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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > War & defence operations

The Boer War In Colour: Volume 1 - Conventional War 1899-1900 (Paperback): Tinus le Roux The Boer War In Colour: Volume 1 - Conventional War 1899-1900 (Paperback)
Tinus le Roux 4
R380 R304 Discovery Miles 3 040 Save R76 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

Infused with colour, scenes from the Anglo-Boer War suddenly come to life in this striking collection of colourised photos from one of the biggest conflicts on South African soil.

The Anglo-Boer War, or South African War, pitted the two Boer republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State against British imperial might. The effects of this devastating war on the political, economic and social landscape were felt long after its end. The Boer War in Colour contains many iconic photos from the war, as well as several previously unpublished images.

Over the past 120 years, hundreds of books on the Anglo-Boer War have been published, but this will be the first to show this conflict in full colour – introducing a fresh perspective and transforming it into living history.

Maggie: My Life In The Camp - A Young Girl's Remarkable Anglo Boer War Story (Paperback): Maggie Jooste Maggie: My Life In The Camp - A Young Girl's Remarkable Anglo Boer War Story (Paperback)
Maggie Jooste
R335 R288 Discovery Miles 2 880 Save R47 (14%) Ships in 4 - 8 working days

Maggie is a remarkable firsthand account of a teenage girl’s experiences during the AngloBoer War.

Margaretha (Maggie) Jooste was only 13 years old when the AngloBoer War broke out and her life was irrevocably changed. After months of house arrest in their Heidelberg (Transvaal) home, she, her mother and younger siblings were sent away to concentration camps in Natal. There they experienced hunger, deprivation and loss, but also surprising acts of kindness from British guards.

This very personal account is a story of hardships, but also one of humanity and friendships over enemy lines. A golden threat is the close bond between the Jooste family and the Englishspeaking Russells who lived as neighbours and friends before the war broke out. While the British soldiers and Boer commandos fought the war, the Russells secretly provided food to the Joostes to help them survive, and supported them after the war.

A poignant and deeply moving, but also heartbreaking, true story.

1 Recce: Volume 3 - Onsigbaarheid Is Ons Krag (Afrikaans, Paperback): Alexander Strachan 1 Recce: Volume 3 - Onsigbaarheid Is Ons Krag (Afrikaans, Paperback)
Alexander Strachan
R340 R292 Discovery Miles 2 920 Save R48 (14%) Ships in 4 - 8 working days

Die Slag van Cuito Cuanavale is al dekades lank 'n bron van hewige konflik en emosie, maar tot nou toe was min bekend oor die Recces se teenwoordigheid en impak tydens dié omstrede gevegte.

In hierdie laaste boek van die spanningsvolle trilogie oor 1 Recce onthul Alexander Strachan, bekroonde skrywer en self 'n oud-Recce, meer oor die Recces se betrokkenheid daar.

Propvol spanning, adrenalien, hoogdrama en onvergeetlike vertellings deur oud-Recces wat dié ervarings eerstehands beleef het.

Blood Money - Stories Of An Ex-Recce's Missions In Iraq (Paperback): Johan Raath Blood Money - Stories Of An Ex-Recce's Missions In Iraq (Paperback)
Johan Raath 2
R295 R236 Discovery Miles 2 360 Save R59 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

A riveting, action-filled account that sheds light on the realities of working in a war-torn country, this is the first book on the war in Iraq by a South African.

Johan Raath and a security team were escorting American engineers to a power plant south of Baghdad when they were ambushed. He had first arrived in Iraq only two weeks before. This was a small taste of what was to come over the next 13 years while he worked there as a private military contractor (PMC). His mission? Not to wage war but to protect lives. Raath acted as a bodyguard for VIPs and, more often, engineers who were involved in construction projects to rebuild the country after the 2003 war. His physical and mental endurance was tested to the limit in his efforts to safeguard construction sites that were regularly subjected to mortar and suicide attacks. Key to his survival was his training as a Special Forces operator, or Recce.

Working in places called the Triangle of Death and driving on the ‘Hell Run’, Raath had numerous hair-raising experiences. As a trained combat medic he also helped to save people’s lives after two suicide bomb attacks on sites he then worked at.

