Download or read book Battles of South Africa written by Tim Couzens and published by New Africa Books. This book was released on 2004 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An interesting selection of battles found to be in some way pertinent, and important in the often misunderstood South African military history.
Download or read book South African Battles written by Timothy Couzens and published by Jonathan Ball Publishers. This book was released on 2013-08-12 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: South African Battles describes 36 battles spread over five centuries. These are not the well-trodden battlefields of standard histories, but generally lesser-known ones. Some were of critical importance, while some were infinitely curious. Who, for instance, has heard of the battles of Nakob, Middelpos, Mome Gorge or Mushroom Valley? Who knows about the four black women that Bartolomeu Dias brought with him on his pioneering voyage of exploration? Who knows that there was a significant battle in what is now the Kruger National Park in 1725? Who knows about the military episode where not a shot was fired but which brought South Africa into the Great War? Who knows that Germany once invaded South Africa? Written in a light, humorous and personal style, each chapter is self-contained, like a short story. They can be read one a night, and mulled over next day with the promise of further enjoyment to come. South African Battles is an ideal bedside book, as well as an engaging travel companion. But there is also a twist in the tale at the end. Caveat lector, or lectrix!
Download or read book Field Guide to the Battlefields of South Africa written by Nicki Von der Heyde and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2014-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this groundbreaking book, author and specialist battlefields guide, Nicki von der Heyde, presents over 70 battles and skirmishes covering five wars that shaped the course of South African history--from the Frontier Wars that started in 1779 to the Second-Anglo Boer War of 1899-1902, a bitter and costly confrontation triggered by the discovery of
Download or read book Battle on the Lomba 1987 written by David Mannall and published by Helion and Company. This book was released on 2014-11-19 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A South African national serviceman recounts becoming a soldier and an ensuing David-and-Goliath face-off against Angolan armed forces in 1987. The climactic death-throes of Soviet Communism during the 1980s included a last-gasp attempt at strategic franchise expansion in southern Africa. Channeled through Castro’s Cuba, oil-rich Angolan armed forces (FAPLA) received billions of dollars of advanced weaponry and thousands of armored vehicles. Their intent: to eradicate the US-backed Angolan opposition (UNITA), then push southwards into South Africa’s protectorate SWA/Namibia, ostensibly as liberators. 1985 saw the first large-scale mechanized offensive in southern African history. Russian Generals planned and oversaw the offensive but didn’t account for the tenacity of UNITA (supported by the South African Defense Forces, SADF) or the rainy season. The ‘85 offensive floundered in the mud, and FAPLA returned to their capital Luanda. The South Africans stood down, confident their “covert” support for UNITA had demonstrated the folly of prosecuting war so far from home against Africa’s military Superpower. However, they were mistaken. Fidel and FAPLA immediately redoubled their efforts, strengthening fifteen battalions with even more Soviet hardware while Russian and Cuban specialists oversaw troop training. As Cuban and Angolan fighter pilots honed their skills over the skies of Northern Angola, David Mannall, a normal seventeen-year-old kid completing high school, was preparing for two years of compulsory military service before beginning Tertiary education. Through a series of fateful twists, he found himself leading soldiers in several full-scale armored clashes, including the largest and most decisive battle on African soil since World War II. This is a David and Goliath story that has never been truthfully told. The author reveals how Charlie Squadron, comprising just twelve 90mm AFVs crewed by thirty-six national servicemen, as part of the elite sixty-one Mechanized Battalion, engaged and effectively annihilated the giant FAPLA 47th Armored Brigade in one day—3 October 1987. Their 90mm cannons were never designed as tank-killers, but any assurances that it would never be used against heavy armor were left in the classroom during the three-month operation and never more starkly than the decisive “Battle on The Lomba River.” The Communist-backed offensive died that day along with hundreds of opposition fighters. 47th Brigade survivors abandoned their remaining equipment, eventually joining the 59th Brigade in what became a full-scale retreat of over ten thousand soldiers to Cuito Cuanevale. The myth perpetuated by post-apartheid politicians goes something like this: “The SADF force that destroyed 47th Brigade on 3 October numbered 6,000 men and that all the hard yards were run by the long-suffering UNITA!” The inconvenient truth is that there were just 36 South African boys on the frontline that day, but it is also true to say they would never have achieved such a stunning victory without the support of many more. This is their story.
