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The former colony of Spanish Sahara saw frequent outbursts of
tribal and ethnic rebellions while ruled by the colonial
authorities in the late 19th and through the early 20th Century.
Its vastness and distances essentially dictated the application of
air power in response. While most of these events attracted next to
no attention in English-language media, the large-scale operations
of the Spanish colonial authorities of the late 1950s became
notable at least for the final combat deployment of the famous
Messerschmitt Bf.109. Following the Spanish withdrawal from Spanish
Sahara in 1975, a major war erupted as Sahrawi nationalists -
organized by the POLISARIO front - engaged in guerrilla warfare
against Moroccan armed forces deployed to secure the northern part
of the country, and Mauritanian forces deployed in the south.
Characteristically for this period, POLISARIO's insurgency was
often misinterpreted in the West as 'Soviet-influenced', although
the rebels never adapted any related frameworks for their
operations and tactics, such as those of Mao Zedong. On the
contrary, while Algeria at least tolerated their bases on its soil,
it was Libya that provided most of the support for the insurgency,
eventually enabling it to defeat the Mauritanian military, slightly
over a year later. Combined with POLISARIO's raids deep into
Mauritania this prompted France to launch a limited military
intervention in support. While tactically successful, this proved
insufficient: Mauritania withdrew in 1979 after signing a peace
treaty. Morocco continued fighting a series of bitter campaigns
through 1979 and 1980, until rising costs and casualties prompted
its government into developing an entirely new strategy.
Construction of extensive earthen fortifications eventually slowed
the war down to one of low intensity, only sporadically interrupted
by insurgent attempts to achieve at least local successes. With
both sides realizing that no solution through an armed conflict was
possible, a cease-fire agreement was signed in 1991. However, this
conflict still remains unresolved: it merely shifted to civilian
resistance. Warfare in Western Sahara has in many ways become
exemplary for modern-day counter-insurgency efforts in Africa and
elsewhere. This conflict has been falsely declared as a part of
some larger, external conflict - the Cold War; in regards of the
concept of an insurgency applying motorized forces to deliver often
spectacular 'hit-and-run' attacks; and in regards of a conventional
military reacting with a combination of earth berms and air power.
Illustrated by over 100 photograph as, a dozen maps and 18 colour
profiles, Showdown in Western Sahara offers a fascinating study of
the military aspects of this conflict, warfare strategies, tactics
and experiences with different weapons systems.
Upon achieving independence from Great Britain in 1948, the
stunningly beautiful island of Ceylon, re-named Sri Lanka in 1972,
was expected to become a sort of 'South Asian Singapore'. However,
stable political order and bright economic prospects proved
insufficient to maintain peace. A host of unsolved ethnic conflicts
and social inequalities conspired to erupt into an armed conflict
in 1971. By 1987, the crisis heated up to the point where the
government in New Delhi began exercising fierce pressure upon the
Sri Lankan government and the Sri Lankan Tamil insurgents to arrive
at a peace deal. In order to help maintain peace, the Indian Peace
Keeping Force was deployed on the island. However, with a few
weeks, the troops of the Indian Army found themselves involved in a
bloody and protracted confrontation with the most powerful of Tamil
insurgent movements - the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Elam (LTTE).
The peace-keeping operation was thus quickly converted into a
military intervention and a bloody quagmire. To make matters even
more complex, southern Sir Lanka meanwhile became engulfed in an
unprecedented wave of public violence, triggered by the second
insurrection of Sinhalese ultra-leftist movement, the JVP. Calling
upon extensive studies of the Sri Lankan War, with the help of
first hand sources, official documentation and publications from
all of the involved parties, this volume provides an in-depth and
particularly detailed account of military operations between 1987
and 1990. It is illustrated by over 120 photographs, maps and 12
colour profiles.