1 Recce: Volume 3 - Through Stealth Our Strength (Paperback): Alexander Strachan 1 Recce: Volume 3 - Through Stealth Our Strength (Paperback)
Alexander Strachan
R340 R292 Discovery Miles 2 920 Save R48 (14%) Ships in 4 - 8 working days

The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale has been a source of fierce contestation and emotion for decades, but up to now little was known about the Recces’ presence and impact during this controversial battle.

In the last book of the nail-biting trilogy about 1 Recce, the award-winning author Alexander Strachan, himself an ex-Recce, reveals more on the Recces’ involvement there.

Packed with suspense, adrenaline, high drama and unforgettable accounts by ex-Recces who experienced these adventures personally.

Louis Botha - A Man Apart (Paperback): Richard Steyn Louis Botha - A Man Apart (Paperback)
Richard Steyn 1
R295 R236 Discovery Miles 2 360 Save R59 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

In A Man Apart Richard Steyn once again brings to life a South African icon. Louis Botha was the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, a union he did much to create in the decade after the devastation of the Anglo-Boer War. During the war Botha was a brilliant young Boer general who through his battlefield strategy won significant victories over the British in the early stages of the war. When the weight of British arms overhelmed the Boers, Botha along with Smuts did much to encourage peace between English and Afrikaner and led the country to Union in 1910 and dominion status.

Botha was a big-hearted and generous man who showed magnanimity in his dealings with all, including former enemies. He led the South African troops to victory and the capture of German South West Africa – prior to this he had to put down a revolt of pro-German Afrikaners. At the Peace of Versailles, representing South Africa, he pleaded unsuccessfully for magnanimity towards the Germans. Botha was a globally respected figure – he and Smuts effectively operated as a double act in South Africa and on the international stage before Botha’s untimely death in August 1919 at only 57. In A Man Apart this tragically short life is illuminated in full.

Die SAW En Cuito Cuanavale - 'n Taktiese En Strategiese Analise (Afrikaans, Paperback): Leopold Scholtz Die SAW En Cuito Cuanavale - 'n Taktiese En Strategiese Analise (Afrikaans, Paperback)
Leopold Scholtz
R295 R236 Discovery Miles 2 360 Save R59 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

In 1987–1988 was die stowwerige Angolese dorpie Cuito Cuanavale die toneel van die laaste gevegte van die Grensoorlog. Sedertdien is dit die fokuspunt van ’n openbare debat oor wie eintlik hierdie oorlog gewen het.

Die leierskorps van die Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag (SAW) hou vol hulle is nooit verslaan nie, terwyl die alliansie van die Angolese MPLA-regering, Kuba en Swapo beweer hulle het die SAW uit Angola en Suidwes-Afrika verdryf. Hulle glo voorts die SAW wou Cuito Cuanavale beset en as afspringplek gebruik om Luanda in te neem.

Maar was Cuito Cuanavale ooit regtig ’n doelwit vir die Suid-Afrikaners? Dit is die vraag wat Leopold Scholtz vra wanneer hy onlangs gedeklassi-fiseerde dokumente in die weermagargief bestudeer en die taktiese en strategiese besluite ondersoek wat ’n bepalende rol in die ses groot veldslae van dié veldtog gespeel het.

Sy kritiese ontleding wys hoe maklik propaganda en politiek in die pad van feite kan staan.

Guide To Sieges Of South Africa - Anglo-Boer Wars; Anglo-Zulu War; Frontier Wars; Basuto Wars (Paperback): Nicki Von Der Heyde Guide To Sieges Of South Africa - Anglo-Boer Wars; Anglo-Zulu War; Frontier Wars; Basuto Wars (Paperback)
Nicki Von Der Heyde 4
R220 R176 Discovery Miles 1 760 Save R44 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

A companion volume to the highly successful Field Guide to the Battlefields of South Africa, this features the pivotal sieges that characterised the Cape Frontier, Anglo-Zulu, Basotho and Anglo-Boer wars in one volume.

Accounts of 17 sieges over the last two centuries explore in detail the historical context in which they occurred, the day-to-day military actions that sustained the investments and the conditions both soldiers and civilians faced while defending their territory against a hostile force. The siege descriptions are animated by maps and a variety of information boxes and human-interest stories, gleaned from diaries, letters and eye-witness accounts, while longer features focus on the practical aspects of siege warfare, such as artillery, medicine, food, and the psychological effects of besiegement. The book also provides practical information for visitors who wish to explore these historical sites.

