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Book synopsis

As one of the Specialist Pathfinders of 44 Parachute Brigade during cross-border operations into Angola in the early 1980s, the author and the unit operated ahead of main forces, conducted reconnaissance, target marking, demolitions, and covert insertion tasks during the Border War. Missions included helicopter deployments, long-range patrols, infrastructure sabotage, and contact with FAPLA and SWAPO elements inside Angola within the structure of the South African Defence Force.

The author asserts familiarity with the tools and trade of soldiering and records operations as experienced.

A lived record of the Angolan Bush War as part of the South African Border War, presented with historical precision and the dark humour of airborne troops but not with political reframing or retrospective moralising. Executed precisely and restrained in explanation. and presented in a authentic voice and soldier's tone.

It contains over 80 photos, some never seen before. Cameras were prohibited but 2 were smuggled in and these took those historical photographs. Letters were heavily censored by the South Africans to retain operational integrity. The book is reconstructed from memory and from uncensored letters that made their way to the UK.

For readers of military memoirs, airborne forces history, special operations, African war history, and studies of the 44 Parachute Brigade and its Pathfinders.

Volume 1 establishes the foundation for subsequent volumes covering additional theatres of War.

Book details

• Full title: PHILISTINE
• Subtitle: A professional Soldier in Africa
• Author: Mark Griffiths, Andrea Sartori
• Language: English
• Binding: Hardback
• Number of pages: 302
• EAN: 9781919534718
• ISBN: 1919534717
• ID: 51667419
• Publisher: Pilgrim Scribes Ltd
• Weight: 734 g
• Dimensions: 234 × 156 × 24 mm
• Date of publishing: 30. April 2026

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