Maj. Dudley Coventry of the Rhodesian SAS was asked to help look for a suitable location in South Africa and to advise Breytenbach on the establishment of such a unit. After considerable travelling, Coventry recommended Oudtshoorn. This base in the Little Karoo had sufficient infrastructure, including shooting facilities, buildings and an airport. It was close to open as well as mountainous terrain, and bush training could be done in the direction of Knysna. Moreover, the base was not too far from the sea.
In 1968, two candidates (an officer and a non-commissioned officer) were recruited from each of the different infantry battalions for a specialist infantry course. This was nothing less than a disguised selection for a future Special Forces unit, with Breytenbach and SSgt. Yogi Potgieter as course leaders. The group assembled in Bloemfontein, where they mainly did shooting exercises. For the first time Breytenbach and Potgieter fired live ammunition among the course participants.
After a week they went to Oudtshoorn and stayed for three to four weeks in bivvies (self-made shelters) in Luiperdskloof. The candidates practised shooting and did a tracking and survival course, after which they left for the Knysna Forest. There they were ‘captured’, locked up for a day, and subjected to robust interrogation.
Near Calitzdorp the group escaped over the Outeniqua Mountains and eventually reassembled at Swartvlei close to Sedgefield. At this stage there were only four men left. They had to search for and capture 1 Parachute Battalion’s company commander, and intercepted his Land Rover. After weeks of hardship they made it to the last rendezvous point (RV), where Breytenbach and Yogi were waiting for them.
Breytenbach could not recruit candidates openly because units were unwilling to relinquish their best people. He had to approach individuals in secret to enquire whether they were interested in doing the qualifying course. This sifting ultimately produced ten suitable men for the selection, each a specialist in his field.
On 13 July 1970 they reported as Alpha Group at Oudtshoorn, right next to the Infantry School. Alhough the group was made up of only eleven men, over time they became known as the famed Dirty Dozen.
Breytenbach, who had been promoted to commandant in the meantime, was the commander and could also act as specialist navigator. Maj. Dan Pienaar Lamprecht was the most senior officer after Breytenbach. He was in the first group that passed the specialist infantry course at Oudtshoorn, and years later – on 1 July 1995 – he would become the first Recce operator to be promoted to the rank of major general. At that point he was commander of Western Province Command. Small arms and training were Capt. Fires van Vuuren’s specialist field, while Capt. John More focused on clandestine air operations and intelligence.
In the ranks of non-commissioned officers, WO2 Trevor Floyd was the RSM. His many talents included an exceptionally strong mechanical aptitude. WO2 FC (Frans) van Zyl had been part of the Biafra group. Yogi Potgieter, who had passed the SAS selection with Breytenbach, was a boffin when it came to medical knowledge. SSgt. Koos Moorcroft, who would become an icon in the Special Forces, was a parachute jumping specialist. At that stage he was no longer in the permanent force, but Breytenbach as well as Gen. WP Louw had asked him to return. Koos had no clue that this would be the start of a Special Forces unit. He had to undero psychological tests along with More and Sgt. Dewald de Beer – a precondition for admission to the Special Forces. De Beer was without equal as far as tracking, bushcraft and survival skills were concerned. SSgt. Kenaas Conradie was the explosives expert, and Cpl. Hoppie Fourie acted as quartermaster and later also as scuba diving supervisor.
During the months-long training that followed, every member of the Dirty Dozen shared his unique skills with the others. Thus each of them broadened and augmented his knowledge of bushcraft, small arms and navigation, among others.
Soon more members were recruited. In January 1971, on completion of their parachute jump course, three paratroopers were instructed to report to Oudtshoorn. Corporals Jimmy Oberholzer, Dave Tippett and Wannies Wannenburg had been earmarked to become part of the group. WO2 PW van Heerden and Maj. Nick Visser were added, which increased the numbers of the founder group to 16 men.
In the years that followed, this group inter alia conducted raids and demolished militarily strategic targets. These included railway and road bridges, harbours, radio masts and stations, and fuel depots and refineries. They targeted selected ships, and deployed and trained indigenous guerrilla forces in hostile countries.5 At all times a high priority was put on in-depth strategic reconnaissance, which was the cornerstone of the unit.
The unit stayed together as a group even though they later had an airborne as well as a seaborne wing. All of them were qualified parachutists, but seaborne work was still a foreign concept. Hence Breytenbach sent six operators to Simon’s Town in mid-1970 to do a 12-week attack-diving course. In 1971, a second group completed the course.
In the early days the group had various cover names, including Alpha Operational Experimental Group, Delta Test Group, Research and Development Wing of the Infantry School, and Irregular Warfare Wing. It was time for a permanent name that would preferably not reveal too much about their nature. Breytenbach suggested Parachute Commando, but the generals opted for Reconnaissance Commando. In those days this name had not yet acquired the loaded meaning it has today, and sounded quite neutral.
Accordingly, on 1 October 1972, without fanfare or ceremony, the unit became 1 Reconnaissance Commando (1 RC) – or the Recces for short.
Having Oudtshoorn as their base had its own administrative problems. The Infantry School’s personnel were not privy to the Recces’ real activities and kept wondering what was going on. For their part, the men of 1 RC did not like the Infantry School’s strict dress regulations and had even less of an appetite for marching in file if they wanted to go somewhere.
The Infantry School, in turn, took a dim view of the strange group’s informal work uniforms and long hair. The fat was in the fire one morning when Koos walked past unshaven and dressed in his smocks (a loose-fitting overall). Breytenbach was in Pretoria when Koos was charged with disregarding dress regulations. He had to report for the hearing on the Monday – the same day on which Breytenbach was due back.
On his return, Breytenbach saw that Koos was dressed in his stepouts (formal uniform) and wanted to know what was going on. Koos told him, and said he had already admitted guilt. Breytenbach, in his standard combat dress, then walked with him to the headquarters for the hearing. ‘Plead not guilty and ask if you can call a witness,’ he told him on the way. At the venue, Breytenbach waited outside. Koos followed his advice and asked to call a witness. The adjutant got extremely annoyed at this unexpected turn of events as it upset his entire argument. He changed the plea, and Breytenbach was called. He was the one who had instructed Koos to dress like that, Breytenbach stated, and the court was welcome to charge him. The charge was set aside and Koos got off scot-free.
Jan Breytenbach did not believe in limits. The only person he probably listened to was his ‘guardian angel’, Gen. WP Louw. Breytenbach did what he wanted, when he wanted. The Infantry School found this hard to tolerate. Whenever Breytenbach wanted to do something, he would just say he had authorisation – even if that was not the case. Every time he would simply provide the same authorisation number, regardless of whether it was for requisitioning vehicles he wanted or for setting up Fort Doppies (the unit’s subsequent base). This mindset did not fit into the Infantry School’s setup where everything was done strictly by the book.
Both groups realised this forced state of neighbourliness could not survive, and on 4 December 1970 the Recces were transferred to Southern Cape Command for administrative purposes.
4
Training and early operations
In the summer of 1971 there was great excitement when the Dirty Dozen were ordered to report to Rundu in the former South West Africa (SWA – now Namibia). Their assignment was in a sealed envelope that Breytenbach was only allowed to open on his arrival at Rundu. This gave the men the idea that they were going to conduct top-secret operations against Swapo in Zambia.
So they were rather disappointed to learn on the opening of the envelope that