A fascinating read that will appeal to anyone interested in the volatile history of the country – armchair historians and travellers alike.

Churchill & Smuts - The Friendship (Paperback): Richard Steyn Churchill & Smuts - The Friendship (Paperback)
Richard Steyn 6
R295 R236 Discovery Miles 2 360 Save R59 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

The remarkable, and often touching, friendship between Winston Churchill and Jan Smuts is a rich study in contrasts.

In youth they occupied very different worlds: Churchill, the rambunctious and thrusting young aristocrat; Smuts, the ascetic, philosophical Cape farm boy who would go on to Cambridge. Brought together first as enemies in the Anglo-Boer War, and later as allies in the First World War, the men forged a friendship which spanned the first half of the twentieth century and endured until Smuts’s death in 1950. Richard Steyn, author of Jan Smuts: Unafraid of Greatness, examines this close friendship through two world wars and the intervening years, drawing on a maze of archival and secondary sources including letters, telegrams and the voluminous books written about both men.

This is a fascinating account of two remarkable men in war and peace: one the leader of the Empire, the other the leader of a small fractious member of that Empire who nevertheless rose to global prominence.

Ratels Aan Die Lomba - Die Storie Van Charlie-eskadron (Afrikaans, Paperback): Leopold Scholtz Ratels Aan Die Lomba - Die Storie Van Charlie-eskadron (Afrikaans, Paperback)
Leopold Scholtz 4
R280 R224 Discovery Miles 2 240 Save R56 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

Op 3 Oktober 1987 het Charlie-eskadron – die ystervuis van 61 Gemeganiseerde Bataljongroep – die kritieke geveg tussen die Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag en die Angolese magte op die Lombarivier in die suide van Angola gelei. Dié boek plaas die leser in die midde van die jong dienspligtiges wat na die Grensoorlog weggevoer is om hierdie geveg te gaan voer.

Langs die Lomba het hulle te staan gekom teen ’n Angolese mag met ’n getalsoorwig en beter wapentuig. Boonop was die terrein so dig bebos dat hul sig en beweging aansienlik ingeperk is. Die SAW se taktiese doktrine het duidelik gestel dat tenks teen tenks aangewend moes word. Tog moes die dienspligtiges die Angolese tenks aanvat in pantservoertuie met minder kragtige kanonne en dun pantser wat nie veel meer as gewone geweervuur kon afweer nie. Steeds is 47 Brigade van die Angolese magte amper uitgewis tydens die geveg aan die Lomba.

Scholtz se beskrywing van hierdie David-teen-Goliath-geveg neem die leser na die hart van die aksie. Danksy onderhoude met veterane en dagboekinskrywings dra hierdie eerlike, intense hervertelling die volle drama van die geveg oor. Dit is ook ’n diep menslike verhaal oor hoe individue reageer in die aangesig van die dood en hoe die oorlog hulle nooit uit sy kloue gelaat het nie, selfs nadat hulle teruggekeer het.

Cuito Cuanavale - 12 Months Of War That Transformed A Continent (Paperback): Fred Bridgland Cuito Cuanavale - 12 Months Of War That Transformed A Continent (Paperback)
Fred Bridgland 4
R295 R236 Discovery Miles 2 360 Save R59 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

It is September 1987. The Angolan Army – with the support of Cuban troops and Soviet advisors – has built up a massive force on the Lomba River near Cuito Cuanavale in southern Angola. Their goal? To capture Jamba, the headquarters of the rebel group Unita, supported by the South African Defence Force (SADF) in the so-called Border War.

In the battles that followed, and shortly thereafter centred around the small town of Cuito Cuanavale, 3 000 SADF soldiers and 8 000 Unita fighters were up against a much bigger Angolan and Cuban force of over 50 000 men.

Thousands of soldiers died in the vicious fighting that is described in vivid detail in this book. Bridgland pieced together this account through scores of interviews with SADF men who were on the front line. This dramatic retelling takes the reader to the heart of the action.

SAS: Rogue Heroes - The Authorized Wartime History (Paperback): Ben MacIntyre SAS: Rogue Heroes - The Authorized Wartime History (Paperback)
Ben MacIntyre 1
R313 R257 Discovery Miles 2 570 Save R56 (18%) Ships in 9 - 15 working days

From the secret SAS archives, and acclaimed author Ben Macintyre: the first ever authorized history of the SAS.

