The area around the town was the scene of heavy fighting during various campaigns during the Angolan Civil War and the South African Border War, with the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale from 1987-1988 being the largest land battle in Africa since World War II.
The operation was an artillery attack against Cuban and FAPLA formations concentrating in Cuito Cuanavale for their 1986 offensive against UNITA.
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The 13th Brigade was situated in Cuito Cuanavale and the 8th Brigade operated between Menongue and Cuito Cuanavale, the former being a large logistics depot.
It involved maintaining the illusion that the SADF had remained in brigade strength east of Cuito Cuanavale at the end of April 1988 and the eventual withdrawal of all South African military units from south-eastern Angola during August 1988.
During May 1986, the South African Defence Force (SADF) began planning an operation that called for the capture of the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) controlled town and airbase at Cuito Cuanavale.
Cuito Cuanavale was a military base used previously to launch Cuban and Angolan attacks on the UNITA held town of Mavinga with the objective to capture it and eventually launch an attack on the UNITA headquarters at Jamba.