Download or read book Koevoet Volume 2 written by Steve Crump and published by Africa@War. This book was released on 2023-08-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This second volume documents the continued deployment of Koevoet during the South-West African conflict and its further expansion and development as a counter-insurgency force. It details the tempo of day-to-day Koevoet operations in the operational area across Owamboland, the Kavango and Kaokoland, alongside the continued pursuit of SWAPO insurgents and PLAN fighters into Angola. In addition, this volume continues to trace the development of Koevoet doctrine, tactics and its ongoing co-operation with other arms, including the South African Defence Force, the South West African Territorial Force and the South African Air Force. All of which is set against the context of an emboldened SWAPO and PLAN who were securing ever greater leverage with, and amongst, the civilian population. The challenge of sustaining counter-insurgency operations is examined, as is the continuing importance of intelligence gathering and analysis. Intelligence that was the key to shaping South Africa's approach to the 1988 US brokered peace talks with Cuba and Angola which paved the way for Namibian independence in November 1989. Koevoet Volume II details the establishment of the two UN monitoring missions - the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM) and the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) - and the plans for free, independent, elections and the return of PLAN and SADF units to their bases. However, this was compromised when SWAPO reneged on the ceasefire agreement and 1,600 PLAN fighters sought to move into Namibia to subvert the elections and to ensure SWAPO seized power. Koevoet was tasked to respond, along with other security assets in what was to become known as, 'Operation Merlyn' or the Nine Days War. This action is examined in detail, as is the rationale for Koevoet's disbandment; a demobilization process that would see the SAP abandon its trackers to a dangerous and uncertain fate. Koevoet Volume 2 also examines the legacy of Koevoet, controversies and accusations of which there were many. A cutting edge COIN capability or Pretoria's Waffen SS? Color profiles detail the continued development of Mine Protected Vehicles (MPVs) used by Koevoet, along with full color artworks that document the evolving uniforms and insignia of Koevoet.

Download or read book Koevoet written by Jim Hooper and published by Helion and Company / GG Books. This book was released on 2013-02-15 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Koevoet! has been an global bestseller since its release over 20 years ago. This new edition goes far beyond the original in capturing the courage, fear and intensity of South Africa's deadly bush war. Never before had an outsider been given unrestricted access to Koevoet, the elite South West African Police counterinsurgency unit - also known as Operation K and officially as the South West Africa Police Counter Insurgency Unit (SWAPOL-COIN). Author Jim Hooper spent a total of five months embedded with the semi-secret and predominantly black 'Ops K', which climaxed with one of the most vicious and determined infiltrations ever mounted by the communist-backed South West Africa People s Organization (SWAPO). Crossing regularly into Angola in pursuit of the insurgents, he saw friends die next to him and was twice wounded himself. This updated edition, drawing on the recollections and diaries of the men he rode with, will fascinate yet another generation of readers. In assembling this work, Jim Hooper had the opportunity to re-connect with so many of the men who allowed this outsider to ride with them. All of which brought a new intensity and poignancy. It also reminded Jim Hooper how privileged he was to have been witness to Koevoet's war. This stunning work is a tribute to Koevoet and the legend they created. "Hooper is a careful reporter, but also a born writer; his vivid word-pictures drag you in and hold you. He skillfully conveys his initially unwelcoming reception by an operational unit; the long, frustrating grind of search operations in punishing terrain and climate; the extraordinary bush skills of the Ovambo policemen; the shock of sudden contact, and its aftermath." Martin Windrow "Jim Hooper's account of South Africa's successful "Ops K" in Namibia against South West Africa's People's Organization guerrillas should be required reading. The classic narrative is as timely today as it was twenty years ago." Charles D. Melson, Chief Historian, U.S. Marine Corps University. "This expanded edition is a skillfully woven mosaic of personal accounts from those involved and what he experienced during combat with Koevoet. The use of new material from those he rode with lays bare the realities of war, the fears and emotions that ebb and flow in the heat of combat, and the courage one finds to bring the battle to the enemy" Piet Nortje, Author of 32 Battalion "Koevoet describes in great detail the men, both black and white, and their mine-protected cross-country vehicles which were years ahead of anything in use by other western forces, the dedicated helicopter support units and the tactics used to bring an elusive guerrilla force to battle." Paul French, Author of Shadows of a Forgotten Past: To the Edge with the Rhodesian SAS and Selous Scouts.

