Battle of Quifangondo

Part of The Angolan Civil War

Date	10 November 1975
Location	Quifangondo, Luanda Province, Angola
Result	Decisive MPLA-Cuban Victory, destruction of most FNLA troops

Belligerents

National Liberation Front of Angola

Zaire

South Africa (SADF)
Portuguese Army defectors

Cuba

Soviet Union

Commanders and leaders

Holden Roberto

Colonel Mamina Lama

Brigadier General Ben de Wet Roos

Agostinho Neto

Antonio Dos Santos Franca 'Ndalu'

Jorge Risquet Valdés

Strength

2,000 FNLA troops
1,200 Zairian troops
120 Portuguese mercenaries
52 SADF troops

1,000 MPLA (FAPLA)
188 Cubans

Casualties and losses

Hundreds killed and wounded

Cuba: 2 wounded
1 dead, 3 wounded

The Battle of Quifangondo occurred on 10 November 1975, the day before the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) declared Angola's independence from Portugal. It can be considered the first battle in the Angolan Civil War (1975–2002).

The MPLA under Agostinho Neto had gained control of the Angolan capital Luanda while the two rival liberation movements, the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), fought for a foothold in the capital themselves before independence could be declared.

The FNLA-force under Holden Roberto was made up of 1,000 fighters, 120 mostly white Portuguese Angolan soldiers under the command of Colonel Santos e Castro, two Zairian Army battalions led by the 7th Battalion's commander Colonel Mamina Lama and about 50 South African troops under the command of Brigadier General Ben Roos. Attacking from north-eastern Angola, the FNLA defeated the MPLA at Porto Quipiri before marching to Quifangondo on their way to Luanda. South African forces had entered Angola from South-West Africa, occupied all of southern Angola and handed it over to UNITA. By 10 November they had come within a few hundred km of the capital.

Less than 24 hours before independence, Roberto, ignoring advice that a frontal assault would not work, decided to launch an attack against Luanda. The city's defences were put up around the strategically located village of Quifangondo, about 10 km to the east of Luanda.

At Roberto's request, the South African Defence Force provided three World War II-era BL 5.5 inch Medium Guns to support the attack, located on high ground at Morro do Cal, as well as an opening air strike by Canberra bombers. Two 130 mm Zairian Army guns of North Korean origin would also be brought to bear.

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