Download or read book The SADF and Cuito Cuanavale written by Leopold Scholtz and published by Jonathan Ball Publishers. This book was released on 2020-02-15 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A shooting war is often followed by a second war. This war is not fought with bullets or artillery shells, not with tanks or bombers, but rather with words. The war is, in effect, fought again on paper." In 1987–1988 the dusty Angolan town of Cuito Cuanavale was the backdrop for the final battles of the Border War. Ever since the war ended, the fighting around Cuito has been the subject of a fierce public debate over who actually won the war. While the leadership of the former South African Defence Force (SADF) claims it was never defeated, the supporters of the Angolan MPLA government, Cuba and SWAPO insist that the SADF was vanquished on the battlefield. They contend that the SADF wanted to overrun Cuito Cuanavale and use it as a springboard for an advance on Luanda. But was Cuito Cuanavale ever really an objective of the SADF? Leopold Scholtz tackles this question by examining recently declassified documents in the SANDF archives, exploring the strategic and tactical decisions that shaped the six main battles, from the SADF's stunning tactical success on the Lomba River to the grinding struggle for the Tumpo Triangle. His incisive analysis untangles what happens when war, politics and propaganda become entwined.

Download or read book Die SAW en Cuito Cuanaval written by Leopold Scholtz and published by Jonathan Ball Publishers. This book was released on 2020-02-15 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1987–1988 was die stowwerige Angolese dorpie Cuito Cuanavale die toneel van die laaste gevegte van die Grensoorlog. Sedertdien is dit die fokuspunt van 'n openbare debat oor wie eintlik hierdie oorlog gewen het. Die leierskorps van die Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag (SAW) hou vol hulle is nooit verslaan nie, terwyl die alliansie van die Angolese MPLA-regering, Kuba en Swapo beweer hulle het die SAW uit Angola en Suidwes-Afrika verdryf. Hulle glo voorts die SAW wou Cuito Cuanavale beset en as afspringplek gebruik om Luanda in te neem. Maar was Cuito Cuanavale ooit regtig 'n doelwit vir die Suid-Afrikaners? Dit is die vraag wat Leopold Scholtz vra wanneer hy onlangs gedeklassi-fiseerde dokumente in die weermagargief bestudeer en die taktiese en strategiese besluite ondersoek wat 'n bepalende rol in die ses groot veldslae van dié veldtog gespeel het. Sy kritiese ontleding wys hoe maklik propaganda en politiek in die pad van feite kan staan.

Download or read book Ratels on the Lomba written by Leopold Scholz and published by Helion. This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dramatic recreation of the fighting that took place on the Lomba River in Southern Angola during Operation 'Moduler' in 1987.

Download or read book South Africa s Post Apartheid Military written by Lindy Heinecken and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-01-01 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This timely book examines how the South African National Defence Force has adapted to the country’s new security, political and social environment since 1994. In South Africa’s changed political state, how has civilian control of the military been implemented and what does this mean for ‘defence in a democracy’? This book presents an overview of the security environment, how the mission focus of the military has changed and the implications for force procurement, force preparation, force employment and force sustainability. The author addresses other issues, such as: · the effect of integrating former revolutionary soldiers into a professional armed force · the effect of affirmative action on meritocracy, recruitment and retention · military veterans, looking at the difficulties they face in reintegrating back into society and finding gainful employment · gender equality and mainstreaming · the rise of military unions and why a confrontational, instead of a more corporatist approach to labour relations has emerged · HIV/AIDS and the consequences this holds for the military in terms of its operational effectiveness. In closing, the author highlights key events that have caused the SANDF to become ‘lost in transition and transformation’, spelling out some lessons learned. The conclusions she draws are pertinent for the future of defence, security and civil-military relations of countries around the world.

Download or read book Ratels on the Lomba written by Leopold Scholtz and published by . This book was released on 2018-02-23 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charlie Squadron – the iron fist of the South African Defense Force’s 61 Mechanised Battalion Group – led the way on 3 October 1987 during the climactic battle on the Lomba River in Southern Angola. Not only were they up against a vastly superior force in terms of numbers and weaponry, but they also had to deal with a terrain so dense that both their movement and sight were severely impaired. Despite this, the squadron nearly wiped out the Angolan forces’ 47 Brigade. In Ratels on the Lomba, the reader is taken to the heart of the action in a dramatic recreation based on interviews, diary entries and Facebook contributions by members of Charlie Squadron. It is an intensely human story of how individuals react in the face of death.

