War Stories

Venter’s choice of military events is eclectic. He has four chapters on Afghanistan, three on Somalia, several on how Lisbon fought its desperate rearguard colonial wars in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea as well as several on the Rhodesian War. These include a tribute to his old friend Ron Reid-Daly, founder-commander of the Selous Scouts, a vivid profile of the RLI ‘Incredibles’ in a cross-border strike on enemy positions in Mozambique as well as a chapter by Colonel Brian Robinson, longest serving commander of the Rhodesian SAS. Venter also draws heavily on his experiences as a military correspondent for Britain’s Jane’s Information Group in the Middle East: he accompanied the IDF when it went into Beirut in 1982. Neall Ellis who flew helicopter gunships against the rebels in Sierra Leone and is currently flying support missions in Russian Mi-8s in Afghanistan, Al Venter going into combat with a bunch of South African ‘Parabats’ in a strike against enemy positions in Angola (where he was subsequently wounded), Mike Hoare’s aborted invasion of the Seychelles a quarter of a century ago, an American mercenary in Iraq as well as a United States Navy rescue mission in Somalia are among more than 30 chapters that appear in this new book. The book is illustrated with more than 100 photographs and follows the publication of his earlier military titles War Dog (2006) and Barrel of a Gun (2010), both published by Casemate in the US and Britain.

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War Stories

Venter’s choice of military events is eclectic. He has four chapters on Afghanistan, three on Somalia, several on how Lisbon fought its desperate rearguard colonial wars in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea as well as several on the Rhodesian War. These include a tribute to his old friend Ron Reid-Daly, founder-commander of the Selous Scouts, a vivid profile of the RLI ‘Incredibles’ in a cross-border strike on enemy positions in Mozambique as well as a chapter by Colonel Brian Robinson, longest serving commander of the Rhodesian SAS. Venter also draws heavily on his experiences as a military correspondent for Britain’s Jane’s Information Group in the Middle East: he accompanied the IDF when it went into Beirut in 1982. Neall Ellis who flew helicopter gunships against the rebels in Sierra Leone and is currently flying support missions in Russian Mi-8s in Afghanistan, Al Venter going into combat with a bunch of South African ‘Parabats’ in a strike against enemy positions in Angola (where he was subsequently wounded), Mike Hoare’s aborted invasion of the Seychelles a quarter of a century ago, an American mercenary in Iraq as well as a United States Navy rescue mission in Somalia are among more than 30 chapters that appear in this new book. The book is illustrated with more than 100 photographs and follows the publication of his earlier military titles War Dog (2006) and Barrel of a Gun (2010), both published by Casemate in the US and Britain.

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War Stories

War Stories

by Al J Venter
War Stories

War Stories

by Al J Venter

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Overview

Venter’s choice of military events is eclectic. He has four chapters on Afghanistan, three on Somalia, several on how Lisbon fought its desperate rearguard colonial wars in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea as well as several on the Rhodesian War. These include a tribute to his old friend Ron Reid-Daly, founder-commander of the Selous Scouts, a vivid profile of the RLI ‘Incredibles’ in a cross-border strike on enemy positions in Mozambique as well as a chapter by Colonel Brian Robinson, longest serving commander of the Rhodesian SAS. Venter also draws heavily on his experiences as a military correspondent for Britain’s Jane’s Information Group in the Middle East: he accompanied the IDF when it went into Beirut in 1982. Neall Ellis who flew helicopter gunships against the rebels in Sierra Leone and is currently flying support missions in Russian Mi-8s in Afghanistan, Al Venter going into combat with a bunch of South African ‘Parabats’ in a strike against enemy positions in Angola (where he was subsequently wounded), Mike Hoare’s aborted invasion of the Seychelles a quarter of a century ago, an American mercenary in Iraq as well as a United States Navy rescue mission in Somalia are among more than 30 chapters that appear in this new book. The book is illustrated with more than 100 photographs and follows the publication of his earlier military titles War Dog (2006) and Barrel of a Gun (2010), both published by Casemate in the US and Britain.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781869194109
Publisher: Protea Boekhuis
Publication date: 03/01/2012
Pages: 430
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Al J. Venter is a specialist military writer and has had 50 books published. He started his career with Geneva’s Interavia Group, then owners of International Defence Review, to cover military developments in the Middle East and Africa. Venter has been writing on these and related issues such as guerrilla warfare, insurgency, the Middle East and conflict in general for half a century. He was involved with Jane’s Information Group for more than 30 years and was a stringer for the BBC, NBC News (New York) as well as London’s _Daily Express_ and _Sunday Express_. He branched into television work in the early 1980s and produced more than 100 documentaries, many of which were internationally flighted. His one-hour film, _Africa’s Killing Fields_ (on the Ugandan civil war), was shown nationwide in the United States on the PBS network. Other films include an hour-long programme on the fifth anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, as well as _AIDS: The African Connection_, nominated for China’s Pink Magnolia Award. His last major book was _Portugal’s Guerrilla Wars in Africa_, nominated in 2013 for New York’s Arthur Goodzeit military history book award. It has gone into three editions, including translation into Portuguese.

Table of Contents

Foreword James Penrith 1

Introduction - Back to Africa 14

Chapter

1 Into Angola With Charlie Company 29

2 Seychelles Mercenary Invasion: Mike Hoare and Associates 57

3 Operation Impossible - On the Run Across Southern Africa 75

4 Wartime Hunting in Africa 92

5 Africa's Backyard Firearms Factories 106

6 Zanzibar's Bloody Revolt 117

7 America's Secret Rescue Mission in Somalia 137

8 Somalia: Still burning 145

9 Angolan Skirmish with 44 Parachute Brigade 159

10 Ron Reid-Daly - A Tribute to the Man and his Scouts 179

11 Living on the Edge in Beirut 206

12 SWAPO'S First Attacks in South West Africa 221

13 Waiting in the Ground in Kosovo for the Deminers 241

14 Gunship for Hire: Sierra Leone (August 2000) 248

15 Portugal's Wars in Africa 258

16 Death of a Guerrilla Fighter 273

17 The War in Portuguese Guinea 282

18 Jungle Patrol 296

19 In the Heart of an African Military Struggle 312

20 Six Soviet Choppers Ambushed in Angola 326

21 Willem Steenkamp - Reporting on South Africa's Border Wars 339

22 "The Incredibles": The Rhodesian Light Infantry 360

23 Surviving Africa 381

24 An American Hostage of Hizbollah 402

25 Greg Lovett - An American Soldier of Fortune in Iraq 422

26 Freetown: Diamonds, a Civil War and Amputees 439

27 Into the Bush War with the Rhodesian SAS 457

28 Air Wing in Africa's Mountain Kingdom 479

Abbreviations 487

Acknowledgements 491

Index 494

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