Download or read book Battle for Cassinga written by Mike McWilliams and published by Africa@War. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "[The author] examines why the South African government took the political risk in attacking 'Fortress Cassinga' in a cross-border operation that would clearly attract the ire of the world. He studies SWAPO [South West African Peoples Organisation] claims that Cassinga was a refugee camp guarded by only a few PLAN soldiers, explaining why Sam Nujoma, the SWAPO leader, had no option but to perpetuate this falsehood. He looks ... at all the players involved: SWAPO/PLAN and their commander Dimo Amaambo who fled the field of battle; the Cuban and FAPLA intervention; and the South African paratroopers, led by Breytenbach, who not only had to combat a determined enemy but also senior South African staff officers. Above all, it is a soldier's tale which pays homage in equal parts to the bravery of the paratroopers and the determination of the PLAN fighters who stood to their guns until annihilated"--P. [4] of cover.
Download or read book Battle for Cassinga written by Mike McWilliams and published by Africa@War. This book was released on 2019-09-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Battle for Cassinga is the first-hand account by a South African paratrooper who was involved in the 1978 assault on the Angolan headquarters of PLAN, SWAPO's armed wing. The battle, although a resounding success, suffered setbacks which could have proved disastrous to the South Africans had they not maintained the initiative. The improvisations made by Colonel Jan Breytenbach ensured that a flawed jump and inadequate intelligence did not adversely affect the outcome. The unforeseen Soviet-supplied SWAPO anti-aircraft guns used devastatingly in a ground role also threatened to derail the attack. A late appearance by a large Cuban/FAPLA (Angolan regulars) armored column, from the nearby town of Techamutete, threatened to engulf the lightly armed paratrooper force still on the ground. A fierce rearguard action, together with the almost suicidal actions of the South African Air Force pilots, ultimately saved the day. McWilliams examines why the South African government took the political risk in attacking 'Fortress Cassinga' in a cross-border operation that would clearly attract the ire of the world. He studies SWAPO claims that Cassinga was a refugee camp guarded by only a few PLAN soldiers, explaining why Sam Nujoma, the SWAPO leader, had no option but to perpetuate this falsehood. He looks dispassionately at all the players involved: SWAPO/PLAN and their commander Dimo Amaambo who fled the field of battle; the Cuban and FAPLA intervention; and the South African paratroopers, led by Breytenbach, who not only had to combat a determined enemy but also senior South African staff officers. Above all, it is a soldier's tale which pays homage in equal parts to the bravery of the paratroopers and the determination of the PLAN fighters who stood to their guns until annihilated.
Download or read book The Battle for Cassinga written by Gary Baines and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 18 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Aftermath of the Cassinga Massacre written by Vilho Shigwedha and published by BASLER AFRIKA BIBLIOGRAPHIEN. This book was released on 2017-04-03 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It took the former South African Defence Force (SADF) less than four hours to kill more than eight hundred Namibian refugees at Cassinga on May 4, 1978. Thousands of survivors were left with irreparable physical and emotional injuries. The unhealed trauma of Cassinga, a Namibian civilian camp in southern Angola before the massacre, is beyond the worst that the victims of the attack experienced on the ground. Unacceptable layers of pain and suffering continue to grow and multiply as the victims’ grievances and other issues arising out of the aftermath of the massacre have been ignored, particularly following Namibia’s political independence. In this book, the afterlife of the victims’ traumatic memories and their aspiration for justice vis-à-vis the perpetrators’ enjoyment of blanket impunity from prosecution, in spite of their ongoing denial of killing and maiming innocent civilians at Cassinga, are explored with the aim to create public awareness about the unfortunate circumstances of the Cassinga victims.
Download or read book Back to Angola written by Paul Morris (Psychotherapist) and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In Back to Angola Paul Morris recounts his return to Angola in 2012 after going there in 1987 as a soldier. Morris, who was reluctantly conscripted just before he turned 19, goes back to the country to try and put his memories of war to rest and replace them with images of a peaceful Angola. The narrative switches between his solo cycle trip and his memories of the war." --Internet.
