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

Nortje, Piet

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1868726703 ISBN 13: 9781868726707

Publisher: Zebra Press, 2003

Synopsis

Unusual book

About this title

Review:

"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

This South African Defence Force unit called 32nd Battalion was formed in 1975 to combat Marxist MPLA and Cuban troops. Those had turned the Angloan civil war into one of the many proxy wars between east and west during the Cold War era.Author Piet Nortje served with this elite unit for ten years, rising through the ranks to eventually become Regimental Sergeant Major. Fearing the history of this top-secret unit would be lost, Nortje took it upon himself to write the story.Using newly declassified documents, official records and personal accounts, the author put together a very readable and detailed history. Generous use of maps and photos helps tell the story of "the best SADF fighting unit since the Second World War.

Synopsis:

"32 Battalion" is the gripping inside story of South Africa's most controversial fighting unit of the 1970s and 1980s. 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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Zebra Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1868726703
• ISBN 13: 9781868726707
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352