War of Intervention in Angola, Volume 4, continues the coverage of
the operational history of the Angolan Air Force and Air Defence
Force (FAPA/DAA) as told by Angolan and Cuban sources, in the
period 1985-1988. Many accounts of this conflict - better known in
the West as the 'Border War' or the 'Bush War', as named by its
South African participants - consider the operations of the
FAPA/DAA barely worth commentary. At most, they mention a few air
combats involving Mirage F.1 interceptors of the South African Air
Force (SAAF) in 1987 and 1988, and perhaps a little about the
activity of the FAPA/DAA's MiG-23s. However, a closer study of
Angolan and Cuban sources reveals an entirely different image of
the air war over Angola in the 1980s: indeed, it reveals the extent
to which the flow of the entire war was dictated by the
availability - or the lack - of air power. These issues strongly
influenced the planning and conduct of operations by the commanders
of the Angolan and Cuban forces. Based on extensive research with
the help of Angolan and Cuban sources, War of Intervention in
Angola, Volume 4, traces the Angolan and Cuban application of air
power between 1985-1988 - during which it came of age - and the
capabilities, intentions, and the combat operations of the air
forces. The volume is illustrated with 100 rarely seen photographs,
half a dozen maps and 15 colour profiles, and provides a unique
source of reference on this subject.
Ethiopia, a country of ancient origins in eastern Africa, remains a
military powerhouse of that continent until our days. Nowadays
involved in the war in neighbouring Somalia, Ethiopia was also
involved in half a dozen of other armed conflicts over the last 60
years. Crucial between these was the Eritrean War of Independence.
Fought 1961-1991, this was one of biggest armed conflicts on the
African continent, especially if measured by numbers of involved
combatants. It included a wide spectrum of operations, from
'classic' counter-insurgency (COIN) to conventional warfare in
mountains - with the latter being one of the most complex and most
demanding undertakings possible to conduct by a military force.
Campaigns run during the Eritrean War of Independence often
included large formations of relatively well-equipped forces, led
by well-trained commanders, along well-thought-out plans, based on
home-grown doctrine. The air power played a crucial - although not
necessarily decisive - role in many of battles. Nevertheless, most
of details about this conflict remain unknown in the wider public.
Similarly, relatively few Western observers are aware of relations
between the Eritrean liberation movements, and various dissident
and insurgent movements inside Ethiopia - although the synergy of
these eventually led the downfall of the so-called Derg government,
in 1991. While the first volume in this mini-series spanned the
history of wars between Ethiopia and Eritrea between 1961 and 1988,
the second covers the period since. Correspondingly, it is
providing coverage of military operations that led to the fall of
the Derg government in Ethiopia of 1991, the period of Eritrean
military build-up and a complete re-organization of the Ethiopian
military in the 1990s, and concludes with the first detailed
account of the so-called Badme War, fought between Ethiopia and
Eritrea in period 1998-2001. It is illustrated by many contemporary
photographs, maps and colour profiles.
When released into independence from Great Britain, in 1948, the
stunningly beautiful island of Ceylon, re-named Sri Lanka in 1972,
was expected to become a sort of `South Asian Singapore'. However,
stable political order and bright economic prospects proved
insufficient to maintain peace. A host of unsolved ethnic conflicts
and social inequalities conspired to erupt into an armed conflict,
in 1971. When this broke out the entire Sri Lankan society was
shocked to its core by a large-scale insurgency instigated by a
Sinhalese Maoist group, JVP. Worst still, this was followed by the
gradual build-up of several other Tamil groups in the north of the
island. Following riots known as `Black July', in 1983, Sri Lanka
was ripped apart by a murderous war against Tamil insurgents, which
caught the armed forces wrong-footed because of the government's
reluctance to build-up its military to necessary levels. This came
to a temporary stop in 1987, with the implementation of a peace
arrangement virtually enforced by the government of India and a
deployment of a large peacekeeping force of the Indian military. By
the time, the notorious LTTE emerged as the most powerful Tamil
insurgent movement, and the principal opponent of the Sri Lankan
armed forces. Eventually, the Indian military intervention proved
to be only a temporary solution. The LTTE turned against the Indian
military but suffered heavily in return. However, this provided
some breathing space for the Sri Lankan military, which then
launched a vicious and protracted counterinsurgency campaign
against the JVP. The fighting thus went on. Relying on extensive
studies of the Sri Lankan War with the help of first-hand sources,
official documentation and publications from all of involved
parties, this volume provides an in-depth and particularly detailed
account of military operations during the first 16 years of this
war.
