Major Alvaro Manuel Alves Cardoso

Major Alvaro Manuel Alves Cardoso.
(26/11/193, Angola  - 4 - 9/6/2013, Portugal)

Ordem de Pacificador – Brazil (1965)

 Medalha de Valor Militar - (1963), Cruz de Guerra 1st Class (three)(1968), Order of Torre e Espada de Valor, Lealdade e Merito of Portugal (1973)

With the Arrival of  Alvaro Alves Cardoso in Angola in the 1970's the Corpo de Auxiliaries da DGS, more commonly known as the Flecha's were to undergo rigorous training that would see them transform from the 8 Bosquimanos recruited in 1967 and who were originally utilized as trackers to a new Regiment of bush fighters organized along Commando structures.

This is not surprising considering the pedigree of the unit’s new Commanding officer, Angolan born  Alves Cardoso not to be confused with Inspector Oscar Cardoso (Co-founder of the Flecha’s with Manuel Pontes) had an extensive military background having been a cavalry officer in Angola prior to him being appointed training officer of the Commando  training school of Angola (1963-1964) and Lamego (north of Portugal)(1966) seeing active service with the 3^rd  Commando’s Company from Lamego in Guinea -  Bissau from  1966 to 1968 having the honour of having participated in more operations against PAIGC than any other Commando officer who saw service there.

The 3^rd  Commando  Company up until 29 June 2012 were also the only Commando unit to be awarded a collective Cruz du Guerra 1^st Class which means that every active member of that unit had a bar on their uniform – a fact they were extremely proud of.

By the time that Alvaro Alves Cardoso was requested by Premier Caetano to set up a Flecha unit in Mozambique (Vila Pery) in 1973 he had together with 14 handpicked Commando’s trained close to 3000 Flecha’s, using the Commando training course as their guideline. This meant that from 1972 until the end of the war the operations of the Corpo de Flechas in Angola were controlled by the military Officers and not DGS professional Officials, the very reason Alvaro Manuel Alves Cardoso, Captain of Cavalry/Comando was approached in the first place.  

Alves Cardoso also knew that apart from using Bosquimanos in the Corpo Nacional de Flechas de Angola in their natural role of trackers and intelligence gatherers he would also need to expand on the numbers of black recruits to be able to harass and strike the terrorists in various parts of the country, not just southern Angola at every available opportunity. To achieve this while continuing to recruit the “little San” or “Basarwa” he looked at increasing the units numbers by recruiting local tribesmen and turning captured terrorists. This would assist in turning the unit from a Para-military to a well trained and led combat brigade giving them the opportunity to take the fight directly to UNITA, MPLA and the FNLA thus putting the Portuguese Military on the front foot.

Initial Camouflage beret used by 3rd Company

While it’s generally accepted that the term Flecha was coined by the director of PIDE Dr. Sao Jose Lopes with the unit’s distinctive insignia being designed by DGS inspector Inalkeiro. It was Alvaro Alves Cardoso that gave the Flecha’s their distinctive Camouflage beret that was to be adopted by another legendary unit – 32 Battalion, but it was not as many people think because of the link between the men now in 32 as well as 31 battalion who had once served in the Flecha’s. In Piet Nortjes book “The Terrible Ones” he explains how 32 battalion came to be wearing a camouflage beret. ‘Breytenbach was not satisfied that the unit wore the green infantry beret and it was decided to use a camouflage beret with a pattern similar to the camouflage material used by the South African police’.

Initially the Camouflage beret was made only for the 3^rd Commando’s Company from Lamego (Portugal), posted to Guine-Bissau under the command of Captain Alvaro Manuel Alves Cardoso.  Alves Cardoso had organized himself with agreement of General Camara e Pina, the new beret. Each member had to pay for it, to replace their normal brown infantry beret. It was decided that they would use them in Africa only and they were ordered from the army stores who bought the material from the UK. 3rd Commando used them in Guine-Bissau but because it had not been approved by the Defence minister at the time, the unit went back to wearing the standard brown infantry beret a few times.When Alvaro Alves Cardoso was appointed as the Flechas overall instructor and later operational Commander he was looking for suitable headgear and was only too happy to accept the camouflage berets from army stores.

