At the very beginning of the seventies of the twentieth century, the Soviet Union was actively increasing its presence and influence in various parts of the world, including on the African continent. In September 1971, a large detachment of Soviet warships appeared off the African coast. He followed to the port of Conakry - the capital of Guinea.
The detachment consisted of the destroyer "Resourceful", a large landing ship "Donetsk miner" with a 350-man Marine battalion on board (with the Marines followed equipment - 20 T-54 tanks and 18 BTR-60P), a support ship from the Baltic Fleet and tanker from the Black Sea Fleet. The detachment was commanded by the commander of the 71st brigade of landing ships of the Baltic Fleet, Captain 2nd Rank Alexey Pankov. The appearance of Soviet ships off the coast of distant Guinea was not an accident or a one-time visit - our sailors were to begin regular combat duty off the coast of this distant African state. This was requested by the Guinean authorities themselves, alarmed by the recent Portuguese armed invasion with an attempt to overthrow the country's president, Ahmed Sekou Touré.
The former French colony of Guinea, which since the beginning of the twentieth century was part of the large federation of French West Africa, gained political independence on October 2, 1958. In support of independence, the majority of Guineans voted in a referendum, who rejected the Constitution of the V Republic, after which the metropolis decided to grant independence to its colony. Like most other French colonies, Guinea was a backward agrarian country with archaic agriculture. Only after the First World War, the first banana and coffee plantations began to appear in Guinea, the products of which were exported. However, from a number of other West African colonies of France, such as Mali, Chad, Niger or Upper Volta, Guinea was distinguished by its access to the sea, which still gave a certain chance for the country's economic development.
The first president of Guinea was Ahmed Sekou Toure, a 36-year-old local politician who comes from a peasant family of the Malinke people. Sekou Toure was born in 1922 in the town of Farana. Despite his simple origin, he had something to be proud of - the native great-grandfather of Ahmed Samori Toure in 1884-1898. was the leader of the anti-French resistance of the Guineans under the banner of Islam. Ahmed followed in the footsteps of his great-grandfather. After studying for two years at the pedagogical lyceum, at the age of 15, he flew out of it for participating in protests and was forced to get a job as a postman.
Who knew then that twenty years later this romantic-minded boy would become the president of an independent state. Sekou Touré took up trade union activities and in 1946, at the age of 24, was already vice-president of the African Democratic Union, and in 1948 he became general secretary of the Guinean section of the General Confederation of Labor of France. In 1950, he headed the Coordination Committee of the WTF trade unions in French West Africa, and in 1956 - the General Confederation of Labor of Black Africa. In the same year 1956, Sekou Toure was elected mayor of the city of Conakry. When Guinea became an independent republic in 1958, he became its first president.
By his political convictions, Sekou Toure was a typical African nationalist, only of the left. This predetermined the course of Guinea during his presidency. Since Guinea refused to support the Constitution of the V Republic and became the first French colony in Africa to gain independence, it caused an extremely negative attitude from the French leadership. Paris initiated an economic blockade of the young state, hoping in this way to put pressure on the rebellious Guineans. However, Sekou Toure did not lose his head and made a very correct choice in that situation - he immediately began to focus on cooperation with the Soviet Union and began socialist transformations in the republic. Moscow was delighted with this turn of affairs and began to provide Guinea with comprehensive assistance in industrialization and training specialists for the economy, science and defense.
In 1960, the USSR began to help the Republic of Guinea build a modern airfield at Conakry, which was designed to receive heavy aircraft. In addition, in 1961, the training of officers for the Navy of the Republic of Guinea began in the naval educational institutions of the Soviet Union. However, already in the same 1961 in relations between the USSR and Guinea, a "black streak" ran and the Guinean authorities even expelled the Soviet ambassador from the country. But Soviet aid continued to flow to Guinea, albeit in smaller quantities. Sekou Toure, guided by the interests of Guinea, tried to maneuver between the USSR and the United States, gaining maximum benefit and receiving bonuses from two powers at once. In 1962, during the Cuban missile crisis, Sekou Touré banned the Soviet Union from using the same airfield at Conakry. But, as you know, trusting the West means not respecting yourself.
In 1965, Guinea's secret services uncovered an anti-government conspiracy, behind which was France. As it turned out, in Côte d'Ivoire, a West African country closely linked to France, the National Liberation Front of Guinea was even created to overthrow Sekou Touré. After this news, the Guinean authorities sharply changed their attitude towards France and its West African satellites - Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal. Sekou Toure again turned towards Moscow and the Soviet government did not refuse him help. Moreover, the USSR was interested in the development of fishing off the coast of West Africa. To protect the positions of the Soviet fishing fleet, ships of the USSR Navy began to be sent to the region.
Another reason for the growing interest in Guinea was its proximity to Portuguese Guinea (future Guinea-Bissau), where a guerrilla war broke out against the colonial administration in the early 1960s. The Soviet Union with all its might supported the rebel movements in the Portuguese colonies - Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Mozambique. The leader of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) Amilcar Cabral (pictured) enjoyed the support of Sekou Touré. The bases and headquarters of PAIGC were located on the territory of Guinea, which was very disliked by the Portuguese authorities, who sought to suppress the rebel movement. Ultimately, the Portuguese command came to the conclusion that it was necessary to eliminate Sekou Toure as the main patron of the rebels from PAIGC. It was decided to organize a special expedition to Guinea with the aim of overthrowing and destroying Sekou Toure, as well as destroying the bases and leaders of PAIGK. The expeditionary force included 220 members of the Portuguese Naval Forces - a special task force of the Marine Corps and Navy strike units, and about 200 Guinean oppositionists trained by Portuguese instructors.
