South African Special Forces (Elite, 47) Paperback – May 27, 1993

Covers this nation many special op units from training to organization. Book also covers in detail the battle that these elite soldiers fought in. Great pic and color plates. New respect for south africa soldiers

As you may well guess it is an Osprey publication. Only the finest information is to be had by this firm. Excellent information on subject matter as well as photos and color plates. A must for historians and modelers of this subject.

Not much has been written about the South African Defense Forces. Like Isreal, South Africa of the late cold war was surrounded and under siege. It cannot invade and occupy forgien land. So instead the SADF raised commando units, from Recce Commandos and the Parabats to 32nd Battalion, to strike at their enemies to great effect. I wish that a deffinative book about South African special forces could be written and published in America.

A comprehensive and fascinating book, a good primer on the elite of the SADF and SA Police Services. Besides the Recce Commandos, covers such units as the SA Marines, the Police "Hunter" units of the 60s and 70s, and the 44 Para Brigade and Pathfinders. Highly recommended.

I think there is an argument that given the units covered, there might be some that feel other units should also have been included. But overall it provides a very useful reference for the "specialist" units that operated within the SADF. Many of the units may still exist in the SANDF (post 1994), but many believe (me included) that there is a clear difference between the units of the SADF and SANDF. Irrespective of these arguments, it's still a very good and interesting book.

South African Special Forces by Robert Pitta and Jeff FannellThis slender volume by Osprey in its military Elite Series meets the high marks expected from this giant publisher of military history books. Illustrator Simon McCouaig has a precise drawing style that well shows the weapons and equipment of the various units covered.The two authors did a lot of work sniffing out the sometimes obscure South African military and police units active in the border war with Angola. For a decade South Africa battled an amalgam of forces based in Angola. This inculcated entire military units from Cuba and advisers from East Germany and the Soviet Union along with vertiginous forces from Angola and from what eventually became the new nation of Namibia.The authors walk us through the organization, combat history and in some cases the record of particular prominent soldiers in famous units like the Paras, Battalion 32 and the police unit known around the world as Koveot. These sections are detailed and filled with facts. But they authors also explore other, sometime short lived, units also. The Marines for instance had a career that included going in and out of existence. They also include the Medical Corps, which in SA is a separate service, among the Elite units, which is unusual.This high quality British import from 1993 will find a spot on the shelf of those interested in warfare in this time period in Africa.