playtym
06-06-2006, 11:06 AM
I was asked recently in a PM whether I knew of any books on the war involving South Africa, Angola and Cuba – what we in South Africa call the Border War. I sat and made up a list, but decided it was WAY to long for a response via PM, so I decided to create this thread instead.
I've included a couple dealing with South Africa during that period, and after, that do not specifically relate to the Border War per se, but they are all good books worth reading.
Some of the books will be easy to find, others exceptionally rare - there are a couple in here that I paid R1,000 each for at an auction!
The South African Border War lasted from 1966 until 1989 when South Africa withdrew from South West Africa / Namibia - these are a few of the books covering this 23-year long conflict.
The Silent War: South African Recce operations, 1969-1994 by Peter Stiff
This book covers all of 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.
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Warfare by Other Means: South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s by Peter Stiff
This book explores the methods of highly unconventional warfare conducted by South Africa’s secret intelligence and covert warfare units, always deniable and one step away from the official war machine during the final years of apartheid. It is mostly compiled from first accounts of operators who took part.
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The Covert War: Koevoet Operations in Namibia, 1979-1989 by Peter Stiff
The mostly untold story of Koevoet – the South African Police’s highly successful counter-insurgency unit. Initially based on the Selous Scouts of Rhodesia, it was formed in 1979 and deployed in Namibia until independence in 1989 when it was disbanded as a sop to the UN.
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An Unpopular War: From Afkak to Bosbefok by JH Thompson
In the 1970s. 1980s and 1990s conscription had a profound effect on hundreds of thousands of young South African white men, particularly those who had to fight in the Angolan war. This book is a collection of reflections and memories of former national servicemen collected by JH Thompson, who interviewed men who did their national service over those years.
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Umkhonto we Sizwe: Fighting for a Divided People by Thula Bopela and Daluxolo Luthuli
This landmark book is the first memoir written by men who fought as guerrillas with any of the liberation forces of countries in southern Africa.
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Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, Pretoria by Piero Gleijeses
This is a compelling and dramatic account of Cuban policy in Africa and of its escalating clash with US policy and later its direct military clashes with the South African Defence Force in Angola. It is the other side of a conflict that South Africans have not been told about until now.
Piero Gleijeses' Conflicting Missions is the 2003 winner of the prestigious Ferrell Prize of the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations.
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The Buffalo Soldiers: Story of South Africa’s 32-Battalion, 1975-1993 by Col. Jan Breytenbach
32-Battalion was forged from guerrilla irregulars during the South African military intervention in Angola in 1975 under the code name Operation Savannah. The author, Colonel Jan Breytenbach, was its founding commander. Because of the secrecy surrounding it, 32-Battalion not only became one of the finest fighting units in the South African Army, it also became the most controversial. This is its story.
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Taming the Landmine by Peter Stiff
The first book written on the development of the landmine as a tactical weapon combined with the advances made in the design of mine protected vehicles in Rhodesia and later in South Africa.
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At Thy Call – We Did Not Falter by Clive Holt
This is a gripping frontline account of the Angolan War as seen through the eyes of a 19-year-old conscripted South African soldier. It tells a story common to many young white South Africans who, like him, were flung into battle against often overwhelming enemy forces straight after finishing school.
The author fought in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale where the SADF supported UNITA rebels after a massive build-up of Cuban and Angolan troops. It was the bloodiest and most significant battle fought by South African troops since World War II.
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32 Battalion: The inside story of South Africa’s elite fighting unit by Piet Nortje
Every war has at least one unit so different, so daring, that it becomes the stuff of which legends are made and heroes are born. Among the South African forces fighting in Angola from 1975 to 1989, that unit was 32 Battalion.
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Days of the Generals: The untold story of South Africa’s apartheid era military Generals by Hilton Hamann
What really happened during South Africa’s military involvement in Angola? Did the military leaders always see eye to eye with the politicians — or for that matter, with each other? This book helps to lift the blinds.
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A Greater Share of Honour by Jack Greef
The first major first person account of South African special operations written by a former Recce operator, Major Jack Greeff. It is an essential companion to Peter Stiff’s The Silent War: South African Recce operations 1969-1994, the publication of which finally inspired him to put pen to paper. ‘One of the early problems I faced was how to tell the whole truth,’ Jack Greef says in his foreword. ‘Some operations, until recently, were still classified as Top Secret and have never been acknowledged by the SADF. The problem was solved when Peter Stiff’s book, The Silent War came on the shelf where most of the operations were described, some in detail while others were mentioned briefly.’
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Nine Days of War by Peter Stiff
This book focuses on the last nine days of fighting in the Namibian War of Independence. It gives a clear picture of the day by day political machinations going on behind the scenes while the soldiers battled it out on the ground. Peter Stiff writes in rather stilted prose. Nonetheless, the story he relates of SWAPO trickery and UN complicity helps one to understand recent events in Namibia, such as the outbreak of guerrilla war in the Caprivi Strip against the SWAPO government. Written from a pro South African bias this book is still an important contribution to understanding the long South Africa vs SWAPO border war in Namibia (1966-1989) and why South Africa held on to Namibia for so long in the face of intense international pressure.
