Battle of Cassinga

Airborne forces committed to the battle

01South African paratroopers from 1 Parachute Battalion dropped directly into the camp; the initial bombardment from Buccaneers and Canberras preceded the assault.
02SWAPO's figure of 612 dead — predominantly women, children, and elderly — was later corroborated by independent researchers and partial exhumations.
03The raid was conducted 250 kilometres inside Angolan sovereign territory, without Angolan permission, making it an internationally recognized act of aggression.

3D illustration of Gabriel's horn

The eight "Chicago Black Sox"

On May 4, 1978, South African paratroopers dropped into a Namibian refugee camp at Cassinga, Angola, killing over six hundred people. SWAPO called it a massacre of civilians; South Africa called it a PLAN headquarters strike. The dead were mostly women and children.