Download or read book The War for Africa written by Fred Bridgland and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2017-06-19 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “gripping” story of the Angolan Civil War and how it evolved into a Cold War struggle between superpowers (New York Journal of Books). Lasting over a quarter of a century, from 1975 to 2002, the Angolan Civil War began as a power struggle between two former liberation movements, the MPLA and UNITA—but became a Cold War struggle with involvement from the Soviet Union, Cuba, South Africa, and the United States. This book examines the height of the Cuban-South African fighting in Angola in 1987–88, when three thousand South African soldiers and about eight thousand UNITA guerrilla fighters fought in alliance against the Cubans and the armed forces of the Marxist MPLA government, a force of over fifty thousand men. Fred Bridgland pieced together the course of the war, fought in one of the world’s most remote and wild terrains, by interviewing the South Africans who fought it, and many of their stories are woven into the narrative. This classic account of a Cold War struggle and its momentous consequences for the participants and the continent now includes a new preface and epilogue. “Highlights just how much political and social considerations dictate the outcome of war . . . A highly detailed work of military history, The War for Africa can tell us a lot about the nature of counter-insurgency warfare and how small states can become contested battlegrounds between superpowers.” —New York Journal of Books

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 A Military History of Africa written by Timothy J. Stapleton and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2013-10-21 with total page 1024 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A detailed and thorough chronological overview of the history of warfare and military structures in Africa, covering ancient times to the present day. A Military History of Africa achieves a daunting task: it synthesizes decades of specialized academic research and literature—including the most recent material—to offer an accessible survey of Africa's military history, from the earliest times to the present day. The first volume examines the precolonial period beginning with warfare in ancient North Africa including ancient Egypt and Carthage and continues through the cavalry-based Muslim empires of the trans-Sahara trade and the wars of the slave trade in West and East Africa. The second volume focuses on the wars of European colonial conquest and African resistance during the late 19th century, African participation in both world wars, and the early violent struggles for independence from the 1950s and early 1960s. The third volume explores warfare in postcolonial Africa, including coverage of the impact of the global Cold War, conflicts in Southern Africa from the 1960s to 1980s, the development of postcolonial African armed forces, and civil wars sparked by the discovery of precious resources, such as diamonds in Sierra Leone. Readers of this three-volume work will understand how warfare and military structures have been consistently central to the development of African societies.

Download or read book The Cuban Intervention in Angola 1965 1991 written by Edward George and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-11-23 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new examination of why Cuba, a Caribbean country, sent half a million of its citizens to fight in Angola in Africa, and how a short-term intervention escalated into a lengthy war of intervention. It clearly details how in January 1965 Cuba formed an alliance with the Angolan MPLA which evolved into the flagship of its global 'internationalist' mission, spawning the military intervention of November 1975 culminating in Cuba's spurious 'victory' at Cuito Cuanavale and Cuba's fifteen-year occupation of Angola. Drawing on interviews with leading protagonists, first-hand accounts and archive material from Cuba, Angola and South Africa, this new book dispels the myths of the Cuban intervention, revealing that Havana's decision to intervene was not so much an heroic gesture of solidarity, but rather a last-ditch gamble to avert disaster. By examining Cuba's role in the Angolan War in a global context, this book demonstrates how the interaction between the many players in Angola shaped and affected Cuba's intervention as it headed towards its controversial conclusion.

Download or read book 20 Battles written by Evert Kleynhans and published by Jonathan Ball Publishers. This book was released on 2023-07-28 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Favouring manoeuvre over attrition and often punching above their weight, South African soldiers have become known for their tenacity, dash and ability to defy the odds. Their unique directive command style has also helped them to excel in defining battles and operations, from the campaign in German South West Africa in 1915 to the cross-border operations in Angola during the Border War. In 20 Battles, military historians Evert Kleynhans and David Brock Katz investigate the evolution of South Africa's armed forces over a century from 1913 to 2013. They track the evolution of the doctrine and structure of the defence force, uncovering historical continuity and the lessons learned from past battles and operations. What is clear is that when South African soldiers have the freedom to operate according to their manoeuvre doctrine, as they had in East Africa in 1916 and southern Ethiopia in 1941, they can achieve stunning results. But when hemmed in by rigid doctrine and a top-down command style, as at Delville Wood in 1916 and Tobruk in 1942, the results can be tragic. 20 Battles combines both battlefield drama and crisp analysis and in the process provides a much-needed perspective on the South African way of war.