Download or read book Koevoet Volume 1 written by STEVE. CRUMP and published by Helion. This book was released on 2022-03-15 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Koeovet - the South West African Police's elite counter insurgency unit; feared and respected in equal measure. This first volume of an all new, two-part work, documents the inception of 'Ops K' or Koevoet and its role in the vicious South West African Border War up to 1984.

Download or read book Zulu Zulu Golf written by Arn Durand and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The gripping account of Arn Durand's first two years with Koevoet, South Africa's most deadly fighting unit during the Border War. Through Durand's eyes, the reader will experience the madness, mayhem and complexity of the war. A unit of the South African police, Koevoet was the most deadly fighting force involved in the Border War. This book is the account of Arn Durand's first years with Koevoet, from 1982 to 1983. He describes patrols, ambushes and contacts, situations of certain death, dealings with the enemy and relationships with his Ovambo colleagues. This book does not glorify war or peddle propaganda. It simply relates, in a deadpan style, what it was like to be a killing machine in the heat of battle.

Download or read book Shadows in the Sand written by Sisingi Kamongo and published by 30 Degrees South Publishers. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first-ever account of the bush war by a non-white member of the South African security forces; it offers a unique, previously untold perspective of the bush war, by an on-the-ground tracker

Download or read book The Covert War written by Peter Stiff and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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. During its almost ten year existence it fought in 1,615 contacts and killed or captured 3,225 of SWAPO's PLAN soldiers - the equivalent of almost six battalions of troops. But it paid a high price in blood and lost almost 160 policemen killed in action with another 949 wounded - more grievous casualties than any other South African fighting unit since World War II.--Publisher's website.

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 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 Nine Days of War written by Peter Stiff and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1st April 1989 marked the first day of peace in Namibia. After seemingly endless years of dispute between South Africa and the UN, after 23 years of bush warfare between SWAPO and the SADF, which had spread from Namibia into Angola and, at times, into Zambia, Namibia was finally on course for UN supervised free and fair elections in November 1989, which would lead to independence in 1990. The South Africans had stuck to the letter of the agreements and even more. By 1st April they had demobilised the powerful SWA Territory Force, drastically reduced the strength of the SADF and confined the residue still remaining in Namibia to their bases. When the Sun rose on that fateful day, it would catch the shadows of only five SAAF Alouette helicopter gunships, emasculated of their deadly cannons, and dispersed along 400-km of the Namibian border with Angola. SWAPOAs leader, Sam Nujoma, knew it, for the knowledge was international property via the UN.

Download or read book Cry Zimbabwe written by Peter Stiff and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Author gives an accounton how president Mugabe and ZANU-PF come into power in 1980, the elections in 1985, 1990 and 1995. He also discusses the invasions of squatters led by ex-ZANLA on to the white owned farms.

Download or read book Angola Clausewitz and the American Way of War written by John S. McCain (IV.) and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-04-11 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For over twenty years, the South African Border War was fought to counter the influence of Marxism-Leninism and to maintain control of Namibia. The South African people relied on cultural tools and adaptive strategies to protect their own interests. John S. McCain IV isn't interested in taking sides on this issue; instead, he analyzes the military's tactics, operational effectiveness, and strategy. Angola, Clausewitz, and the American Way of War explores the concept of strategy making in war within the context of the South African Border War. It describes the danger of leaning on middle-range theories over general theories and of starting the decision-making process in the middle rather than at the top. Wars should not be forced into a type as one thing or another-and then assumed to be all the same, based on that type. Each individual war should be seen for what it is, unique, and those in charge should be prepared to make changes and reevaluate every step of the way to account for all the moving pieces and the realities on the ground. In the same vein as The Direction of War by Hew Strachan, McCain recognizes that US wars since 9/11 have been poorly strategized. This heavily researched volume challenges traditional approaches to conflict and suggests ways they could be improved.

