Smoked Cubans

 

Smoked CubansTop of Form
It was night time on a hot August evening. The battle was going badly and the Cubans threatened to invade South Africa. We nuked them, three fucking times.

 

General Bautista was a Cuban career soldier and good at his job. He was the man responsible for the Cuban forces in theatre in Angola. It was his tactics that first opposed, then stopped and finally, forced the South Africans back both on the ground and in the air. He was an undeniable military genius.

 

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The pair of South African Mirages jumped the pair of Angolan Fishbeds. The Angolan jets flew in a loose formation; they were oblivious to their pursuers. Each South African jet locked up one plane and fired their obsolete close range heat seeking missiles. The world arms embargo prevented acquisition of new replacement missiles but these old missiles were enough for slow flying level Mig 21s. They hit home and blew the tails off each target plane.

 

South African troops pushed back the Angolan forces and their proxy terrorist fighters. They routed them and gained victory after victory. Hundreds of enemy fighters were killed, many vehicles destroyed or captured and bases and positions overrun. South African leaders were confident in winning and expected total victory in three weeks.

 

This was before Cuba intervened with Soviet support. Cuba ferried in 50,000 troops with tanks and artillery, two squadrons of Mig 23 Flogger jet fighters and attack helicopters, plus all the other things a modern expeditionary force needed in a far away foreign land.

Soviet jet transports flew the troops and equipment in; ships carried the tanks and planes. They planned to utterly defeat South Africa but failed to remember one thing: the nuclear angle. Did the commies forget 1962?

 

Cuban troops met South African forces in battle for a reservoir. They proved to be both skilled and well equipped. They were not lazy and never fled the battlefield like that blacks. Several battles were fought. In the first the Cubans were forced back, in the second it was a stalemate and in the third, a small localised victory. Lessons were learnt by both sides.

 

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South African Mirage F1 fighters fought vicious battle with Cuban Mig 23 Floggers. The Mirages were better planes being much more agile but the Floggers had superior missiles. Their long range missiles were for shooting bombers or fighters flying in a straight line. That didn’t matter; the Flogger’s close range missiles were excellent.

 

The Mirage F1 rolled away from the Flogger but it was too late, the short range heat seeking missile sped forth and exploded behind the South African jet. Badly damaged, the plane rolled and dove from the fight trailing hydraulic fluid and fuel.

 

An F1 fired a missile at a Flogger that lit his burner and accelerated away at tremendous speed. The enemy Cuban jet easily outdistanced the Mirage but not the Mirage’s missile. In a bright flash the missile detonated! It was no use, the proximity fuse was set off by the white heat of the afterburner exhaust plume and the Mig flew to safety.

 

This battle went to the Cubans. One South African jet was seriously damaged and lucky to get home. If the missiles were of equal quality, it would have been a different matter.

 

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Cuban Air Force Mig 23 Floggers flew a deep penetration mission into South Africa. They carried only two short range missiles for defence; for offence they carried four 1,000 pound fragmentation bombs and a single fuel tank. General Bautista ordered a daring raid on the main South African Mirage F1 base. There had been no prior reconnaissance flight, it was a surprise attack!

 

The Cubans only had forty Mig 23 Floggers in their inventory. Of these, twenty were deployed to Angola to support their Angolan communist brothers. And of the twenty, ten were on the bombing mission. They had no fighter escort, their speed was the defence but fuel management was critical. Their base was hundreds of miles away from the target.

 

The Cuban Migs entered South Africa by using gaps in radar coverage and flying at low level. It was a dangerous but effective tactic. Fuel burn was high and the ground was lethal; one Mig 23 went too low and violently disintegrated when its bomb load and fuel exploded.

 

Radar only picked up the Floggers when they were fifteen minutes out. It was enough time to scramble the two interception Mirage F1s that were on alert. They were at eight thousand feet when the Migs came in. The Mirages spotted the Floggers and attacked. Knowing their missiles were useless on Floggers, they used their 30mm cannons. Two Floggers were hit and hit the ground in a display of fireworks. The other seven Migs lit their burners and rapidly left the Mirages behind.

 

The enemy formation appeared over the base and attacked. Their bombs carried parachutes to slow them down. Two planes targeted the runways. The others went after the parked up Mirages, Hardened Aircraft Shelters, hangars and control tower. If there were any bombs left, the fuel dump and ammunition storage site were secondary targets.

 

Time ticked away and the two airborne Mirage F1s arrived over their devastated base after the Migs had expended their weapons; it was a scene from Hell. Dozens of fires burned out of control from ruined planes, buildings, at least one fuel tank and other targets. The runway was unusable and the Mirage would have to land at the back up field.

