The Battle of the Walvis Bay - Africa at War

Scenario adaptation of Mike Curtis' setup for a table-top wargame "Cold War Commander". The action portrayed here is based on Larry Bond's book "Vortex".

27 AUGUST 1990, WALVIS BAY, 300KM WEST OF WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA:

South Africa's drive into Namibia had stalled by late August. Commandant Henrik Kruger, who's 20th Cape Rifles had spearheaded the armored column aimed at Windhoek, was blocked by strong Cuban forces entrenched in the Auas Mountains. And things were no better to the west, as Pretoria's planners had over-estimated their ability to reinforce the deep-water port at Walvis Bay placing an impossible burden on Colonel George von Brandis's 5th Mechanized Battalion.

For more than a week, von Brandis and his men had raced east on Route 52, stabbing toward Namibia's capital in what was originally intended to serve as a feint. A string of early victories over Namibian border troops bolstered 5th Mechanized's morale. But with the 20th Cape Rifles stymied just north of Bergland, the unit's responsibilities soon spiraled out of control and von Brandis was to continue to push on Windhoek. It was only after his men had destroyed a reinforced enemy battalion, complete with a company of T-55 tanks, in pitched battle just 50 miles from Windhoek that Von Brandis learned just how close South Africa was coming to losing this war. Cuban armor, shuttled in theater by Russian transports, had flanked him and was advancing south towards the former Germany colony of Swakopmund at the Atlantic Coast, no more than a day's drive from Walvis Bay.

The 5th Mechanized had no choice but to turn around and go back, its officers and men praying for a miracle as their APCs and armored cars, now starved for fuel, began to die by the roadside. Von Brandis and the 5th Mechanized have arrived only an hour before the Cubans at the junction near Walvis Bay. They've been able to locate some firing positions east of the road leading into the port. At 1700Hrs, the leading units spotted a large mechanized column coming down the road. The Cubans have arrived.