Download or read book Battle For Angola written by Al J. Venter and published by Helion and Company. This book was released on 2017-04-03 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the publication of Al Venter’s successful Portugal’s Guerrilla Wars in Africa - shortlisted by the New York Military Affairs Symposium’s 'Arthur Goodzeit Book Award for 2013' - his Battle for Angola delves still further into the troubled history of this former Portuguese African colony. This is a completely fresh work running to almost 600 pages including 32 pages of color photos, with the main thrust on events before and after the civil war that followed Lisbon’s over-hasty departure back to the metrópole. There are also several sections that detail the role of South African mercenaries in defeating the rebel leader Dr Jonas Savimbi (considered by some as the most accomplished guerrilla leader to emerge in Africa in the past century). There are many chapters that deal with Pretoria’s reaction to the deteriorating political and military situation in Angola, the role of the Soviets and mercenaries in the political transition, as well as the civil war that followed. With the assistance of several notable military authorities he elaborates in considerable detail on South Africa’s 23-year Border War, from the first guerrilla incursions to the last. In this regard he received solid help from the former the head of 4 Reconnaissance Regiment, Colonel Douw Steyn, who details several cross-border Recce strikes, including the sinking by frogmen of two Soviet ships and a Cuban freighter in an Angolan deepwater port. Throughout, the author was helped by a variety of notable authorities, including the French historian Dr René Pélissier and the American academic and former naval aviator Dr John (Jack) Cann. With their assistance, he covers several ancillary uprisings and invasions, including the Herero revolt of the early 20th century; the equally troubled Ovambo insurrection, as well as the invasion of Angola by the Imperial German Army in the First World War. Former deputy head of the South African Army Major General Roland de Vries played a seminal role. It was he - dubbed ‘South Africa’s Rommel’ by his fellow commanders - who successfully nurtured the concept of ‘mobile warfare’ where, in a succession of armored onslaughts ‘thin-skinned’ Ratel Infantry Fighting Vehicles tackled Soviet main battle tanks and thrashed them. There is a major section on South African Airborne – the ‘Parabats’ –by Brigadier-General McGill Alexander, one of the architects of that kind of warfare under Third World conditions. Finally, the role of Cuban Revolutionary Army receives the attention it deserves: officially there were almost 50,000 Cuban troops deployed in the Angolan war, though subsequent disclosures in Havana suggest that the final total was much higher.

Download or read book Surviving the Ride written by Steve Camp and published by 30 Degrees South Publishers. This book was released on 2014-09-19 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mine-protected and mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles are today standard in the US, most major western armed forces and many other armies as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The South African Army was already routinely using mine-protected armored personnel carriers and patrol vehicles forty years ago even if they looked primitive and ungainly. A few years later, the South African Army had reached the stage where it could deploy entire combat groups into battle zones equipped with only mine-protected vehicles, including their ambulances and supply trucks. By then the mine-protected vehicles had also become effective for use in combat, rather than just protected transport, the Casspir being the chief example. More to the point, they saved countless soldiers and policemen from death or serious injury, and the basic concepts now live on in the various MRAP types in service today. The valuable lessons learned by the South Africans with their early designs of these combat-proven vehicles has led the country to become one of the global leaders in the design of MRAPs which are locally manufactured and exported around the world. Surviving the Ride is a fascinating pictorial account featuring more than 120 of these unique South African-developed vehicles, spanning a forty-year period, with over 280 photographs, many of which are previously unpublished.

