South Africa's Second Underwater Handbook

South Africa's Second Underwater Handbook PDF Author: Al J. Venter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Skin diving
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description

South Africa's Second Underwater Handbook

South Africa's Second Underwater Handbook PDF Author: Al J. Venter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Skin diving
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description


Mercenaries

Mercenaries PDF Author: Al J. Venter
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1612002455
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 568

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Book Description
An “in-depth [and] well-researched” look at soldiers-for-hire and their role in modern warfare around the globe—includes photos (Portland Book Review). Mercenaries have been a part of warfare for centuries, and in today’s world, these hired guns are an attractive alternative for Western governments reluctant to put their militaries at risk for obscure causes that would otherwise be difficult to explain to their electorates. This book provides a revealing look at modern merc actions in the Middle East and Africa. From brushfire wars in the Congo to outright genocides in Biafra, highly skilled mercenaries were called upon to fight for order—and also for a living. Whether facing fanatics in Somalia or revolutionaries in Rhodesia, staving off cannibals in Sierra Leone or assisting a civil war in Angola, the mercs put their lives on the line for a cause. Many mercenaries freelanced, but under talented freebooting leaders, some groups became crack outfits. South Africa’s Executive Outcomes became a legend in its own time; a quasi-military itself, it dispatched fighters throughout the continent. Like an ad hoc Foreign Legion, fighters came from countries around the world to participate in the combats. In the United States, the publisher of Soldier of Fortune magazine organized repeated expeditions from Laos to Peru. In Afghanistan, the renowned helicopter gunship pilot known as Nellis lent his skills after almost singlehandedly defeating gruesome insurgencies in Africa. Now, foreign correspondent Al Venter, who was actively involved in the direction and production of segments of the Discovery Channel series Mercenaries, provides both background about this unique class of warriors and a fascinating look at their methods and actions.

The Underwater Handbook

The Underwater Handbook PDF Author: Charles Shilling
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1468421549
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 929

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Book Description
This handbook attempts to translate data on various parameters of man's capability in underwater and hyperbaric environments for those without a background in the life sciences. Accomplishing any multifaceted task requires team work, and effective team work depends on facile communication among all participants. To communicate properly, all parties must understand each other's problems and be able to speak a similar language. To this end we believe that this publication will go a long way in furthering the understanding and communication necessary for maximum achievement. The U. S. Navy has a fundamental interest in all types of activities connected with the ocean and is especially interested in the growing field of manned underwater and hyperbaric activities. Thus, the manuscript for this comprehensive book was developed under Office of Naval Research contract N00014-67-A-0214-0013 with The George Washington University. We acknowledge with appreciation the financial support and technical guidance for this undertaking by the Naval Medical Research and Develop ment Command of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery as well as by the Engineering Psychology Program and the Physiology Program of the Office of Naval Research. JOSEPH P. POLLARD Director Biological and Medical Sciences Division Office of Naval Research vii Preface A need was felt for a book that would document the relationship of the human being to the underwater hyperbaric environment in such a way that the individual unfamiliar with the psychological or biomedical jargon could still understand and appreciate the information.

South Africa

South Africa PDF Author: Geoffrey V. Davis
Publisher: Oxford, England : Clio Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Biafra's War 1967-1970