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Vlamgat: The story of the Mirage F-1 in the South African Air Force by Brigadier Dick Lord
Vlamgat is the gripping story of the South African Mirage F1 jet fighter pilots in action during the tense years of the bush war. Their experiences are authentically told with accuracy, humour and pathos - by an author who writes from the cockpit.
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From Tailhooker to Mudmover by Brigadier Dick Lord
Recounts the author's (a former SAAF Brigadier-General) experiences during his 4 decades of service as a military aviator. Dick Lord served in the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. He was a carrier pilot based on the HMS Ark Royal and was later seconded to duty with the United States Navy. In the latter part of his military career, he commanded a SAAF F1 Mirage squadron during the SWA / Angola campaigns.
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Grensvegter?: South African Army Psychologist by Barry Fowler
This book details the experiences of a South African military psychologist during the counter insurgency war against SWAPO in Owamboland, South West Africa / Namibia in 1987. The book covers the author's mobilisation and de-mobilisation, the characters involved and lifestyle of the medical section at the HQ, experiences as a clinical psychologist debriefing soldiers who had been involved in firefights, and various insights into working and living in a military environment. There is also a detailed description of the psychological model used within the South African Medical service to debrief soldiers and others who were exposed to traumatic events which it could be expected could then lead to post Traumatic Stress Disorders. An interesting addition to the book are essays written by children living in garrisons that were under rocket attacks. This book could interest people involved in military medicine, especially with a conscripted army in a counter insurgency war situation. Barry Fowler hosts the Sentinal Projects SADF Scrap Book website located at http://www.geocities.com/sadf_scrapbook/index.html for those interested in reading more first hand accounts of the border war.
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Parabat by Matthew Paul
Personal accounts of paratroopers in combat situations in South Africa's history. In order to obtain a balanced and fair account, the author interviewed paratroopers of all races. It is also an account of how the exploits of the South African airborne family are seen by the men on the ground. The experiences have been recorded directly as were related to the author, with no changes or apologies- the swearing, the torture, the emotions, the turmoil, the killings and the humour. These are the accounts of the paratrooper family from the war in Angola in the 80s to the various township wars in the 90s, as well as South Africa's intervention in Lesotho in 1998. These are the accounts of personal bravery - some are horrific.
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We Fear Nought but God by Paul Els
The story of the elite South African Special Forces ("the Recces") from inception in the 1960s to disbandment in 1993. A unique account of one of South Africa's premier units, masters in the art of reconnaissance and clandestine warfare. Pro rata, the most highly decorated unit during the wars in Angola and Namibia / SWA. This is no gung-ho account, but rather a loving compiled series of accounts put together by the author who was there at the inception of this fine regiment. This is about the "operators", the men of the Recces, their exploits in Angola, SWA/Namibia and other southern africa territories. Includes a free copy of Lourens Fourie's music CD "The Recces".
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The Chopper Boys: Helicopter warfare in Africa by AL J Venter
This book covers helicopter warfare in Africa with maps, plans, covering the French in Algeria & Chad, Rhodesian War etc. The largest part of book covers the South African Wars.
Borderstrike! by Willem Steenkamp
Three cross-border incursions by the South African Defence Force are dealt with, starting with operation Reindeer (1978) into Angola, which marked a policy change by the South African goverment of the day to allow cross-border operations by the military. That is followed by Operation Revenge which was a follow-up operation into Zambian territory following the bombing of Katima Mulilo and lastly Operation Sceptic (1980) into Angola which is more commonly known by it's opening engagement Operation Smokeshell.
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Continent Ablaze: Insurgency wars in Africa, 1960 to the present by John Turner
The book provides a detailed operational history of the major Cold War conflicts on the African continent.
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The War for Africa: Twelve months that transformed a continent by Fred Bridgland
Towards the middle of 1988, Castro, who had taken personal control of the war, wanted to withdraw from Angola and discussions began on how this could be accomplished without losing face. One of Castro's top generals in Angola had already tried to defect and Moscow was pressing Castro to reach a settlement. The Cuban leader adopted an aggressive stance and threw more Cuban troops into the front line in order to lend weight to his negotiating position in the peace talks. General Del Pino, who also defected to the West, pointed out that it was pure bluff on Castro's part and that he feared defeat was imminent.
Cuban forces, integrated with SWAPO units, nevertheless pressed on to within 12 kilometres of the Namibian border. Facing 11,000 Cubans and perhaps 2,000 SWAPO was a force of 500 battle-hardened men from 32 "Buffalo" Battalion, the only available troops at the border until reinforcements could arrive. They held the line until tanks and artillery could be moved up. Cuban MiG-23s joined the fray and one was shot down. As the South African forces prepared to move North to engage the Cubans in what promised to be a Cuban nemesis, the Cubans signed the New York peace accords and avoided disaster.
