32 Battalion: The Inside Story of South Africa's Elite Fighting Unit

32 Battalion: The Inside Story of South Africa's Elite Fighting Unit
Contributor(s): Nortje, Piet (Author)


ISBN: 1868729141 EAN: 9781868729142


Binding: Paperback


Language(s): English
Pub Date: March 08, 2010
Annotation: 32 Battalion is the gripping inside story of South Africa's most controversial fighting unit of the 1970s and 1980s.
Annotation: 32 Battalion is the gripping inside story of South Africa's most controversial fighting

- History | Military | Other
- History | Africa | South - Republic of South Africa
Themes:
- Cultural Region | Southern Africa
- Chronological Period | 1970's
- Chronological Period | 1980's


Features: Illustrated, Maps
352 pages


Review Quotes:
"One of the 32 Battalion's longest-serving members presents the unadorned true story of his unit in 32 Battalion: The Inside Story Of South Africa's Elite Fighting Unit. Nicknamed "The Buffalo Soldiers," South Africa's 32nd Battalion was undefeated in twelve years of front-line battle, feared by enemies ranging from Cuban armies to Nambian guerrilla fighters. Called "Os Terriveis," or the Terrible Ones by their enemies, the unit met its most unlikely demise when peace came to southern Africa and politics chose to dissolve the unit's fraternity in 1993. 32 Battalion makes no embellishments or apologies, but rather presents the true story of the unit in clear terms, illustrated by a handful of black-and-white maps and diagrams and an inset section of color plates. A thrilling expose of modern military history." -- MidWest Book Review


Originally formed in order to lend support to the FNLA and UNITA in the Angolan war, 32 Battalion quickly gained the reputation of being an unconventional, secretive, yet highly effective group. Written by a man who was intimately involved with the unit and served as its Regimental Sergeant Major for two years, the book aims to explode the myths surrounding the legendary 32 and set the record straight.

It records how and why 32 Battalion was formed, explores its unique identity forged by the men who fought in it, details the many operations in which they participated, and concludes with its eventual disbandment at the dawn of a new South Africa. What they did, and how they did it, would earn this controversial group official recognition as the best fighting unit in the South African Army since World War II. This book's unembellished, factual reporting will fill a big gap in the highly popular military genre.

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