This book captures the experience of the South African Air Force helicopter pilot as never before; from 'rookie' to seasoned combat aviator in one of history's most intense counterinsurgency conflicts - the South African Border War.Nick Lithgow's work relates the grueling endurance of SADF National Service and its grind, grind, grind ... until one day, helicopter drills with an SAAF Puma, saw him optimistically apply for pilot training. Called to Pretoria, Nick completed the mandat...

‘Both my guns are jammed. I’m dead meat, a sitting duck. All the insurgent has to do is pull the trigger of his RPG-7 rocket launcher. My heart surges, pumping pure adrenalin through my body and my mind.’ Arn Durand was a member of Koevoet, the most deadly fighting force involved in the Border War. Their task was to seek and destroy SWAPO PLAN insurgents. Zulu Zulu Foxtrot is an explosive account of Durand’s time with Koevoet during the mid-1980s, during which he went deeper into Angola th...

US military veteran and historian Dan Tharp's Africa Lost tells the inside story of some of the greatest special operators you've never heard of.Some of the most explosive combat in Special Operations history is almost completely unknown to the Western World. Everyone knows about Navy SEALs and Green Berets but nobody knows about the deep recce, sabotage, and direct action missions conducted by the Rhodesian SAS. The Rhodesian Light Infantry was a killing ...

‘There is no dignity in death. Six bodies are piled up in front of me, shot to shit. I can see that their bones are white, their blood is red and their brains are yellow. I’ve done this; I’ve helped to kill them.’ A unit of the South African Police, Koevoet was the most deadly fighting force involved in the Border War. This is the story of Arn Durand’s first years with Koevoet, from 1982 to 1983. Through his eyes, the madness, mayhem and complexity of war come alive as he describes patrols...

A very different tongue-in-cheek personal account about a forgotten war. Between 1964 and 1980 Rhodesian men from all walks of life left their families and jobs to fight for their country. They were farmers, bankers, railwaymen, shopkeepers, miners and even Members of Parliament, who every six weeks, changed their soft civilian life for battle dress, rifles and grenades.These are their stories.It's not really about war heroes. It's more about bluestone charged, but still lu...

It was 1968 and Robert Hartley was on his first combat mission in Vietnam as copilot of a helicopter gunship. As he and his platoon leader flew over the A Shau Valley, a Chinook helicopter engulfed in flames suddenly came into view. Hartley noticed tiny black smoking objects exiting the tail ramp of the aircraft. Seconds later, he realized those objects were men escaping the flames and plunging to their deaths. It was in that moment that he silently wondered, How the hell did I get here?

"The finest account I've read on the Selous Scouts . . . Andy Balaam tells it like it was—the fear, the terror, the adrenaline highs of combat in the bush." —Chris Cocks, bestselling author of FireforceFrom the searing heat of the Zambezi Valley to the freezing cold of the Chimanimani Mountains in Rhodesia, from the bars in Port St Johns in the Transkei to the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa, this is the story of one man's fight against terror, and hi...

While the raid that killed Osama bin Laden cemented SEAL Team Six as the American military's reluctant media darling, a broader look at the Global War on Terror suggests that it's been the Army's Delta Force that has quietly spearheaded the most ambitious special operations campaign in modern history.Formerly a highly trained but seldom used tool in America's arsenal, over the past decade 'the Unit' has been unleashed on the nation's enemies the world over. In SHAPING THE WORLD FRO...

Afghan Heat is a fast paced story of an SAS operative based on real operations in Afghanistan. From SAS selection through to a tour on the battlefields of Afghanistan. The book follows individual operations where special forces, aircraft, and the latest surveillance technology are fused together - in order to capture key figures or simply take out an enemy stronghold.The books account is both gritty and graphical as it follows the SAS, battling at times against overwhelming odds in...

'Captures the confusion, black humour, raw courage and sheer exhilaration of combat brilliantly' THE TIMES'Read this account of his stint with the 26-man strong X Platoon in the sweltering jungle, living on grubs, outnumbered 80 to one, battling heavily armed rebels with bamboo sticks and home-made grenades, and you'll be asking the question... Why wasn't he given TWO MCs?' SUNDAY SPORT2,000 blood-crazed rebels. 26 elite British soldiers. O...

A biography of a Special Forces soldier who battled the forces of Mugabe and Nkomo, earning a reputation as a military maestro.During the West's great transition into the post-colonial age, the country of Rhodesia refused to succumb quietly, and throughout the 1970s, fought back almost alone against Communist-supported elements that it did not believe would deliver proper governance. During this long war, many heroes emerged, but none more skillful and courageous t...

Battle for Cassinga is written as a firsthand account by an ordinary South African paratrooper who was at the 1978 assault on the Angolan headquarters of PLAN, the armed wing of SWAPO. The book relates why the South African government took the political risk in attacking the fortress in an external operation and examines the SWAPO claims that Cassinga was a refugee camp guarded by a few PLAN soldiers. It also explains why Sam Nujoma the SWAPO leader had no option but to perpetuate this fal...