984 were shocking.

I

On that date you were fulfilling a mission as chief of the Huambo helicopter regiment. Shortly after dawn, a subordinate handed you an envelope marked 'urgent', it was an encrypted order from the Cuban Military Mission (MMC), to to send several helicopters to Sumbe, the capital of the Kuanza Sul province. From an hour before sunrise, the town was attacked by more than 1,500 men, grouped into three elite battalions of the UNITA counterrevolutionary bands, which we later learned numbered 517 , the VCongreso and the Batecubanos.

You ordered a squadron of MI-8 to leave first, directly to Sumbe, whose chief would attack the airport, a refuge for numerous bandits. Later other warships would follow.

The MI-25, with its downward-pointing beak and camouflage paint, looks like a strange bird. Heavily armed, it is used to provide cover for MI-8s, which are used for landing. But without resupplying fuel could not cover the distance from Malanje, where the air base was located, to Sumbe. Therefore, they went first to Luanda. The flight took almost two hours.

During the stopover in the capital, Major General Leopoldo Cintra Frías (Polo), head of the MMC, explained to them that the situation was critical for the Angolan population there and for the Cuban civilian collaborators – mostly teachers , doctors and builders - the only ones who fought, because in Sumbe there were no outstanding military forces, and only they, in infinitely fewer numbers, faced the attackers.

According to confused messages, it was known that the Cubans were defending an area near the coast, next to a church, and that Brigadier Chendovaba, an experienced UNITA chief and a man of great confidence of Savimbi, was leading the attack. This gave an idea of the size of the operation but, in general, little else was known beyond this. They took off for Sumbe.

II

A coastal city, embedded in a valley and surrounded by hills upholstered by infinite shacks –kimbos are called there-, Sumbe wakes up surrounded by the tenuous embrace of a thick fog that the natives call casimbo.

By the time they reached the scene, the mist had already disappeared. Its place was now taken by black smoke, coming from the many fires caused by the attack.

The first air vehicles, which arrived after ten in the morning and without the protection of the MI-25, were greeted by the Unitas with rifle volleys. They managed to damage several MI-8s and a MIG-21. They favored them the surrounding elevations, as well as low flights. When the gunships arrived, the danger of shots coming from the ground was reduced. On the other hand, the bandits were already too busy due to the harassment to which the defenders of the city subjected them. But the newcomers did not yet know anything about it.

You gave the order not to shoot until you did a reconnaissance. They didn't know for sure where ours were, the enemy, the defenseless population... They flew over the airport, the church, the coast. They searched everything without results. They couldn't communicate radio with no one below. They kept watch all the time: we knew that aviation terrified bandits.

You kept asking yourself the same question: where are friends and enemies down there? It was a dilemma. They couldn't get confused when shooting, but they couldn't leave without doing anything either.

From the moment other ships joined them, things changed. They had more eyes to scan the land and managed, not without difficulty, to locate the combatants. Ours bravely defended their positions and this disconcerted the aggressors.

The beating they gave the bandits was crushing. The helicopters and MIGs, with their enormous firepower, sowed true panic among the enemies. And the Landing and Assault troops managed to control some key points on the outskirts of the city.

Once located, the Unitas did not have a second of respite. Machine guns and roquets kept them in constant check until they were out of sight in the bushes of the suburbs.

Your ship could not stay aloft for long due to lack of fuel. They suffered bitterly when they had to return to Benguela to resupply, since they had heard on the Huambo radio that seven Cubans –builders and teachers- had died in the fray.

Towards noon the situation seemed to have been completely controlled. The bandits withdrew without being able to take the place, thanks to the resistance made by Cuban and Angolan civilians, led by Filiberto Arteaga, head of the civil mission Cuban, MININT Lieutenant Colonel Juan Castillo, who was in the city as an adviser, and Francisco Ramos da Cruz from Angola, who at that time was commissioner of the province of Kuanza Sur.

