spectrum of military forces ranging from local defense units to regular battalions.
The defense forces are organized to protect villages. They are trained and armed and the protection of these villages is their sole responsibility. There are six battalions of these local defense groups. Each has about 300 men.
With additional training, these men are formed into mobile guerrilla units.
There are to SU men in each unit After they are given further training, they become companies of what are called compact guerrilla units. There are 150 men per unit. Brigadier Huambo said. These are units that can cut off the logistic lines of the enemy, can surround deep targets, and can support local people when they transport material for the guerrillas. The next step up is what UNITA calls semi conventional forces. These consist of semi regular battalions of about 600 men per unit. UNITA has 44 such battalions. The battalions are spread over the country and support the guerrillas.
There are four regular battalions and these are used only to protect the liberated territory. The battalions receive about six months of training. There are about 600 men in a regular battalion. The battalions have land rovers and other means of transportation as well as anti aircraft and anti tank weapons. UNITA also has 16 platoons of Special Commandoes.
The UNITA forces total 65, 000 men, of which 28, 000 are regulars and 37, 000 are guerrillas The charismatic leader of UNITA. party and military is Jonas Malheiro Savimbi Savimbi was born August 1934 in Munhango, a small town on the Benguela railway. His father worked on the railway and it was from his father, Loth, that he inherited the faculties of determination and perser verance which would shape his own future and that of his country. Loth rose in 20 years from being a low grade clerk on the railway to the first black station master.
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