32 Battalion first saw action as "Combat Group Bravo" during Operation Savannah in 1975, after Breytenbach had fed, clothed and trained what he called "the most miserable, underfed, ragged and villainous bunch of troops I had ever seen in my life..." Breytenbach knocked his new recruits into shape, often literally by using his fists, gaining their respect and willing cooperation. The account of Operation Savannah which takes up several chapters of the first part of the book provides an insider's viewpoint of the campaign that was the start of South Africa's involvement in Angola. Breytenbach's methods of warfare were as unconventional as his methods of obtaining equipment for his unit. When he was denied permission to demolish a bridge across the Okavango, which he knew was being used by FAPLA, he sent a Recce team to demolish it anyway and then sent a signal to Task Force HQ that he had heard unaccounted for explosions in the area and asked innocently should he investigate? He then later signalled that reconnaissance had revealed that the bridge had been destroyed, according to locals, by UNITA...Lacking heavy weapons and equipment, 32 Battalion had to adopt guerrilla tactics and prove themselves better at this style of warfare than their enemies, FAPLA and SWAPO. They fought on foot, harassing the enemy in their own home base areas, using the vital element of surprise to keep them off balance. Tracking was easy in the sandy soil of Angola, but made anti-tracking extremely difficult, so that the level of expertise needed was high if they were to remain out of sight and reach of the enemy. The black troops, with their guerrilla background, possessed the required skills already, but their white leaders had to learn new skills on the job, coping with severe extremes of temperature and lack of food and water for long periods.

They live by the sword

Breytenbach, Jan

Lemur

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Books by Lemur

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Lemur publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

They live by the sword