Gordian Knot Operation

Operation Gordian Knot

Date	July 6, 1970 – August 6, 1970
Location	Mozambique
Result	Portuguese army seizes initiative from FRELIMO

Belligerents

Portuguese Military

FRELIMO

Commanders and leaders

Kaúlza de Arriaga

Samora Machel

Joaquim Chissano

Strength

8000

unknown

The Operation Gordian Knot (Operação Nó Górdio) was the largest and most expensive Portuguese military campaign in the Portuguese overseas province of Mozambique, East Africa. It was performed in 1970, during the Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974). The objectives of the campaign were to seal off the independentist guerrillas' infiltration routes across the Tanzanian border and to destroy permanent guerrilla bases in Mozambique. Gordian Knot was a seven-month campaign employing ultimately thirty-five thousand men, and was almost successful since it destroyed most guerrilla camps located in northern Mozambique's countryside and captured large numbers of rebels and armament, forcing the FRELIMO insurgents to retreat from their outposts in the territory.

The communist-inspired independentist guerrilla (FRELIMO), soon realized the difficulties they would encounter in militarily defeating the Portuguese forces on the battlefield and for this reason Frelimo's strategy took on an aspect that was relatively unique. With no real working class or Mozambican military to isolate from the Portuguese regime and ultimately from which to gain support as in the case of a typical Marxist-Leninist strategy, Frelimo leaders adopted a Maoist strategy. The Maoist insurgency is typically three-staged:

This was the strategy Frelimo adopted from the outset with a notable exception. Frelimo were never able to move to the third stage of the Maoist strategy. The Portuguese held military supremacy during the entire war, and even the majority of the native population, particularly those living in the urban centers and the littoral strip, were supportive of the centuries-long established ruling authority.

In March 1970, during the Portuguese Colonial War a new commander for Portuguese forces in the Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique was appointed. Brigadier General Kaúlza de Arriaga had studied the Mozambican theater from a position on the staff of the Institute of Higher Military Studies in Lisbon and had served as commander of ground forces in Mozambique for eight months prior to assignment as overall commander. He possessed definite ideas on the conduct of the war in Mozambique which were reinforced by a visit to the United States for consultations with General William Westmoreland concerning American tactics in Vietnam. Arriaga insisted on the deployment of aircraft to support ground operations, particularly helicopter gunships; and initiated large scale "search-and-destroy" missions. He also requested a further increase of troops and material. Bolstered with three thousand additional Portuguese soldiers, Arriaga launched the largest offensive campaign of the Portuguese Colonial War - Gordian Knot Operation (Operação Nó Górdio).

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