Just a cool comment I could regarding Ratel, thought I’d just write it down here for historical purposes as this stuff gets archived. Thanks.
“As an ex ratel gunner who spent 8 months at Quito Cannavale this is interesting. At the beginning of hostilities we we using ratel nineties against t55s. The Bush at times was so thick contact was sometimes as close as 10m. Our 90’s needed several rounds to take out a tank. We would use our speed and maneuverability to out flank and encircle the tanks. This took some nerve as the ratel only had to get hit once. They were good at keeping the infantry safe from small arms and artillery. There were a couple of occasions that the 20mm managed to stop a t55. However all of these ratels were shot out by the tanks coming up from behind. During operation Hooper we started using our own tanks. During an attack on the tumpu triangle one op recorded 1300 accurate artillery hits on our position during the space of an hour. The migs were deadly and terrifying, we had nothing to match them. The only thing that helped us against them was the thick vegetation and cloud cover. During this period the rooikat and rooivalk were still in development. Our mirages only had a couple of minutes over the area before they had to leave so were only used for bombing. The mig 23 was superior. During six months of fighting we destroyed almost a hundred tanks. We also captured a sam13.
The Russians who were there , ex Afghanistan veteran’s said nothing could have prepared them for the hell that was Angola.”
“maybe but I don’t know the exact details. We captured some nice hardware all new and some of it sophisticated. I think it was igla sam13. We shot on one day cactus (croatial) and igla 8 at mig23’s and they missed. The migs were low at 1000m to 300m. :)
Migs hitting hard and very fast. We dive.
I was a conscript. Like most of the combatants.”
" yes igla. The aircraft were a very big threat. We learned to hide effectively. Sometimes the aircraft where so close we could see the pilot. We sit still because we know that to be spotted is death. How do we know this? Because some of us have already died by them and certainly, almost, the rest of us. There is everyday for eight months hasty arrangements made for Victor Victor, stage red or orange and we would all scurry into the trees. There was one time the bombs rattled so hard that it made my foxhole cave in on me. Two men killed in the same foxhole by cluster bombs. On one occasion we lay on the ground covered in vegetation from an explosion only 20m from us but mercifully on slightly higher ground. Otherwise we would have all been killed. There were many occasions like this and the combat direct was intense ."