From humble beginnings the Flechas were to become a renowned but enigmatic unit with some of its members joining the SADF after the Alvor agreement during the interim government in Angola. The Flechas were no longer of any use and 32 Battalion some 20 years later were disbanded. Abandoned and cast into the wilderness  some of the units black as with members joined the MPLA, UNITA or the FNLA but many of the bushmen members were attacked by the local populations and in one particular incident more than 130 Bushmen and their families were massacred at Mavinga. Its estimated that during this “pay back” period 25% of the Bushmen in Angola were killed.  Many  ex Flecha’s and their families were to flee towards South West Africa with a decision was made by the SADF to bring them into the fold, train them and employ them against SWAPO and form the nuclease of what was to become Battle Group Alpha during Operation Savannah and thereafter 31 Battalion.     

Over the years there has been  a great deal of confusion about this unit and its function/s as well as the surname Cardoso and its connection with the Flecha’s, with many people confusing the men with regards to the various stages of the units history. The two men with the same surname closely related with the unit where Oscar Anibal Piccara de Castro Cardoso and Alvaro Manuel Alves Cardoso. It was Alves Cardoso that transformed them into a “Commando unit” and used the term Flecha to cover the fact that a new “brigade”, the unit  that was going to be run along Commando  lines with black officers (much like the Commando Companies in Guine – Bissau). There was also a secret plan to form a new Angolan Army with the Flechas forming the core of this new structure. that was one of the reasons we believe that Angolan born Alves Cardoso decided to get involved in the first place in this war.

While it was Lisbon born Oscar Cardoso who together with Manuel Pontes started the Bushmen Flechas in 1967,  under the auspices of PIDE as a support unit with eight Bushmen. Oscar was an inspector with PIDE and Alves Cardoso a Commando's Captain at the time. In setting up the unit Oscar Cardoso was greatly influenced by Jean Larteguy and the French experience in Indo-China, Spenser Chapman and his book  “The jungle is neutral” as well as T E Lawrence and his book “Seven pillars of wisdom”. From those humble beginnings its estimated that at the end of 1973 the brigade had over 3000 men with only 10% being Bushmen and were operational in all of Angola in combat groups of no more than 30 men in each group. Although figures have been hard to verify it would seem that until the arrival of Alves Cardoso the unit was at its height 100 strong, operating in the south of Angola only. Until the arrival of Alves and his decision to use turned terrorists from all 3 liberation movements or locals that had been in contact with these terrorists, the Flecha’s would only have been effective operating in the south of Angola as this is where the Bushman groups originated and lived, it would not have been practical for them to operate outside of their comfort zone or in areas that Bushmen where not normally seen.  

While the initial Flecha concept had been reasonably effective in gathering intelligence and occasionally the killing of a terrorist it was only a Para-military unit attached to the PIDE/DGS that had no “real teeth”, it was felt that they could be used more effectively and should be used to support other military units in large scale operations as well as their traditional hunt and destroy missions, It was also decided that a man with extensive combat experience and a understanding for unconventional war should take over the instruction/control and co-operate with General  Bethencourt Rodriques, operational commander of south-eastern Angola in Luso.  ................................ Enter Major  of Cavalry/Commando, now with DGS "rank", Alvaro Manuel Alves Cardoso.

Volunteers under instruction from Flecha 

The Flechas originated as a small ethnic (bushmen only) unit of men that had the task of tracking or reconnaissance , they were not as some have indicated a “ethnic army”’, there role in the Angolan war between 1967 until the arrival of Alves Cardoso  was very limited and not seen as of great importance. This was to change with the arrival of Alves Cardoso who realized that for this small unit to become  fighting force of any consequence it needed to be well manned, trained, organised and commanded. After Alves re-organised the Flechas training it could no longer be called ethnic as the men who made up the unit were from numerous tribes in Angola, like the GEP's in Mozambique but unlike the GE’s in Mozambique that did have tribal based units.    

