The Cuban forces entered combat almost from the time they arrived War on several fronts at the same time was not easy. The Cubans suffered several major defeats including one at Catofe, where South African forces surprised them and caused a substantial number of casualties. The months of November and December 1975 were difficult ones. Mistakes were made and the Cuban lasses included Diaz Arguelles, a veteran of the revolution in Cuba against Fulgencio Batista Cuban troop strength continued to increase. Members of the Cuban general staff were replaced by younger, junior officers and were sent to Angola to lead the battle. Comandantes Victor Cheug Colas, Leopoldo Cintras Frias, Abelardo Colome Ibarra, Raul Menendez Tomassevich, along with the Casas Regueiro brothers, and others participated in the fighting.
By the end of January 1976, between 6, 000 and 7, 000 troops were deployed in Angola Cuban planes used the Azores, particularly Santa Maria Island, between 20 and 30 December 1975 as a refueling stop. Despite objections from the Portuguese government Cuban planes again used the Azores for the same purpose between 10 and 15 January 1976. The troops were transported in Soviet manufactured IL 62 airplanes.
Cuban troops fought three campaigns in less than 12 months against the FNLA and UNITA guerrilla forces in the north and southeast and South African forces in the south. The Cubans also joined MPLA troops in a bloody campaign to defeat the Front for the Liberation of the Cabinda Enclave (FLEC. led by Francisco Xavier Lubota.
Io February 1976, the Cubans and the MPLA captured the last major strongholds of UNITA. UNITA fled to neighboring countries where they regrouped. They revived their guerrilla warfare against MPLA. White mercenaries. South African and Portuguese. frequently aided UNITA militarily,