Once upon a time there was a beautiful African nation called Southern Rhodesia, then the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, then later Rhodesia. From its very beginning, the nation created a Native Affairs Department to look after its indigenous population. Rather than prepare them for a life of being factory or farm workers who would migrate to large cities or farms, the white and black Africans of the Native Affairs Department maintained the traditional authority of the African chiefs and their tribal authority and customs. In 1962 the Department was renamed the Ministry of Internal Affairs, or 'Intaf' for short.
Two of the former Ministry's Officers have told the story of Intaf from their predecessors in the 1890s until the beginning of Zimbabwe where the Ministry was renamed Home Affairs. The main thrust of their masterful work is from 1972 to 1980 when Rhodesia, who had sent its population to fight for Great Britain in two World Wars and the Malayan Emergency found itself engaged in savage warfare in its own territory. The once civilian Ministry dedicated to improving the lives and welfare of its tribal areas found itself becoming a branch of the Security Forces involved in creating and defending Protected Villages or 'keeps', running reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, combat and ambush patrols as well as collecting revenue, providing cattle dips to protect tribal livestock from harmful ticks and creating and maintaining critical infrastructure. In addition to having its African chiefs and its black and white members murdered by terrorists, Intaf faced onslaughts from well equipped guerrilla armies based in external nations who were armed with mortars and long range rockets.
How the Ministry went from peaceful developers to lightly armed but highly respected soldiers with the radio code name of LIGHTHOUSE is told with a variety of first hand experiences and anecdotes ranging from District Officer Cadets to Provincial Commissioners. The uniforms, weapons and training of Intaf is covered as well as accounts of 'contacts' or battles with the terrorists, with some stories not for the squeamish. The men and later women of Intaf also faced a variety of tropical diseases as well as rivalries with the Army and Police ranging from bureaucratic obstruction to actually having their installations fired on by the famed Selous Scouts masquerading as guerrillas proving their credentials to other terrorists.
Van Tonder and Wall's well written account not only stands as a factual account of the dedicated white and black Africans of the Ministry but can be taken as a history of Rhodesia itself. Their book is well illustrated and documented concluding with appendixes of the Roll of Honour of those who were killed and the citations for the limited amount of decorations 'the Men from the Ministry' earned, often at the cost of their own lives. The authors provide a glossary of terms, a wide variety of photographs in colour and black and white and an easy to read text. My only quibble is that an index would have been appreciated by this reviewer.
OPERATION LIGHTHOUSE is a must for not only any student of African and other wars, but anyone interested in the problems facing administrators who find themselves in deadly situations who adapt with a mixture of initiative, courage and a never say die mindset.
At last the book we have all been waiting for. Many have already been published about the Bush War in Rhodesia but have all been about military strategy and tactics. Operation Lighthouse is about the effects the insurgency had on the lives of the tribespeople and the civilian members of the Department of District Administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The book of 513 pages commences with a brief history of this department, beginning with the occupation of Rhodesia in the late 1890s. There are detailed accounts of their experiences by district commissioners, district officers, the field staff and of the young national servicemen who had been called up upon leaving school. Their personal accounts show how they, together with their African district assistants, continued to administer their districts from their homes in the tribal lands until they withdrew into protected bases, facing death from landmines, ambushes, and attacks with increasing heavier weaponry. Their stories describe their work under such difficult and dangerous conditions, the murder of tribespeople and the acts of brutality these defenseless people suffered.
The protected village program is described together with the training and use of the personnel for protection. The creation of the Administrative Reinforcement Unit for deployment in districts where back up was needed is described, as is also the Air Wing of 12 Cessna light aircraft used to transport personnel and goods within most districts using bush landing strips.
A full display of the badges and insignia worn is shown together with a large collection of photographs of members of the department, the protected villages and their inhabitants. A list of citations and decorations will be found, and finally and very sadly, a Roll of Honour of those who died protecting the tribespeople.
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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AVAILABLE FROM 3 NOVEMBER 2020 A Brutal State of Affairs analyses the transition from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe and challenges Rhodesian mythology. The story of the BSAP, where white and black officers were forced into a situation not of their own making, is critically examined. The liberation war in Rhodesia might never have happened but for the ascendency of the Rhodesian...
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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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