Angola 1966-1968 - my father's tour of duty

[Predatorpt]

Hope you don't mind my post

After my father saw this topic (and after I said there were some members interested in our Colonial Wars) he went searching for some of his old pictures so I could post them. He doesn't have that many, he had some hard times while deployed in Angola - not much time to take pics.

He served for 4 years - 1965/1969 - and he was a Furriel-Miliciano with the 2º Pelotão, Companhia de Caçadores 1581, Batalhão de Caçadores 1892. They were deployed to Angola from 1966 to 1968 (Zala, Henrique Carvalho, Nambuangongo, etc.).

For starters, here's a photo from 1967, with what they called a "Jipão" (Big Jeep  ). After some searching, I think it's a Dodge T-214-WC51 3/4 ton. 4x4 m/1948



My father is the guy without the "quico" front row, standing (more or less). The photo doesn't have enough definition but I think you can see that they aren't using the G3 but the FN-FAL (Espingarda Automática 7,62 mm FN m/962). According to my father, they only started using the G3 in 1967, shortly after the picture was taken.

They did their recruit with the Mauser Kar98k (that sadly replaced my family invention - the Mauser Vergueiro) and only received their automatic weapons - FN-FAL - some months before deployment. After a year, they replaced the FN with the G3 (that my father hated - he says that the FN-FAL was better in range/accuracy and that the only problem was that it jammed when the gas was not properly regulated).

And now for another picture. The famous Panhard EBR 



According to my father (who is holding a baby lion on his hands - or a cat, in my mother's version ), this one was used by the Dragões de Angola (he can't remember the exact outfit). They sometimes provided support to the supply columns that linked the coast with the interior of Angola.

The only time a EBR went on one of my father's supply runs, they were attacked and the guys from the Dragões panicked (they weren't used to fight, or to the infamous "picadas") and fired their main gun...without taking the cover from the barrel. End result - a very big mess.

I'll post some other pics when my father finds them...

[Marine0846]

Very interesting photos.
I hope your father finds more.
Would love to see them.

[joekano]

Cool - thanks for sharing!

[carlos marighela]

Very cool, I'd love to see more. Thank your Dad for me.

Your family invented the Vergueiro rifle?

[Predatorpt]

Thanks for the interest guys. I'll try and get more pictures from my father soon.

He was really surprised to know there was people interested in our Colonial Wars.

Your family invented the Vergueiro rifle?

Yep, José Alberto Vergueiro was a cousin to my father's grandfather. There are several branches of my family but that one and the one that went to Brasil (the famous  Senador Vergueiro) are the only ones who are directly related to my father's side of the family.

I work retail, so I use a tag with my name on, so I get at least 2 people a year asking if: I'm related to the Senador; if I know the story of the gun; if I have one or know where I can get one 

Of course my father was targeted with some jokes during his recruit, . They still used some old Mauser-Vergueiro, rechambered to 7.92×57mm, for target practice and he usually got that rifle instead of the "newer" Kar98k. He loved both rifles anyway and got several marksmanship awards with them.

[Arlequín]

Yes indeed, many thanks to you and your father. 

I'm another of the 'fans' of the Guerra Colonial in Angola here. There are quite a few people put there interested in it though and the relatively scant post I did on my blog about the Portuguese in Angola, is usually the most viewed one I have, so there may be more interested people out there than we think.

When people mention the Dragões de Angola, it is usually in relation to the later 'horse cavalry' unit that bore the same name and not the original 'armoured cavalry' formation.

Great photos and I'd love to see more.   

[carlos marighela]

Small world indeed. I was walking along the street named for your distinguished relative in Rio a couple of months ago. My wife has a good friend nearby in Largo do Machado.

[Predatorpt]

If anyone has any questions, feel free to post them here, and I'll pass them on to my father.

@Arlequín - my father doesn't have many good memories about the Dragões, . The main problem is that the troops from the Metropole (Portugal) didn't really get along with the Dragões (raised from the local Portuguese colonists). The Dragões were stationed in "easy" locations - mainly near the cities - while the troops from the mainland got the short end of the stick.

@Carlos Marighela - I must confess I didn't have the slightest idea about the Vergueiro name being famous in Brasil. It was only when I was in the University (I have a degree in History) that a professor of mine (of História do Brasil) asked me the famous question - Are you related to the Senador Vergueiro? Then I asked my father and he said yes.

As for photos, we are trying to find some photos from Zala, one of the places where they were stationed.

[juergen c. olk]

thanx for sharing the pictures and story of your father,and the connection to the rifle.  It is always good to hear from a personal scource,   http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/ModernAfricanBushwars

[sandsmodels]

great pics,
any more of them, really interesting to see in theatre shots not seen before
thanks
shaun

[Arlequín]

@Arlequín - my father doesn't have many good memories about the Dragões, . The main problem is that the troops from the Metropole (Portugal) didn't really get along with the Dragões (raised from the local Portuguese colonists). The Dragões were stationed in "easy" locations - mainly near the cities - while the troops from the mainland got the short end of the stick.

It is the same in every army... cavalry rarely get the respect they think they deserve from those whose feet have to touch the ground. 

I do have a question though. I know the Dragões had EBRs, but I've read/seen various things about 'pelotões de reconhecimento independentes' - which I gather were Metropole units... what were they driving between '66 and '68?

