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 ...

"[An] intimate account of a Forward Air Controller working with the Special Forces on their secret operations in South Vietnam and Laos . . . Don't miss it!" (John Prados, author of Storm Over Leyte).Originally published in 1991, this classic work has now been revised and updated with additional photos. It is the story of how, in Vietnam, an elite group of Air Force pilots fought a secret air war in Cessna 0-2 and OV-10 Bronco prop planes—flying as low as t...

"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...

The memoir of a special forces veteran of the Rhodesian War, with over a hundred photos included.Nothing terrorized Russian and Chinese-backed guerillas fighting Rhodesia's bush war in the 1970s more than the famed Selous Scouts. The name of the unit struck fear in the hearts of even the most battle-hardened—rather than speak it, they referred to its soldiers simply as Skuzapu, or pickpockets. History has recorded the regiment as being one of the deadliest and most...

‘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...

For three decades one of the most secretive units in the British military has been a mystery force known as X Platoon.Officially there was no X Platoon. The forty men in its elite number were specially selected from across the Armed Forces, at which point they simply ceased to exist. X Platoon had no budget, no weaponry, no vehicles and no kit - apart from what its men could beg, borrow or steal from other military units.For the first time a highly decorated veteran of this...

'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...

Toc Walsh was conscripted into intake 138 Depot Rhodesia Regiment on 18 April 1974 and endured a year of what he deemed to be ‘military mayhem’. In July 1976, he was drafted again with the 10th Battalion Rhodesia Regiment to continue his wild ride into the maniacal world of combat. The country was in a state of national emergency and all available men were called up on continuous service. Mampara is a no-holds-barred look at one man’s lived experience of war.The title of the book s...

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...

The Sunday Times bestsellerIt takes a tough mindset to be a successful sniper, to be able to dig in for days on your own as you wait for your target, to stay calm on a battlefield when you yourself have become the target the enemy most want to take out. Craig Harrison has what it takes and in November 2009 in Afghanistan, under intense pressure, he saved the lives of his comrades with the longest confirmed sniper kill - 2,475 metres, the length of 25 footb...

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...

The experiences of a young soldier on the frontlines of the Rhodesian Bush War are vividly recounted in this personal memoir.In A Walk Against the Stream, Tony Ballinger tells of his eighteen months of compulsory service as a young national service officer in the Rhodesian army. Stationed in Victoria Falls, Rhodesia, he faced down enemy territory just across the Zambezi river in Zambia.Initially allocated to 4th platoon, 4 Independent company Rhodesi...