In the afternoon of the same 25th, the airships took out the 33 wounded and the seven dead Cubans. They also evacuated under protest the women of the Cuban mission - who wanted to remain at all costs in the place of combat in case it happened again the aggression-, and some Angolans in serious condition.

The pilots didn't rest that whole night because of the anxiety of knowing that our crews were in danger. At the airport, during the early morning, they feverishly repaired the damage from that day. You used your handkerchief soaked in glue to cover a hole that still Today you could not find out if it was a bullet or not. You wanted to solve the problems at any cost to continue the mission.

But the Unitas dared not attack again.

Epilogue

On the 26th they left with the first dawn, loaded with landing and assault troops, whose mission was to surround the bandits in the vicinity and prevent them from leaving. It was known that they had kidnapped several civilian collaborators of different nationalities –Bulgarians, Czechs, Portuguese-, and who murdered the population who refused to accompany them as hostages.

Soviet landing planes, P5-7 reconnaissance planes and Alouette helicopters from the Angolan Air Force also participated in the operation.

At noon they went with General Polo to Sumbe.

They landed in the place that caused them so much anguish the day before as they flew over it. The city remained in that tense calm that combat leaves behind. But no more shots were heard.

During the tour they took accompanied by Arteaga, they were able to appreciate the havoc caused by the attack, which left numerous buildings destroyed and many others damaged.

On the 28th, during an operation around Sumbe, an injured Cuban radio operator was evacuated from the area. The boy was saved from being shot by a vest, a gift from a Soviet friend.

Six days later, on March 31, Operation N`Gunza ended, so called because that was one of the names Sumbe received throughout its history.

During those days, landing and assault units made numerous landings. Supported by Angolan forces, they took a large number of enemy prisoners and many others were wounded or killed in the actions.

All civilian participants in the defense of Sumbe received the Distinguished Service award. It seemed incredible that a few hundred men could have stopped such a huge attack!

The aircraft chiefs were awarded the Calixto García Medal of Valor and the other participants in the operation received a special congratulation from the Head of the Military Mission.

According to a Unita prisoner – whom the authors met five years later in Luanda – a few days later Chendovaba gathered what was left of his decimated troops and justified the spectacular defeat he had suffered by assuring the presence of Cuban atomic submarines stationed in the port of Sumbé.

Chendovaba and, in general, UNITA, never fully recovered from this setback. Especially from then on, and for years, the counterrevolutionary organization preferred to avoid encounters with the Cubans.

By Ernesto Rojas and Calixto Ferral Rojas

A Cuban kimbanda in the hands of the enemy

We had walked 50 meters along the Chingo highway, recalls Dr. Antonio González, and I was still not used to the idea of ​​finding myself a prisoner of the Unitas. I also didn't understand why the hell the one who identified himself as the head of this commando was wearing a camouflage uniform with a black net, as a scarf and a belt, over a shoulder strap, full of automatic rifle magazines.

Is it a regulation for Kwacha chiefs (from UNITA) to dress like this? Toni asked the puppet. The guy smiled with ridiculous pride,

No, Kimbanda (doctor), I have a fetish.

Yeah, it protects me from bullets.

In my country, those “fetishes” are used for fishing, he scoffed. But the irony did not comfort him. He censored himself for having fallen so stupidly into the hands of the counterrevolutionaries.

Caught by surprise

A few hours earlier, at almost three in the morning, at the airport, he had looked through the glass windows of the building to get rid of the rhythmic noise of the music and contemplate the sky jeweled by the luminous constellations.

I like nights like this, he thought, In Cuba, at this time, it's going to be nine at night. My daughter will be in bed by now. How will it go? I haven't seen her for a year and two months. Eleven is a difficult age...

The airport is three kilometers from the coastal city that used to be called Novo Redondo, and after the liberation from Portuguese colonialism it received the name of Sumbe.

They were there invited by the director of the local hospital to his daughter's wedding.

