The SADF in the Border War. Leopold Scholtz

were destroyed, its forces were scattered, many fighters were killed and much materiel was destroyed. The South Africans also captured several secret documents, which revealed SWAPO’s future plans.

      But, despite Operation Sceptic’s seemingly conventional nature, it should not be evaluated according to conventional warfare standards. The Border War was essentially a counterinsurgency and guerrilla war, even if the battlefield had been moved from Ovamboland to Cunene province. And in a guerrilla war, reverses like this one are, in the long run, not all that important. After the South Africans had left, PLAN would reoccupy the bases or establish new ones. Their arms and equipment would be replenished – the Kremlin would see to that.

      Therefore, although the planned infiltration offensive that gave rise to Operation Sceptic in the first place was disrupted, the effect was temporary. That offensive went ahead, albeit in reduced form. According to Willem Steenkamp, July saw 65 PLAN fighters killed in Ovamboland, 102 in August and 170 in September,[48] suggesting that Sceptic did not really reduce PLAN’s capacity to infiltrate into South West Africa. Indeed, when viewing the statistics, 1980 saw an absolute peak of 1 175 incidents (contacts, ambushes, mines detonated, incidents of intimidation and sabotage). But a total of 1 147 PLAN fighters were also killed (see tables in Chapter 9). Could PLAN take the punishment and still continue as an effective force? The next few years would tell.