Curse africa war paperback

AFRICA@WAR SERIES: VOLUME 34 War of Intervention in Angola - Volume 2: Angolan and Cuban Forces at War, 1976-1983  - Adrien Fontanellaz  As of mid-1976, the civil war in Angola was seemingly decided: supported by a large contingent of Cuban forces, the MPLA established itself in power in Luanda. Its native competitors, the US-French-Zaire-supported FNLA, and UNITA, supported by China and South Africa, were in tatters. The French and Zaire-supported FLEC an armed movement for the independence of the oil-rich Cabinda enclave was in disarray. The last few of their surviving units were either driven out of the country, or forced into hiding in isolated corners of northern and south-eastern Angola. Nevertheless, the war went on. The MPLAs government failed to decisively defeat UNITA, in southern Angola, and then found itself facing a coup attempt from within in May 1977. Crushed in blood, this resulted in thousands being jailed and tortured: many more escaped abroad, where they reinforced the ranks of the battered opposition. The coup prompted the Soviets to attempt increasing their influence with the aim of establishing permanent military bases in the country. While all such overtures were turned down, Angolan operations along the border to what was then the South-West Africa (subsequently Namibia) in October 1980, combined with the increased activity of SWAPO an insurgency against the South African control of that territory - subsequently Namibia prompted South Africa to launch another military intervention and resume supporting UNITA. In turn, this prompted not only the Cubans to further increase their military presence, but also the Soviet Union into delivering massive amounts of military aid to the government in Luanda. Angola not only assumed the role of one of the major hot battlefields in the Cold War: its civil war saw a number of major showdowns between diverse belligerents, culminating in the Battle of Cangamba in 1983. Based on extensive research, with help of Angolan and Cuban sources, the War of Intervention in Angola, Volume 2, traces the military build-up of the Cuban and Soviet-supported Angolan military, the FAPLA and its combat operations, and those of the Cuban military in Angola, in the period 1976-1983, their capabilities and intentions, and their battlefield performances. The volume is illustrated with over 100 rare photographs, half a dozen maps and 18 colour profiles. Paperback, 80 pages. 

AFRICA@WAR SERIES: VOLUME 26 The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale: Cold War Angolan Finale, 1987-1988 In the broad history of the Cold War, the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale was the climax of a far-off, but nonetheless important African war. It was waged between the apartheid South African Defence Force (SADF) and the armed forces of the communist MPLA government in Angola and the Peoples Republic of Cuba. Led by Soviet generals, the MPLA embarked on a grand offensive in order to knock out the pro-Western rebel movement UNITA in southeastern Angola. As UNITAs survival was crucial to South Africas military strategy in fighting its own counter-insurgency war against the South West African rebel movement SWAPO, the SADF stepped in with a single mechanised brigade and broke the back of the overwhelming MPLA offensive. The MPLA forces were subsequently driven back over a hundred kilometres, before the SADF advance was finally stopped just short of the town of Cuito Cuanavale. Since then, a hot war of words have been waged about who actually won. In this book, a South African military historian and retired journalist examines the campaign, the adversaries, and their achievements on the basis of his research in SADF archives. His scrupulous attempt at objectivity results in interesting conclusions. While the MPLA lost hands down, he posits a draw between the Cubans and the SADF. Although having been a South African reservist officer himself, he has critical words for the SADF leadership. Many misunderstandings, some of which were purposefully created by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, are put to rest. While not sharing Castros political beliefs, he acknowledges Castros military acumen and political savvy in extricating his country from an unwinnable war while smelling of roses. The analysis contains many lessons about mechanised warfare in the African context from which both laymen and military professionals alike may learb. Paperback, 64 pages.  This title is imported on demand and dispatched within 15 working days depending on supplier.

