Breytenbach forged battalion

Buy Forged in Battle: The Birth and Growth of 32 Battalion - Col Jan Breytenbach for R295.00

   CONDITION AS SHOWN-  2014 PAPERBACK EDITION  - FREE SHIPPING IN SOUTH AFRICA

1986. Soft cover, 149 pages. Very good condition. Minor rust spots. Book dealer's rubber stamp in front. Under 1kg.  

 They live by the sword  by Col. Jan Breytenbach  32 Battalion  South Africa's Foreign Legion   

1986.  Soft cover. 149 pages. Very good condition. Tightly bound, neat and clean. Und er 1kg. In Forged in Battle, Jan Breytenbach presents a soldier's (as opposed to a historian's) account of the guerrilla and conventional battles fought by 32 "Buffalo" Battalion of the SADF - an elite battalion consisting of former FNLA guerrillas from Angola, led by white South African officers and NCOs. 32 Battalion was formed in great secrecy from the rag-tag, half-starved remnants of the Angolan guerrilla movement, the FNLA. The founding commander, a former "Recce" (South African equivalent of the SAS), turned these unwanted orphans from the Angolan guerrilla war into one of the most respected and feared units to see action in Namibia and Angola in later years.

Buy SOUTH AFRICA - FORGED N BATTLE - JAN BREYTENBACH - PAPERBACK NEVER READ EXCELLENT CONDITION for R195.00

The Tempered Sword, Colonel Jan Breytenbach's 2011 published book, is aptly sub-titled "Forged in Battle revisited; Operation Savannah and the birth of 32Bn".  This fascinating account takes the reader back to the period before the launch of Operation Savannah in 1975, through this epic campaign in South Africa's military history, to 1976, when South African soldiers withdrew from Angola and the formation of 32Bn. As you know, Operation Savannah encompassed and touched the whole country, from the Recce Operators who were instrumental in training the rag-tag FNLA soldiers, the Paratroopers, the Armour guys in their noddy cars, the Infantry and logistics chaps doing their National Service, to the CF regiments contributing "border camps" and a host of ancillary arms, both on the border and back in the "states"! Colonel Breytenbach tell his fascinating story in his no-nonsense direct style, punctuated by his often wicked sense of humor, interspersed with the compassion and humility of one of SA's greatest warriors of our time.  The Tempered Sword is illustrated with a generous selection of black and white photographs, and for once, accurate and detailed campaign and battle maps to satisfy the most ardent student of latter day Bush War history. Hardcover, 444 pages FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINT - VERY  RARE. 

They Live by The Sword by Col Jan Breytenbach 32 'Buffalo' Battalion - South Africa's Foreign Legion 1st Print 1990  Hard cover Book with 272 pages. The book is in a very good condition. Clean copy with no inscriptions.     Please see the Photo's as part of the description. Sold as per scan. International  Bidders Welcome (Please inquire about shipping costs) Postage and Packaging: Shipping includes time, labor, packaging material and travel costs Post Office: R58 (With Tracking number) --- Courier R130 up to 5 kg Postnet: R109  Items can be combined on request.              

Buy Col. Jan Breytenbach - Buffalo Soldiers- The Story of South Africas 32 Battalion 1975-1993 for R580.00

This is a soldier's story about South African soldiers in southern Angola and Namibia and the enemies they fought. It tells of insurgency and counter-insurgency, guerrilla warfare and counter-guerrilla warfare, almost conventional warfare and conventional warfare. It tells of a conflict which the world saw as unpopular and unjust, in which South Africa was perceived as the aggressor. The South African soldiers who fought in it, however, saw it as a conflict fought to stop what is now Namibia falling into the hands of the Soviet and Cuban-backed SWAPO black nationalist political organisation. After Namibia South Africa would be next. They saw the whole conflict as an extension of the Cold War, but while it was on the frontiers in Europe, in Angola they were fighting a very hot war in Angola. Eventually, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the war was resolved by the democratic solution of UN supervised free and fair elections in Namibia. Since then, regrettably, there has been interference by the ruling party with the democratic constitution put in place in Namibia which has eroded much of that hard won democracy. 32 Battalion, of which Colonel Jan Breytenbach was the founding commander, became the most controversial unit in the South African Army because of the secrecy surrounding it. Its story is virtually the story of the Angolan/Namibian war, because its involvement in it was greater than any other South African unit. The regiment primarily consisted of black troops and NCOs originating from virtually every tribe in Angola. They were led by white South African officers and NCOs. Neither apartheid nor any form of racial discrimination was ever practiced in the unit. There was always a sprinkling of whites originating from countries like Great Britain, the old Rhodesia, Portugal and the USA amongst its leadership cadre, although in the latter stages of its existence this shrank to only a few. Such a presence undoubtedly led to stories circulating that the unit was a led by foreign white mercenaries. While it was true that the black Angolan element could have fallen with the mercenary definition, the whites involved were attested soldiers in the South African Army. In any case, they formed a minority and the vast majority of white officers and NCOs were born South Africans. The unit's aggressiveness and the successes it achieved in the field of battle, often against incredible odds, lay in its spirit and its  espirit de corps. In this respect and in many other ways it compared favourably with the French Foreign Legion. Its story parallels with and reminds one of the British and British Commonwealth Chindits of World War-2, operating behind the Japanese lines in Burma in large formations, out-guerrillaing those who only three years earlier had been regarded in awe as the unbeatable jungle warfare experts. Likewise, 32-Battalion consistently outfought both FAPLA, SWAPO and the Cubans in the Angola bush throughout the war years. It created a problem to which neither they nor their Soviet and East German mentors ever found a solution to. After the 1989 Namibian settlement the unit was with withdrawn to South Africa where they were deployed to effectively deal with MK infiltrations into the north of South Africa. From there, after the unbanning of the ANC in 1990, they were redeployed to deal with political troubles, principally between armed ANC self defense units and armed units of the IFP. The intrusion of black foreigners into the townships who were prepared to deal with troubles robustly and without fear or favour, did not suit either the ANC or the IFP, as they could not be subverted to support local causes because they held no local tribal allegiances. In the end it seems they became something of a bargaining chip at the CODESA negotiations, designed to find a new political dispensation for South Africa. Despite it having borne the brunt of South Africa' war in Angola with the blood of its troops, the National Party Government disgracefully ordered its arbitrary disbandment in March 1993 and the unit ceased to exist. Paperback, 360 pages with photos & maps  

 They Live by the sword - 32"Buffalo" Battalion - Col. Jan Breytenbach

Buy They Live by the sword - 32Buffalo Battalion - Col. Jan Breytenbach for R700.00

Buy They Live by the Sword 32 Buffalo Battalion South Africas Foreign Legion by Col Jan Breytenbach for R1,000.00

Buy They Live by The Sword, 32 Buffalo Battalion by Col Jan Breytenbach **FIRST EDITION** for R1,000.00

Buy The Buffalo Soldiers The Story of S Africa`s 32 Battalion 1975-1993 by Col Jan Breytenbach for R300.00