In the summer of 1941, at the height of the war in the Western Desert, a bored and eccentric young officer, David Stirling, came up with a plan that was radical and entirely against the rules: a small undercover unit that would inflict chaos and mayhem behind enemy lines. Despite intense opposition, Winston Churchill personally gave Stirling permission to recruit the toughest, brightest and most ruthless soldiers he could find. So began the most celebrated and mysterious military organisation in the world: the SAS. Now, 75 years later, the SAS has finally decided to tell its astonishing story. It has opened its secret archives for the first time, granting historian Ben Macintyre full access to a treasure trove of unseen reports, memos, diaries, letters, maps and photographs, as well as free rein to interview surviving Originals and those who knew them.

The result is an exhilarating tale of fearlessness and heroism, recklessness and tragedy; of extraordinary men who were willing to take monumental risks. It is a story about the meaning of courage.

X-Troop - The Secret Jewish Commandos Who Helped Defeat The Nazis (Paperback): Leah Garrett X-Troop - The Secret Jewish Commandos Who Helped Defeat The Nazis (Paperback)
Leah Garrett
R350 R277 Discovery Miles 2 770 Save R73 (21%) Ships in 3 - 5 working days

During WW2, a group of Jewish refugees (intellectuals, writers, artists and athletes - most from Germany and Austria) escaped to Britain and were interned as ‘enemy aliens’. In 1942, they were selected and trained to form a special unit of commandoes who would be sent back into Europe to play a significant role in the final battles against the Nazis.

Based on original archival research, interviews and a cache of newly discovered sources, this is a book brimming with camaraderie, heroism and high-octane storytelling, as it tells the dramatic story of the X-Troop men who helped to defeat the Nazis and liberate the concentration camps where their families had either been killed or imprisoned.

Little Bird Of Auschwitz - How My Mother Escaped Death And Found Our Family (Paperback): Alina Peretti, Jacques Peretti Little Bird Of Auschwitz - How My Mother Escaped Death And Found Our Family (Paperback)
Alina Peretti, Jacques Peretti
R462 R378 Discovery Miles 3 780 Save R84 (18%) Ships in 9 - 15 working days

The remarkable story of a woman's journey out of Auschwitz to find her family, told to her son for the very first time.

As a reporter, Jacques Peretti has spent his life investigating important stories. But there was one story, heard in scattered fragments throughout his childhood, that he never thought to investigate. The story of how his mother survived Auschwitz.

In the few last months of the War, thirteen-year-old Alina Peretti, along with her mother and sister, was one of thirteen thousand non-Jewish Poles sent to Auschwitz, in the wake of the Warsaw Uprising. Her experiences there, which she rarely discussed, cast a shadow over the rest of her life.

Now ninety, Alina has been diagnosed with dementia. Together, mother and son begin a race against time to record her memories and preserve her family's story. For the first time, Alina recalls her experiences as a child during the Second World War, the horrors that she witnessed in Auschwitz and the miraculous story of how she survived a firing squad.

Along the way, Jacques learns long-hidden secrets about his mother's family; his mysterious grandfather who lived a double-life, his grandmother who read tarot cards in a Soviet labour camp, and his aunt and uncles, whose fate he never knew. He also gains an understanding of his mother through retracing her past, learning more about the woman who would never let him call her 'Mum'.

A Russian On Commando - The Boer War Experiences Of Yevgeny Avgustus (Paperback): Boris Gorelik A Russian On Commando - The Boer War Experiences Of Yevgeny Avgustus (Paperback)
Boris Gorelik
R300 R240 Discovery Miles 2 400 Save R60 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

In January 1900, galvanised by the daring of the Boers in taking on imperial Britain, the young Russian officer Yevgeny Avgustus set off for the Transvaal to fight in the Anglo-Boer War. Like most of the foreign volunteers who flocked to the Boer cause, he ended up on the Natal front.

Avgustus and his companions joined the Krugersdorp Commando, and their experiences in the field are portrayed in vivid detail. The central part of this gripping account covers the Battle of the Tugela Heights in February 1900 and the Boers’ subsequent retreat. The immediacy of Avgustus’s writing captures his trepidation and excitement as he approaches the battlefield for the first time, as well as his experience of life on commando.

The keen eye of this foreign volunteer brings to life a turning point in South African history. Avgustus is a gifted writer, and his narrative offers both acute observation and thoughtful introspection.