Biafra's War 1967-1970 PDF Author: Al J. Venter
Publisher: Helion and Company
ISBN: 1912174316
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
Almost half a century has passed since the Nigerian Civil War ended. But memories die hard, because a million or more people perished in that internecine struggle, the majority women and children, who were starved to death. Biafra’s war was modern Africa’s first extended conflict. It lasted almost three years and was based largely on ethnic, by inference, tribal grounds. It involved, on the one side, a largely Christian or animist southeastern quadrant of Nigeria which called itself Biafra, pitted militarily against the country’s more populous and preponderant Islamic north. These divisions – almost always brutal – persist. Not a week goes by without reports coming in of Christian communities or individuals persecuted by Islamic zealots. It was also a conflict that saw significant Cold War involvement: the Soviets (and Britain) siding and supplying Federal Nigeria with weapons, aircraft and expertise and several Western states – Portugal, South Africa and France especially – providing clandestine help to the rebel state. For that reason alone, this book is an important contribution towards understanding Nigeria’s ethnic divisions, which are no better today than they were then. Biafra was the first of a series of religious wars that threaten to engulf much of Africa. Similar conflicts have recently taken place in the Ivory Coast, Kenya, Southern Sudan, the Central African Republic, Senegal (Cassamance), both Congo Republics and elsewhere. As the war progressed, Biafra also attracted mercenary involvement, many of whom arriving from the Congo which had already seen much turmoil. Western pilots were hired by Lagos and they flew the first Soviet MiG-17 jet fighters to have played an active role in a ‘Western’ war. Al Venter spent time covering this struggle. He left the rebel enclave in December 1969, only weeks before it ended and claims the distinction of being the only foreign correspondent to have been rocketed by both sides: first by Biafra’s tiny Swedish-built Minicon fighter planes while he was on a ship lying at anchor in Warri harbour and thereafter, by MiG jets flown by mercenaries. Among his colleagues inside the beleaguered territory were the celebrated Italian photographer Romano Cagnoni as well as Frederick Forsyth who originally reported for the BBC and then resigned because of the partisan, pro-Nigerian stance taken by Whitehall. He briefly shared quarters with French photographer Giles Caron who was later killed in Cambodia. Prior to that Venter had been working for John Holt in Lagos. It is interesting that his office at the time was at Ikeja International Airport (Murtala Muhammed today) where the second Nigerian army mutiny was plotted and from where it was launched. From this perspective he had a proverbial ‘ringside seat’ of the tribal divisions that followed as hostilities escalated. Venter took numerous photos while on this West African assignment, both in Nigeria while he was based there and later in Biafra itself. Others come from various sources, including some from the same mercenary pilots who originally targeted him from the air.

Guide to South African Reference Books

Guide to South African Reference Books PDF Author: Reuben Musiker
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Only a small proportion of the more than 1,100 entries have been retained from the earlier editions and supplements, 1955 to 1983; more publications reflecting social and economic changes in South Africa have been included; and the annotations are more extensive. The main focus is on references such as dictionaries, yearbooks, and encyclopedias, but handbooks, manuals, and histories are cited if no conventional references exist on the subject. The selection is not limited to books published in South Africa. The arrangement is by broad subject headings following the Dewey Decimal system. The annotations are primarily descriptive, but evaluations creep in now and again. Distributed by Books International. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Challenge

Challenge PDF Author: Al J. Venter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Africa
Languages : en
Pages : 648

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Two Oceans

Two Oceans PDF Author: George Branch
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
ISBN: 1775848361
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 2159

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Book Description
This popular and authoritative guide has been fully revised, updated and expanded to encompass more than 2,200 species found in and around southern Africa’s oceans. It includes an additional 125 species, 190 new photographs, revised distribution maps, and 260 updated species names to reflect the new taxonomy. Key features include: Concise and easy-to-use species descriptions; spectacular full-colour photographs; accurate and up-to-date distribution maps. This new edition of Two Oceans is a celebration of the extraordinary diversity of life that inhabits the sea and surrounding coastline, reaffirming this book’s reputation as the region’s pre-eminent guide for scientists, students, divers and beachcombers. Sales points: Covers over 2,200 species; full-colour photos, maps and concise text make identification easy; up-to-date information; highly accomplished author team.

Battle For Angola

Battle For Angola PDF Author: Al J. Venter
Publisher: Helion and Company
ISBN: 191311810X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 564

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Book Description
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.

The Rough Guide to South Africa

The Rough Guide to South Africa PDF Author: Barbara McCrea
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1848364334
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 740

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Book Description
Presents a guide to places to stay, eat, explore, view wildlife, and play in South Africa with background information on the country and its culture and maps and photographs to help plan a trip.