Download or read book Theatres of Violence written by Philip G. Dwyer and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2012 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Massacres and mass killings have always marked if not shaped the history of the world and as such are subjects of increasing interest among historians. The premise underlying this collection is that massacres were an integral, if not accepted part (until quite recently) of warfare, and that they were often fundamental to the colonizing process in the early modern and modern worlds. Making a deliberate distinction between 'massacre' and 'genocide', the editors call for an entirely separate and new subject under the rubric of 'Massacre Studies', dealing with mass killings that are not genocidal in intent. This volume offers a reflection on the nature of mass killings and extreme violence across regions and across centuries, and brings together a wide range of approaches and case studies.
Download or read book The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale written by Leopold Scholtz and published by Africa@War. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The battle for the town of Cuito Cuanavale is a myth. The conduct of Operations Modular, Hooper, Packer and Displace by South African and UNITA forces in the 6th Military Region of southeastern Angola initially prevented FAPLA and its allies from occupying the UNITA town of Mavinga. The success achieved in this endeavor then led to the conduct of offensive military operations to force FAPLA and its allies to relinquish their bridgehead over the Cuito River and to redeploy to the western bank at Cuito Cuanavale. The FAPLA deployment and occupation of Cuito Cuanavale, on the western bank of the Cuito River, was never contested militarily by opposing forces during 1987 and 1988.
Download or read book Cold War in Southern Africa written by Sue Onslow and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-09-10 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume examines the complexities of the Cold War in Southern Africa and uses a range of archives to develop a more detailed understanding of the impact of the Cold War environment upon the processes of political change. In the aftermath of European decolonization, the struggle between white minority governments and black liberation movements encouraged both sides to appeal for external support from the two superpower blocs. Cold War in Southern Africa highlights the importance of the global ideological environment on the perceptions and consequent behaviour of the white minority regimes, the Black Nationalist movements, and the newly independent African nationalist governments. Together, they underline the variety of archival sources on the history of Southern Africa in the Cold War and its growing importance in Cold War Studies. This volume brings together a series of essays by leading scholars based on a wide range of sources in the United States, Russia, Cuba, Britain, Zambia and South Africa. By focussing on a range of independent actors, these essays highlight the complexity of the conflict in Southern Africa: a battle of power blocs, of systems and ideas, which intersected with notions and practices of race and class This book will appeal to students of cold war studies, US foreign policy, African politics and International History. Sue Onslow has taught at the London School of Economics since 1994. She is currently a Cold War Studies Fellow in the Cold War Studies Centre/IDEAS
Download or read book National Liberation in Post Colonial Southern Africa written by Christian A. Williams and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-10-08 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Williams traces the South West Africa People's Organization of Namibia across three decades in exile in Tanzania, Zambia, and Angola.
Download or read book Eagle Strike written by Colonel Jan Breytenbach and published by . This book was released on 2014-06 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of an audacious, airborne assault, on 4 May 1978, on a SWAPO fortified base containing its military headquarters, logistical support, reserves and training facilities. The assault was supported by a very strong air strike by bombers and fighters as well as by air transport to drop the paratroopers into battle in one of the major, post World War para drops, 250kms deep behind enemy lines, and thus, of a necessity, the deployment of a veritable swarm of helicopters to extract the paratroopers back to safety, this execution of the whole intricate operation through a joint HQ deployed in the field. Unfortunately the subsequent uproar in the international media, based on allegations that this assault was a brutal attack on a refugee camp, did much to detract from the incredible victory the SADF had claimed for the paratroopers and the air force. Was it refugee camp as claimed by the Third World and the communist block, a SWAPO HQ and strategic military establishment as claimed by the RSA government and the SADF, or a mixture of both as claimed by the truth and reconciliation commission were the casualties mostly combatants or were they innocent civilians. This is the only personal account ever written by somebody on the SADF side who 'was actually there' and who was the commander of the paratroopers. It also brings to light much more than this brief outline, especially the dangerous nature of the whole enterprise through personal experiences, by paratroopers and air crews, and how and why it nearly became the most disastrous undertaking of the whole 'bush war' era through uncalled for meddling by an outsider who should not have been there.