A gripping portrayal of human frailty and courage in the face of mortal danger, A Russian on Commando highlights both the strange attraction and the absurdities of war.

The Guerrilla And The Journalist - Exploring Jonas Savimbi's Murderous Legacy (Paperback): Fred Bridgland The Guerrilla And The Journalist - Exploring Jonas Savimbi's Murderous Legacy (Paperback)
Fred Bridgland 1
R295 R236 Discovery Miles 2 360 Save R59 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

As a young Reuters correspondent, Fred Bridgland revealed the secret invasion in 1975 of post-independence Angola by apartheid South Africa’s armed forces in support of UNITA rebel leader, Jonas Savimbi. At the time, Bidgland befriended Tito Chingunji, a guerrilla officer, before he became UNITA foreign secretary, who persuaded Bridgland to walk hundreds of kilometres across Angola to watch UNITA’s fighters go into combat.

Later Chingunji and Bridgland worked together on a sympathetic biography of the charismatic Savimbi – then the great hope of the ‘free West’. However, after the book’s publication, Chingunji told Bridgland how he and his family were under constant threat of death from Savimbi.

Bridgland started to uncover atrocities that revealed Savimbi not as the champion of his people, but as a murderous tyrant. Chingunji had risked his life to help Bridgland tell the true story of what was going on behind the scenes. When his friend went missing, Bridgland journeyed into the Angolan jungle to plead his friend’s case and he, himself, was put before a kangaroo court by an enraged Savimbi.

This is a personal account of the bond that developed between a guerrilla fighter and a journalist, and the terrifying challenges they faced as they revealed Savimbi’s true colours.

Soldiers - Great Stories Of War And Peace (Paperback): Max Hastings Soldiers - Great Stories Of War And Peace (Paperback)
Max Hastings
R300 R240 Discovery Miles 2 400 Save R60 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

A stunning anthology of great stories of war and peace collected and edited by Max Hastings.

Soldiers is a very personal gathering of sparkling, gripping tales by many writers, about men and women who have borne arms, reflecting bestselling historian Max Hastings's lifetime of studying war. It rings the changes through the centuries, between the heroic, tragic and comic; the famous and the humble. The nearly 350 stories illustrate vividly what it is like to fight in wars, to live and die as a warrior, from Greek and Roman times through to recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Here you will meet Jewish heroes of the Bible, Rome's captain of the gate, Queen Boudicca, Joan of Arc, Cromwell, Wellington, Napoleon's marshals, Ulysses S. Grant, George S. Patton and the modern SAS. There are tales of great writers who served in uniform including Cobbett and Tolstoy, Edward Gibbon and Siegfried Sassoon, Marcel Proust and Evelyn Waugh, George Orwell and George MacDonald Fraser. Here are also stories of the female 'abosi' fighters of Dahomey and heroic ambulance drivers of World War I, together with the new-age women soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The stories reflect a change of mood towards warfare through the ages: though nations and movements continue to inflict terrible violence upon each other, most of humankind has retreated from the old notion of war as a sport or pastime, to acknowledge it as the supreme tragedy. This is a book to inspire in turn fascination, excitement, horror, amazement, occasionally laughter.

Max Hastings mingles respect for the courage of those who fight with compassion for those who become their victims, above all civilians, and especially in the twenty-first century, which some are already calling 'the Post-Heroic Age'.

Emily Hobhouse - Beloved traitor (Paperback): Elsabe Brits Emily Hobhouse - Beloved traitor (Paperback)
Elsabe Brits 3
R465 R399 Discovery Miles 3 990 Save R66 (14%) Ships in 4 - 8 working days

A fresh, nuanced look at an extraordinary woman and her lifelong fight for justice. Defying the constraints of her gender and class, Emily Hobhouse travelled across continents and spoke out against oppression. A passionate pacifist and a feminist, she opposed both the 1899-1902 Anglo-Boer War and World War One, leading to accusations of treason. Elsabe Brits travelled in her footsteps to bring to life a colourful story of war, heroism and passion, spanning three continents.

1 Recce: Volume 1 - The Night Belongs To Us (Paperback): Alexander Strachan 1 Recce: Volume 1 - The Night Belongs To Us (Paperback)
Alexander Strachan 1
R340 R292 Discovery Miles 2 920 Save R48 (14%) Ships in 4 - 8 working days

1-Recce was the sharpest, most versatile and deadliest specialist unit in the entire South African army. These men were super fit, unbelievably tough and stopped at nothing. Time and again they put their lives at risk in the execution of highly secret operations behind enemy lines.