The commander of the expeditionary force was appointed 33-year-old Captain Guilherme Almor de Alpoin Kalvan (1937-2014) - the commander of the DF8 naval special forces of the Portuguese Navy, who trained the Portuguese marines according to the British method and conducted many special operations in Portuguese Guinea. There was nothing surprising in the fact that it was this man - a professional, and even a convinced salazarist - who was entrusted by the command to lead the operation.
The operation was also attended by Marceline da Mata (born 1940), a native of the Ashes of the African people living in Portuguese Guinea. Since 1960, da Mata served in the Portuguese army, where he made a fairly quick career, moving from the ground forces to the commando unit and soon becoming the commander of the Comandos Africanos group - the "African special forces" of the Portuguese army. Marceline da Mata (pictured), despite his African origin, considered himself a patriot of Portugal and advocated the unity of all Portuguese-speaking nations.
On the night of November 21-22, 1970, the expeditionary detachment of Kalvan and da Mata landed on the coast of Guinea near the capital of the country, Conakry. The landing took place from four ships, including one large landing ship. The commandos destroyed several ships belonging to PAIGK and burned down the summer residence of President Sekou Toure. But the head of state was absent from this residence. The Portuguese were unlucky and during the seizure of the PAIGC headquarters - Amilcar Cabral, whom they dreamed of seizing the commandos, was also not there. But the special forces freed 26 Portuguese soldiers who were held captive by PAIGK. Unable to find Sekou Toure and Cabral, the Portuguese commandos retreated to the ships and left Guinea. On December 8, 1970, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution condemning Portugal for invading Guinea.
President Sekou Toure himself used the invasion of the Portuguese commandos to tighten the political regime in the country and persecute political opponents. Large-scale purges have taken place in the army, police, government. For example, the country's finance minister, Osman Balde, was hanged and accused of spying for Portugal. 29 government and army officials were executed by court verdict, then the number of those executed increased even more.
Frightened by a possible repetition of such incursions, Sekou Toure turned to the Soviet Union for help. Since 1971, Soviet ships have been on duty off the coast of Guinea. The Soviet detachment on duty consisted of a destroyer or a large anti-submarine ship, an amphibious assault ship and a tanker. Soviet specialists began to equip the port of Conakry with navigation equipment. Sekou Toure, although he refused Moscow to create a permanent naval base in the Conakry area, allowed the use of the airfield of the Guinean capital, which made it possible to make regular flights between Guinea and Cuba. For the needs of PAIGK, the USSR supplied three Project 199 combat boats.
However, the Portuguese authorities did not abandon the idea of reprisals against PAIGC leader Amilcar Cabral. With the help of traitors in his entourage, they organized the kidnapping of the party leader on January 20, 1973, who was returning with his wife from a gala reception at the Polish Embassy in Conakry. Cabral was killed and then captured and tried to take a number of other PAIGC leaders to Portuguese Guinea, including Aristides Pereira.
However, the Guinean authorities were able to quickly respond to what was happening and introduced a state of emergency in Conakry. The conspirators, led by Inocencio Cani, tried to go to sea on the very boats that the USSR had given PAIGK at one time, asking for help from the Portuguese fleet. The Governor-General of Portuguese Guinea, Antonio de Spinola, ordered the Portuguese Navy ships to go out to meet the boats. In response, the President of Guinea Sekou Touré requested assistance from the Soviet ambassador to Conakry A. Ratanov, who immediately sent the destroyer "Experienced" into the sea under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Yuri Ilinykh.
The Soviet destroyer could not go to sea without the permission of the command of the USSR Navy, but its commander Yuri Ilinykh took on huge responsibility and at 0:50 the ship went out to sea, taking on board a platoon of Guinean soldiers. At about 2 am the ship's radar system detected two boats, and at 5 am soldiers of a Guinean platoon landed on the boats. The conspirators were captured and transferred to the destroyer "Experienced", and the boats in tow followed the destroyer to the port of Conakry.
After this story, Guinea began to pay special attention to the development of its own fleet, boats and ships for the needs of which were transferred to the USSR and China. However, throughout the first half of the 1970s. Soviet ships, changing, continued watch off the coast of Guinea. The Marine battalion, reinforced by a company of amphibious tanks and an anti-aircraft platoon, was also invariably present on duty. From 1970 to 1977, Soviet ships entered the ports of Guinea 98 times. In addition, the Soviet Union continued to help Guinea in training specialists for the country's navy. So, in the Poti training center of the USSR Navy from 1961 to 1977, 122 specialists were trained for torpedo and patrol boats and 6 specialists in the repair of weapons. The officers of the Guinean Navy were trained at the Baku Higher Naval School.
The "SKR-91" pr.264A, which became the flagship of the Guinean naval forces under the new name "Lamine Saoji Kaba", was also transferred to Guinea. To train the Guinean military sailors who were to serve on the flagship, for some time Soviet officers and warrant officers were left on the ship - the ship's commander, his assistant, navigator, mechanic, commander of the BC-2-3, electricians, minder, foreman of the RTS and boatswain. They trained Guinean specialists until 1980.
In 1984, Sekou Toure died, and soon there was a military coup in the country and Colonel Lansana Conte came to power. Despite the fact that in the past he studied in the USSR for a whole year under an accelerated training program for officers, Conte reoriented himself to the West. Soviet-Guinean cooperation slowed down, although until the end of the 1980s. our ships continued to enter the ports of Guinea.
