ABOUT THE AUTHORS:Henrik EllertHenrik Ellert was born in Denmark but grew up in Kenya during the Mau Mau emergency. He came to Zimbabwe in 1961 and joined the police force in 1964, initially serving two years in the uniformed branch and stationed in Shabani and Hartley, where he gained his first experience with the nationalist guerrilla insurgency after the killing of the Viljoens by ZANLA in 1966. He later transferred to the CID being stationed in Gweru and shortly after joined Special Branch posted to the Chirundu border post where he was involved in Operation Couldron and Griffin and intel collection from Zambia. Returning to the Provincial Special Branch Office, Salisbury and Mashonaland, he was first responsible for border control at Salisbury airport and later on the European desk, rising to head of the section where his work brought him into contact with a wide spectrum of society. Throughout the 1970s he was periodically stationed at JOC Hurricane and, after completing Portuguese language studies, undertook liaison duties with Portuguese authorities in Beira, Tete, Chitima and Mukumbura. In 1978 he was seconded to special duties as UANC liaison on Operation Favour before being transferred as Member-in-Charge of CID/Special Branch Que Que with responsibilities during Operation Grapple and Operation Favour. He retired with the rank of Detective Inspector in 1979.
Dennis Malcolm Anderson
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In the aftermath of World War II and the era of decolonization, the future of Rhodesia, and it is fair to say South Africa, was equally determined by demographic imperatives. With UDI, the clock starting ticking ever faster. Honestly, what chance did the Rhodesians have when their population was a mere 3-4% of the total (at its height) in the early 1970s? Was there ever going to be another outcome, bearing in mind the collapse of white rule in South Africa just fifteen years on? Ellert and Anderson’s book seems to fill the vacuum here, and serves well to broaden the perspective of where Rhodesians were. It may help understand why Zimbabwe is as it is today.
Through their dedication and in-depth knowledge, Henrik Ellert and Dennis Anderson both very competent Special Branch operators have put together a very readable book which sets out the course of history, not only covering Rhodesia, but the adjoining countries of Mozambique, Botswana, and Zambia.
This is not an “I” book, but based on facts, some aspects disturbing, others showing immense intelligence gathering ingenuity. In many ways the book portrays that from the time of the British South Africa Company in the 1890’s up to Independence the protection of the white community was high on the agenda, with a fatherly approach to the African Community.
The book also reveals that there was a section of the white community who had vision and wanted a broader political agenda, but were suppressed by the ever-powerful Rhodesia Front – just like the clamoring for a new vision is being thwarted by the ZANU-PF government today.
True to the nature of Special Forces, the South African Recces started small but had a big impact. This iconic group went on to gain international renown as one of the world’s finest, focusing on counter-insurgency, strategic reconnaissance, sabotage and direct action. SASF SPECIAL FORCES provides a comprehensive account of the origins and history of this famous group as told...
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This is the story of one of the world's most effective Special Forces units told by the men who served in it. Breaking with conventional military thinking, the South African Police created Koevoet by refining the concept of the counter-insurgency group pioneered in Rhodesia during the Bush War in order to provide up-to-date intelligence about an elusive enemy. Now at...
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Until now little has been known about the Rhodesian contribution to the history of the SAS. Now at last the men themselves tell their own stories of the exploits of that Special Forces unit during the Bush War and the years before. SAS Rhodesia provides a comprehensive account of the origins and history of this famous Special Forces unit, as told...
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With roots going back to Cecil Rhodes’ buccaneering Pioneers, Stannard, like many of his countrymen, was born and bred to fight against the odds as a soldier defending a country at war with the world. Never frightened to lead, he tackled his foe with skill, incredible courage and almost unbelievable good cheer. Serving in both the SAS and the Selous...
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Richard Freiherr von Rosen was a highly-decorated Wehrmacht soldier and outstanding panzer commander. His memoirs are richly illustrated with contemporary photographs, including key confrontations of World War II.After serving as a gunlayer on a Pz.Mk.III during Barbarossa, he led a Company of Tigers at Kursk. Later he led a company of King Tiger panzers at Normandy and in late 1944...
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AFRICA@WAR SERIES: VOLUME 50 War of Intervention in Angola - Volume 3: Angolan and Cuban Air Forces 1975-1985 - Tom Cooper, Adrian Fontanellaz, Jose Augusto Matos Most accounts of the conflict known in the West as the ‘Border War’ barely mention the operations by the FAPA/DAA. A handful of published histories mention two MiG-21s claimed as shot down by Dassault Mirage F.1...
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‘The War for Africa: Conflict, Crime, Corruption and Foreign Interests’ is a hard-hitting account of the undeclared and invisible conflicts and wars that go almost unnoticed in the daily mainstream media. The impact of these economic, military, and political conflicts on the continent and its people is devastating. This book offers a personal, yet disturbing and behind-the-scenes glimpse of much...