For decades these missions have been kept secret. Now, for the first time, the Recces' most famous generals (including the legendary colonel Jan Breytenbach) reveal their involvement in many highly sensitive political operations.

Explosive revelations are made of a collapsed mission to blow up key ANC figures in the final years of the apartheid era. They tell of 1-Recce's involvement in the controversial Border War and reveal the existence of a top secret squadron in the then Rhodesian army.

After years of myths and secrecy, this book gives a new perspective on the Recces and the way they operated invisibly behind the scenes.

Diensplig - Hoekom Stotter Ons Pa's So? (Afrikaans, Paperback): Anelia Heese Diensplig - Hoekom Stotter Ons Pa's So? (Afrikaans, Paperback)
Anelia Heese
R285 R245 Discovery Miles 2 450 Save R40 (14%) Ships in 4 - 8 working days

“Aan die einde van 12 weke se basiese opleiding moes al hierdie mans weet hoe om te skiet en baie moes bereid wees om dood te skiet.”

Anelia Heese hervertel die rou en soms skokkende stories van Suid-Afrikaanse mans wat in die 1970’s en 1980’s verplig is om weermagdiens te doen. In Diensplig praat van dié mans, baie van hulle vir die eerste keer, openhartig oor hul ervaringe. Sy gesels met die bekroonde joernalis Murray La Vita, die skrywer Deon Lamprecht, genl.maj. Roland de Vries en talle ander oor hulle ondervindings in die weermag.

Die meeste dienspligtiges was eintlik maar nog seuns toe hulle gedwing is om aan te tree en hul hare onseremonieel afgeskeer is. Hulle praat hier eerlik oor onder meer die eerste kontak, die eerste keer toe iemand ’n makker verloor het, hoe sommige “terrie-ore” versamel het, oor patrollies in die townships, en die interne stryd wat dikwels agterna gevolg het.

Anelia vra soms ongemaklike vrae om haarself en ander — veral jonger — Suid-Afrikaners te help sin maak van diensplig en die nadraai daarvan. Soos wie nou eintlik die vyand was, en wat dit beteken om jou land te dien . . .

20 Battles - Searching For A South African Way Of War 1913-2013 (Paperback): Evert Kleynhans, David Brock Katz 20 Battles - Searching For A South African Way Of War 1913-2013 (Paperback)
Evert Kleynhans, David Brock Katz
R320 R256 Discovery Miles 2 560 Save R64 (20%) In Stock

Over the past century, South Africa’s military has established itself in several defining battles and operations. Preferring manoeuvre over attrition, and often punching above their weight, they have become known for their tenacity, dash, and ability to defy the odds. Their unique command style also sets them apart from other armies and has helped them excel in challenging circumstances.

In 20 Battles, military historians Evert Kleynhans and David Brock Katz investigate how South Africa’s way of war evolved over a 100-year period. They track the evolution of the doctrine and structure of the South African defence forces, rediscovering historical continuity, if any, and the lessons learned in past battles and operations such as Otavifontein, Delville Wood, Southern Ethiopia, Tobruk, Chiusi, Savannah, Cassinga, Cuito Cuanavale and Boleas.

The book also identifies a number of firsts for the defence force, such as the first ever deployment during the 1914 Industrial Strike; the varied deployments across different theatres during both world wars; the first large scale crossborder deployments during the Border War; the first deployment of the new South African National Defence Force after 1994; and, culminating with the recent, and now infamous, Battle of Bangui.

Seven Votes - How WWII Changed South Africa Forever (Paperback): Richard Steyn Seven Votes - How WWII Changed South Africa Forever (Paperback)
Richard Steyn 1
R300 R240 Discovery Miles 2 400 Save R60 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

If a mere seven more MPs had voted with Prime Minister JBM Hertzog in favour of neutrality, South Africa’s history would have been quite different.

Parliament’s narrow decision to go to war in 1939 led to a seismic upheaval throughout the 1940s: black people streamed in their thousands from rural areas to the cities in search of jobs; volunteers of all races answered the call to go ‘up north’ to fight; and opponents of the Smuts government actively hindered the war effort by attacking soldiers and committing acts of sabotage. World War Two upended South Africa’s politics, ruining attempts to forge white unity and galvanising opposition to segregation among African, Indian and coloured communities. It also sparked debates among nationalists, socialists, liberals and communists such as the country had never previously experienced.