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 2012-03-30 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What really happened during South Africa’s military involvement in Angola? Did the military leaders always see eye to eye with the politicians – and with each other? Was South Africa responsible for the death of Mozambican President Samora Machel? What was the extent of South Africa’s nuclear programme? How did South Africa’s military machine deal with the end of apartheid? Based on interviews with the former generals of the South African Defence Force, Days of the Generals addresses these and many other fascinating questions. The book looks in detail at South Africa’s intervention in Angola, Namibia and Mozambique. It examines the armed struggle of the ANC and the state’s war against the liberation movements. It investigates chemical and biological warfare, the ‘third force’ and other top-secret issues. For the first time, the generals – Magnus Malan, Constand Viljoen, Jannie Geldenhuys, Georg Meiring, Hein du Toit and Chris Thirion – have opened up and given their account of events in southern Africa from the 1970s to the present. Theirs is an explosive story, giving behind-the-scenes information about covert operations, secret meetings, strategic alliances and full-scale war. This is essential reading for anyone interested in southern African politics and military history. The author, Hilton Hamann, entered the South African Defence Force as a conscript in 1975, and was stationed in Angola. He subsequently became the Sunday Times’s military correspondent and wrote for a number of well-known international magazines and newspapers, such as Soldier of Fortune. In this role he travelled extensively with the SADF, often accompanying them into battle. He currently runs a news syndication company.

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 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the Soviet Union teetered on the edge of collapse during the late 1980s, and America prepared to claim its victory, a bloody war still raged in Southern Africa, where proxy forces from both sides vied for control of Angola. The result was the largest battle on the dark continent since Al Alamein, with forces from both sides paying in blood what U.S.-Soviet diplomats were otherwise spending in diplomacy. The socialist government of Angola and its army, FAPLA, fully stocked with Soviet weapons, had only to wipe out a massive resistance group, UNITA, secretly supplied by the U.S, in order to claim full sovereignty over the country. A giant FAPLA offensive so threatened to succeed in overcoming UNITA that apartheid-era South Africa stepped in to protect its own interests. The white army crossing the border prompted the Angolan government to call on their own foreign reinforcementsÑthe army of Communist CubaÕs. Thus began the epic battle of Cuito Cuanavale, largely unknown in the U.S., but which raged for three months in the entirely odd match-up of South African Boers vs. CastroÕs armed forces, which for the first time in the Cold War proved what it could achieve. And it turned out the Cubans were very good. The South Africans were no slouches at warfare themselves, but had suffered under a boycott of weapons since 1977. The Cubans and Angolan troops, instead, had the latest Soviet weapons, easily delivered. But UNITA had its secret U.S. supply line and the South Africans knew how to fight, mainly at a disadvantage in air power for lack of spare parts. Meantime the Cubans overcame their logistic difficulties with an impressive airlift of troops over the Atlantic, while the Boers simply needed to drive next door. As a case study of ferocious fighting between East and WestÑalbeit proxies for the great powers on all sidesÑthis book unveils a remarkable episode of the end-game of the Cold War largely unknown to the public. The Angolans on both sides suffered heavily, but it was the apartheid South Africans versus CastroÕs armed forces that provides utter fascination in one of historyÕs rare match-ups.

Download or read book The Boy Who Never Gave Up written by Emmanuel Taban and published by Jonathan Ball Publishers. This book was released on 2021-03-15 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1994, 16-year-old Emmanuel Taban walked out of war-torn Sudan with nothing and nowhere to go after he had been tortured at the hands of government forces, who falsely accused him of spying for the rebels. When he finally managed to escape, he literally took a wrong turn and, instead of being reunited with his family, ended up in neighbouring Eritrea as a refugee. Over the months that followed, young Emmanuel went on a harrowing journey, often spending weeks on the streets and facing many dangers. Relying on the generosity of strangers, he made the long journey south to South Africa, via Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, travelling mostly by bus and on foot. When he reached Johannesburg, 18 months after fleeing Sudan, he was determined to resume his education. He managed to complete his schooling with the help of Catholic missionaries and entered medical school, qualifying as a doctor, and eventually specialising in pulmonology. Emmanuel's skills and dedication as a physician, and his stubborn refusal to be discouraged by setbacks, led to an important discovery in the treatment of hypoxaemic COVID-19 patients. By never giving up, this son of South Sudan has risen above extreme poverty, racism and xenophobia to become a South African and African legend. This is his story.

Download or read book War in Angola written by Helmoed-R. Heitman and published by Ashanti Publishing. This book was released on 1990 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

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 334 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.