Operation Hooper | |||||
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Part of the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale | |||||
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Belligerents | |||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||
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Units involved | |||||
61 Mechanised Battalion & 62 Mechanised Battalion Group (4 SAI) |
21 Brigade 25 Brigade 59 Brigade | ||||
Strength | |||||
2,000 24 tanks | unknown | ||||
Casualties and losses | |||||
South Africa: 8 killed 22 wounded 3+ armoured vehicles damaged UNITA: 4+ killed 18 wounded |
FAPLA: 150 killed/captured 33 tanks destroyed 11+ armoured vehicles destroyed Cuba: 42+ killed |
Operation Hooper was a military operation in 1987-88 by the South African Defence Force (SADF) during the South African Border War. This operation forms part of what has come to be called the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. The Cubans' objective was securing the town of Cuito Cuanavale on the west of the river from capture. The SADF objective was to drive the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) west across the river or to destroy them, so as to ensure that FAPLA was no longer a threat to the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) in the south-east. The FAPLA advance was permanently halted, UNITA lived to fight on for another 15 years. The SADF never attempted to capture the town. Both sides claimed victory.