It’s important that all those involved with the Flechas are given credit for their contributions with the unit. While both Oscar and Alves Cardoso played the main roles we need to remember those unsung Hero’s that so often get forgotten either due to history being re-written or convenience sake. Major Alvaro Alves Cardoso transformed the Flechas from a  group of trackers into perhaps the finest Anti -terrorist set up in Africa, I know that some may argue that point but evidence shows that his methods of training and the way the Flechas conducted themselves in the field after he took command. The Flecha’s as well as the way Alves Cardoso trained and used his men unit was studied by the South Africans and Rhodesians alike and his methods used in their wars against terrorist movements that wanted to wreak havoc in their respective countries. A quote from Eeben Barlow springs to mind. “The value of Pseudo units lie not only in the gathering of vital intelligence but also in combat – however this requires good training and excellent leadership”:

Commando Alves Cardoso did not become a legend for restructuring the Flecha’s into a combat unit, he was considered a legend in counterinsurgency as well as a Special Operations expert since 1962. Before he was requested in 1963 to take  part in the instruction of Commando's at Quibala - Norte-Angola, he had the Medalha de Valor Militar and after he joined the "new" Flechas he was awarded the Order of Torre e Espada de Valor, Lealdade e Merito in 1973. Alves Cardoso is a very modest man and shy’s away from public attention but I believe he is a man that turned the tide of the war in Angola and would have done the same in Mozambique had the MFA not initiated the coup d’état that took place on 25 April 1974. This was not only to change the course of Portugal’s history but that of Southern Africa as well.

The belief by many that the war was all but won by January 1974  in Angola is justified if you look at maps of Angola late 1973, early 1974 that show terrorist activity from the 3 liberation movements near to the borders of the Congo or Zambia. There ineffectual activity was not harming the economy in any way this can be verified by the growth of Angola’s economy at that stage, some 14.3% per year, a world record at the time. This however was to change dramatically after March 1975 when the MFA helped the MPLA gain a strong foothold in Angola, especially Luanda.

After leaving Southern Africa, Major Cav. Commando Alvaro Manuel Alves Cardoso spent a number of years consulting on the training of Special Forces in a number of countries before retiring to Portugal.
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There is a saying that I like that says "There comes a time in every warriors life when he gets to lay down his armour", that day for Major Alvaro Manuel Alves Cardoso arrived on 9 June 2013. Alves Cardoso, after a short illness and at the age of 78, passed away at 7 15 am the hospital da Luz in Lisbon. Its perhaps fate that Alves Cardoso died 50 days to the day of the formation or the birth of  Portuguese Commando's on 9 June 1963.  

The next day 10 June 2013, which also happened to be Portugal's National day a service was held for him at a local church. The service was attended by a number of friends as well as ex colleagues, including ex Cavalry Captain Armaut Pombeiro of Cavalry Battalion 0350 stationed in Angola (12 Jan 1962 - 16 march 1963), who I believe unknowingly  played a small part that led to the formation of the Portuguese Commando’s.

Under the watchful eye of the local Cavalry Battalion, Alves’s body was then driven to the Alto de Sao Joao cemetery that also interns the remains of Marshall Costa Gomes and Antonio de Spiniola. Major Alves Cardoso was cremated. The passing of  perhaps one of Portugal's last true great warriors will probably go unnoticed by the majority of Portuguese citizens as  Major Alves Cardoso was, more revered outside of his homeland than inside, due to "politics" and "petty jealousies".           

Stephen Dunkley
Port Elizabeth
(updated 28 June 2013)

Alves Cardoso

Oficial

Alvará da TORRE E ESPADA ao CAPITÃO «COMANDO» ALVES CARDOSO

Considerando de justiça distinguir o Capitão Miliciano de Cavalaria Álvaro Manuel Alves Cardoso, que, por mais de uma vez ganhou justas a considerações por acções em campanha desde 1961; Considerando que na prática de feitos em combate nas províncias de Angola e da Guiné revelou coragem constante em presença do inimigo, alto espírito de sacrifício, decisão, alheamento consciente do perigo, prestigio pessoal sobre as tropas comandadas ou entre os seus camaradas e superiores, virtudes militares estas que o impõem com alto valor moral da Nação; Américo Deus Rodrigues Thomáz, Presidente da República e Grão-Mestre das Ordens Honorificas Portuguesas, faz saber que, nos termos do Decreto-lei n.º 44 721 de 24 de Novembro de 1962, confere ao Capitão Miliciano de Cavalaria Álvaro Manuel Alves Cardoso, sob proposta do Presidente do Conselho, o Grau de Oficial da Ordem Militar da Torre e Espada, do Valor, Lealdade e Mérito.

Presidência da República, 24 de Maio de 1972