On 1 October 1990, hundreds of Banyarawanda militants that served
with the Ugandan Army deserted their posts to form the Rwandan
Patriotic Front (RPF) and invade Rwanda. Thus began the Rwandan
Civil War, which was to culminate in the famous genocide of nearly
one million of Tutsi and moderate Hutus, in 1994. Starting with
in-depth descriptions of the history of Rwandan political, military
and security development, this volume traces the history of the RPA
from its emergence as a small-scale insurgent group formed from the
ranks of Rwandan refugee diaspora in Uganda; its military
operations and related experiences during nearly four years of war
against the Rwandan government; and its establishment of control
over Kigali, in July 1994. As such, the narrative presented here
provides a fascinating and unique insight into the military story
behind the emergence of modern-day Rwanda and its military;
considered by many to be the'Israel of Africa'. Providing minute
details about RPF's tactics and doctrine - that strongly influenced
developments in a number of other modern-day African wars - this
volume is foremost an offering that provides highly interesting
backgrounds for and a prequel to, nearly all of the subsequent wars
in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. Illustrated
with over 150 photographs, colour profiles, and maps describing the
equipment, colours, and markings, and tactics of the RPF and its
opponents, this is a unique study about the emergence of one of the
most important US allies on the African continent.
War of Intervention in Angola, Volume 3 covers the air warfare
during the II Angolan War - fought 1975-1992 - through narrating
the emergence and operational history of the Angolan Air Force and
Air Defence Force (FAPA/DAA) as told by Angolan and Cuban sources.
Most accounts of this conflict - better known in the West as the
'Border War' or the 'Bush War', as named by its South African
participants - tend to find the operations by the FAPA/DAA barely
worth mentioning. A handful of published histories mention two of
its MiG-21s claimed as shot down by Dassault Mirage F.1
interceptors of the South African Air Force (SAAF) in 1981 and
1982, and at least something about the activities of its MiG-23
interceptors during the battles of the 1987-1988 period. On the
contrary, the story told by Angolan and Cuban sources not only
reveals an entirely different image of the air war over Angola of
the 1980s: indeed, it reveals to what degree this conflict was
dictated by the availability - or the lack of - air power and shows
that precisely this issue dictated the way that the commanders of
the Cuban contingents deployed to the country - whether as advisors
or as combat troops - planned and conducted their operations. It is
thus little surprising that the first contingent of Cuban troops
deployed to Angola during Operation Carlota, in late 1975, included
a sizeable group of pilots and ground personnel who subsequently
helped build-up the FAPA/DAA from virtually nothing. They continued
that work over the following 14 years - sometimes in cooperation of
Soviet advisors and others from East European countries -
eventually establishing an air force that by 1988 maintained what
South African military intelligence and the media subsequently
described as the 'most advanced air defence system in Africa'. Not
only the air defence system in question, but also the aircraft
serving as its extended arms, ultimately managed a unique feat in
contemporary military history: they enabled an air force equipped
with Soviet-made aircraft and trained along the Soviet doctrine to
establish at least a semblance of aerial superiority over an air
force equipped with Western-made aircraft and operating under a
Western doctrine. Based on extensive research with help of Angolan
and Cuban sources, the 'War of Intervention in Angola, Volume 3',
traces the military build-up of the FAPA/DAA in the period
1975-1992, its capabilities and its intentions. Moreover, it
provides a unique, blow-by-blow account of its combat operations
and experiences. The volume is illustrated with 100 rare
photographs, half a dozen maps and 15 colour profiles, thus
providing a unique source of reference on this topic.
In 1971, Idi Amin Dada, a former officer of the King's African
Rifles and commander of the Ugandan Army, seized power in a
military coup in Uganda. Characterised by human rights abuses,
political repression, ethnic persecution, extrajudicial killings,
nepotism, corruption and gross economic mismanagement, Amin's rule
drove thousands into exile. Amin shifted the country's orientation
in international relations from alliances with the West and Israel,
to cooperation with the Soviet Union. With Tanzanian leader Julius
Nyerere offering sanctuary to Uganda's ousted president, Milton
Obote, Ugandan relations with Tanzania soon became strained too.
