Blood Brothers: To Battleground Smokeshell and Back

On 10 June 1980, during the Border War, the SADF’s 61 Mechanised Battalion Group attacked a complex of Swapo military bases in southern Angola. A long day of bloody fighting ensued. Second Lieutenant Paul Louw led Platoon 1, in four Ratel infantry fighting vehicles, to an objective called Smokeshell. After emerging from a dry riverbed, the young national servicemen suddenly found themselves facing a heavily defended enemy position and under deadly fire. In the ensuing chaos of that day, 12 troopies of Louw’s platoon of 44 were killed and he himself was wounded. The 18-year-old HP Ferreira was shot through the pelvis by a 14,5 mm anti-aircraft round and also hit by AK-47 bullets. He miraculously survived. Blood Brothers records the dramatic events of that horrific day, in the words of the survivors of the battle, and follows members of Louw’s platoon on their long journey of healing and recovery. It investigates the human cost of war after the last shots have been fi red and follows the veterans as they return to the battleground four decades later in search of peace.