“At ease, gentlemen. Find a seat if you haven’t already. We have much to do here today.”
Kruger and Coetzee settled themselves in two seats near the back.
At an impatient nod from de Wet, teams of junior officers began moving up and down the auditorium’s aisles, handing out red-tagged black binders.
Astonished gasps and muttered exclamations followed them through the room.
Kruger took one of the binders from a pile given him by a somber-faced lieutenant and passed the rest on down the row. He scanned the first page and felt the blood draining from his face.
OPERATION NIMROD-MOST SECRET
SADF Order of Battle for Nimrod
44th Parachute Brigade -Brigade HQ -2nd Parachute Battalion -3rd Parachute Battalion -4the Parachute Battalion
8th Armored Division -Division HQ -81st Armored Brigade
-82nd Mechanized Brigade -83rd Motorized Infantry Brigade -84th Field Artillery Regiment
Elements of the 7th Infantry Division -Division HQ -71st Motorized Infantry Brigade -72nd Motorized Infantry Brigade
Elements of the Air Force Transport Command -No. 44 Squadron (C-47s) -No. 28 Squadron (C-130s and C-160s) -No. 18 Squadron (SA.330 Super Puma helicopters) -No. 30 Squadron (SA.330 Super Pumas)
Elements of the Air Force Strike Command -No. 2 Squadron (Mirage IIICZs) -No. 7 Squadron (MB 326 Impalas) -No. 4 Squadron (MB 326 Impalas)
Objectives for Nimrod
1) Reoccupation of the SouthWest Africa Territory (aka Namibia) as far north as the line running from Grootfontein through Karnanjab.
2) Restoration of complete military, political, and economic control over the reoccupied zones of the SWA.
3) Destruction of Swapo’s armed forces and political structure.
4) Destruction of all ANC base camps and command centres inside the
SWA.
General Concept of Operations
Nimrod is designed around a series of swift, powerful thrusts into Namibia by powerful mechanized, motorized, and airborne elements of the SADF. These attacks will be aimed at key communications hubs and other geographic points of operational value.
By bringing overwhelming force to bear against Swapo’s poorly trained and ill-prepared troops, the units participating in Nimrod will be able to seize their initial objectives rapidly and at minimal cost. Once these have been achieved, the assault forces will regroup and redeploy for advances against their secondary targets.
Throughout the operation, force sizes must be carefully balanced against our limited ability to move supplies over Namibia’s sparse road and rail network. Nevertheless, it is believed that the use of larger, more powerful units will give the speed so vital to the success of this campaign.
On D-1, advance elements of the 82nd Mechanized Brigade…
Kruger stopped reading. My God, he thought, this is madness. Absolute madness. But he couldn’t ignore the excitement bubbling up within his dismay. No professional soldier could have remained unmoved. The briefing binder he held in his hand described the single largest South African military operation planned since the end of World War II. More men, more vehicles, and more firepower than he had ever imagined would be assembled for a single purpose. In a way it was bloody ironic. For months he’d been complaining about the ANC sanctuaries inside Namibia. But he’d certainly never dreamed anyone would seriously propose trying to solve the guerrilla threat with a full-scale conventional invasion.
Drums and bugles echoed in the innermost recesses of his mind-accompanying visions of long columns of tanks and APCs rolling forward through dust and smoke. He looked up from the operations plan.
The faces of the officers around him showed the same odd mix of disbelief and pride.
Kruger shook his head. Real war was never glorious. Bugles could never be heard over the screams of the wounded or the roar of the guns. And yet He felt Coetzee touch his arm.
“Well, Henrik? What do you think of our leader’s little scheme, eh?”
Kruger looked at his friend.
“Tell me true, Deneys… has the
President lost his reason? We’ll. have to mobilize a large part of the
Citizen Force to assemble all the units for this thing. What’s going to happen to the factories and mines while half the skilled laborers and middle managers are off being soldiers? What idiot has convinced him that we can carry this out without paying a horrible price?”
“Hsst! Lower your voice, Henrik.” Coetzee somehow looked suddenly older.
He glanced quickly to either side, making sure that no other officers were in earshot.
“Do you remember Duncan Grant, Andries van Rensburg, or
Jan Kriel?”
Kruger nodded slowly, taken aback by Coetzee’s sudden fear. He knew all three of them well. An image of big, black bearded van Rensburg leading his men in a madcap charge against a Cuban machinegun position inside
Angola popped into his mind. Now there was a soldier with guts. And the other two were equally brave and equally competent officers.
Kruger scanned the auditorium again, checking faces more carefully.
“I’m surprised they’re not here today.”
Coetzee looked grim.
“They’re gone, Henrik. Forced out of the Army. Along with several others.”
“Good God!”
Heads turned to look in their direction and Kruger spoke more softly.
“What the hell for? Those three were some of the best men we had. And with this craziness coming up”he shook the black binder outlining
Operation Nimrod’we’re going to need every experienced combat leader we can find.”
“True.” Coetzee’s voice was flat, apparently drained of all feeling. Only the closest of his friends could possibly have recognized the contempt dripping from every word.
“But it seems that Grant, van Rensburg, and
Kriel each made the mistake of voicing their concerns about this plan concocted by the President and General de Wet.”
“So?” Kruger was puzzled. The SADF’s officer corps
prided itself on its professionalism and honesty. It had never been known as a haven for boot lickers-despite the occasional fool such as de Wet.
Now it was Coetzee’s turn to look surprised.
“My God, Henrik. You have been out in the field for too long a time, man. Things have changed since
Haymans’s death… and not for the better, either. Anybody who doesn’t click his heels and mouth the right slogans gets labeled a ‘defeatist malcontent’ and shoved into early retirement.
“So if you want to keep your battalion, you’d best keep your head down, your mouth shut, soldier on, and hope the voters throw this gang out soon. After all, we still have our duty, right? They can’t take that away from you unless you let them. Kloar?”
Kruger nodded, not sure that he could easily follow Coetzee’s well-intended advice. Keeping quiet had never been one of his strong points. How long could an honorable man serve a government that treated brave men such as van Rensburg and the others so shabbily? Or carry out national security policies so unlikely to serve the long-term interests of the nation?
General de Wet’s precise, perfectly modulated voice broke into his internal debate.
“I hope all of you have taken the time to page through this operations order.”
Heads nodded around the crowded auditorium.
“Good. Then we can move on to the details.” De Wet flipped to the next page of his prepared text and looked up at his assembled officers.
“I
shall not bother to bore you with the higher strategy behind this decision. I believe that Nimrod’s basic outline is as clear as it is bold.”
The general smiled thinly.
“Indeed, gentlemen, we are fortunate to serve a president and cabinet so versed in military matters and so dedicated to the survival of our nation. “