Other Cubans had gone with them, but most had left moments before. Left alone were gynecologist Antonio González, Bernardo Cruz Frómeta, a member of the Ernesto Che Guevara Internationalist Pedagogical Detachment, and Tomas George Rodríguez, teacher of the Frank País contingent.

They couldn't take too long, At most, one more drink. At eight they had volunteer work and there was a lot to do.

But it is impossible to foresee the things that can happen in a few minutes! That last drink of rum was still going down their throats when, at around three in the morning, they heard the shots.

At first they thought it was accidental shooting, or perhaps a simple skirmish, which they had already witnessed on other occasions.

They were far from suspecting that one of the most daring projects of Jonas Savimbi, leader of the counterrevolutionary band UNITA, was underway, a project in which they would have to play an important role.

In the circle of fire

To carry out his plans to take the capital of an Angolan province for the first time, Savimbi had organized a lightning military operation, with a troop of 3,000 men and abundant artillery.

Among the objectives of the operation, headed by “Brigadier” Chendovaba, was to open a strategic corridor in his great genocidal escalation against defenseless Angolan populations. They aspired to gain authority among the locals and take hostage the Soviets, Bulgarians, Italians and Cubans who were in Sumbe, which would give the foreign press an excuse to talk about Savimbi and his bandit squad.

Naturally, they also planned to take over the city's commercial radio station, with a provincial category and great power, through which Chendovaba, one of the most notorious leaders of the contras, was to make a substantial address to the residents. At the same time, they intended to create a base from which to organize a general offensive against Luanda, the country's capital.

The attack was prepared for months in the greatest secrecy. The few information that leaked were not reliable enough to presage such a massive operation. That is why the Cubans were not armed and had received authorization to attend the party.

When the shots became widespread, some friends ordered us to leave the airport towards the mountains, “the kwachas are coming”.

It was hard for me to even walk –I'm not saying run anymore- with the impediments of my 280 pounds, new shoes, suit, collar and tie. But in the end we managed to evade the persecution.

They took refuge on a stone knoll several meters from the building, barely escaping the low-level firefight that raised ominous clouds of dust around them.

On the hill, Toni had a breather. He leaned against her, hard stones digging into his back, to catch his breath and bring some order to her scattered thoughts.

A little later, at dawn, he went out in search of the others. She found Bernardo asleep, but did not find Tomas

Negritas..After a while we heard people talking in Portuguese. I got up and saw soldiers dressed in the camouflage uniform, typical of the FAPLAS.

How lucky we were saved! There are ours! They congratulated each other and headed towards the group:

Comrades, what happened!

But the rifle sights turned against him

We are from the UINTA,! they are in jail!

Then they understood. They forgot that the unitas use a fardamento (uniform), similar to that of the FAPLAS, precisely to create confusion.

Once in the trap they only had to buy time.

A makeshift boss

With the greatest serenity I told the soldier that I was the boss, and therefore I would not hand myself over to anyone other than the superior of the detachment.

For ancestral reasons, whose roots go back to primitive tribal hierarchies, in African countries the word boss has an almost magical effect.

This ruse gave them a truce to think and figure out what had happened. Toni was confident that Norberto Garcia, the real head of the Cuban medical mission, would forgive him for this little imposture.

That was how I met the extravagant little boss with the black net around his neck who, on the morning of March 25, 1984, would score an undeserved military merit as a reward for my capture.

They set out on foot down the road.

The boss explained that they were being held as hostages. They should behave well and they would take them to Chingo, a kuimberio (farmhouse) on the road to Sumbe.

On the way they asked the chief a few questions, and learned that the command in charge of the assault on the airport had only 20 men. jump in! It had been taken and all the Cubans had been killed in the action. the latter, of course, caused them not a little bewilderment. They gave up asking for Tomas for not boarding him.

Suddenly, a helicopter attack interrupted our interrogation. The Unitas scattered headlong into the ditches. We, from surprise, stood upright, like absurd statues, in the middle of the road: It was a Cuban MI-8!

