Selous scouts men jonathan

Breaking with conventional military thinking, the Rhodesian Selous Scouts perfected the age-old tradition of pseudo warfare to infiltrate an elusive enemy. Now at last the men themselves give their own accounts of the exploits of that famous unit. SELOUS SCOUTS: THE MEN SPEAK provides a comprehensive account of the origins and history of this famous Special Forces unit as told by the men on the ground. This unique historical record features: 8 chapters 624 pages full-colour litho print over 900 photographs over 200 objects of militaria over 200 documents over 70 stories by ex-servicemen Roll of Honour Honours and Awards Citation of all awards Nominal Roll includes Wings numbers Glossary Index

Breaking with conventional military thinking, the Rhodesian Selous Scouts perfected the age-old tradition of pseudo warfare to infiltrate an elusive enemy. Now at last the men themselves give their own accounts of the exploits of that famous unit. SELOUS SCOUTS: THE MEN SPEAK provides a comprehensive account of the origins and history of this famous Special Forces unit as told by the men on the ground. This unique historical record features: 8 chapters 624 pages full-colour litho print over 900 photographs over 200 objects of militaria over 200 documents over 70 stories by ex-servicemen Roll of Honour Honours and Awards Citation of all awards Nominal Roll includes Wings numbers Glossary Index REVISED THIRD EDITION: PUBLISHED 22 JUNE 2017

Buy Selous Scouts - the men speak - Jonathan Pittaway * SIGNED* for R2,500.00

Title: Selous Scouts Subtitle: Rhodesian Counter-Insurgency Specialists Series: Africa@War Volume 4 Author: Peter Baxter Publisher: Helion and Company / 30 Degrees South Publishers () ISBN-10: ISBN-13: Condition: Very Good Binding: Softcover Pages: 64 Dimensions: 29.5 x 20.9 x 0.5 cm +++ by Peter Baxter +++ Formed in by the legendary Lieutenant-Colonel Ron Reid-Daly at the behest of Rhodesian military supremo General Peter Walls, the Selous Scouts were to write their name into the annals of military history as one of the finest counterinsurgency units of all time, through their innovative pseudo-guerrilla tactics, brilliant reconnaissance operations into Zambia and Botswana and daring flying-column raids into Mozambique. Feared and hated by the liberation movements ZIPRA and ZANLA, the Scouts wreaked untold havoc and destruction on their Soviet- and Chinese-backed enemies, accounting for 68% guerrilla casualties within Rhodesia alone during the bitter bush war of the s. Uniquely ahead of its time, the regimen - a brotherhood of men that traversed cultural and racial barriers; their Shona motto was 'Pamwe Chete' (together only) - was to produce the type of soldier that earned for the unit one Grand Cross of Valour, nine Silver Crosses and 22 Bronze Crosses of Rhodesia. "Its members consisted of some of the finest guerrilla-fighting men in the western world, unconventional in many ways, disregardful of parade-ground discipline, unorthodox in their dress, yet a force so tightly knit in the face of danger that those who knew anything about them could only marvel" - The Citizen.   A passion for books and a passion for collecting fine editions was the recipe that created the successful group of bookshops in Johannesburg called Bookdealers. The group started thirty years ago with one store in the quirky suburb of Yeoville and has grown through the years to a total of five shops, plus our online sales. Bookdealers is well-known for its collectable and used books. We also have a large variety of remaindered books sourced from around the world.  If you collect from one of our five branches there is no delivery charge. We also offer postal delivery (when available) and courier delivery, subject to a quote.

