Operation Kerslig (Operation Candle Light) was a South African Defence Force special forces raid on an oil refinery outside Luanda, Angola. The raid took place on 30 November 1981 by members of the 1 and 4 Reconnaissance Regiments.
Background
The Petrangol refinery was built in 1958 and supplied Angola with petrol, diesel, and jet fuel and managed by Belgium company Petrofina SA . The refinery was to be attacked around 1am on 30 November with the intention to damage or destroy the distillation towers, fuel tanks and pipelines within the refinery complex. Members of 1 Reconnaissance Regiment (1RR) would conduct the initial surveillance of the refinery and the actual attack while 4 Reconnaissance Regiment (4RR) would man the special forces Barracuda boats and supply the divers with transport to and from the Angolan capital of Luanda supplied by the South African Navy strike-craft. The mission was to be covert and blame laid on UNITA as being responsible and not the South African Defence Force. On 16 November, 1 RR was given training by 4 RR to refresh their knowledge with the boats and by 18 November with the two South African Navy strike-craft. By 20 November the two strike-craft, SAS Oswald Pirow and SAS Jim Fouche, left Saldanha Bay with the 4RR boat crews and a two-man 1RR reconnaissance team and arrived for refuelling on 22 November at Walvis Bay before heading northwards to Angola. The survey vessel would arrive on 24 November at Walvis Bay from Simon's Town and picked up the members of 1 RR attack teams before heading northwards as well.
South African units involved
elements - 1 Reconnaissance Regiment
elements - 4 Reconnaissance Regiment
elements - 7 Medical Battalion
SAS Oswald Pirow
SAS Jim Fouche
SAS Protea
SAAF – one Wasp helicopter and a C-130 for radio communication for SAR mission
Operation
On the night of 25 November, the two strike-craft positioned themselves off Luanda, 9 km north-west of the lighthouse at Ponto das Lagostas. Two special forces boats were launched and headed for a point off the shore. Two 4RR divers then entered the water and swam to the beach to ensure the landing point's suitability and its security and then called the boats in to drop off the two-man reconnaissance team. The boats returned to the strike-craft which withdrew 80 km offshore. As the dawn approached, the reconnaissance team found themselves in the middle of military transport storage area, but were able to leave and find a safer hideout during daylight hours. That evening they returned to reconnoitre the transport storage area before proceeding to the refinery, surveilling and photographing the target before returning to their hideout having establishing an inward and exit route for an attack teams. After spending another day at the hideout, on the evening of 27 November, the strike-craft returned and the boats collected the reconnaissance team. The two strike-craft then set off for their rendezvous with the SAS Protea on the early morning of 28 November for refuelling as well as the final planning and briefings of the forthcoming raid and the transfer of the attack teams.
By early evening of 29 November, the two strike-craft were 16 km off Luanda. Four boats were launched for the beach landing site and again dropped off the two reconnaissance team divers to investigate the landing site. The four boats were then signalled to land. A communications team was left on the cliffs to maintain radio contact between the teams and the strike-craft. The HQ and attack teams then proceeded to the outer perimeter fence of the refinery. None of the guard towers appeared to be occupied nor was the inner fence maintained. By 23h57 the four attack teams had cut their way inside the refinery grounds while the support and HQ teams maintaining the security of the exit route. Team 5 guarded the cut fence.
Team 1 proceeded to their target, three distilling towers, but were unable to lay their explosive in the right position as the design of the first tower and a manned control station did not match the intelligence so the explosives were laid on pipes into the tower. Signalling the rest of the teams to begin their arming they proceeded to the second tower that appeared unmanned and out of commission. While attempting to break into the tower they were interrupted by a premature explosion from within the refinery at Team 4's site. They then armed and left the charges at the towers' base and returned to the entrance site.