Pathfinder Company: 44 Parachute Brigade―'The Philistines' Paperback – 1 Jan. 2010

AS an ex-member of the SADF who served in SWA and Angola I found the book interesting but was somewhat dismayed amongst other things by some glaring inaccuracies contained in the book:On page 38 there is a photo with the following caption: " Canadian Rob Gilmour and American Lang Price pose with an anti-tank rocket launcher.." The weapon they are holding is in fact, a 9K32 Strela-2 MANPAD (shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile).On page 61 the author displays a shield painted by Mark Griffiths part of the description reads as follows : "The central emblem with the stylised 44 is based on the German Infantry combat badge" the central emblem is actually based on the beret insignia of the German Fallschirmjäger which in turn is a de-Nazified WWII Fallschirmjäger jump qualification badge.On page 74 there is a photo of Gilly Gilmore Sean Wyatt and John Wessels.In this caption, the author mentions that the death of Bob Beech and John Wessels after a contact with Zimbabwean Troops and states that the circumstances of their death still remains a mystery, this is not so, Dave Berry was killed in the same contact when they were ambushed by a Zimbabwean unit. The mission they were on was a clandestine Op by the SADF named Operation DramaI found the many disparaging remarks about the run of the mill SADF somewhat tedious not to mention the frequent digs at Afrikaners, I do appreciate that the Pathfinders had some really excellent soldiers in the unit, however, so did the SADF, the average "troepie" acquitted him well when the chips were down,the19-year-old National Servicemen fought and died without the benefit of specialised training and equipment unlike the super soldiers of the elite units.

This is an interesting book but is more heavy on the photo's than the text. Very easy to read, but some of the photo's are a little graphic, so not one for the kids to be reading really.

Great Read