Book Review: Secret SAS Missions in Africa

Author: Michael Graham

Reviewed by: Duncan Evans

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While the exploits of the SAS are best known from the Iranian Embassy Siege and on the Falklands Islands, C Squadron was busy in east and southern Africa from 1968 to 1980. White colonial rule was fast disappearing while the Russians and Chinese were actively arming and supplying African nationalist movements. If there’s one thing that was apparent in the bush, it was that most country boundaries were artificial, with tribes often living across the supposed dividing line. Into this maelstrom stepped the SAS, undertaking various missions that usually involved sabotage, communication interdiction or plain ambush against much larger forces.
One of the most interesting missions described was against a Russian supply ship at port in Mozambique. The Squadron flew in to South Africa, then went by jeep and submarine to the starting point. All of this is told with genuine relish and the dialogue of someone who was there on the ground, so it’s lively and entertaining, even if the political viewpoint is very one-dimensional. A very good account all the same.

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204 pages • Hardback • £19.99

As reviewed in The Armourer July 2018

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