 ORIGINAL Rhodesian Selous Scouts tracksuit patch..Un issued.As seen in the book SAS THE MEN SPEAK page 335 LOCAL BUYER PAYS R100 POSTNET OVERSEAS BUYER SEE POSTAGE RATES TABLE FOR SHIPPING OPTIONS

From the searing heat of the Zambezi Valley to the freezing cold of the Chimanimani Mountains in Rhodesia, from the bars in Port St Johns in the Transkei to the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa, this is the story of one man's fight against terror, and his conscience. Anyone living in Rhodesia during the 1960s and 1970s would have had a father, husband, brother or son called up in the defense of the war-torn, landlocked little country. A few of these brave men would have been members of the elite and secretive unit that struck terror into the hearts of the ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillas infiltrating the country at that time - the Selous Scouts. These men were highly trained and disciplined, with skills to rival the SAS, Navy Seals and the US Marines, although their dress and appearance were wildly unconventional: civilian clothing with blackened, hairy faces to resemble the very people they were fighting against. Twice decorated - with the Member of the Legion of Merit (MLM) and the Military Forces' Commendation (MFC) - Andrew Balaam was a member of the Rhodesian Light Infantry and later the Selous Scouts, for a period spanning twelve years. This is his honest and insightful account of his time as a pseudo operator. His story is brutally truthful, frightening, sometimes humorous and often sad. In later years, after Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, he was involved with a number of other former Selous Scouts in the attempted coups in the Ciskei, a South African homeland, and Lesotho, an independent nation, whose only crimes were supporting the African National Congress. Training terrorists, or as they preferred to be called, 'liberation armies', to conduct a war of terror on innocent civilians, was the very thing he had spent the last ten years in Rhodesia fighting against. This is the true, untold story of these failed attempts at governmental overthrows This book is imported on demand and dispatched within 15 working days depending on supplier Specifications Author: Andrew Balaam Binding: Paperback EAN: 9781909982772 ISBN: 1909982776 Label: Helion and Company Manufacturer: Helion and Company Number Of Pages: 288 PublicationDate: 2014-11-19 Publisher: Helion and Company Studio: Helion and Company    

The first ever Special Forces for the SADF started with a small group of eleven men under the command of Commandant Jan Breytenbach all handpicked by him in 1970. They commenced their training in Oudtshoorn and all 11 men did specialised courses in something they were not qualified for in as yet. e.g. divers, demolition, parachute jumping. etc. The group was divided into two and also did courses in France in that year. Their first deployment took place into Angola. With the influx of more members, the group was changed to a Special Forces Unit in 1972 known as 1 Reconnaissance Commando. It was decided that the unit was to be moved and in December 1974 the unit relocated to the Bluff in Durban. The unit grew in numbers as more and more men qualified as Special Forces Operators. The decision was made to form three subunits: Airborne (Commandant Swart), Seaborne (Commandant Kinghorn) and Pseudo operators (Commandant Verster). The Seaborne group moved to Langebaan (4 Reconnaissance Commando) the Pseudo group to Dukuduku in Zululand (5 Reconnaissance Commando). A headquarter element was stationed in Pretoria, under command of General Loots. In 1982 they moved into their own Headquarter buildings just outside of Thaba Tshwane. In 1975 a Citizen Force unit 2 Reconnaissance Commando, under the command of Commandant Sybie van der Spuy, was formed to accommodate all members that had left the Permanent Forces units as citizen forces members. With the independence of Zimbabwe, members of the Selous Scouts and Rhodesian SAS were given a choice to join the SADF. The members that took this opportunity were transferred into two units: The Scouts as 3 Reconnaissance Commando in Phalaborwa and Rhodesian SAS as 6 Reconnaissance Commando in Durban. A year later these units amalgamated into the Permanent Force Units: 3 Reconnaissance Commando became part of 5 Reconnaissance Regiment and 6 Reconnaissance Commando became part of 1 Reconnaissance Regiment when the Commandos became Regiments in 1981. The volume of operations increased and more and more support personnel were transferred into Special Forces to support the operators in their task. The author served in Special Forces as a signaller for 5 Reconnaissance Regiment and then Special Forces Headquarter for a number of years. He did his parachute course with other support personnel at the age of 35. His responsibilities included the training of operators in communications radio and Morse code, the control of operational communications networks, plus all cryptography work. This book on South African Special Forces depicts the Pictorial History from the beginning up to 1994. It is the 4th edition, and the 1st pictorial version of the history of the South African Special Forces, Operators and Operations. There are more than 2000 pictures of 420 full color A4 pages bound in a hardcover showing pictures of events never before captured in one print.  FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINT - NOVEMBER 2014