AFRICA@WAR SERIES: VOLUME 25 The Fuzileiros: Portuguese Marines in Africa, 1961-1974 In 1961, Portugal found itself fighting a war to retain its colonial possessions and preserve the remnants of its Empire. It was almost completely unprepared to do so, and this was particularly evident in its ability to project power and to control the vast colonial spaces of Africa. Following the uprisings of March 1961 in the north of Angola, Portugal poured troops into the colony as fast as its creaking logistic system would allow; however, these new arrivals were not competent and did not possess the skills needed to fight a counterinsurgency. While counterinsurgency by its nature requires substantial numbers of light infantry, the force must be trained in the craft of fighting a small war to be effective. The majority of the arriving troops had no such indoctrination and had been readied at an accelerated pace. Even their uniforms were hastily crafted and not ideally suited to fighting in the bush. In reoccupying the north and addressing the enemy threat, Portugal quickly realized that its most effective forces were those with special qualifications and advanced training. Unfortunately there were only very small numbers of such elite forces. The maturing experiences of the Portuguese and their consequent adjustments to fight a counterinsurgency led to the development of specialized, tailored units to close the gaps in skills and knowledge between the insurgents and their forces. This book is about the Fuzileiros or Portuguese marines, a naval force that operated in the riverine littorals of Africa and that was both feared by the enemy and loved by those loyal to Portugal. The Fuzileiros underwent one of the longest and most physically demanding specialist infantry training regimes in the world, lasting some forty-two weeks. Perhaps only 15 to 35 percent of the inductees eventually passed the course and were awarded the traditional and highly coveted navy blue beret. When deployed to Africa, they underwent further acclimation for weeks until they were able to move through the slime and mud of a riverbank with ease, as their lives depended on it. They became experts at riverine warfare and regularly ranged inland on extended patrols, many of which are recounted here. They were comfort able with the uncomfortable fighting environment, and this ability translated into an unpredictability that the enemy feared. This book is the story of how they came to be formed and organized, the initial teething difficulties, and their unqualified successes. Paperback, 72 pages.  This title is imported on demand and dispatched within 15 working days depending on supplier.

 Helion & Company and 30 Degrees South, co-publishers, 2012. Brand new Paperback, unread. 64 pp.    Africa@War Volume 8. 

 Helion & Company and 30 Degrees South, co-publishers, 2012. Brand new Paperback, unread. 64 pp.    Africa@War Volume 7. 

  Nico van der Walt, South Africa, 2008. Paperback. Condition: New. 208 pp. A story about the last phase of the South African Border War as experienced by a junior officer of 32-Battalion.

 Helion & Company and 30 Degrees South, co-publishers, 2011. Brand new Paperback, unread. 64 pp.    Africa@War Volume 5. 

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  

Paperback English. PLUTO PRESS. 2008. ISBN: 9780745324722. 320pp. Good condition in softcover. This book analyses the causes of armed conflicts in Southern Africa during the Cold War. It examines the influence of the various external forces in the region during this period and their relationship to local movements and governments. The book focuses on states experiencing violent internal conflict and foreign intervention, that is Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The author provides an unique history of the key part that the Soviet Union played in these developments. Spanning 30 years, the book explores how each country struggled for genuine independence against colonialism and apartheid and their place in the wider conflicts encompassed by the Cold War. Book No: 2500588

Paperback. English. International Defence & Aid Fund for Southern Africa. 1986. In good condition.

2012 paperback with 446 pages brand new. Anglo-Boer War, Anglo-Boereoorlog. R50 postage in SA or R57 courier to most larger cities in SA. Dutch historian Martin Bossenbroek won the National Dutch History Prize 2013 for this new chronicle of the war that shaped South Africa and the book was also shortlisted for the 2013 AKO Literature Prize, both preeminent Dutch literary prizes. This English paperback edition follows the Afrikaans paperback, published in October 2014, and will cement the critical acclaim already received by Mr Bossenbroek and offer the South African reader the chance to savour his storytelling powers. The (Anglo) Boer war (1899-1902) has been labelled many things. The originator of apartheid. An appetiser for the First and Second World Wars. The first media war (with the first instance of embedded journalists). It helped create the nation-state South Africa, and remains the cause of fiery debate more than a hundred years after its end. In the Boer war, Martin Bossenbroek gives the reader the full story with an in-depth insight and detail previously unmatched. Bossenbroek follows three colourful main characters: the Dutch lawyer, South African Republic state attorney, state secretary and eventual European envoy Willem Leyds; the soon-to-be-immortalised British war-reporter Winston Churchill; and the Boer commander and one-day South African politician Deneys Reitz.

2012 paperback with 446 pages brand new. Anglo-Boer War, Anglo-Boereoorlog. R60 postage in SA or R65 courier to most larger cities in SA. Dutch historian Martin Bossenbroek won the National Dutch History Prize 2013 for this new chronicle of the war that shaped South Africa and the book was also shortlisted for the 2013 AKO Literature Prize, both preeminent Dutch literary prizes. This English paperback edition follows the Afrikaans paperback, published in October 2014, and will cement the critical acclaim already received by Mr Bossenbroek and offer the South African reader the chance to savour his storytelling powers. The (Anglo) Boer war (1899-1902) has been labelled many things. The originator of apartheid. An appetiser for the First and Second World Wars. The first media war (with the first instance of embedded journalists). It helped create the nation-state South Africa, and remains the cause of fiery debate more than a hundred years after its end. In the Boer war, Martin Bossenbroek gives the reader the full story with an in-depth insight and detail previously unmatched. Bossenbroek follows three colourful main characters: the Dutch lawyer, South African Republic state attorney, state secretary and eventual European envoy Willem Leyds; the soon-to-be-immortalised British war-reporter Winston Churchill; and the Boer commander and one-day South African politician Deneys Reitz.

