Book review: Across the Border by Norman McFarlane
“Many South African men live with the dichotomy of having fought in an immoral, inexplicable, illogical and politically inspired war, yet have fierce pride...
Book review: ‘n Poskaart uit Moskou
Kobus de Villiers is a retired aeronautical engineer. Born and educated in South Africa, he currently lives in Canada, where he occupies his time...
Book review: Victory with Honour – The chronicle of Admiral Olusegun Ferreira’s command of...
It is gratifying to note that the rich bibliography of publications on naval warfare and maritime operations continue to expand, offering the reading public...
Book review: A War Artist’s Diary
Peter Badcock’s A War Artist's Diary celebrates in drawings and poetry the lives of the men and women, servicemen and civilians, who were caught...
Book review: Terrorism in Africa – New Trends and Frontiers
A total of 1500 members of the SANDF have been deployed to Mozambique's volatile Cabo Delgado as part of a Southern African Development Community...
Book review: The History of the SAS
Chris Ryan is well-placed to tell the tale of the British Special Air Service (SAS), one of the world’s most revered special forces outfits....
A dam good book
The story of the legendary dambusters has inspired multiple books and a film, with most history buffs knowing a lot about Sir Barnes Wallis...
Book Review: Vlug 237 Ben Gurion Na Waterkloof
During the years prior to the first democratic elections, most foreign countries regarded South Africa to be a pariah state as a result of...
Book review: Mad Mike Hoare – the Legend
Any book about a controversial figure that is subtitled ‘The Legend’ ought to be treated with caution, but the story of ‘Mad Mike’ as...
Book Review: Ratels on the Lomba. The Story of Charlie Squadron
Military historian Dr. Leopold Scholtz wrote Ratels on the Lomba to remember the National Servicemen of the then South African Defence Force (SADF)...
Book review: Uiters Geheim en Ander Anekdotes
This is a memoir written in Afrikaans by Kobus de Villiers, a South African engineer who spent his working life on top...
Book review: Operation Relentless – The world’s Most Wanted Criminal; The Elite Forces Hunt...
Operation Relentless is the gripping story of the years-long effort to catch arms dealer Viktor Bout, nicknamed ‘The Merchant of Death' and...
Wings over Langebaanweg. Stories from a South African Air Force Base
Hermanus-based Andrew Embleton's third book on SA Air Force (SAAF) training looks set to be a winner with the military flying fraternity.
"Wings...
Book Review: Harsh Lessons: Iraq, Afghanistan And the Changing Character of War
The interventions by the US and its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan were on a massive scale and came close to failure....
Apartheid Guns and Money – a tale of profit
"Apartheid Guns and Money - a tale of profit" is the latest addition to the stable of South African non-fiction providing much-needed...
Book Review: Firearms Developed and Manufactured in Southern Africa 1949-2000
This weighty tome is a definitive reference guide to firearms developed during the region's golden age of gunmaking.
It took seventeen contributors...
“Composite Warfare” – a composite insight into conflict and war in Africa
Eeben Barlow is a name well-known to those who are practitioners of military arts and skills, especially in Africa.
He has now taken...
Book Review: China’s Cyber Power
The cyber domain has become central to the struggle for strategic advantage between the US and the West on the one hand,...
Book review: Recce: Small Team Missions Behind Enemy Lines
Professional soldier Koos Stadler has written a remarkable book chronicling his experiences as a special forces small reconnaissance team member operating behind...
Book Review: Boko Haram: Nigeria’s Islamist Insurgency
Much about the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram is shrouded in mystery. Last week the President of Chad, Idriss Deby, claimed Boko...
Book Review: Raising The Bar: Hope and Renewal in South Africa
Raising the Bar is Songezo Zibi's first book and seeks to provide a thorough, accurate analysis on the different issues preventing...
Sporting Soldiers: South African troops at play during World War I
For soldiers in the First World War, sport was a way for them to escape the horrors of the battlefield or the...
Endgame: Book Review
Endgame is yet another addition to the growing number of titles exploring aspects of one of the seduction efforts that eventually led...
Endgame: Book Review
Endgame is yet another addition to the growing number of titles exploring aspects of one of the seduction efforts that eventually led...