But, although the fact filled us with joy, it did not help to solve our problem, because the column was immediately reorganized and we continued to Chingo

Upon arrival, they noticed that the town was partially empty: almost everyone had fled in the fearsome presence of the UNITA puppets.

New bosses and a find

Peace and joy did not reign in Chingo, as is usual in the victory of the just.

The soldiers who brought us, added to those who arrived before, gave themselves over to the looting of the Kimberio in search of clothes, food, money and drinks.

Through the coven they arrived at a deposit of fine beer (drums). There were kwachas toasting their triumph. Perhaps too early, they also celebrated that of their clogas, whose mission was to take Sumbe.

The new boss dressed in black, headdress with a cloth hat of the same color and limped slightly. He seemed familiar to us. Indeed, Bernardo and I had seen him a few days before in front of the property (the Cuban building, in Sumbe.

The infiltrator - as they called him since then - invited them to drink his beer; They, of course, declined and, when they changed their eyes, they noticed the presence of an acquaintance.

In the sun and tied to a tree was Tomas, shirtless, face and hands swollen, body covered in welts, crying with rage.

I started to untie him, but the guard tried to stop him. I'm the boss., I told him resorting to the well-known stratagem.

Then I find out that Tomas, being detained by the puppets, lashed out, spit, kicked, bit and tore more than one uniform.

I'm going to unhook him anyway! I declared firmly, and turned back to him.

The infiltrator held Toni responsible for what Tomas did from that moment on, threatening to shoot him if he repeated the offense. But at last they freed him from his bonds.

Tomas had been taken prisoner at the same door of the airport through which the three of them left towards the stone hill. They hadn't even been able to start running.

They barely had time to tell each other other details. Nearby he heard an explosion, followed by others, further away. They were the Cuban MIG-21, which began the bombardment of the occupied zone.

To meet Chendovaba

The infiltrator reorganized his troops, of about 150 men, to remove them from the town. That's when an olive-skinned brigadier arrived. From his speaking French they knew that he was a Moroccan adviser.

- Ce sonmt des cubains. (Some Cubans)

-Dú es-ce que vous avez capturés? (Where were they captured?)

-To the airport. (in the airport)

-You congratulate him. (I congratulate you)

Then he ordered to recruit all the male inhabitants of the place who were over 14 years old.

I order them to search us. They found nothing on us that caught her attention, except my key ring. The soldier handed it over to the advisor, but I snatched it from his hand with contempt and put it back in my pocket; Oddly enough, the adviser didn't flinch.

Thanks to a conversation overheard by chance, they learned that they were going to Corral de Yuca, a place 20 kilometers from Chingo, where an Angolan school was located that UNITA had also taken over that morning

There they would meet none other than Brigadier Chendovaba himself.

They were taken out of the yard

Tomas, Bernardo and I remember the famous Savimbi Vest, a torment intended for prisoners particularly hated by the Unitas. in separate slots opened with the bayonet in the sides of the tora, and and abandon them like this in the jungle.

It didn't give us time to agree on whether or not we were particularly hated by this band. But we came to a conclusion: at all costs we would prevent them from having the opportunity to "treat" us with such a horrible garment.

Right there we swore to each other that at the first opportunity we would do an action to die, taking as many unitas with us as possible.

Requiem by blasting

The puppets sent scouts ahead and soon after ordered Toni to get into a jeep. Bernardo and Tomas would go on foot

Of course I didn't. I turned angrily to the adviser and with abundant profanity I told him in Spanish that the three of us would go in the jeeo, or the three of us walking, but the three of us together. The adviser nodded to his subordinate, not without looking at me curiously.

We got into the vehicle and so did four enemy bodyguards. The driver was a “captain” named Voladura, whose specialty consisted of blowing up bridges. Before leaving the town, he offered them a sample of his professionalism through the exemplary record of setting fire to a truck loaded with liquefied gas tanks, which produced a terrifying explosion.