Download or read book The Battle of Bangui written by Warren Thompson and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2021-02-10 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In March 2013, South Africa suffered its worst military defeat since the end of apartheid. After a battle that lasted almost two days, 200 crack troops who engaged 7 000 rebels in the Central African Republic were forced to negotiate a ceasefire at their base. Thirteen South African soldiers died in the battle, with two more later succumbing to their wounds. The mission was shrouded in mystery from the start. The deployment and the diplomatic machinations that led to it were kept secret from the South African public and Parliament. So, too, were an assortment of shadowy commercial interests held by businessmen, some with close ties to the African National Congress. In an investigation spanning more than seven years, the authors gained exclusive access to the soldiers who fought valiantly against overwhelming odds; travelled to Bangui to obtain documentation and meet the rebel leaders who took part in the battle; interviewed a deposed dictator living in exile in Paris; and spoke to the widows of the fallen soldiers. They also met influen¬tial fixers and dealmakers, and unearthed secret files containing bribe agreements to unravel an intricate web of corruption and patronage reaching the highest echelons of power in South Africa and the CAR. After close to a decade of speculation and rumour, The Battle of Bangui lays bare for the first time both the litany of strategic, tactical and logistical blunders that ended in military disaster, and the secret diplomatic and commercial deals that led to South Africa’s worst foreign misad¬venture of the democratic era. It’s also a cracking war story filled with heroism, camaraderie, terror, pathos and triumph over adversity.
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 The Zulu Kingdom and the Boer Invasion of 1837 1840 written by John Laband and published by From Musket to Maxim 1815-1914. This book was released on 2021-12-15 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After six battles, the war of 1838 between the Zulu people and the invading Boers and their Port Natal allies reached a stalemate. The Boers occupied half the Zulu kingdom and Dingane, the Zulu monarch, was discredited.
Download or read book South African Armour of the Border War 1975 89 written by Kyle Harmse and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-02-23 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Border War saw the biggest armoured battles in Africa since World War II. Starting as a counter-insurgency operation by the South African Defence Force (SADF) against the South West Africa People's Organisation, South Africa became embroiled in the complex Angolan Civil War, where they came up against enemies well supplied with equipment and armoured vehicles from the Soviet Union. With the aid of stunning illustrations and photographs, this study details the characteristics, capabilities and performance of the wide variety of armoured vehicles deployed by the SADF, from the Eland armoured car to the Ratel infantry combat vehicle and the Olifant tank. Designed for the unique conditions of the region, South Africa's armour was distinctive and innovative, and has influenced the design of counterinsurgency armoured vehicles around the world. Frequently requested by Osprey readers, and written by two renowned experts on armoured vehicles, this will appeal to all those interested in modern armour and the Cold War proxy wars.
