My second experience in Angola
I was quite agitated by the continuous stopping as I wanted to get the job behind. Being my second experience in Angola I was less scared than the rest. It was a pleasure to travel by road than through the bush and the area was less dense.
When the air force attacked I felt a sudden urge to rush things and we all expected to find less resistance as well. To our surprise it was a matter of tit for tat and butter for fat.
The attack on the base
We rode into the density of the base and could not see the other vehicles.My only hope was that none of our own forces shot in our direction.I felt quite shaky as I looked at my bloody hand as fragments ricocheted. I only suffered a minor hand injury.
I could see quite a lot of the enemy as we were standing in our Ratels next to the trenches and I prayed that God will help my bullets fly straight and true. To my liking I shot approximately three of the enemy, but the moment they appeared, we let them have it. They then disappeared or fell dead.
I later became petrified as the rack on the right hand side(where the most contact was) had approximately 1 to 2 magazines of ammunition left.
We then controlled our rate of fire to our advantage, for then the enemy appeared and we made sure now every bullet counted. I also hoped and prayed no heavy weapon should hit our vehicle.
We got three flat tires in the process and sprang the trenches as it was. We were then on the southern side of the base where we changed tires.
It took some courage to control myself. Doctor Chris Barnard would have been interested in me as my heart was sitting in my throat.