The Cubans immediately claimed victory, which Bridgland points out was 'nonsense', but that:
the Cuban story was taken at face value by Castro's sympathisers in the Western press and repeated so many times that it became received truth. The Cubans were helped by the South Africans' own clumsy efforts at propaganda, which amounted to saying as little as possible about the full-scale war they fought in Angola.
The SADF at no stage had wanted an all-out war that would take them to Luanda as conquerors. Their objectives had been to fight a limited war in support of UNITA and prevent the Cubans from capturing UNITA's strongholds. The SADF had succeeded in this and was content to let the Cubans take the limelight. As Bridgland points out in his final summary of the war:
The War for Africa and the New York accords provided Cuba with pretexts for slipping out of a commitment that had become too hot and too expensive to handle. In 1975, when the Cuban adventure in Angola began, the 'scientific socialist' and 'internationalist' tide running from Moscow looked unstoppable. By 1988 it was a faded dream. Despite 13 years of Cuban support, the Angolan economy was ruined. The Marxist MPLA was in utter disarray and was trying desperately to shed its 'scientific-socialist' past... Castro's dreams of a Marxist revolution spreading from Angola to encompass the whole of Southern Africa had become a poor music hall joke...
"The War for Africa" by Fred Bridgland....the most accurate account of Cuba's involvement in the Angolan conflict.
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South Africas Border War, 1966-1989 by Willem Steenkamp
A very detailed description, filled with photographs and maps, covering this period of South African history.
Forged in Battle by Col. Jan Breytenbach
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, guerilla warfare and counter-guerilla warfare, almost conventional warfare and conventional warfare. It tells of a conflict which to the world was unpopular, in which South Africa was perceived as the aggressor, but which South Africa saw as a war fought to stop what is Namibia falling into the hands of the Soviet and Cuban backed SWAPO organisation.
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They Live by the Sword: 32 ‘Buffalo’ Battalion – South Africas Foreign Legion by Col. Jan Breytenbach
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, guerilla warfare and counter-guerilla warfare, almost conventional warfare and conventional warfare. It tells of a conflict which to the world was unpopular, in which South Africa was perceived as the aggressor, but which South Africa saw as a war fought to stop what is Namibia falling into the hands of the Soviet and Cuban backed SWAPO organisation. A follow up book to Forged in Battle.
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War in Angola: The final South African phase by Helmoed-Romer Helmoed
In August 1987 South Africa sent a force into south-eastern Angola in support of Unita. When the last South African soldier crossed the Kavango to return to South West Africa on 1st September 1988,this force had irrevocably changed the strategic situation in the region.
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South African War Machine by Helmoed-Romer Helmoed
Lavishly illustrated in b&w and colour. This briefly describes the history of South Africa's armed forces, outlining their roles in the two World Wars and in Korea and explaining how this background has contributed to the unique make-up of South Africa's defence forces today. The weapons, organisation and training of each of the South African armed services are fully described with sections on elite formations like 1 Reconnaissance Commando and 44 Parachute Brigade and the special techniques they have developed. The campaigns in South West Africa (Namibia) against the SWAPO guerillas are fully described, as are the various operations in Angola from the initial South African intervention in 1975.
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Koevoet! by Jim Hooper
Koevoet! is an intense and unique account of the little-understood Southern African bushwar, written by American Jim Hooper. He is the first journalist ever to have been granted unrestricted access to the controversial and predominantly black South West African Police Counterinsurgency Unit-the notorious Koevoet.
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Honorus Crux by At van Wyk
Descriptions of the various actions that resulted in the awarding of the Honorus Crux (South Africas highest award for bravery) to the recipients.
Like the Wind: The story of the South African Army by Siegfried Stander
From the musketeers and pikemen who accompanied Jan van Riebeeck when he arrived to garrison the Cape of Good Hope to the troopies who stand guard on their country's borders: this book tells the story of South Afica's fighting men and women over the centuries.
Africa’s Super Power by Paul Moorcraft
If you listen to the catcalls of the United Nations you would think that the Republic of South Africa is on its knees. It is not. In African terms the Republic is a superpower. And in the world outside this troubled continent, economic wealth has endowed the besieged state with a vital significance.
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South African Special Forces by Osprey Publishing
This volume details the uniforms and organization of South Africa's special forces, which have been fighting an almost continuous war against external and internal enemies since the 1960s.
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The Devils are Among Us: The war for Namibia by Denis Herbstein and John Evenson
Nearly 20 years after the UN declared its occupation of Namibia ilegal, the South African government finally agreed to withdraw from the territory. This book is the first to look at the story behind this withdrawal.
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South African Armed Forces by Helmoed-Romer Helmoed
South Africa's armed forces are the most powerful and effective in sub-Saharan Africa. They have also been an important actor in the various developments in southern Africa over the past two decades. Despite this, relatively little is known about how they function, or about the defence policy that governs their employment.
