Word: askari
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...mile-long column was hardly festive. At the village of Mupa, they had to put up a rickety bridge across a swollen river; farther south, they drove past a treasure trove of Soviet-made equipment, including recently developed AGS-17 automatic grenade launchers. After five weeks of "Operation Askari," the South Africans reported knocking out 25 Soviet-made tanks, giving chase to two Cuban battalions, and killing 400 enemy troops. Their own casualties were 21 dead, more than in any other campaign since 1975. Said Lieut. Ian Gleeson: "It was an extended operation and a hard slog...