2012. Soft cover, 446 pages. Very good condition. Under 1kg.   Dutch historian Martin Bossenbroek won the National Dutch History Prize 2013 for this new chronicle of the war that shaped South Africa and the book was also shortlisted for the 2013 AKO Literature Prize, both preeminent Dutch literary prizes. This English paperback edition follows the Afrikaans paperback, published in October 2014, and will cement the critical acclaim already received by Mr Bossenbroek and offer the South African reader the chance to savour his storytelling powers. The (Anglo) Boer war (1899-1902) has been labelled many things. The originator of apartheid. An appetiser for the First and Second World Wars. The first media war (with the first instance of embedded journalists). It helped create the nation-state South Africa, and remains the cause of fiery debate more than a hundred years after its end. In the Boer war, Martin Bossenbroek gives the reader the full story with an in-depth insight and detail previously unmatched. Bossenbroek follows three colourful main characters: the Dutch lawyer, South African Republic state attorney, state secretary and eventual European envoy Willem Leyds; the soon-to-be-immortalised British war-reporter Winston Churchill; and the Boer commander and one-day South African politician Deneys Reitz. Mr Bossenbroek's riveting new account of the war is a must-read for all South African history buffs, for all who loved Thomas Pakenham's classic bestseller. 

 The Silent War - Peter Stiff - Galago - 2006 - Paperback in good, clean and tight condition. A look at South African military operations during the apartheid years. It deals with all the top secret raids by Special Forces into surrounding African states, the political dynamics which led to them and the turbulent history of the times. This account tells not only the story of South Africa's Special Forces, it has also been described as the most important and frank history of South Africa itself during the apartheid years. Not only does it deal with military operations but it also explains the political dynamics that prompted them. It is wide ranging and covers the first counter-insurgency operations in Namibia in 1966, a commando raid on Dar-es-Salaam, the Fox Street Siege, South Africa's intervention into Angola in 1975 and subsequent pull-out, the rise of insurgency in Mozambique, South Africa's re-entry into Angola, strikes against SWAPO bases in Zambia, the training and assistance to UNITA, the fight against ZANLA and ZIPRA in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), the fall of Rhodesia, how the SAS and Selous Scouts were reformed as Recce units in South Africa, the selection and training of special forces, the raid against the ANC at Matola in Mozambique, South African assistance to RENAMO and Recce operations in Mozambique, Lesotho, Cabinda, Botswana and Zambia. It also deals in detail with the final days of apartheid in South Africa and explains how close the country was to a right-wing coup d'etat. Paperback 608 pages black and white and colour illustrations.

DOGS OF WAR Author / Publisher: PEET COETZEE (This is the English version of   K-9 HONDE SOLDATE) Book Details: ISBN - 9780620513319 This book has 313 B&W foto’s. Contains 300 pages. Bonding – Stitched back Cover tipe - Paperback   This book is an updated version of the first and only history of the South African Defence Force (SADF) Dog Centre unit from the old to the new, and also right up to the disbandment of this small and little known unit. It will skillfully guide you, with the help of richly illustrated photographic coverage from the origins of the SADF Dog Centre; along the pitfall-strewn path it had to wander in order to gain the important first-class knowledge necessary to function successfully on our borders.   During the bush war phase, they started their experience when it was first deployed, as early as 1967.       Ten years later their knowledge was exploited in a unit specially designed to cater for their abilities. Dog handlers of this unit, the South West Africa Specialist Unit, will tell the story of some of the personal experiences they encountered while doing their bit on the border.   Although two handlers and eight dogs had to pay with their lives during skirmishes with the enemy, many a life was saved by the vigilance of man’s best vriend. Two medals for bravery were awarded to dogs.   Peet Coetzee was one of the pioneers of the dog unit, and served for 33 years in the SADF. As the author of bush war books he enjoyed praise for his earlier books as being “ the most comprehensive and richly illustrated of all bush literature” [VOLKSBLAD, Bloemfontein].