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Ragged War: The story of unconventional and counter-revolutionary warfare by Leroy Thompson
This book examines the development and origins of Guerrilla and unconventional warfare. Among the first recorded examples are the Scythians 'hit and run' tactics against the Persians and Romans, and Hannibals counter to their operations - the use of independent light infantry units - remains one of the best tactics to this day. This study reviews the most effective tactics, the importance of intelligence, the weaponry used, and analyses the training of three elite special warfare units.
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South African Arms & Armour by Helmoed-Romer Helmoed
A concise guide to armaments of the South African Army, Navy and Air Force.
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Our South African Army Today by Bernard Marks
A survey of the South African army and its various units at the height of the Bush War in northern Namibia.
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Buried in the Sky by Rick Andrew
Set both in the present and in the dust-laden reaches of Angola in 1976, Buried in the sky is an album of stories about men and women and war. To the strains of the music of Bob Dylan and in long periods of boredom and inactivity, South Africa's soldiers tried to make sense of a war they could not see. The author, himself a conscript at that time, allows his comrades to tell their stories. We get to know Manie Dippenaar, whose hunting trip threatened to turn into an international incident; Private Smith, the boy from the Bluff who had love and hate tattooed on his knuckles and chose a novel way to roast a chicken as his means of revenge on a bad tempered major; Morphine Sister, who handled a gun like a mamba; and Spek, the surfer-boy who dreamed only of catching the next big wave.
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A Long Nights Damage: Working for the Apartheid State by Col. Eugene de Kock as told to Jeremy Gordin
On 30 April 1993 Colonel Eugene de Kock was discharged from the South African Police ahead of further investigations into his activities as head of the Security Police's section C1 at the notorious Vlakplaas Farm north of Pretoria. By then the ruling National Party was engaged in a massive damage control exercise. Many officers of the Security Forces as well as De Kock himself were being eyed as possible scapegoats.As it transpired at his trial, De Kock was the government's chief assassin.
But De Kock was not an put-of-control policeman, he was an officer acting under orders. In this book he names the men who gave him orders, what they ordered him to do and for what reasons. He lifts the curtain on a heinous period of South African history when the architects of apartheid thought that any means justified their ends.
But Colonel Eugene de Kock is not going to lie down and say nothing. This book lays out in great detail the corruption and moral decadence that pervaded the SADF and the Police. There are still many whose crimes against humanity were just as terrible as his own. Now De Kock tells his story: the one that the politicians and the generals had been hoping would never appear.
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The Other Side of the Story by Maj. Gen Hermann Stadler
This is the submission that was made to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission by The Foundation for Equality Before the Law, a network of former members of the SAP, fronted by the old leadership of the SAP, that has been privately published and marketed as a book.
On South Africa’s Secret Service: An Under Cover Agents Story by Riaan Labuschagne
This is the story of the ruthless intelligence war conducted by South Africa’s
National Intelligence Service during the 1980s and 1990s.
The author, Riaan Labuschagne, was a senior intelligence officer who
operated widely as an undercover field officer.
He tells a story of lies and half truths, secrecy and stealth,
evasion and denials, deceits and manipulations. It had little to do with the
Calvinistic ethics of Christian nationalism that had provided the guidelines
for his upbringing as a young Afrikaner.
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A Diplomat’s Story: Apartheid and Beyond, 1969-1998 by Pieter Wolvaardt
Pieter Wolvaardt joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1969 as a raw Afrikaans youngster. He served his apprenticeship at home in the Union Building and as a junior diplomat in Brazil from 1970 to 1973. He went through the thick of the apartheid days when the world ignored South Africa and most countries cut ties, officially defending the indefensible but all the time knowing that apartheid was wrong. They were interesting times.
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Bloodsong!: First hand accounts of a modern private army in action, Angola 1993-1995 by Jim Hooper
Executive Outcomes was the title of the most successful mercenary army of modern times. In Angola, Sierra Leone and Papua New Guinea, it stepped in while the UN revealed itself as little more than a debating society. But the motives of this mercenary army are open to question: was it more interested in protecting Sierria Leone's diamond mines than the people caught up in a savage guerrilla war? What was the reality of a private war in the closing part of the twentieth century? This is the story of Executive Outcomes' operations in Angola.
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Midlands by Johnny Steinberg
Midlands is a microcosm of the more than a 1 000 white farmers and their families who have been murdered in South Africa since the fall of apartheid in 1994. It brings clarity to a situation that has long been misunderstood. And it is all true.
Winner of the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award. Impressive understanding of the rural problems, and troubles in many parts of Southern Africa. Highlights the frustrations, betrayals and expectations of people today and how they cope with the tensions and murders. Perhaps a turning point in South Africa, where Midlands reaches the half way point in many peoples lives and future? Compulsive reading.
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Secrets and Lies: Wouter Basson and South Africa’s chemical and biological warfare program by Chandre Gould and Marlene Burger
Secrets and Lies covers a South African trial of major international significance. The trial of Dr Wouter Basson, the head of apartheid South Africa’s chemical and biological (CBW) programme, has generated intense interest, both inside South Africa and beyond.
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Plague Wars: a true story of biological warfare by Jeff Goldberg and Tom Mangold
This book covers biological weapons across the world, but has a large section covering the South Africa’s Project Coast headed up by Dr Wouter Basson.