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Designed in response to a 1951 requirement, the C-130 Hercules is the most successful military airlifter ever built. Since it first flew in prototype form on 23 August 1954, more than 2,100 have been produced in over eighty different versions. Across its variants, the Hercules serves more than sixty air forces, as well as many civilian cargo operators, in a...
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AFRICA@WAR SERIES: VOLUME 51 RIPE FOR REBELLION: Political and Military Insurgency in the Congo, 1946-1964 - Stephen Rookes After many years of political struggle, the Belgian Congo was finally granted its independence in June 1960. Becoming the Republic of the Congo (and later the Democratic Republic of the Congo), what was supposed to be a momentous occasion in the country's history...
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Eighth Army Versus Rommel is a riveting account of the Desert War from 1940 through Montgomery's celebrated battle of Alamein in 1942. Comprehensively researched and rich in previously unpublished material, it examines the undertrained and underfunded pre-war British Army, contrasting its leadership with its opposite numbers in Germany, and demonstrates how and why Eighth Army had difficulties in its first 18...
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AFRICA@WAR SERIES: VOLUME 52 FOR GOD AND THE CIA: Cuban Exile Forces in the Congo and Beyond c.1961-1967 - Stephen Rookes As the United Nations armed forces found themselves struggling to quell a series of armed rebellions, towards the end of 1962 the United States increased its military role in the Congo Crisis by providing the Congolese government with a small air...
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Following the Korean War, the next armed conflict to involve South African military forces was against Soviet, Cuban and Angolan forces – the SADF’s Operation Savannah in Angola. This resulted from the communist-inspired coup d’état in Portugal and the Soviet Union’s attempt, using Cuban surrogate forces, to annex Angola and to threaten South Africa’s national security. Teenaged boys doing their...
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Alan Brough is a writer and historian who grew up in Rhodesia. During those turbulent years he heard the whispered stories of Jack Malloch, an amazing flyer who many credited with the very survival of the breakaway country. Yet on the surface Jack seemed to be nothing but a hard-working entrepreneur who owned a nondescript little cargo operation serviced by...
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By August 1974 the Portuguese had all but abandoned Angola, its erstwhile colony, and there was a fear in both the Intelligence services of South Africa and America that the country was likely to fall the hands of the MPLA, generally regarded as a Soviet surrogate. It was that fear that triggered the training by South Africa of guerrilla groups...
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This book tells the story of the author’s three contracts as a mercenary in the ‘64-‘65 Congo conflict. It is a vivid account of his personal experiences, from his first contract as a raw recruit to his last contract, when he was involved in the formation of the navy on Lake Tanganyika and was the first C.O. Hugh started writing...
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This two-volume book covers the history of the Ratel from the requirement for an ICV for the SA Army in the late 1960s and early 1970s through to the development, production and deployment of Ratel and to its final major combat operation of the Border War in 1989. The book is about Ratel, not about the Border War; although, obviously,...
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The Fading Light: Memories of a Professional Soldier's Five Decades of War and Conflict in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. An Australian former Special Forces soldier describes his experiences and recollections of war and civil disturbance across continents and areas of conflict, interspersed with insights into the nature and character of his various employers, and insightful analysis of the...
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An account which strives to place the war which South Africa fought in Angola in a historically meaningful perspective. Although the conflict initially centered on the opposing agendas of the SADF and People’s Liberation Army of Namibia of SWAPO, it was to escalate and take on an international Cold War character as Angolan, Cuban, and Soviet protagonists appeared on the...
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This work is a serious, non-fictional autobiography, which inter alia is an expose of the times and personalities involved during the thirty years the author spent in covert operations with the Nationalist Party government of South Africa from 1966. The author’s targets during this period included Soviet and Cuban political and military activity in Southern Africa and those of the...
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AFRICA@WAR SERIES: VOLUME 49 SOUTH AFRICAN ARMOURED VEHICLES: A History of Innovation and Excellence During the Cold War, Africa became a prime location for proxy wars between the East and the West. Against the backdrop of a steep rise in liberation movements backed by Eastern Bloc communist countries such as Cuba and the Soviet Union, southern Africa saw one of the most...
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Al Venter's latest book on South Africa's 23-year Border War along the Angolan frontier offers a host of new perspectives. These include details about units like the South African Air Force 44 Squadron which converted Dakota aircraft into flying gun platforms similar to those used in America's war in South-East Asia. He also has American nuclear specialist David Albright -...
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Executive Outcomes was already well known to several governments and private corporations before it exploded into controversy in 1993 after entering into a contract with Angola’s FAA to train a brigade-level force to decisively end their decades-old conflict with UNITA. It was also well known to those involved in fermenting conflicts in order to topple African governments with a view...
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"YOU HAVE NOT LIVED TILL YOU HAVE ALMOST DIED, AND FOR THOSE WHO FIGHT FOR IT, LIFE HAS A FLAVOUR THE PROTECTED WILL NEVER KNOW" The South African Police Special Task Force is the Special Operation element of the South African Police. They are considered to be amongst the best of such Units in the world. They have a formidable reputation...
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