 

They were about to head to the field when one pilot spotted a Flogger at the extreme range of his radar. It was flying slowly, not supersonic; a ground fire casualty. He talked to his wingman and turned in pursuit. His revenge would be sweet. The other jet flew off to land.

 

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The South African dictator and military Chiefs of Staff were furious. They tallied up the damage. It was a long list: the Mirage F1 base put out of action; of nineteen South African Mirage F1s, seven were destroyed and four badly damaged. This excluded the one damaged in the previous dog fight. The Mirage that chased the Flogger was also lost, he rammed the Mig when his cannon ammunition was exhausted and his two outdated missiles missed. The pilot was killed. There were only seven flyable Mirages left now. Offensive operations were out of the question; the airbase would take weeks to repair. The runways was badly cratered, a fuel tank was burnt out, two hangars were flattened, two Hardened Aircraft Shelters were destroyed and three damaged; the control tower had been riddled with cannon fire. For the loss of four Floggers, it had been an effective attack.

 

The remainder of the South African Air Force was of varied old planes. Two squadrons of Mirage III fighters, a squadron of Buccaneer bombers, a squadron of Canberras and varied other types. All were unsuitable for daylight operations when opposed by advanced Cuban Floggers.

 

A reply had to be mounted or more enemy missions would come. And what after that? Invasion by Cuban communist forces to destroy the white elite and free the black underdogs was a massive risk. The response was a series of harassing air raids and a ‘special’ mission.

 

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The full squadron of Buccaneer bombers flew off in the early evening, at low level, to hit the Cuban Mig 23 Flogger base. They would also target the Angolan Mig 21s. The raid was a copy cat one of the Cuban mission. Each Buccaneer carried eight one thousand pound bombs.

 

The Mirage IIIs also flew nuisance raids against military targets. Single aircraft targeted Cuban military barracks in attacks. They carried two one thousand pound bombs per plane.

 

All of the Cuban targets was defended by a SAM umbrella, Surface to Air Missiles, and also varied types of cannons. Radar coverage was good. The South African raids met with success and failure.

 

The Buccaneers dropped retard free fall bombs on the Cuban/Angolan base and badly hit the runway, fuel dump, hangars, support buildings and parked planes. Four Cuban Migs and six Angolan Migs burned. This was in return for five South African bombers being shot down by missiles and Anti Aircraft Artillery.

 

The Mirage III raids missed some targets, hit others, caused minor damage and killed a few dozen soldiers. Three jets were lost. It was a high price to pay for a night of bombing the enemy. If South Africa had a thousand planes it was fine they didn’t. But that didn’t matter; the raids were a diversion for something spectacular.

 

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A fleet of three black painted Canberra bombers headed out for vastly different targets. One would target the Cuban Mig 23 Flogger base. Angolan Mig 21 Fishbed fighters were also based here. The second Canberra flew to the main barracks for Cuban troops. Here 20,000 of the 50,000 Cuban enemy soldiers were based. The rest were at a dozen other locations. And finally, the third bomber flew to Luanda, a city of a million people. They would soon see a very bright sunrise.

 

The Canberra bomber carried a big fuel load and had a long range unlike supersonic fighters. They took their time. The one that was to hit the already damaged Mig base came in from the north. It used the confusion of the earlier attack to get in, even if the defences were fully alerted. Nobody would expect a follow on raid upon an already hit target.

 

The crew had either two options of attack: low level and climb for bomb release or high altitude bomb run. They chose the latter. They flew at 550 miles per hour and came in at 60,000 feet. Even a Mig 23 Flogger would struggle to catch a Canberra up here. The air was thin and even with speed and height the Mig needed a skilled and careful pilot. The Canberra had big wings and was at home here.

 

The pilot flew his unmarked black jet and was on target ten minutes after the first raid. He saw fires burning far below. The bomb aimer aimed by sight and radar. It was easy. A single 20 kiloton atomic bomb was released. It took just under two minutes to reach the target under a small parachute. When it detonated exactly on target the Mig base simple ceased to exist.

 

It was the same at the main Cuban barracks where tens of thousands of troops slept. The single Canberra came in low and steeply climbed. It dropped his bomb at the top of the climb and looped to escape. The atom bomb arced up and fell onto the base. It exploded above the barracks and killed thirteen thousand soldiers instantly and wounded most of the others.

 

The Canberra that hit Luanda also dropped from high altitude; he came in from 45,000 feet due to lack of defences. His bomb was aimed at the city centre and incinerated the centre of the city. Hundreds of thousands were killed.

 

All three atomic raids were a success. South Africa was now a world power and only the second nation in history to use nuclear weapons in anger. The Cuban threat had been eliminated. Now peace talks could begin and the racist government firmly held onto power.

 

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