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I've included a couple dealing with South Africa during that period, and after, that do not specifically relate to the Border War per se, but they are all good books worth reading.
Some of the books will be easy to find, others exceptionally rare - there are a couple in here that I paid R1,000 each for at an auction!
The South African Border War lasted from 1966 until 1989 when South Africa withdrew from South West Africa / Namibia - these are a few of the books covering this 23-year long conflict.
The Silent War: South African Recce operations, 1969-1994 by Peter Stiff
This book covers all of 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.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g194/playtym2/SA%20Border%20War%20Books/Silent.jpg
Warfare by Other Means: South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s by Peter Stiff
This book explores the methods of highly unconventional warfare conducted by South Africa’s secret intelligence and covert warfare units, always deniable and one step away from the official war machine during the final years of apartheid. It is mostly compiled from first accounts of operators who took part.
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The Covert War: Koevoet Operations in Namibia, 1979-1989 by Peter Stiff
The mostly untold story of Koevoet – the South African Police’s highly successful counter-insurgency unit. Initially based on the Selous Scouts of Rhodesia, it was formed in 1979 and deployed in Namibia until independence in 1989 when it was disbanded as a sop to the UN.
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An Unpopular War: From Afkak to Bosbefok by JH Thompson
In the 1970s. 1980s and 1990s conscription had a profound effect on hundreds of thousands of young South African white men, particularly those who had to fight in the Angolan war. This book is a collection of reflections and memories of former national servicemen collected by JH Thompson, who interviewed men who did their national service over those years.
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Umkhonto we Sizwe: Fighting for a Divided People by Thula Bopela and Daluxolo Luthuli
This landmark book is the first memoir written by men who fought as guerrillas with any of the liberation forces of countries in southern Africa.
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Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, Pretoria by Piero Gleijeses
This is a compelling and dramatic account of Cuban policy in Africa and of its escalating clash with US policy and later its direct military clashes with the South African Defence Force in Angola. It is the other side of a conflict that South Africans have not been told about until now.
Piero Gleijeses' Conflicting Missions is the 2003 winner of the prestigious Ferrell Prize of the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations.
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The Buffalo Soldiers: Story of South Africa’s 32-Battalion, 1975-1993 by Col. Jan Breytenbach
32-Battalion was forged from guerrilla irregulars during the South African military intervention in Angola in 1975 under the code name Operation Savannah. The author, Colonel Jan Breytenbach, was its founding commander. Because of the secrecy surrounding it, 32-Battalion not only became one of the finest fighting units in the South African Army, it also became the most controversial. This is its story.
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Taming the Landmine by Peter Stiff
The first book written on the development of the landmine as a tactical weapon combined with the advances made in the design of mine protected vehicles in Rhodesia and later in South Africa.
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At Thy Call – We Did Not Falter by Clive Holt
This is a gripping frontline account of the Angolan War as seen through the eyes of a 19-year-old conscripted South African soldier. It tells a story common to many young white South Africans who, like him, were flung into battle against often overwhelming enemy forces straight after finishing school.
The author fought in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale where the SADF supported UNITA rebels after a massive build-up of Cuban and Angolan troops. It was the bloodiest and most significant battle fought by South African troops since World War II.
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32 Battalion: The inside story of South Africa’s elite fighting unit by Piet Nortje
Every war has at least one unit so different, so daring, that it becomes the stuff of which legends are made and heroes are born. Among the South African forces fighting in Angola from 1975 to 1989, that unit was 32 Battalion.
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Days of the Generals: The untold story of South Africa’s apartheid era military Generals by Hilton Hamann
What really happened during South Africa’s military involvement in Angola? Did the military leaders always see eye to eye with the politicians — or for that matter, with each other? This book helps to lift the blinds.
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A Greater Share of Honour by Jack Greef
The first major first person account of South African special operations written by a former Recce operator, Major Jack Greeff. It is an essential companion to Peter Stiff’s The Silent War: South African Recce operations 1969-1994, the publication of which finally inspired him to put pen to paper. ‘One of the early problems I faced was how to tell the whole truth,’ Jack Greef says in his foreword. ‘Some operations, until recently, were still classified as Top Secret and have never been acknowledged by the SADF. The problem was solved when Peter Stiff’s book, The Silent War came on the shelf where most of the operations were described, some in detail while others were mentioned briefly.’
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Nine Days of War by Peter Stiff
This book focuses on the last nine days of fighting in the Namibian War of Independence. It gives a clear picture of the day by day political machinations going on behind the scenes while the soldiers battled it out on the ground. Peter Stiff writes in rather stilted prose. Nonetheless, the story he relates of SWAPO trickery and UN complicity helps one to understand recent events in Namibia, such as the outbreak of guerrilla war in the Caprivi Strip against the SWAPO government. Written from a pro South African bias this book is still an important contribution to understanding the long South Africa vs SWAPO border war in Namibia (1966-1989) and why South Africa held on to Namibia for so long in the face of intense international pressure.
