Striking Inside Angola with 32 Battalion

The conflict ended with the last major battle of the Cold War, one of the largest land battles of the latter part of the 20th century.

This book presents an eyewitness account by a South African Defence Force (SADF) Signals Officer, Marius Scheepers, who served in arguably the most formidable battle unit that ever existed in the history of the SADF; 32 Battalion.

It describes how members lived and fought in the bush during 1983 under the most difficult conditions.

Being the Signals Officer of 32 Battalion, Scheepers was privy to all major command decisions of the time.

Although he focuses primarily on operations during the year 1983, including Operations Snoek and Dolfyn, he includes concise descriptions of all other major operations that took place inside Angola between 1966 and 1988, including Operation Askari (1983/ 84) and the decisive battle at Cuito Cuanavale in 1987/ 88.

Extensive appendices include 32 Battalion sitreps, radio-code cards and SADF radio equipment used by 32 Battalion. About the AuthorMarius Scheepers was born in the small town of Wesselsbron in the Free State Province of South Africa and completed his schooling at Voortrekkerhoogte, Pretoria.

During his national service in the Signals Corps of the South African Defence Force, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant.

He was later promoted to the rank of captain in the Civilian Force (Territorials).

In 1983 he was posted as Signals Officer to 32 Battalion HQ at Rundu in the operational area on the border between Namibia and Angola.

He served for 13 months behind enemy lines at 32 Battalion's tactical HQs at Ongiva and Ionde inside Angola from where clandestine operations were conducted to neutralise SWAPO bases.

After his military service he qualified as an attorney and today runs his own law firm in Pretoria.