Download or read book 7 Battles that Shaped South Africa written by Greg Mills and published by Tafelberg. This book was released on 2006 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An excellent guide book about seven decisive battles which shaped South Africa, and the distinctive personalities involved
Download or read book The Last Hot Battle of the Cold War written by Peter Polack and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2013-12-13 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating chronicle of the Cold War battle where US and Soviet weapons, as well as Cuban and South African troops, took part in the Angolan Civil War. In the late 1980s, as America prepared to claim its victory in the Cold War over the Soviet Union, a bloody war still raged in Southern Africa, where proxy forces from both sides vied for control of Angola. The socialist Angolan government, stocked with Soviet weapons, had only to wipe out the resistance group UNITA, secretly supplied by the United States, in order to claim sovereignty. But as Angolan forces gained the upper hand, apartheid-era South Africa stepped in to protect its own interests. The white army crossing the border prompted the Angolans to call on their own foreign reinforcements—the army of Communist Cuba. Thus began the epic Battle of Cuito Cuanavale: an odd match-up of South African Boers against Castro’s armed forces. While South Africa was subject to an arms boycott since 1977, the Cuban and Angolan troops had the latest Soviet weapons. But UNITA had its secret US supply line, and the South Africans knew how to fight. As a case study of ferocious fighting between East and West, The Last Hot Battle of the Cold War unveils a remarkable episode in the endgame of the Cold War—one that is largely unknown to the American public.
Download or read book Field Guide to the Battlefields of South Africa written by Nicki von der Heyde and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2013-12-09 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Expert battlefields guide Nicki von der Heyde presents 71 battles covering three wars and a series of conflicts that shaped the course of South Africa’s history – from the colonial clashes that characterised the 18th and 19th centuries through to the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 and the 2nd Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902. Informative and lively accounts of the engagements are provided, with special attention given to the context, action, outcomes and principal combatants involved. Arranged in provincial and regional order, the Field Guide to the Battlefields of South Africa includes an array of special features that allow for an enthralling and multi-layered account of the battles: • 580 images • 80 illustrated timelines • 60 fact and feature boxes • 16 annotated battle maps • 10 regional locator maps • Detailed directions to each site • GPS co-ordinates for inaccessible locations. Comprehensive, compelling and vividly illustrated, the Field Guide to the Battlefields of South Africa is an indispensable tool for professional and amateur military historians as well as anyone interested in exploring South Africa’s fascinating history.
Download or read book The Anglo Boer War Respectively the South African War an Overview written by Claudia Oldiges and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2009-05 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject History - Africa, grade: 1,3, University of Osnabrück, 9 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: The Boer Wars at the dawn of the century highly influenced not only South African history, especially in terms of the development of the apartheid system, but it additionally changed the possibilities of warfare. These conflicts between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal (South African Republic) took place from 1880 to 1881 and 1899 to 1902. Even though formally there have been two wars in a short period of time, one usually focuses on the Second Boer War, also known as the South African War, Anglo-Boereoorlog (Anglo-Boer War), Tweede Vryheidsoorlog (Second Freedom War) or "Tea-Time War". This paper will mainly concentrate on the South African War, even though background information will be provided. Historians ought not to ask "What if...?", since they have to focus on facts. But ignoring this guideline for a moment, fascinating questions arise: "What if the large deposits of gold and diamonds in the Transvaal were not found in the 1870s and 1880s? Would the British have fought for the rights of the uitlanders nevertheless?" These are two of the questions which will be dealt with (in 2.1) when reasoning the origins / causes of the war. Following, the paper will bring together the facts and some unusual features of the South African War. Its center of attention will be the Guerilla War starting of in September 1900 and lasting till the Treaty of Vereeniging in May 1902, the end of the War.
Download or read book Boer War written by Malcolm Riall and published by Potomac Books. This book was released on 2000 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This personal account of one officer's experiences in the South African War is based upon the letters, diaries, signals, and over 1000 photographs of Lieutenant Malcolm Riall. A signals officer with the West Yorkshires, Riall was just 20 years old when he embarked for active service in 1899.