Koevoet! has been an global bestseller since its release over 20 years ago. This new edition goes far beyond the original in capturing the courage, fear and intensity of South Africa's deadly bush war. Never before had an outsider been given unrestricted access to Koevoet, the elite South West African Police counterinsurgency unit - also known as Operation K and officially as the South West Africa Police Counter Insurgency Unit (SWAPOL-COIN). Author Jim Hooper spent a total of five months embedded with the semi-secret and predominantly black 'Ops K', which climaxed with one of the most vicious and determined infiltrations ever mounted by the communist-backed South West Africa People s Organization (SWAPO). Crossing regularly into Angola in pursuit of the insurgents, he saw friends die next to him and was twice wounded himself. This updated edition, drawing on the recollections and diaries of the men he rode with, will fascinate yet another generation of readers. In assembling this work, Jim Hooper had the opportunity to re-connect with so many of the men who allowed this outsider to ride with them. All of which brought a new intensity and poignancy. It also reminded Jim Hooper how privileged he was to have been witness to Koevoet's war. This stunning work is a tribute to Koevoet and the legend they created. "Hooper is a careful reporter, but also a born writer; his vivid word-pictures drag you in and hold you. He skillfully conveys his initially unwelcoming reception by an operational unit; the long, frustrating grind of search operations in punishing terrain and climate; the extraordinary bush skills of the Ovambo policemen; the shock of sudden contact, and its aftermath." Martin Windrow "Jim Hooper's account of South Africa's successful "Ops K" in Namibia against South West Africa's People's Organization guerrillas should be required reading. The classic narrative is as timely today as it was twenty years ago." Charles D. Melson, Chief Historian, U.S. Marine Corps University. "This expanded edition is a skillfully woven mosaic of personal accounts from those involved and what he experienced during combat with Koevoet. The use of new material from those he rode with lays bare the realities of war, the fears and emotions that ebb and flow in the heat of combat, and the courage one finds to bring the battle to the enemy" Piet Nortje, Author of 32 Battalion "Koevoet describes in great detail the men, both black and white, and their mine-protected cross-country vehicles which were years ahead of anything in use by other western forces, the dedicated helicopter support units and the tactics used to bring an elusive guerrilla force to battle." Paul French, Author of Shadows of a Forgotten Past: To the Edge with the Rhodesian SAS and Selous Scouts. Paperback, 312 pages. Published February 2014, 3rd edition This book is imported on demand and dispatched within 15 working days depending on supplier. 

Fireforce is the compelling, brutal but true account of Chris Cocks service in 3 Commando, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, during Zimbabwes bitter civil war of the 70sa war that came to be known almost innocuously as the bush war.  Fireforce, a tactic of total airborne envelopment, was developed and perfected by the RLI, together with the Selous Scouts and the Rhodesian Air Force. Fireforce became the principal strike weapon of the beleaguered Rhodesian forces in their struggle against the overwhelming tide of the Communist-trained and -equipped ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillas. The combat strain on a fighting soldier was almost unbelievable, for the Rhodesians, who were always desperately short of ground troops, were sometimes obliged to parachute the same men into action into as many as three enemy contacts a day. While estimates of enemy casualties vary, there seems little doubt that the RLI accounted for at least 12,000 ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillasbut not without cost. Fireforce is not for the squeamish. Although it has been written with unforgettable pathos and humour, it tells of face-to-face combat in the bush and death at point-blank range. It is a book which does nothing to glorify or glamorize war, for as Chris Cocks found at such a young age, war is merely a catalogue of suffering, destruction and death. Fireforce has been described by critics as being to the Rhodesian War what All Quiet On The Western Front was to World War I and Dispatches was to Vietnam. Read it it will be an experience you never forget. PAPERBACK, 368 PAGES WITH 160 COLOUR & B/W PHOTOS, SKETCHES & MAPS  Published: 2007

