WE ARRIVED at the battlefront at a time when members of the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) intensified attacks against the racist colonial security forces inside Namibia.
The late 1978 battles were mainly meant to punish enemy forces for their barbaric attacks on Namibian refugees at Cassinga on 4 May 1978 and other places elsewhere in Angola and Zambia where they killed thousands of innocent refugees under SWAPO care.
We had established the Far-East Detachment in December 1978 with over 100 fighters.
However, as time went on the unit grew to two infantry reinforced fighting platoons: Platoon 1 and 2, as well as one Reconnaissance Platoon, Engineering Platoon, Artillery Platoon, Logistical Section and Medical Section.
Cde Philipus Shikuma Kamati commanded the detachment from December 1978 until September 1981 when he was reassigned to the Mechanised Brigade at Lubango in the Huila Province of Angola.
The detachment’s founding commanding structure comprised the following:
– Detachment Commander: Philipus Shikuma Kamati;
– Deputy Detachment Commander: Richard Malambo (Earth quake);
– Detachment political Commissar: Cde Johannes Shoopala (Akudhenga);
– Detachment Reconnaissance Commander: Cde Lukas Nakale (Kalute);
– Detachment Engineering Commander: Cde Shalongo Shakashila (Mbwangu);
– Infantry Platoon 1: Cde Salom Naupupa;
– Infantry Platoon 2: Cde Nesmus Shikongo
(Golden);
– Artillery Platoon: Commander Cde Martin (Kondja);
– Supported by Hamunanaovanhu Eemwenyo;
– Medical Officer: Cde Sacky Nakale;
– Logistic Section: Cde Mutuyele Ngongoma, Shelter and Kambida;
Other specialised platoons comprised the following comrades:
RECONNAISSANCE PLATOON
Commander Lukas Nakale (Kalute), Sackaria Andreas (Haidenga), Markus (Namuxwika), Kaunda, Peter Ekandjo, Edwards, Shivute Aluvete; Nekwaya lya Kanguluwe, Magongo (Goliat), Hamukonda Shivelasha Ndeviki, Ngoma ya Kashaka, Shilapeka, M’ungongolowakekulu Eembwadako ndjelandiba, Kasita, Kaunda and others.
ENGINEERING PLATOON
Platoon Commander: Shalongo Shakashila (Mbwangu), Shamba ya Maambo, Katana Shifotoka, Kamanya Horongo, Tomati Ashipala, Minor Shipandu, and Kenge Kwailonga and others whose names I cannot remember properly.
These were members of the two specialised units in the Far-East Detachment, though the number of platoon members fluctuated as the war continued. Unfortunately, only a few of the comrades lived to witness the independence of Namibia for which they had fought tirelessly.
Most of the comrades sacrificed their lives in various battles against the enemy forces inside the country. In particular, Cde Tomati Ashipala lost his life while plating an anti-tank mine at Okongo Airport in Okongo Constituency.
The anti-tank mine detonated while he was connecting it to an anti-personnel mine at night.
The names listed here are either combat names or a combination of real and combat names.
Since we were mostly using combat names rather than real ones, some comrades are only known by their combat names.
We arrived at the frontline at a time when PLAN fighters had intensified fighting campaigns to punish the enemy for the attacks at Cassinga, Vietnam, Oshatotwa and other places both inside Zambia and Angola where over a thousand gallant sons and daughters of our motherland sacrificed their precious lives while many of them got injured, some maimed for life. The military offensives were also launched to disrupt the election preparations for the installation of a puppet government known as the Interim Government of National Unity in Namibia.
This was the time fierce battles were fought both inside Namibia and along the common border with Angola.
The Far-East Detachment was the last unit in the North-East Region in the eastern part of Angola along the border with Namibia.
Ohandabo was a small village occupied by about 17 civilians.
The village was situated deep in the thick jungle with little water but a lot of wild animals and fruits, which we relied on for food in hard times.
We established our base east of the Ohandabo pan/village, about one-and-a-half kilometres deep in the jungle. As a tradition, the reconnaissance fighters were ordered to reconnoitre the area where the base would be established mainly to ascertain the suitability of the terrain and vegetation, and the landscape.
The reconnaissance cadres also had to survey the area to establish whether it was safe from enemy movements before the commander deployed his detachment into position. The Reconnaissance Platoon was positioned east of the base where we suspected the enemy forces would come from.
We arrived at Ohandabo at midday.
After the Commander finished deploying us, he immediately ordered every fighter to dig a trench in preparation for possible attacks by the ‘Boers’ or UNITA bandits.
The Reconnaissance Commander was also ordered to send some fighters to patrol the area early in the morning the following day. We spent the night in that base without any incident.
The following day, Commander Kalute sent six of us to go on patrol, as ordered by the Detachment Commander the previous day.
We stayed in that base for about two weeks before we moved into Namibia.