When I was in Buenos Aires in 2003, I visited the Memorial to Argentinian conscripts and professional soldiers who lost their lives in the Falklands war . What interests me about this war, is the general media and public interest generated by the incident. (Or maybe more correctly, the media dis- interest in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale and the Angolan war.) In many ways the Falklands War was a much smaller (and less strategically significant) story than the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. 907 Soldiers died in the
At the time, the South African Military PR, tried to sell the battle as a success, history has shown however, that, in fact, this battle set in place a sequence of withdrawals and retreats for apartheid forces in Angola, Namibia and perhaps even South Africa!
This disinterest does not trouble me. I just find it curious!
"907 Soldiers died in the
ReplyDeleteFalklands war while at least 4000 troops died at the
Battle of Cuito Cuanavale"
With a little more than 2,000 SADF troops in total in Angola over Operation Moduler - 4,000 is a bit of a dubious figure, to say in the least!
Troop 1 - C Squadron - 4 SAI (62 Mech)
Actually, the 4000 casualties were on the Cuban/FAPLA side, not the SADF/UNITA side !
ReplyDeleteThanks Boondock. Probably around 4000 in total. (both sides) there are conflicting reports. But certainly when I wrote of "troops" dead I was speaking about troops on both sides. Wickipedia has an article which speaks of up to to 4000 on the Angolan side and on 31 dead on the SA side.
ReplyDeleteThe point is it was a big deal!
See my comments on "Cuito or Bust".
ReplyDeleteGreat work.
ReplyDelete