As Richard Steyn recounts so compellingly in 7 Votes, the war’s unforeseen consequence was the boost it gave to nationalism, both Afrikaner and African, that went on to transform the country in the second half of the 20th century. The book brings to life an extraordinary cast of characters, including wartime leader Jan Smuts, DF Malan and his National Party colleagues, African nationalists from Anton Lembede and AB Xuma to Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela, the influential Indian activists Yusuf Dadoo and Monty Naicker, and many others.

Die Anglo-Boereoorlog In Kleur: Volume 1 - Konvensionele Oorlog 1899-1900 (Afrikaans, Paperback): Tinus le Roux Die Anglo-Boereoorlog In Kleur: Volume 1 - Konvensionele Oorlog 1899-1900 (Afrikaans, Paperback)
Tinus le Roux 2
R400 R320 Discovery Miles 3 200 Save R80 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

Tonele en rolspelers uit die Anglo-Boereoorlog kry nuwe lewe in hierdie unieke versameling foto’s wat lewensgetrou ingekleur is. Dit bring vars perspektief op een van die belangrikste historiese gebeurtenisse in die Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis.

In die Anglo-Boereoorlog of Suid-Afrikaanse Oorlog het die twee Boererepublieke van Transvaal en die Oranje-Vrystaat teen die Britse Ryk te staan gekom. Hierdie verwoestende oorlog sou vir dekades lank nog ’n uitwerking hê op die Suid-Afrikaanse politieke, ekonomiese en sosiale landskap.

Lesers sal talle ikoniese foto’s in Die AngloBoereoorlog in kleur raaksien, maar ook verskeie wat nog nooit tevore gepubliseer is nie. Honderde boeke het die afgelope 120 jaar oor die oorlog verskyn, maar dit is die eerste een in volkleur.

Congo Diary - Episodes Of The Revolutionary War In The Congo (Paperback): Ernesto "Che" Guevara Congo Diary - Episodes Of The Revolutionary War In The Congo (Paperback)
Ernesto "Che" Guevara; Foreword by Aleida Guevara
R265 R207 Discovery Miles 2 070 Save R58 (22%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

In April 1965, Che Guevara set out clandestinely from Havana to Congo to head a force of some 150 veteran Cuban soldiers to assist the Congolese Patrice Lumumba Battalion, four years after the assassination of the democratically elected socialist president of Congo, Patrice Lumumba. Because this diary deals with what Che admits was a “failure”, he examines every painful detail about what went wrong in order to draw constructive lessons for planned future guerrilla movements.

Unique among his books, Congo Diary gives us Che’s brutal honesty and his story-telling ability as he recounts this fascinating episode of guerrilla warfare unblinkingly and without sugar coating or jargon.

Considered by some to be Che’s best book, it is also one of the few that he had a chance to edit for publication after writing it.

The Boer Invasion Of The Zulu Kingdom - 1837-1840 (Paperback): John Laband The Boer Invasion Of The Zulu Kingdom - 1837-1840 (Paperback)
John Laband
R290 R232 Discovery Miles 2 320 Save R58 (20%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

The battle of Blood River, or Ncome, on 16 December 1838 has long been regarded as a critical moment in the history of South Africa. It is the culminating victory by the land-hungry Boers who had migrated out of the British-ruled Cape and invaded the Zulu kingdom in 1837.

Many Afrikaners long acclaimed their triumph as the God-given justification for their subsequent dominion over Africans. By contrast, Africans celebrate the war with pride for its significance in their valiant struggle against colonial aggression.

In this telling of the Boer invasion, John Laband deals even-handedly with the warring sides in the conflict, explaining both victory and defeat in the many battles that marked the war. Crucially, he takes the Zulu evidence into full account to present the less familiar Zulu perspective and to explain the decisions taken by the Zulu leaders, as they grappled with the existential threat of the Boer invasion.

The protagonists are placed in the context of a subcontinent experiencing a time of turmoil in the early nineteenth century. A time that saw the displacement of populations and migrations, the emergence of new, warlike African kingdoms such as that of the amaZulu, and the inexorable and violent advance of colonial settlement and rule.

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