When they finally got out, the jeep headed towards Sumbe, which they had to cross to get to Corral de Yuca. Along the way, Toni was able to find out more about Voladura: he had been raised for seven years, was a native of the province of Huambo and it gave him an ineffable pleasure to talk about himself and his peculiar job.

They didn't have a watch, but it would be between ten and eleven in the morning. The world's hands had barely moved seven or eight hours since that last drink of rum at the airport, and the astonishing load of surprises had not yet run out.

Negri… Upon reaching the bridge over the Cambongo River, which separates Chingo from Sumbe, we saw a group of soldiers dressed in camouflage. We assumed it was the Unita scouts. Then I saw a familiar face. It was the Angolan lieutenant with whom he had conversed on several occasions: the fat Generoso, head of the Sumbe border guard troops.

They were running full steam ahead. Her brain was as if wrapped in a veil.

Would it be possible that…. ! I refused to believe it! He had seen this man in too many actions against the Kwacha to now suspect him of being a traitor. Whatever it was, this was the awaited opportunity to fulfill our pact. I didn't have time to think about it anymore.

Get out of the vehicle. Behind me did one of the henchmen who escorted us with his rifle raised. Without giving him a chance to do anything else, I unloaded a 280-pound punch on the trunk of his left ear, which left him unconscious. Take the rifle and shout>

Shoot at them, damn it, they're from UNITA!

That was the end. The fierce symphony of the AKs cracked the silence of the mountain. The word stupor would be pale to describe the faces of the kwachas.

Blasting shot into the jungle, but as soon as he managed to take his first steps, such a barrage fell upon him that liquidated his explosive vocation forever. In a few seconds, the other three jeep escorts followed in his footsteps in a tumultuous transit towards another world, more peaceful than this one.

Face to face with destiny

The chief of the border guards confirmed that all the Cubans in Sumbre had perished in the attack. Despite the news. They insisted on continuing towards the city. Fat Generoso gave them a pistol and a man to serve as a guide. They took the rifle that they took from the unit and charged with it as a prisoner.

Like particles of dust, ideas fluttered before them. They skirted the eastern bank of the Cambongo. On that restless morning, there were no women with naked torsos washing their clothes.

They arrived at the center of the city through the back of the municipal building of the Party. There they found a fleeing UNITA patrol firing back, which gave them a slight hope of finding one of the Cubans alive.

Later on, they ran into a group wearing camouflage uniforms and speaking Portuguese, but they were wary of their experiences. Until they discovered some acquaintances and got closer.

This time they were friends of the FAPLA. They were taken to the headquarters of the civil mission, where they found the women of their group, who received them with tears of joy, because-not without reason-they were considered missing.

The rest came very quickly and was like a balm to his tortured nerves. The Cubans were not only alive, but they had just starred in one of the most heroic chapters of our internationalist mission in Angola> with a force of barely 160 men and 65 women -all of them builders, doctors, teachers-, together with a handful of Angolans, mostly civilians, had prevented UNITA, despite its powerful forces, from fulfilling its mission. Seven Cubans died and 22 were wounded. The defenders had to withdraw to the very edge of the beach and were almost out of ammunition. But they kept the enemy at bay until the arrival of the Angolan and Cuban air force and regular troops.

From that adventure I am left with coronary ischemia and a fractured right wrist from the punch I gave the little unit. But I was satisfied when I found out that the son of a bitch spent three days bleeding from the ear that I crushed.

I was left with, above all, the First Degree Internationalist Combatant medal and the Distinguished Service Distinction…! Ah!, and an exceptional experience that one day, when I retire, I will tell my grandchildren

Despite knowing so closely the courage of ours, the UNITA counterrevolutionaries still wonder what prevented them from taking Sumbe that morning in March 1984

(Chapter of a book in preparation)

By Ernesto Rojas and Calixto Ferral