Book review: From Addis to the Aosta Valley
From Addis to the Aosta Valley: A South African in the North African and Italian Campaigns 1940-1945, was originally titled "One of...
Book Review: Tumult in the clouds
By his own admission Dean Wingrin is a military aviation junkie and his love of the subject has manifested itself in a...
Book Review: The Battle in Bangui: The Untold Inside Story
This 40-page publication is a "must read" for everyone in uniform as well as those charged with decision-making in the South African...
Book review: The Rhodesian Light Infantry: Africa’s Commandos
The Rhodesian Light Infantry: Africa's Commandos, edited by Mark Adams and Chris Cocks, is an interesting work. Commissioned by the Rhodesian Light...
Book Review: Dingo Firestorm – The Greatest Battle of the Rhodesian Bush War
The fireforce concept of operations, used so successfully during the 1970s by the Rhodesian forces during the bush war, has been detailed...
Book Review: Shadows of a Forgotten Past: To the Edge with the Rhodesian SAS...
At first glance Shadows of a Forgotten Past, with its action-filled cover image, glossy paper and large collection of colour and black-and-white...
Book Review: LZ Hot – Flying South Africa’s Border War
The endorsements that garnish the front and rear covers of today's books are marketing techniques designed to elicit a heightened interest in...
Mad dog killers
Author Ivan Smith served with Lt Colonel "Mad Mike" Hoare's 5th Commando, technically part of the Armee Nationale Congolaise (ANC), the military...
Striking inside Angola with 32 Battalion
A dry but rich account of time spent with the famous 32 Battalion. Marius Scheepers was a national service signals officer (9C)...
BOOK REVIEW: Assegais, Drums and Dragoons
Well-known military writer Willem Steenkamp's latest book, Assegais, Drums and Dragoons, A Military and Social History of the Cape 1510-1806 is a...
Book Review: Bush War
Nearly all accounts of the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, in English, to date, are one-sided South African accounts. Shubin and Tokarev's Bush...
The IF Man
Author Chris Ash asserts Victorian poet Rudyard Kipling wrote his signature poem, If, with Leander Starr Jameson, a man who feared nothing...
Book Review: Zambezi Valley Insurgency
Zambezi Valley Insurgency is Dr JRT Wood's latest look at the Rhodesian Bush War, this time focussing on the period April 1966...
Shadow Commander
Shadow Commander follows in the wake of author Mike Guardia's first book, American Guerrilla, reviewed elsewhere on defenceWeb. Researching the former unearthed...
Book review: Operation Dingo
Co-issued with a British publisher, "Operation Dingo" is the first of the "Africa@War" series of which four titles have now been released:...
Book review: France in Centrafrique
"France in Centrafrique" is the second in a new series on African conflict, "Africa@War", and concentrates on French misadventures in the Central...
Book review: Battle for Cassinga
"Battle for Cassinga" is the third in a new series on African conflict, "Africa@War", and examines South Africa's still-very controversial cross-border parachute...
Book review: Selous Scouts
"Selous Scouts" is the fourth in a new series on African conflict, "Africa@War" and unlike the other three volumes in the series...
Book review: Hitler’s First War
From his earliest day in politics and literally to his last, Adolf Hitler never tired of talking about his experiences as a...
Book review: Hitler’s First War
From his earliest day in politics and literally to his last, Adolf Hitler never tired of talking about his experiences as a...
Book review: SuperFreakonomics
In SuperFreakonomics authors Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner again take an unconventional view of the everyday. Indeed, the book is...
Book review: D-Day, the Battle for Normandy
Anthony Beevor published his D-Day, the Battle for Normandy, in 2009, adding another popular work to an ever-growing literature on the subject....
Book review: The Shadow World
In The Shadow World Andrew Feinstein, assisted by Paul Holden and Barnaby Pace, tries to portray the global defence industry as uniquely...
Book review: Victory among people
To mangle Clausewitz somewhat, the theory of war is simple, but the practice can be very hard. This also applies to counterinsurgency,...
Book review: Erich von Manstein – Hitler’s Master Strategist
Many consider German Field Marshal Erich von Manstein (born von Lewinski) the greatest operational genius, if not the best strategist, of World...
Book review: Anderkant Cuito
As far as I can determine, there is not yet an English translation of Anderkant Cuito – 'n Reisverhaal van die Grensoorlog....