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Vlamgat: The story of the Mirage F-1 in the South African Air Force by Brigadier Dick Lord
Vlamgat is the gripping story of the South African Mirage F1 jet fighter pilots in action during the tense years of the bush war. Their experiences are authentically told with accuracy, humour and pathos - by an author who writes from the cockpit.
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From Tailhooker to Mudmover by Brigadier Dick Lord
Recounts the author's (a former SAAF Brigadier-General) experiences during his 4 decades of service as a military aviator. Dick Lord served in the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. He was a carrier pilot based on the HMS Ark Royal and was later seconded to duty with the United States Navy. In the latter part of his military career, he commanded a SAAF F1 Mirage squadron during the SWA / Angola campaigns.
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Grensvegter?: South African Army Psychologist by Barry Fowler
This book details the experiences of a South African military psychologist during the counter insurgency war against SWAPO in Owamboland, South West Africa / Namibia in 1987. The book covers the author's mobilisation and de-mobilisation, the characters involved and lifestyle of the medical section at the HQ, experiences as a clinical psychologist debriefing soldiers who had been involved in firefights, and various insights into working and living in a military environment. There is also a detailed description of the psychological model used within the South African Medical service to debrief soldiers and others who were exposed to traumatic events which it could be expected could then lead to post Traumatic Stress Disorders. An interesting addition to the book are essays written by children living in garrisons that were under rocket attacks. This book could interest people involved in military medicine, especially with a conscripted army in a counter insurgency war situation. Barry Fowler hosts the Sentinal Projects SADF Scrap Book website located at http://www.geocities.com/sadf_scrapbook/index.html for those interested in reading more first hand accounts of the border war.
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Parabat by Matthew Paul
Personal accounts of paratroopers in combat situations in South Africa's history. In order to obtain a balanced and fair account, the author interviewed paratroopers of all races. It is also an account of how the exploits of the South African airborne family are seen by the men on the ground. The experiences have been recorded directly as were related to the author, with no changes or apologies- the swearing, the torture, the emotions, the turmoil, the killings and the humour. These are the accounts of the paratrooper family from the war in Angola in the 80s to the various township wars in the 90s, as well as South Africa's intervention in Lesotho in 1998. These are the accounts of personal bravery - some are horrific.
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We Fear Nought but God by Paul Els
The story of the elite South African Special Forces ("the Recces") from inception in the 1960s to disbandment in 1993. A unique account of one of South Africa's premier units, masters in the art of reconnaissance and clandestine warfare. Pro rata, the most highly decorated unit during the wars in Angola and Namibia / SWA. This is no gung-ho account, but rather a loving compiled series of accounts put together by the author who was there at the inception of this fine regiment. This is about the "operators", the men of the Recces, their exploits in Angola, SWA/Namibia and other southern africa territories. Includes a free copy of Lourens Fourie's music CD "The Recces".
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The Chopper Boys: Helicopter warfare in Africa by AL J Venter
This book covers helicopter warfare in Africa with maps, plans, covering the French in Algeria & Chad, Rhodesian War etc. The largest part of book covers the South African Wars.
Borderstrike! by Willem Steenkamp
Three cross-border incursions by the South African Defence Force are dealt with, starting with operation Reindeer (1978) into Angola, which marked a policy change by the South African goverment of the day to allow cross-border operations by the military. That is followed by Operation Revenge which was a follow-up operation into Zambian territory following the bombing of Katima Mulilo and lastly Operation Sceptic (1980) into Angola which is more commonly known by it's opening engagement Operation Smokeshell.
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Continent Ablaze: Insurgency wars in Africa, 1960 to the present by John Turner
The book provides a detailed operational history of the major Cold War conflicts on the African continent.
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The War for Africa: Twelve months that transformed a continent by Fred Bridgland
Towards the middle of 1988, Castro, who had taken personal control of the war, wanted to withdraw from Angola and discussions began on how this could be accomplished without losing face. One of Castro's top generals in Angola had already tried to defect and Moscow was pressing Castro to reach a settlement. The Cuban leader adopted an aggressive stance and threw more Cuban troops into the front line in order to lend weight to his negotiating position in the peace talks. General Del Pino, who also defected to the West, pointed out that it was pure bluff on Castro's part and that he feared defeat was imminent.
Cuban forces, integrated with SWAPO units, nevertheless pressed on to within 12 kilometres of the Namibian border. Facing 11,000 Cubans and perhaps 2,000 SWAPO was a force of 500 battle-hardened men from 32 "Buffalo" Battalion, the only available troops at the border until reinforcements could arrive. They held the line until tanks and artillery could be moved up. Cuban MiG-23s joined the fray and one was shot down. As the South African forces prepared to move North to engage the Cubans in what promised to be a Cuban nemesis, the Cubans signed the New York peace accords and avoided disaster.
The Cubans immediately claimed victory, which Bridgland points out was 'nonsense', but that:
the Cuban story was taken at face value by Castro's sympathisers in the Western press and repeated so many times that it became received truth. The Cubans were helped by the South Africans' own clumsy efforts at propaganda, which amounted to saying as little as possible about the full-scale war they fought in Angola.