At last! The history of the Rhodesian Light Infantry. Weve seen the stories of the more glamorous Selous Scouts, the SAS and the Rhodesian Air Force, but very little about the RLI, often underrated, but arguably one of the most effective counter-insurgency units of all time. This was the unit that brought the Fireforce concept to the worlds attention - the devastatingly ruthless airborne envelopment and annihilation of a guerrilla enemy. Dubbed The Killing Machine by Charles D. Melson, chief historian of the US Marine Corps, the RLI was a veritable foreign legion with over 20 diverse nationalities serving in her ranks. The RLI, a truly international airborne battalion, comprising of over 20 nationalities, fought the bitter Zimbabwean bush war for 15 years against the overwhelming tide of communist-trained guerrillas. Kill rates dont win wars, but during its brief 19-year history, it is estimated that the RLI accounted for between 12,000 and 15,000 enemy guerrillas, for the loss of 135 men. RLI soldiers were recipients of four Silver Crosses and 42 Bronze Crosses of Rhodesia. An RLI trooper holds the world record for operational parachute descents - a staggering 73 op jumps - most under 500 feet! A glossy coffee-table, pictorial format with hundreds of colour photos, maps, rolls, honours and awards. It is not intended as a definitive history but, with more of a classic scrapbook feel, the presentation attempts to capture the essence of this fine unit - what it was like to be a troopie, one of the ouens. We have accessed a host of unique, previously unpublished photos and illustrative material and many former RLI members have embraced the project, generously contributing photos, memorabilia and anecdotes. Ian Smith has written his tribute in the front and the foreword is by the last CO, Lieutenant-Colonel Charlie Aust. PAPERBACK: 544 PAGES WITH  1,800 b/w illustrations & maps.  Published June 2007

2006. Fourth edition. Soft cover; 306 pages.  Very good condition. Under 1kg. Fireforce is the compelling, brutal but true account of Chris Cocks’ service in 3 Commando, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, during Zimbabwe’s bitter civil war of the ’70s—a war that came to be known almost innocuously as ‘the bush war’. ‘Fireforce’, a tactic of total airborne envelopment, was developed and perfected by the RLI, together with the Selous Scouts and the Rhodesian Air Force. Fireforce became the principal strike weapon of the beleaguered Rhodesian forces in their struggle against the overwhelming tide of the Communist-trained and -equipped ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillas. The combat strain on a fighting soldier was almost unbelievable, for the Rhodesians, who were always desperately short of ground troops, were sometimes obliged to parachute the same men into action into as many as three enemy contacts a day. While estimates of enemy casualties vary, there seems little doubt that the RLI accounted for at least 12,000 ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillas—but not without cost. Fireforce is not for the squeamish. Although it has been written with unforgettable pathos and humor, it tells of face-to-face combat in the bush and death at point-blank range. It is a book which does nothing to glorify or glamorize war, for as Chris Cocks found at such a young age, war is merely a catalogue of suffering, destruction and death. Fireforce has been described by critics as being to the Rhodesian War what All Quiet On The Western Front was to World War I and Dispatches was to Vietnam. Read it … it will an experience you never forget.

Fireforce - Chris Cocks - 2001 - Paperback, second edition.   One man's war in the Rhodesian Light Infantry Fireforce is the compelling, brutal but true account of Chris Cocks' service in 3 Commando, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, during Zimbabwe's bitter civil war of the '70s—a war that came to be known almost innocuously as 'the bush war'. 'Fireforce', a tactic of total airborne envelopment, was developed and perfected by the RLI, together with the Selous Scouts and the Rhodesian Air Force. Fireforce became the principal strike weapon of the beleaguered Rhodesian forces in their struggle against the overwhelming tide of the Communist-trained and -equipped ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillas.The combat strain on a fighting soldier was almost unbelievable, for the Rhodesians, who were always desperately short of ground troops, were sometimes obliged to parachute the same men into action into as many as three enemy contacts a day. While estimates of enemy casualties vary, there seems little doubt that the RLI accounted for at least 12,000 ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillas—but not without cost.Fireforce is not for the squeamish. Although it has been written with unforgettable pathos and humour, it tells of face-to-face combat in the bush and death at point-blank range. It is a book which does nothing to glorify or glamorize war, for as Chris Cocks found at such a young age, war is merely a catalogue of suffering, destruction and death. Fireforce has been described by critics as being to the Rhodesian War what All Quiet On The Western Front was to World War I and Dispatches was to Vietnam. Read it … it will be an experience you never forget.