Download or read book Battle of Bangui written by Warren Thompson and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In March 2013, South Africa suffered its worst military defeat since the end of apartheid. After a battle that lasted almost two days, 200 crack troops who engaged 7 000 rebels in the Central African Republic were forced to negotiate a ceasefire at their base. Thirteen South African soldiers died in the battle, with two more later succumbing to their wounds. he mission was shrouded in mystery from the start. The deployment and the diplomatic machinations that led to it were kept secret from the South African public and Parliament. So, too, were an assortment of shadowy commercial interests held by businessmen, some with close ties to the African National Congress. In an investigation spanning more than seven years, the authors gained exclusive access to the soldiers who fought valiantly against overwhelming odds; travelled to Bangui to obtain documentation and meet the rebel leaders who took part in the battle; interviewed a deposed dictator living in exile in Paris; and spoke to the widows of the fallen soldiers. They also met influential fixers and dealmakers, and unearthed secret files containing bribe agreements to unravel an intricate web of corruption and patronage reaching the highest echelons of power in South Africa and the CAR. After close to a decade of speculation and rumour, The Battle of Bangui lays bare for the first time both the litany of strategic, tactical and logistical blunders that ended in military disaster, and the secret diplomatic and commercial deals that led to South Africa's worst foreign misadventure of the democratic era. It's also a cracking war story filled with heroism, camaraderie, terror, pathos and triumph over adversity."--
Download or read book In Different Times written by Ian van der Waag and published by AFRICAN SUN MeDIA. This book was released on 2019-11-15 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first attempt to bring together diverse scholars, using different lenses, to study South Africa’s Border War. As a book, it is critical in approach, provides deeper reflection, and focuses specifically on the SADF experience of the war. The result is a more complex picture of the war’s dynamics and its legacies. Although South Africa is a vastly different country today, the study of the Border War opens a range of questions, also relevant to contemporary deployments such as in Lesotho (1998) and the Central African Republic (2013). It includes the debate on participation in foreign conflicts; on the deployment, design and preparation of appropriate, modern armed forces and their use as foreign policy instruments in far‑off theatres; on military planning; and, as the historical controversies regarding the battles at Cuito Cuanavale and Bangui illustrate, on the interface between foreign campaigning and domestic politics.
Download or read book The Battle of Adwa written by Raymond Jonas and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2011-11-15 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In March 1896 a well-disciplined and massive Ethiopian army did the unthinkable-it routed an invading Italian force and brought Italy's war of conquest in Africa to an end. In an age of relentless European expansion, Ethiopia had successfully defended its independence and cast doubt upon an unshakable certainty of the age-that sooner or later all Africans would fall under the rule of Europeans. This event opened a breach that would lead, in the aftermath of world war fifty years later, to the continent's painful struggle for freedom from colonial rule. Raymond Jonas offers the first comprehensive account of this singular episode in modern world history. The narrative is peopled by the ambitious and vain, the creative and the coarse, across Africa, Europe, and the Americas-personalities like Menelik, a biblically inspired provincial monarch who consolidated Ethiopia's throne; Taytu, his quick-witted and aggressive wife; and the Swiss engineer Alfred Ilg, the emperor's close advisor. The Ethiopians' brilliant gamesmanship and savvy public relations campaign helped roll back the Europeanization of Africa. Figures throughout the African diaspora immediately grasped the significance of Adwa, Menelik, and an independent Ethiopia. Writing deftly from a transnational perspective, Jonas puts Adwa in the context of manifest destiny and Jim Crow, signaling a challenge to the very concept of white dominance. By reopening seemingly settled questions of race and empire, the Battle of Adwa was thus a harbinger of the global, unsettled century about to unfold.
Download or read book South Africans versus Rommel written by David Brock Katz and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-11-15 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After bitter debate, South Africa, a dominion of the British Empire at the time, declared war on Germany five days after the invasion of Poland in September 1939. Thrust by the British into the campaign against Erwin Rommel’s German Afrika Korps in North Africa, the South Africans fought a see-saw war of defeats followed by successes, culminating in the Battle of El Alamein, where South African soldiers made a significant contribution to halting the Desert Fox’s advance into Egypt. This is the story of an army committed somewhat reluctantly to a war it didn’t fully support, ill-prepared for the battles it was tasked with fighting, and sent into action on the orders of its senior alliance partner. At its heart, however, this is the story of men at war.