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 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 244 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 Paras written by John P. Cann and published by . This book was released on 2017-02-22 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Portuguese paratroopers or “paras” began as a stepchild of the army and found a home in the Portuguese Air Force in 1955. Initially, the post-World War Two Portuguese Army seemed to have had mixed emotions about the need for elite, special-purpose forces that operated in small units with the attendant flexibility and elevated lethality. Shock troops have been traditionally controversial, and even the vaunted military theorist Baron Karl von Clausewitz saw little point in them. The history of the paras in the Portuguese Army is illustrative of this ambivalent view. Nevertheless, in a “war of the weak” in which insurgents avoid government strengths and exploit its vulnerabilities using agility, deception, and imagination, such small, crack government units are particularly well suited to counterinsurgency operations. This appreciation emerged with the threat of a new kind of war in Portuguese Africa, an insurgency, and the new and visionary Air Force well understood the potential of paras when combined with the mobility of the helicopter. The Air Force saw an urgent need for troops who could fight an unconventional war, who could not only defeat an enemy but separate him from the population in which he sought concealment and support and on which he depended for funding, recruits, and intelligence. These were specialised warfighters who in one minute were physically destroying an insidious enemy and in the next administering aid and support and protecting a vulnerable population. These were just the troops that Portugal would require for military success in its approaching battle fought between 1961 and 1974 to retain its African possessions, and this vision would be realized on the African battlefield with devastating consequences. This book tells the paras’ story as researched from Portuguese sources. It details how they were formed and trained and how they developed their imaginative, effective, and feared tactics and applied them in operations to protect the population from insurgent predations and destroy a vicious enemy.

Download or read book Neoliberal Apartheid written by Andy Clarno and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first comparative analysis of the political transitions in South Africa and Palestine since the 1990s. Clarno s study is grounded in impressive ethnographic fieldwork, taking him from South African townships to Palestinian refugee camps, where he talked to a wide array of informants, from local residents to policymakers, political activists, business representatives, and local and international security personnel. The resulting inquiry accounts for the simultaneous development of extreme inequality, racialized poverty, and advanced strategies for securing the powerful and policing the poor in South Africa and Palestine/Israel over the last 20 years. Clarno places these transitions in a global context while arguing that a new form of neoliberal apartheid has emerged in both countries. The width and depth of Clarno s research, combined with wide-ranging first-hand accounts of realities otherwise difficult for researchers to access, make Neoliberal Apartheid a path-breaking contribution to the study of social change, political transitions, and security dynamics in highly unequal societies. Take one example of Clarno s major themes, to wit, the issue of security. Both places have generated advanced strategies for securing the powerful and policing the racialized poor. In South Africa, racialized anxieties about black crime shape the growth of private security forces that police poor black South Africans in wealthy neighborhoods. Meanwhile, a discourse of Muslim terrorism informs the coordinated network of security forcesinvolving Israel, the United States, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authoritythat polices Palestinians in the West Bank. Overall, Clarno s pathbreaking book shows how the shifting relationship between racism, capitalism, colonialism, and empire has generated inequality and insecurity, marginalization and securitization in South Africa, Palestine/Israel, and other parts of the world."

Download or read book War of Intervention in Angola Volume 4 written by Adrien Fontanellaz and published by Africa@War. This book was released on 2021-06-15 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fourth volume continues the coverage of the operational history of the Angolan Air Force and Air Defense Force (FAPA/DAA) as told by Angolan and Cuban sources, in the period 1985-1988.

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.