Click in the field, then press CTRL+C to copy the HTML code
<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=399471" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Cassinga jump</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Fear and tension was written over the faces<br>of paratroopers next to, <br>in front and at the back of me<br>when the red light <br>began to flash in the Hercules<br>and we went to action stations<br>still skimming barely over the tops<br>of taller trees at about two hundred feet<br>and most of us had two weeks earlier<br>been home at our civilian jobs.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">One paratrooper vomited <br>right over me in yellow stinking<br>half fermented food <br>and the retching smell<br>made me nauseas as well<br>while the aircraft pitched steeply<br>with its last-minute manoeuvres<br>coming to jumping height <br>of eight hundred feet.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Mushroom clouds left by exploding bombs<br>billowed up from Cassinga<br>and in trenches I saw<br>people shooting upwards at us<br>and suddenly bombers dived<br>through our formation.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The sticks in front of me jumped <br>and air rushed into my face<br>at the open door<br>while the pit of my stomach went numb<br>and I stepped into space<br>falling, falling and seeing <br>a rocket-propelled grenade exploding<br>near the aircraft above me<br>and it veering away.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">While the opening parachute jerked me up<br>I heard the deep roar<br>of a anti-aircraft gun<br>shooting from below<br>and it was clear that we<br>had jumped later<br>than we were supposed to<br>or the dropping zone <br>was too small to take <br>a full stick <br>of thirty-two paratroopers at a time.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">We were dropping about <br>five hundred meters farther south<br>than were we should have been<br>and a strong wind<br>was driving from the northeast.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">We landed in wooded terrain<br>which made grouping very difficult<br>and among the trees were drawing fire<br>before even touching down.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Immediately after hitting the ground<br>I returned fire<br>and the enemy fire became more sporadic<br>and we assaulted the group of buildings<br>that intelligence identified as the enemy<br>engineer complex, <br>running into groups <br>of our own B and C companies<br>and for a time was shooting at each other<br>before realizing it was own forces.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">We were just taking the engineer complex<br>now formed up with the other soldiers<br>when we came under rocket attack<br>from RPG-7’s <br>and had to kill the crew <br>at a enemy B-10 recoilless gun<br>where I threw several hand grenades</div><div style="margin:10px 0">and then ammunition stores<br>in the building complex started exploding<br>but only one paratrooper was wounded<br>when we took up our stop-line positions<br>to block off the escape route <br>lying south from Cassinga<br>and the anti-tank platoon was sent away<br>to set up a tank ambush<br>on the road running from Techamutete.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By this time I had picked up an enemy<br>LMG and more than enough<br>ammunition for it <br>and shot from the hip<br>at any movement that I saw<br>and until then it had been<br>easy as pie.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then the commander of our company<br>left some men at the stop-line<br>and about twenty of us<br>along with him<br>went to the enemy vehicle park<br>where we ran into a crowd of civilians<br>fleeing into the surrounding bushes.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I opened up with the LMG<br>as we launched the attack<br>in the direction <br>of the lowered anti-aircraft guns<br>and we entered the trenches, <br>finding some civilians there, <br>but heavy fire came directly<br>from behind them.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">It turned into a matter of killing<br>or be killed and even the women<br>that we met were armed <br>and in enemy uniform<br>and I lobbed hand grenades<br>into the next leg of the trench<br>and kept firing from the hip<br>and was splattered in blood<br>by a woman’s body<br>that was blown right out of the parapet<br>and what was left of her<br>was still in green fatigues<br>and blown to shreds. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then I had nausea again, <br>retching uncontrollably<br>and somehow I stared to cry<br>with tears running down<br>my cheeks, <br>but like a machine moved on<br>seeing enemy soldiers <br>scrambling from the trenches<br>to replace the ones killed<br>at the three lowered anti-aircraft guns<br>with a bravery running near<br>to madness.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The closed quarter struggle<br>were worst than fierce<br>and cruelly savage<br>and we could only clear<br>just one leg of the zigzagging<br>ditches at a time<br>with supporting fire helping<br>from the outside.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">There were screaming and crying<br>women and children among the enemy<br>and we had to kill or be killed<br>and a chill ran through me<br>and the noise was just terrible<br>with mortar bombs exploding<br>at the anti-aircraft guns, <br>shooting from almost <br>any direction onto them<br>and bullets ripping the walls<br>of the trench next to me<br>and I almost choked in the smoke, <br>dust and cordite fumes enveloping me<br>and finally those trenches were cleared<br>and the anti-aircraft guns stopped firing.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">[References: LMG= Light machine gun. Read my poems Cassinga and Wings of destiny, for a full account of this battle and what happened when South African paratroopers faced enemy (Cuban) armour.]</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Gert+Strydom">Gert Strydom</a><div class=q>
<img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share">
<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=399471" data-title="The Cassinga jump de Gert Strydom" data-description="Fear and tension was written over the faces
of paratroopers next to, 
in front and at the back of me
when the red light 
began to flash in the Hercules
and we went to action stations
still skimming barely over the tops
of taller trees at about two..."></div>
</div>
</div>