The authoritative history of the South African Special Forces. Nicknamed "The Recces", the men of this famous combat unit were masters in the art of reconnaissance and clandestine warfare. Covers the brutal guerrilla wars in Angola and Namibia from which the Recces emerged as one of the most decorated units in the South African military.

Following the publication of Al Venter’s successful Portugal’s Guerrilla Wars in Africa - shortlisted by the New York Military Affairs Symposium’s 'Arthur Goodzeit Book Award for 2013' - his Battle for Angola delves still further into the troubled history of this former Portuguese African colony. This is a completely fresh work running to almost 600 pages including 32 pages of color photos, with the main thrust on events before and after the civil war that followed Lisbon’s over-hasty departure back to the metrópole. There are also several sections that detail the role of South African mercenaries in defeating the rebel leader Dr Jonas Savimbi (considered by some as the most accomplished guerrilla leader to emerge in Africa in the past century). There are many chapters that deal with Pretoria’s reaction to the deteriorating political and military situation in Angola, the role of the Soviets and mercenaries in the political transition, as well as the civil war that followed. With the assistance of several notable military authorities he elaborates in considerable detail on South Africa’s 23-year Border War, from the first guerrilla incursions to the last. In this regard he received solid help from the former the head of 4 Reconnaissance Regiment, Colonel Douw Steyn, who details several cross-border Recce strikes, including the sinking by frogmen of two Soviet ships and a Cuban freighter in an Angolan deepwater port. Throughout, the author was helped by a variety of notable authorities, including the French historian Dr René Pélissier and the American academic and former naval aviator Dr John (Jack) Cann. With their assistance, he covers several ancillary uprisings and invasions, including the Herero revolt of the early 20th century; the equally troubled Ovambo insurrection, as well as the invasion of Angola by the Imperial German Army in the First World War. Former deputy head of the South African Army Major General Roland de Vries played a seminal role. It was he - dubbed ‘South Africa’s Rommel’ by his fellow commanders - who successfully nurtured the concept of ‘mobile warfare’ where, in a succession of armored onslaughts ‘thin-skinned’ Ratel Infantry Fighting Vehicles tackled Soviet main battle tanks and thrashed them. There is a major section on South African Airborne – the ‘Parabats’ –by Brigadier-General McGill Alexander, one of the architects of that kind of warfare under Third World conditions. Finally, the role of Cuban Revolutionary Army receives the attention it deserves: officially there were almost 50,000 Cuban troops deployed in the Angolan war, though subsequent disclosures in Havana suggest that the final total was much higher.

This edition includes: Novels: A Search for a Secret All But Lost Out on the Pampas The Young Franc-Tireurs The Young Buglers The Cornet of Horse In Times of Peril Facing Death, The Hero of the Vaughan Pit Winning His Spurs (Boy Knight) Friends Though Divided Jack Archer Under Drake's Flag By Sheer Pluck With Clive in India In Freedom's Cause St. George For England True to the Old Flag The Young Colonists The Dragon and the Raven For Name and Fame The Lion of the North Through the Fray The Bravest of the Brave A Final Reckoning The Young Carthaginian With Wolfe in Canada Bonnie Prince Charlie For the Temple In the Reign of Terror Orange and Green Captain Bayley's Heir The Cat of Bubastes The Curse of Carne's Hold The Lion of St. Mark By Pike and Dyke One of the 28th With Lee in Virginia By England's Aid By Right of Conquest Chapter of Adventures Maori and Settler The Dash For Khartoum Held Fast for England Redskin and Cowboy Beric the Briton Condemned as a Nihilist In Greek Waters Rujub, the Juggler Dorothy's Double A Jacobite Exile Saint Bartholomew's Eve Through the Sikh War In the Heart of the Rockies When London Burned A Girl of the Commune Wulf The Saxon A Knight of the White Cross Through Russian Snows The Tiger of Mysore At Agincourt On the Irrawaddy The Queen's Cup With Cochrane the Dauntless Colonel Thorndyke's Secret A March on London With Frederick the Great With Moore at Corunna Among Malay Pirates At Aboukir and Acre Both Sides the Border The Golden Cañon The Stone Chest The Lost Heir Under Wellington's Command In the Hands of the Cave Dwellers No Surrender! A Roving Commission Won by the Sword In the Irish Brigade Out With Garibaldi With Buller in Natal At the Point of the Bayonet To Herat and Cabul With Roberts to Pretoria The Treasure of the Incas With Kitchener in the Soudan With the British Legion Through Three Campaigns With the Allies to Pekin By Conduct and Courage Short Stories Historical Works Other Writings