There are photos of all sorts of vehicles being used, from Jeeps, "Jipãos", M3 Scout Cars, GMC Fox, Chaimite... the list is extensive, but it is sometimes hard to pin things down to a specific time and place. If your father could recall anything it would be helpful.

[Predatorpt]

great pics,
any more of them, really interesting to see in theatre shots not seen before
thanks
shaun

I'll see what I can get. My brother is scanning more photos for later today but it's just shots of Zala, while preparing for an operation (heli-transported). But we are also scoring the Portuguese sites and blogs for more photos.

It is the same in every army... cavalry rarely get the respect they think they deserve from those whose feet have to touch the ground. 

I do have a question though. I know the Dragões had EBRs, but I've read/seen various things about 'pelotões de reconhecimento independentes' - which I gather were Metropole units... what were they driving between '66 and '68?

There are photos of all sorts of vehicles being used, from Jeeps, "Jipãos", M3 Scout Cars, GMC Fox, Chaimite... the list is extensive, but it is sometimes hard to pin things down to a specific time and place. If your father could recall anything it would be helpful.

Ok, I'll ask 

[Predatorpt]

It is the same in every army... cavalry rarely get the respect they think they deserve from those whose feet have to touch the ground. 

I do have a question though. I know the Dragões had EBRs, but I've read/seen various things about 'pelotões de reconhecimento independentes' - which I gather were Metropole units... what were they driving between '66 and '68?

There are photos of all sorts of vehicles being used, from Jeeps, "Jipãos", M3 Scout Cars, GMC Fox, Chaimite... the list is extensive, but it is sometimes hard to pin things down to a specific time and place. If your father could recall anything it would be helpful.

Ok, after a long talk with my father here's some more info. This all concerns the regions of Zala

First of all (and this was one funny discussion between him and my mother - who was born and raised in Angola), the Dragões weren't all local. My father says 90% of the guys were born there but my mother says the opposite - that all the guys she knew were from the Metropole.

Anyway, the Dragões weren't that good when it came to fighting, at least in the years my father was there. The main problem was that the EBR (and the ETT troop carrier) just couldn't handle the jungle terrain (the "picada") specially when it was all muddy. And the EBR most of the times didn't get enough clearance for rotating its turret due to the trees on the sides.

So when escorting the MLVs (Movimento de Viaturas Ligeiras - Light Vehicle Movements, aka supply columns, with a mixture of civilian and military vehicles) they only did it until the paved road ended - in a zone called Ambriz (according to my father, the paved road ended in the middle of the jungle, and it had a big sign post saying Danger War Zone Ahead - or something similar)

After Ambriz they usually turned back to Luanda, passing the MLVs to the Caçadores (Infantry Units) who escorted them until their final destination. My father can only remember one escort when the Dragões went almost to the end and that was the one when the EBR fired the main gun with the muzzle cover on. But I'll write that one down some other day.

And now to tackle the problem of those pesky "pelotões de reconhecimento independentes". That was a bit of trouble, because my father was Infantry and for him Cavalry sucked The only vehicles he ever remembers seeing (besides the Panhards from the Dragões) were the Daimler Dingos, some of them with add-on armour. He saw a couple of AML-60s in Henrique Carvalho but this was in the beginnings of 1968. He only saw the Chaimites in Luanda and here in Portugal, when they returned, late 1968.

As for the vehicles they used - his company mostly used the Jipão; some willys jeep; and the Unimog - sometimes the big one, the 404 and sometimes the small one - 411 (known as "Cabra do Monte" - Hill Goat). While in Zala, they received some Berliets but they didn't like them (felt they were underpowered). One officer had the bright idea of transforming one into some sort of gun truck with a armoured box bolted to the back of the cabin, but the first time it went to the picada, it got stuck on the mud due to the extra weight and they had to give up on that idea. They had 1 (yep, just one) GMC truck but it was only used as a last resort because it was very old (it wouldn't work more than a month at a time). While in convoy, it was usually used to pull other trucks from the mud.

To give you guys an idea, the usual supply run my father did was only 30km long and it took almost 3 days to do it. Every time a truck in the MVL got stuck, they had to unload everything from it, tow it from the mud and them put the supplies back in and continue. Most of the times some of the troops were on foot, advancing through the jungle, on both sides of the picada. The number of forces deployed varied according to the MVL.

There was always some contact with the enemy, who usually took some potshots at them. The worst part of the road was in a place called "Bico do Pato", between Bela Vista and Zala where the picada winded between lots of hills - the enemy usually took positions on those locations and rained fire on the MVL and their escorting units.

The big problem was the mines. The worse one my father saw, ended being the one that less damage did - it was what we now call an IED - a iron bomb dropped from a FAP airplane that hadn't exploded. The enemy had re-armed and buried it, but with its nose down. When a Berliet passed over it, the bomb exploded, but in the wrong direction. The truck simply dropped into the huge crater that the bomb did.

I'll try to write down some more of stories tomorrow and post a couple of pictures.

[carlos marighela]

Great stuff, Rodrigo. I'm sure you know there are a number of living history type blogs from various ex combatantes. You should try and talk your father into writing his stories down.

[rumacara]

Hello all

Well done Predatorpt.
Information regarding the colonial period is more than welcome, especilly from a countryman.
Photos are most wanted for all of us interested in this conflict for it gives some ideas for painting and converting miniatures.
Keep up the excelent job.

Cheers

Rui