Small Team Missions Behind Enemy Lines A gripping first-hand account of the combat operations and life of a member of the secretive and elite South African Special Forces, known as ‘Recces’. South African Special Forces, known as the ‘Recces’, are an elite group of...
South Africa's Seaborne Raiders 1978-1988 This seminal work documents the clandestine sea borne operations undertaken by South Africa’s 4 Reconnaissance Commando Regiment. It breathtakingly reveals the versatility and effectiveness of this elite unit which worked with...
Operation Firewood was a 1987 cross-border military operation conducted by the South African Defence Force (SADF) against the armed wing of SWAPO, the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), during the later phases of the South African Border War. he PLAN Northern...
Operation Coolidge was a covert military operation conducted by the South African 4 Reconnaissance Regiment in August 1987, where a team of 4 Recce Commandos was inserted by helicopter into an area north of Cuito Cuanavale in Angola to target infrastructure,...
The southern element of the FAPLA offensive was launched from the area of Cuito Cuanavale on 14 August 1987. The brigades involved here were 25 Brigade, already deployed east of the Cuito River at Tumpo, and 16, 21, 47, 59, 66, 8, and 13 Brigades, which were deployed...
Operation Sea Warrior was a South African Special Forces operation that took place from 20 June to 1 September 1985 to  sabotage and reconnaissance mission carried out by 4 Reconnaissance Commando into central Angola during the Bush War, targeting the Benguela railway...
Operation Kerslig (Operation Candle Light) was a South African Defence Force special forces raid on an oil refinery outside Luanda, Angola. The raid took place on 30 November 1981 by members of the 1 and 4 Reconnaissance Regiments
Operation Domino was a combined military operation in May 1981 that involved the South African 32 Battalion, 44 Parachute Brigade, and 5 Recce. The operation's objective was to set up vehicle ambushes on the road between Xangongo and Lubango, and to destroy storm...
Six months earlier, during Operation Bucksaw, it had been determined that there was a major SWAPO base some six kilometres north-west of Chana Golf. Aerial reconnaissance photographs of the base had been taken, and documents captured at Tofima during Seiljag 3...
For the first few months of 1976, operations were conducted on an area defence/patrol system, with only verbal orders being issued. On 28 April, Colonel Jan Dirk Breytenbach issued the first formal order for deployment – Operational Order No. 1, aimed at preventing...
Operation Savannah was the South African code name for their military incursion into Angola in 1975–1976. It was part of the South African Border War and arose due to the Angolan War of Independence. The operation also materially influenced the subsequent Angolan...