The SADF at no stage had wanted an all-out war that would take them to Luanda as conquerors. Their objectives had been to fight a limited war in support of UNITA and prevent the Cubans from capturing UNITA's strongholds. The SADF had succeeded in this and was content to let the Cubans take the limelight. As Bridgland points out in his final summary of the war:
The War for Africa and the New York accords provided Cuba with pretexts for slipping out of a commitment that had become too hot and too expensive to handle. In 1975, when the Cuban adventure in Angola began, the 'scientific socialist' and 'internationalist' tide running from Moscow looked unstoppable. By 1988 it was a faded dream. Despite 13 years of Cuban support, the Angolan economy was ruined. The Marxist MPLA was in utter disarray and was trying desperately to shed its 'scientific-socialist' past... Castro's dreams of a Marxist revolution spreading from Angola to encompass the whole of Southern Africa had become a poor music hall joke...
"The War for Africa" by Fred Bridgland....the most accurate account of Cuba's involvement in the Angolan conflict.
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South Africas Border War, 1966-1989 by Willem Steenkamp
A very detailed description, filled with photographs and maps, covering this period of South African history.
Forged in Battle by Col. Jan Breytenbach
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, guerilla warfare and counter-guerilla warfare, almost conventional warfare and conventional warfare. It tells of a conflict which to the world was unpopular, in which South Africa was perceived as the aggressor, but which South Africa saw as a war fought to stop what is Namibia falling into the hands of the Soviet and Cuban backed SWAPO organisation.
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They Live by the Sword: 32 ‘Buffalo’ Battalion – South Africas Foreign Legion by Col. Jan Breytenbach
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, guerilla warfare and counter-guerilla warfare, almost conventional warfare and conventional warfare. It tells of a conflict which to the world was unpopular, in which South Africa was perceived as the aggressor, but which South Africa saw as a war fought to stop what is Namibia falling into the hands of the Soviet and Cuban backed SWAPO organisation. A follow up book to Forged in Battle.
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War in Angola: The final South African phase by Helmoed-Romer Helmoed
In August 1987 South Africa sent a force into south-eastern Angola in support of Unita. When the last South African soldier crossed the Kavango to return to South West Africa on 1st September 1988,this force had irrevocably changed the strategic situation in the region.
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South African War Machine by Helmoed-Romer Helmoed
Lavishly illustrated in b&w and colour. This briefly describes the history of South Africa's armed forces, outlining their roles in the two World Wars and in Korea and explaining how this background has contributed to the unique make-up of South Africa's defence forces today. The weapons, organisation and training of each of the South African armed services are fully described with sections on elite formations like 1 Reconnaissance Commando and 44 Parachute Brigade and the special techniques they have developed. The campaigns in South West Africa (Namibia) against the SWAPO guerillas are fully described, as are the various operations in Angola from the initial South African intervention in 1975.
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Koevoet! by Jim Hooper
Koevoet! is an intense and unique account of the little-understood Southern African bushwar, written by American Jim Hooper. He is the first journalist ever to have been granted unrestricted access to the controversial and predominantly black South West African Police Counterinsurgency Unit-the notorious Koevoet.
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Honorus Crux by At van Wyk
Descriptions of the various actions that resulted in the awarding of the Honorus Crux (South Africas highest award for bravery) to the recipients.
Like the Wind: The story of the South African Army by Siegfried Stander
From the musketeers and pikemen who accompanied Jan van Riebeeck when he arrived to garrison the Cape of Good Hope to the troopies who stand guard on their country's borders: this book tells the story of South Afica's fighting men and women over the centuries.
Africa’s Super Power by Paul Moorcraft
If you listen to the catcalls of the United Nations you would think that the Republic of South Africa is on its knees. It is not. In African terms the Republic is a superpower. And in the world outside this troubled continent, economic wealth has endowed the besieged state with a vital significance.
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South African Special Forces by Osprey Publishing
This volume details the uniforms and organization of South Africa's special forces, which have been fighting an almost continuous war against external and internal enemies since the 1960s.
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The Devils are Among Us: The war for Namibia by Denis Herbstein and John Evenson
Nearly 20 years after the UN declared its occupation of Namibia ilegal, the South African government finally agreed to withdraw from the territory. This book is the first to look at the story behind this withdrawal.
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South African Armed Forces by Helmoed-Romer Helmoed
South Africa's armed forces are the most powerful and effective in sub-Saharan Africa. They have also been an important actor in the various developments in southern Africa over the past two decades. Despite this, relatively little is known about how they function, or about the defence policy that governs their employment.
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Ragged War: The story of unconventional and counter-revolutionary warfare by Leroy Thompson
This book examines the development and origins of Guerrilla and unconventional warfare. Among the first recorded examples are the Scythians 'hit and run' tactics against the Persians and Romans, and Hannibals counter to their operations - the use of independent light infantry units - remains one of the best tactics to this day. This study reviews the most effective tactics, the importance of intelligence, the weaponry used, and analyses the training of three elite special warfare units.
