Operation Proud Lion: T2K in Kenya

[Jason Weiser]

The Soviets decided to post the unit there mainly to prop up the Mengitsu government, and have a unit handy to protect the Soviet Naval anchorages in Ethiopia, and across the Red Sea in Aden in case NATO became involved in the larger mess vis a vis China. We could say a company backed up the Naval Infantry Garrison on Aden and some other elements were sent down to reinforce Soccotra and the rest was busy both providing security to the anchorages in Eritrea and various Primus resupply points up and down the coast. Trouble was? None of that lasted long, and as NATO air and naval power squeezed the Soviet navy and merchant marine out of the area, and the US took Aden and Yemen, and the other anchorages were bombed into rubble, the unit soon found itself sucked into the civil war. By the time things with Tanzania got nasty, the unit was too busy to do more than a few raids into Kenya to help the Tanzanians.