South African war machine

This book provides an insider's look at the South African Defence Force in the last decade of the apartheid era. It follows the general pattern of the "US War Machine" and "Soviet War Machine" volumes from Salamander Books. It begins with an overview of the SADF in the mid-1980s, followed by chapters on the Army, Air Force, Navy, Special Forces, Related Forces (of the "independent" homelands), and ARMSCOR (the state armaments manufacturer). Then are chapters on SADF operations in South Africa, South-West Africa, and Angola, and an "Outlook for the future", which contains speculation on the (now confirmed) SADF nuclear program. In some areas, like orders of battle and unit organization, it could use a lot more detail, but as is said in the preface: "In order to obtain other excellent photographs, and to publish the book in the Republic of South Africa, the manuscript had to be cleared by the Government in Pretoria". For this reason the book might is naturally biased, referring to ANC and SWAPO fighters as "terrorists", while nowadays they are often given more laudatory names. Also, "...the author was asked to eschew any discussion of political matters, particularly the subject of racial discrimination", which sometimes seems a bit of an "elephant in the room". Despite this rather one-sided view, it is an excellent guide to a obscure subject.

Excellent book about the Diffrent branches of the RSA Military. Photos galore, Articles about diffrent units, Para bats, 32 Ba, 31 ba, Crowbar and also great cover of the diffrent fights in angola. Along with views of the diffrent weapons used. This Trully is a must have on the South African Military.

I orginally owned the book in the 90s found it a useful and comprhensive look into a different war in a different time.

Though now somewhat dated I kept this book handy when I was working as an unclassified reference. Much detail not found elsewhere.