South Africa's Border War 1966-89

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Of all the books about South Africa's 21-year 'Border War' along Angola's frontier with Namibia, this volume is highly regarded as one of the best. Originally selling 31,000 copies in South Africa, it has been out of print for decades. This reissue, written by Willem Steenkamp, features photographs by Al J. Venter, who covered the conflict for nearly two decades. Both authors have produced other works on the subject, but none match this beautiful coffee-table edition, which serves as a tribute to a generation of soldiers, where sons often followed their fathers into the same units. The war began slowly, with its first major clash at Omugulugwombashe in August 1966, but escalated as the Marxist Luanda government received military support from Moscow and tens of thousands of Cuban troops were deployed after Portugal's withdrawal. The conflict saw long-range South African armored strikes and major tank battles, leading to a complex situation where chemical weapons were used by Luanda and Pretoria considered deploying nuclear arms. Steenkamp, a seasoned war correspondent, explores these historical issues and ancillary military actions in other African nations, making this volume an exceptional addition to recent African military history, richly illustrated with hundreds of color and black-and-white photos.