Bushmen Soldiers
Bushmen Soldiers

Author: Ian Uys

Publisher: Helion and Company

Published: 2014-07-19

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 1910294926

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The Bushman soldiers were the most outstanding all-round fighters of the Border War. As the first of the indigenous population to take up arms on South Africa's behalf, they were among the last to lay them down. The border's oldest and most bush-wise people, they became feared as relentless trackers and dedicated soldiers. Coming from a primitive hunter/gatherer culture, they responded well to a crash course in modern warfare. Their use of automatic weapons and mortars, coupled with their phenomenal tracking abilities, made them a formidable fighting force. During Operation Savannah they were deployed in a conventional role as Battle-Group Alpha, part of Task Force Zulu, and advanced approximately 2,000 kilometers in a month. Afterwards, some of the Bushmen were trained as parachutists and served as Recces behind enemy lines. Others were attached to various units as trackers and guides. Their loyalty and bravery was recognized in the award of Honoris Crux decorations to members and former members of this elite corps. Controversy followed the battalion to South Africa after the war. Persecuted for centuries, the Bushmen have displayed an uncanny ability to survive and have adapted remarkably well to the modern world. Their transition from the Stone Age in less than 20 years is a story, which will never be forgotten. Hailed as the 'Gurkhas of Africa' the Bushmen have proved themselves second to none. This is an exceptional record of 31 and 201 Battalions and their remarkable personnel, fully illustrated with many photographs.

As the Crow Flies
As the Crow Flies

Author: Delville Linford

Publisher: Protea Boekhuis

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781485302681

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Col Delville Linford offers us - for the first time ‒ his own 'warts and all' report, not only of the legendary 31 Battalion but also of his career in the South African Army.

Bushmen Soldiers
Bushmen Soldiers

Author: Ian Uys

Publisher: Helion and Company

Published: 2014-07-19

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 1909384585

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The Bushman soldiers were the most outstanding all-round fighters of the Border War. As the first of the indigenous population to take up arms on South Africa's behalf, they were among the last to lay them down. The border's oldest and most bush-wise people, they became feared as relentless trackers and dedicated soldiers. Coming from a primitive hunter/gatherer culture, they responded well to a crash course in modern warfare. Their use of automatic weapons and mortars, coupled with their phenomenal tracking abilities, made them a formidable fighting force. During Operation Savannah they were deployed in a conventional role as Battle-Group Alpha, part of Task Force Zulu, and advanced approximately 2,000 kilometers in a month. Afterwards, some of the Bushmen were trained as parachutists and served as Recces behind enemy lines. Others were attached to various units as trackers and guides. Their loyalty and bravery was recognized in the award of Honoris Crux decorations to members and former members of this elite corps. Controversy followed the battalion to South Africa after the war. Persecuted for centuries, the Bushmen have displayed an uncanny ability to survive and have adapted remarkably well to the modern world. Their transition from the Stone Age in less than 20 years is a story, which will never be forgotten. Hailed as the 'Gurkhas of Africa' the Bushmen have proved themselves second to none. This is an exceptional record of 31 and 201 Battalions and their remarkable personnel, fully illustrated with many photographs.

Journey to Tobruk
Journey to Tobruk

Author: Louise Austin

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Published: 2011-03-23

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 1742660681

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Journey to Tobruk tells the remarkable life story of John Murray, a genuine Australian hero, on and off the battlefield. This engaging blend of military history and biography - with a strand of family history (and family secrets) woven through - follows the transformation of a raw young bushman into a courageous soldier and inspiring leader. A lifelong correspondence between John and his mother is a feature of the narrative; Murray's laconic tone, which never falters even as he endures the horrors of the North African campaign as a 'rat of Tobruk', is definitively Australian. An illegitimate child whose wealthy grazier father never acknowledged him, John was sent at age fourteen to work on an outback sheep property as a jackeroo. The harshness of this environment schooled him for survival, forging the strength and resourcefulness that were later tested in the crucible of war. While the story also follows Murray's post-war life, the focus of this moving and impeccably researched book remains John's six-year wartime odyssey, from Australia, to Tobruk, El Alamein, New Guinea and Borneo, evoked in heart-gripping detail, supported by maps and images. Through it all, this fascinating, brave, resilient and humane man retains an optimism and stoicism that allow him to face and conquer the horror he confronts.

Australian Soldiers in South Africa and Vietnam
Australian Soldiers in South Africa and Vietnam

Author: Effie Karageorgos

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2016-03-24

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 1472585828

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The South African and Vietnam Wars provoked dramatically different reactions in Australians, from pro-British jingoism on the eve of Federation, to the anti-war protest movements of the 1960s. In contrast, the letters and diaries of Australian soldiers written while on the South African and Vietnam battlefields reveal that their reactions to the war they were fighting were surprisingly unlike those on the home fronts from which they came. Australian Soldiers in South Africa and Vietnam follows these combat men from enlistment to the war front and analyses their words alongside theories of soldiering to demonstrate the transformation of soldiers as a response to developments in military procedure, as well as changing civilian opinion. In this way, the book illustrates the strength of a soldier's link to their home front lives.

Innocent Victims and Savage Killers
Innocent Victims and Savage Killers

Author: Shannon Browning-Mullis

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 115

ISBN-13:

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Author's abstract: The border wars in southern Africa had a major impact on the lives of people in the region, especially those who joined the armed forces involved in the conflicts. The members of the Bushmen Battalions in the South African Defense Force found themselves impacted more than most. Their identities as Bushmen were already complicated, because they have been portrayed in various guises for centuries to entertain European audiences. Their identities were further manipulated by the SADF to justify their involvement with the people. The result was an ever contradictory collection of propaganda that attempted to reconcile ideas of cultural retention and development. South Africa developed these ideas in the context of the total institution that was designed to control every aspect of the lives of the soldiers and their dependents.