Already in 1972, a group of Tanzania-based exiles attempted,
unsuccessfully, to invade Uganda and remove Amin. By late 1978,
following another attempted coup against him, Amin deployed his
troops against the mutineers, some of whom fled across the
Tanzanian border. The rebellion against him thus spilled over into
Tanzania, against whom Uganda then declared a state of war. Opening
with an overview of the ascent of crucial military and political
figures, and the build-up of the Tanzanian and Ugandan militaries
during the 1960s and 1970s, this volume provides an in-depth study
of the related political and military events, but foremost of
military operations during the Kagera War- also known as 'A Just
War' - fought between Tanzania and Uganda in 1978-1979. It further
traces the almost continuous armed conflict in Uganda of 1981-1994,
which became renowned for emergence of several insurgent movements
notorious for incredible violence against civilian population, some
of which remain active in central Africa to this day. This book is
illustrated with an extensive selection of photographs, colour
profiles, and maps, describing the equipment, markings, and tactics
of the involved military forces.
In June 1990, a mere three months after the Indian Peace Keeping
Force withdrawal from Sri Lanka, the war between the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government resumed
and was to continue unabated until another cease-fire in early
1995. This period of the protracted Sri Lankan civil war, known as
Eelam War II, saw not only the LTTE evolve into a fully-fledged
semi-conventional force, but also gained the reputation of being
one of the most innovative and professional armed groups ever. This
volume covers in detail the coming into being and the tactics of
the Sea Tigers, the movement's naval wing infamous for its swarm
tactics, but also the developments related to its intelligence
wings and ground forces. The Sri Lankan armed forces were however
no underdog either. To the contrary, and despite numerous flaws
that plagued their efforts, they were anything but passive,
launching multiple offensives which were part of a cohesive and
well thought-out strategy, all the while benefiting from the
leadership of several extremely gifted officers, foremost Brig.Gen.
Denzil Kobbekaduwa. The two warring parties thus repeatedly fought
each other in battles and campaigns of unheard off size and
intensity so far, inflicting telling blows upon one another, but
with both failing to gain the upper hand in the long run - until
the two sides entered into a new round of negotiations which halted
the conflict - for a mere few months. Illustrated with over 100
photographs, maps and colour profiles, Paradise Afire Volume 3
continues the story of the internal strife that plagued Sri Lanka
in the late 20th Century.
Ethiopia, a country of ancient origins in eastern Africa, has
remained a military powerhouse of that continent until the present
day. Currently involved in the war in neighbouring Somalia,
Ethiopia was also involved in half a dozen of other armed conflicts
during the last 60 years. One of the most significant was the
Eritrean War of Independence. Fought 1961-1991, this was one of the
biggest armed conflicts on the African continent, especially if
measured by numbers of combatants involved. It included a wide
spectrum of operations, from `classic' counter-insurgency (COIN) to
conventional warfare in mountains - with the latter being one of
the most complex and demanding undertakings possible to conduct by
a military force. Campaigns run during the Eritrean War of
Independence often included large formations of relatively
well-equipped forces, led by well-trained commanders, utilising
complex plans based on home-grown doctrine. Airpower played a
crucial - although not necessarily decisive - role in many of
battles. Nevertheless, most of details about this conflict remain
unknown to the wider public. Similarly, relatively few Western
observers are aware of relations between the Eritrean liberation
movements, and various dissident and insurgent movements inside
Ethiopia - although the synergy of these eventually led the
downfall of the so-called Derg government, in 1991. Reaching back
to extensive studies of Ethiopian and Eritrean military history,
this volume provides a detailed account of the first 25 years of
this conflict: from the outbreak of armed insurgency in 1961 until
the crucial battle of Afabet, in 1988. It is illustrated by over
100 contemporary photographs, maps and colour profiles.
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