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South African Arms & Armour by Helmoed-Romer Helmoed
A concise guide to armaments of the South African Army, Navy and Air Force.
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Our South African Army Today by Bernard Marks
A survey of the South African army and its various units at the height of the Bush War in northern Namibia.
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Buried in the Sky by Rick Andrew
Set both in the present and in the dust-laden reaches of Angola in 1976, Buried in the sky is an album of stories about men and women and war. To the strains of the music of Bob Dylan and in long periods of boredom and inactivity, South Africa's soldiers tried to make sense of a war they could not see. The author, himself a conscript at that time, allows his comrades to tell their stories. We get to know Manie Dippenaar, whose hunting trip threatened to turn into an international incident; Private Smith, the boy from the Bluff who had love and hate tattooed on his knuckles and chose a novel way to roast a chicken as his means of revenge on a bad tempered major; Morphine Sister, who handled a gun like a mamba; and Spek, the surfer-boy who dreamed only of catching the next big wave.
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A Long Nights Damage: Working for the Apartheid State by Col. Eugene de Kock as told to Jeremy Gordin
On 30 April 1993 Colonel Eugene de Kock was discharged from the South African Police ahead of further investigations into his activities as head of the Security Police's section C1 at the notorious Vlakplaas Farm north of Pretoria. By then the ruling National Party was engaged in a massive damage control exercise. Many officers of the Security Forces as well as De Kock himself were being eyed as possible scapegoats.As it transpired at his trial, De Kock was the government's chief assassin.
But De Kock was not an put-of-control policeman, he was an officer acting under orders. In this book he names the men who gave him orders, what they ordered him to do and for what reasons. He lifts the curtain on a heinous period of South African history when the architects of apartheid thought that any means justified their ends.
But Colonel Eugene de Kock is not going to lie down and say nothing. This book lays out in great detail the corruption and moral decadence that pervaded the SADF and the Police. There are still many whose crimes against humanity were just as terrible as his own. Now De Kock tells his story: the one that the politicians and the generals had been hoping would never appear.
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The Other Side of the Story by Maj. Gen Hermann Stadler
This is the submission that was made to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission by The Foundation for Equality Before the Law, a network of former members of the SAP, fronted by the old leadership of the SAP, that has been privately published and marketed as a book.
On South Africa’s Secret Service: An Under Cover Agents Story by Riaan Labuschagne
This is the story of the ruthless intelligence war conducted by South Africa’s
National Intelligence Service during the 1980s and 1990s.
The author, Riaan Labuschagne, was a senior intelligence officer who
operated widely as an undercover field officer.
He tells a story of lies and half truths, secrecy and stealth,
evasion and denials, deceits and manipulations. It had little to do with the
Calvinistic ethics of Christian nationalism that had provided the guidelines
for his upbringing as a young Afrikaner.
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A Diplomat’s Story: Apartheid and Beyond, 1969-1998 by Pieter Wolvaardt
Pieter Wolvaardt joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1969 as a raw Afrikaans youngster. He served his apprenticeship at home in the Union Building and as a junior diplomat in Brazil from 1970 to 1973. He went through the thick of the apartheid days when the world ignored South Africa and most countries cut ties, officially defending the indefensible but all the time knowing that apartheid was wrong. They were interesting times.
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Bloodsong!: First hand accounts of a modern private army in action, Angola 1993-1995 by Jim Hooper
Executive Outcomes was the title of the most successful mercenary army of modern times. In Angola, Sierra Leone and Papua New Guinea, it stepped in while the UN revealed itself as little more than a debating society. But the motives of this mercenary army are open to question: was it more interested in protecting Sierria Leone's diamond mines than the people caught up in a savage guerrilla war? What was the reality of a private war in the closing part of the twentieth century? This is the story of Executive Outcomes' operations in Angola.
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Midlands by Johnny Steinberg
Midlands is a microcosm of the more than a 1 000 white farmers and their families who have been murdered in South Africa since the fall of apartheid in 1994. It brings clarity to a situation that has long been misunderstood. And it is all true.
Winner of the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award. Impressive understanding of the rural problems, and troubles in many parts of Southern Africa. Highlights the frustrations, betrayals and expectations of people today and how they cope with the tensions and murders. Perhaps a turning point in South Africa, where Midlands reaches the half way point in many peoples lives and future? Compulsive reading.
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Secrets and Lies: Wouter Basson and South Africa’s chemical and biological warfare program by Chandre Gould and Marlene Burger
Secrets and Lies covers a South African trial of major international significance. The trial of Dr Wouter Basson, the head of apartheid South Africa’s chemical and biological (CBW) programme, has generated intense interest, both inside South Africa and beyond.
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Plague Wars: a true story of biological warfare by Jeff Goldberg and Tom Mangold
This book covers biological weapons across the world, but has a large section covering the South Africa’s Project Coast headed up by Dr Wouter Basson.
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