Download or read book Striking Inside Angola with 32 Battalion written by Marius Scheepers and published by Helion. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Join 'The Terrible Ones' on clandestine operations and in conventional warfare during the harsh bush war that raged through southern Angola in the 1980s. The conflict ended with the last major battle of the Cold War, one of the largest land battles of the latter part of the 20th century. This book presents an eyewitness account by a South African Defense Force (SADF) Signals Officer, Marius Scheepers, who served in arguably the most formidable battle unit that ever existed in the history of the South African Defense Force: 32 Battalion. It describes how members lived and fought in the bush during 1983 under the most difficult conditions. Being the Signals Officer of 32 Battalion, Scheepers was privy to all major command decisions of the time. Although he focuses primarily on operations during the year 1983, including Operations Snoek and Dolfyn, he includes concise descriptions of all other major operations that took place inside Angola between 1966 and 1988, including Operation Askari (1983/84) and the decisive battle at Cuito Cuanavale in 1987/88. Extensive appendices include 32 Battalion sitreps, radio-code cards, SADF radio equipment used by 32 Battalion and details on SADF, SAAF and SWAPO.
Download or read book Saaf s Border War written by Peter Baxter and published by Helion. This book was released on 2020-01-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, the SAAF was South Africa's first line of defence against Soviet expansionism in southern Africa. In this account, Peter Baxter examines and brings to life the squadrons and aviators that fought in both counter-insurgency and conventional warfare.
Download or read book A Military History of South Africa written by Timothy J. Stapleton and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-04-09 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work offers the first one-volume comprehensive military history of modern South Africa. A Military History of South Africa: From the Dutch-Khoi Wars to the End of Apartheid represents the first comprehensive military history of South Africa from the beginning of European colonization in the Cape during the 1650s to the current postapartheid republic. With particular emphasis on the last 200 years, this balanced analysis stresses the historical importance of warfare and military structures in the shaping of modern South African society. Important themes include military adaptation during the process of colonial conquest and African resistance, the growth of South Africa as a regional military power from the early 20th century, and South African involvement in conflicts of the decolonization era. Organized chronologically, each chapter reviews the major conflicts, policies, and military issues of a specific period in South African history. Coverage includes the wars of colonial conquest (1830-69), the diamond wars (1869-81), the gold wars (1886-1910), World Wars I and II (1910-45), and the apartheid wars (1948-94).
Download or read book Days of the Generals written by Hilton Hamann and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2001 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An explosive, behind-the-scenes story from the South African Generals themselves about covert operations, strategic alliances and full-scale war.
Download or read book The Cassinga Event written by Annemarie Heywood and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Pathfinder Company written by Graham Gillmore and published by 30 Degrees South Publishers. This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book gives an account of South African parachute battalion which attacked SWAPs plan army in Angola.
Download or read book 32 Battalion written by Piet Nortje and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2010-11-05 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every war has at least one - a 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. Founded in utmost secrecy from the vanquished remnants of a foreign rebel movement, undefeated in 12 years of front-line battle, feared by enemies that included both conventional Cuban armies and Namibian guerrilla fighters, the Buffalo Soldiers became the South African army’s best combat unit since World War II, with no fewer than 13 members winning the highest decoration for bravery under fire. But when peace broke out in southern Africa, the victors of Savate became the victims of sophistry. Their fate and future determined by politicians who understood little and cared less about this truly unique fraternity, 32 Battalion ceased to exist in 1993, its short history and long list of battle honours known only to those whose enemies called them Os Terriveis - the Terrible Ones. Now, for the first time, the story of 32 Battalion can be told in full, with neither adornment nor apology, by one of its longest-serving members. The book draws from top secret documents, revealing information that has never been made public before. Also included are rare photographs that evoke the colourful, and often controversial, history of 32 Battalion, as well as detailed maps depicting specific operations and deployments.
