Danny Roxo
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2013}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Danny Roxo
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| birth_date = {{birth date|1933|02|01|df=y}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1976|08|23|1933|02|01|df=y}}
| birth_place = Mogadouro, Trás-os-Montes
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| nickname = The Phantom of the Forest, The White Devil{{cite book|last=Nortje|first=Piet|title=32 Battalion |publisher=Zebra Press|year=2003|isbn=978-1-86872-914-2|page=86}}
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| allegiance = {{flag|Portugal|name=Portugal|23px}}
{{flag|South Africa|1928|23px}}
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| rank = Staff Sergeant
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| battles = Portuguese Colonial War
Operation Savannah
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| awards = {{MilAward Stack|HC75|PTCdGII|PTCdGIII}}
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Francisco Daniel "Danny" Roxo (1933–1976) was a Portuguese hunter, safari guide, and soldier. Born in Mogadouro, he emigrated to Niassa Province, Portuguese Mozambique during the 1950s, where he established himself as a professional hunter. Roxo later fought in the Mozambican War of Independence against nationalist guerrillas. After Mozambican independence he served as a foreign volunteer in 32 Battalion, a Portuguese-speaking unit of the South African Army.{{cite web|url=http://sadf.sentinelprojects.com/sasfl/operator.html |title=In Memory of three Special Forces and 32 Battalion Soldiers |publisher=Sentinel Projects |year=2005 |accessdate=2013-08-09}}
Early life
Daniel Roxo was born in Mogadouro, Trás-os-Montes, on 1 February 1933. As a young man he immigrated to Niassa Province in 1951, where he settled as a professional hunter and safari guide. When the Mozambican War of Independence broke out in 1964 Roxo formed his African trackers, servants, and European acquaintances into a private militia, hunting FRELIMO combatants for government bounties.
Disillusioned by Portugal's promise to hand Mozambique to Samora Machel's incoming government, Roxo supported an abortive coup d'état by anti-FRELIMO forces in Lourenço Marques on September 7, 1974. He went into exile in South Africa the following November, joining the South African Defence Force. After completing Special Forces selection, Danny was seconded to Bravo Group (later 32 Battalion).
South African military career
=Operation Savannah=
Roxo was awarded the Honoris Crux for bravery during Operation Savannah for an action during the Battle of Bridge 14 at {{Coord|-11.05| 15.0822|name=Bridge 14}}, an engagement during which he single-handedly killed eleven enemy soldiers.
Bridge 14 was situated on the Nhia River, en route from Cela to Quibala. South African mechanized contingents deploying to the south had routed a unit of the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) some time prior, and the retreating Angolans had demolished the existing structure. However, since Colonel Jan Breytenbach could not ascertain this from his forward positions, he ordered Roxo to conduct a more thorough reconnaissance.{{cite web|url=http://www.rhodesia.nl/bridge14.htm |title=The Battle of Bridge 14 |publisher=rhodesia.nl |date= |accessdate=2013-07-18}} Roxo arrived at the river with four Eland-90 armoured cars; his patrol came under heavy mortar fire from an opposite bank and two of the vehicles withdrew, leaving Roxo's platoon to retire on foot. Having scouted the bridge alone and determined it was no longer intact, he inadvertently walked into an FAPLA ambush, but he managed to dispatch his attackers. Two escaped South African prisoners later claimed that aside from the Angolan casualties, four Cuban troops were reported killed in the encounter.
=Death=
During a patrol near the Okavango river, his personnel carrier struck a landmine and overturned, killing one man and crushing Roxo beneath it. The rest of the vehicle's crew tried to lift it free, but it was too heavy. Breytenbach wrote:
:"Roxo, in keeping with his dauntless character, decided to make the best of things, lighting a cigarette and smoking it calmly until it was finished, then he died - still pinned beneath the Wolf. He had not complained once, nor uttered a single groan or moan, although the pain must have been excruciating."
Awards
- {{MilAward Desc|HC75|size=x25px|country=yes}}
- {{MilAward Desc|PTCdGII|size=x25px|country=yes}}
- {{MilAward Desc|PTCdGIII|size=x25px|country=yes}}The Soldier of Fortune: Articles from Soldier of Fortune magazine. USA: Exter Books. 1986.
See also
Notes
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References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{cite web|url=http://uk.geocities.com/sadf_history2/operator.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026141629/http://uk.geocities.com/sadf_history2/operator.html |archive-date=26 October 2009 |title=In Memory of three Special Forces and 32 Battalion Soldiers }}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.rhodesia.nl/bridge14.htm |title=Battle of Bridge 14}}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.justdone.co.za/ROH/View_Person.asp?PersonNumber=1117 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090617202018/http://www.justdone.co.za/ROH/View_Person.asp?PersonNumber=1117|archive-date=17 June 2009| title= Danny Roxo stories and dedications}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roxo, Danny}}
Category:People from Mogadouro
Category:Portuguese anti-communists
Category:Portuguese military personnel killed in action
Category:South African Army personnel
Category:South African people of Portuguese descent
Category:Recipients of the Cruz de Guerra
Category:Portuguese emigrants to Mozambique
Category:Mozambican emigrants to South Africa
Category:South African military personnel killed in the Border War