In this account of his National Service year with South Africa’s unique and exceptional 32 Battalion, Justin Taylor deals with this part of our history honestly and compellingly. Caught up in a unit where his work as a Signals Officer placed him at the heart of combat and adventure, but also suffering and death, his story is his own; it takes him from headquarters to bush-base, from training to actual combat, from convoy to home.
His most fascinating remembrance is as a rookie Signals Lieutenant, awakening to the harsh and disturbing realities of a battalion attack on an entrenched enemy brigade, which betrays the innocence, but also portrays the adaptability and guts of so many South African soldiers of the Border War era. During the legendary, but totally unconventional attack on Savate, in the middle of the southern Angolan bush, Taylor and his fellow soldiers, many of whom were equally young and inexperienced, saw and experienced what few other South Africans had encountered. He writes with uncommon feeling about his duties, the slog, the heady combat, and friends and comrades who fought together, and then the pathos and bewilderment as shock, tragedy, and loss strike home amid all the courage and boldness.
In a small way, this short, truthful journey back into old loyalties and a forgotten war evokes the same kind of poignant emotions and empathy which made the book Fireforce by Chris Cocks such an unforgettable experience.
This account is worth reading, because it’s of a time worth remembering.
Lieutenant-Colonel Willem Ratte
Former Rhodesian SAS;
Commanding Officer, 32 Battalion Reconnaissance Group
May 2011