Description: Battle for Cassinga is written as a firsthand account by an ordinary South African paratrooper who was at the 1978 assault on the Angolan headquarters of PLAN, the armed wing of SWAPO. The book relates why the South African government took the political risk in attacking the fortress in an external operation and examines the SWAPO claims that Cassinga was a refugee camp guarded by a few PLAN soldiers. It also explains why Sam Nujoma the SWAPO leader had no option but to perpetuate this falsehood.
Brief description: Mike McWilliams works in the Renewable Energy and Climate Change field. He has been a television cameraman and the owner of a design consultancy. He did military service in 1970, starting as an infantryman at 6 South African Infantry but immediately volunteered to train as a Paratrooper at 1 Parachute Battalion in Bloemfontein. He served in 1 Para Bn, 2 Para Bn and 3 Para Bn completing many 3 month stints as Fire Force in Owamboland South West Africa until 1978. The Battle for Cassinga was his last operation. Mike was a skydiver and won the South African National Championships five years in succession from 1980 to 1984 and also competed at World Parachuting Championships and World Cups in both Free Fall Relative Work as well as Canopy Relative Work. In 1983 he captained the South African 8 Way Team to a Bronze Medal at the World Championships. Mike is married to Frances and has three sons. His interests are classical music, chess, hunting, motorcycles and reading.
Review Quotes: "Africa@War is a ground-breaking series concept, studying Africa's conflicts and military players in an informative and entertaining manner, examining some of the lesser-known campaigns and shedding new light on some of the better-known operations ... Both titles are great models of what the combination of authors and publishers can produce by way of useable case studies for the market place in a concise illustrated format. They are recommended as professional military education references."--Charles D. Melson, Chief Historian, U.S. Marine Corps