Playing the Angolan Civil War - 70's

[Janus71]

I'd like to play the early years of the Angolan Civil War (70's), with special emphasis on the Cuban intervention and the South African invasion. I've been searching around for specific info, but to no avail. Can anybody point to any good bibliography on the subject, or any sites on the internet? I'm looking for anything that might help: uniforms, vehicles, orders of battles, …

Also, has anyone tried this in 20mm? I've seen the Battlefront group did it in 6mm, but no much else really…

Any help would be much appreciated!

[Alien Dave]

Helion Books have a wide range on the subject of the wars in Africa, including the Angolan Civil War

https://www.helion.co.uk/

[Sirius]

Try here: http://www.warinangola.com

[juergen c. olk]

I agree w/ the war in Angola site..run by SADF vets. also try ModernAfricanBushwars on FaceBook and the Yahoo site which has lots of albums and Links ..and people to answer your questions.  http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ModernafricanBushwars

[Ash]

Either of these is a good read, wouldn't bother with both as essentially the same info:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forged-Battle-Jan-Breytenbach-x/dp/1485300444/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489186822&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=forged+in+battle+braytenbach

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Buffalo-Soldiers-Africa-Battalion-1975-1993/dp/191985407X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489187072&sr=8-1&keywords=buffalo+soldiers+breytenbach

[carlos marighela]

The problem you will likely encounter is that much of the available literature in English

a) Focusses on the Boer intervention and usually the latter period, ie the mid '80s, or

b) Is self-serving semi-fictional crap, like Jonas Savimbi's memoirs and tracts.

c) Focusses on the tiny part played by tragi-comic clowns like 'Colonel' Callan AKA Costas Georgiu.

If you want some balance you'll need to look at titles in Portuguese. Most of it is socio-political or politico-military in nature.  Whilst it's primarily focussed on the Guerra do Ultramar If you dig through the reading list on this blog there are some books on the post '75 conflict.

http://livrosultramarguerracolonial.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Livros

There are a number of books on the CIA's role in the civil war. Probably the most well known is one by the ex-station chief John Stockwell: In Search of Enemies. There's another notable tome in Portuguese, Tiago Moreira da Sá's Os Estados Unidos e a Descolonização de Angola.

If you fancy you can game the period in 28mm as well. Eureka have all you need to produce MPLA, FNLA and UNITA forces. Cubans can be made by head swapping some of the above and their Aden range Brits make decent proxies for the apartheid regime's intervention. Laser cut card make Buffels, Company B and Solido Elands. T-55s and T-34s are acailable from a number of sources.

[Arlequín]

Eureka's Aden Brits should be spot on for the SADF in the '70s, it wasn't until the '80s that they started bringing in Non-Commonwealth Standard infantry equipment items. The MPLA, FNLA and UNITA, are all covered by Eureka's ZANLA figures, as Carlos says. You can even add some of the Portuguese to the FNLA to represent the colonist stay-behinds.

Should they ever reappear, or you find some, the Mongrel Syrians make perfect Cubans.

Most people opt for the '80s, but for me the '70s make for much better and more balanced games imo. The SADF are more lo-tech than in the following decade and far less competent. The MPLA and UNITA have experienced leaders but poor equipment and training, while the FNLA looked good on parade in Zaire. Cubans acted as advisors for the MPLA, but their combat units were clustered around Luanda at that point.

Operation Savannah (1975) makes for a perfect ladder campaign. The SADF are over-confident amateurs, their UNITA allies are skittish, while newly arriving Soviet equipment is fed in peacemeal to the MPLA as fast as it could be unpacked, so the SADF/UNITA task gets increasingly more difficult as time moves on. The FNLA/Zaire attack and the battle at Quifangondo in the same year is also quite balanced.

T-34/85s and T-55s excepted, it is all light armour in use. Centurions weren't committed until the '80s when they were upgraded as the Olifant, but the Elands were apparently quite adequate. Buffels, BRDMs and BTRs complete the range of armour for that time period.

If you like uber-toys it's the wrong decade, but if I was doing it, '70s all the way. 

[Janus71]

Thank you everybody for the valuable information. I'll definitely look all those sites.

Either of these is a good read, wouldn't bother with both as essentially the same info

Thanks, could make for an interesting reading.

The SADF are more lo-tech than in the following decade (…)
Operation Savannah (1975) makes for a perfect ladder campaign. (…)
T-34/85s and T-55s excepted, it is all light armour in use. (…)

My feelings exactly.

I agree w/ the war in Angola site..run by SADF vets

If you want some balance you'll need to look at titles in Portuguese.

Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough in the first post, my main interest is on the Cuban FAR (and accessorily the FAPLA), with the rest being rather complementary. I had thought there must be  some "to-go" book telling things from the Cubans' point of view. I'd like to start with these, which is why I'd like to know what I should go after. For example, has anyone seen what the MININT's Special Forces looked like in 1975?

If you fancy you can game the period in 28mm as well. Eureka have all you need.
Eureka's Aden Brits should be spot on for the SADF in the '70s

Does anybody else make SADF in 20 mm apart from Enfilade figures? They have some but I don't quite like the quality of the sculpting…  Thank you for the suggestion, I hadn't thought about that, but I've decided on the 20mm / 1:72 scale as a compromise between the figures size and footprint / price / game-wise scale.

[carlos marighela]

Try this blog (in Spanish) it deals four square with your interest:

https://havanaluanda.wordpress.com

[carlos marighela]

Oh and Under Fire Miniatures do the Boers in 20mm but alas only later versions with the R4. IIRC Liberation did the border wars, you might try them and Platoon 20.

[Arlequín]

Under Fire also do Rhodesians and ZANLA in 20mm, Ash's Bush Wars page on this board is pretty much all the advert needed for them. They mostly have the Rhodesian cap, rather than the Bush Hat, but otherwise they are a good fit for earlier SADF than their actual SADF range.

Cubans are a bit harder and I have no suggestions.

As far as I know the MININT's Tigres and the FAR's Tropas de Desembarco y Asalto) wore civilian clothes or plain green fatigues initially (or at least after Angola actually became independent), but at some point lizard-style camo uniforms were issued (c. 1980, or perhaps slightly before?). To be honest the few photos I have seen of them make them look quite ordinary (apart from the camo pattern, which was unusual back then; the Portuguese pattern predominated).

The Cubans in Luanda did not stand out very much from the cosmopolitan locals though and only by looking somewhat more 'professional' in the field did they stand out from the bulk of the FAPLA (skin tones excepted). The Cubans did however have the latest Soviet weapons, taking their pick of what the Soviets provided to Angola before it was passed on to the FAPLA.        

One photo supposedly of Tigres shows a mix of weapons and a mix of uniforms. One man is in plain fatigues and Soviet M40 helmet, with a slung AK and a M79 Grenade Launcher. Another is in what look like a U.S. 'duck hunter' jacket, plain 'Castro Cap' and trousers; he carries a FN-FAL (or R1), while the last is in full plain Cuban fatigues and appears to have an AK or RPK slung. The last two have Chi-Com style 'belly' ammo pouches. No idea of the date of the photo, but it was on a page dedicated to Cangambo, so possibly 1983.

My tuppence worth would be that they wouldn't be looking to look very special at all as they were posing as Internacionales.  

Try this blog (in Spanish) it deals four square with your interest:

https://havanaluanda.wordpress.com

Top link sir!