The Last Hot Battle of the Cold War: South Africa vs. Cuba in the Angolan Civil War

This book did not live up to the hype. Although not a total waste, the pre-publishing propaganda that this would be the ultimate book on the battle of Cuito Cuanavale written from primary source material from every group/nation that participated in the battle did not pan out. While it is based on primary sources from every side, this is a South Africa heavy work, with perhaps somewhat less from FAPLA and UNITA sources, surprisingly little from the Cuban side and very little from Soviet sources. This is a 232 page book of which 167 pages is substantial text. Of these 167 pages only 70 describe military operations: 42 about the ill-fated Soviet advised FAPLA Greeting October offensive towards Mavinga, the disaster on the Lomba River crossing, and the retreat to Cuito Cuanavale, and only 16 pages cover the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale itself. A separate 12 page chapter covers the air battle.While there is a lot of detail about the fighting, the writing style is extremely awkward and it could have used another good edit before publication as there are lots of grammatical mistakes. Finally there is a lot of gratuitous editorializing, which distracts from the main narrative. A lot of text was devoted to describing the combatants: FAPLA, UNITA, the Soviets, the Cubans and the South Africans, and a few select individuals from those forces. I thought these sections could have been a lot shorter and more tightly written.Finally, as Polack is a lawyer with a human rights background he devotes a great deal of his text to counting and naming casualties. A lot of this could have been annexes rather than major text. It was disappointing that for a book which claims to have been written out of curiosity after interviewing Cuban veterans, that so few Cuban sources seem to actually have been used. Several Cuban veterans have written extensively about the experience at Cuito Cuanavale and as these books are available publicly and in libraries outside of Cuba, it was disappointing that so few of these appear in the text or bibliography. The battle of Cuito Cuanavale itself gets very little space in my opinion, which was puzzling to say the least. The book did contain some useful information, details I had not read before, or not read in a single source, and Polack's writing made it fairly easy to follow the progress of the battle which some South African sources make far more confusing. He does dispel some claims for political reasons made by Soviets, Cubans and South Africans, so it was not a total waste.Sadly, however, this is not the ultimate book on the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, which has yet to be written.

If you’re a student of the war in Angola, particularly as it involved Cuba and South Africa, you’ll probably want this book. On the other hand, you’ll need to realize it has a lot of data, and is rather disjointed. There is no common thread – no narrative – that links the chapters together. Instead each chapter is virtually a stand-alone effort…if you understand this you’ll probably enjoy it a little more.Also, despite the fact the book’s title implies it’s about the battle of Cuito Cuanavale, of the 15 chapters in the book, only three are about the battle. Having said that, it doesn’t mean the other chapters are worthless; the author provides a lot of background on the other aspects ow the war to include portions of the orders of battle of Cuba, South Africa, FAPLA, UNITA, and the Soviets, each with their own chapter. The author also has two biographical chapters on two leaders – General Ben Ben (UNITA) and Commandant Robbie Hartslief (South Africa). Other chapters discuss prisoners of war, the air war, casualties of the battle, and the cease fire that followed.Because I’m researching the conflict in southern Angola I found the book to be interesting and useful, but it’s not the book you want to rely on for a cohesive perspective on these last conventional battles of the war.

I bought this book because I am not too familiar with the late Cold War, nor am I well read into the Angolan Civil War. I was very satisfied, but for someone who does not love history as much as I do, this book could be very dry.The book does a good job of covering the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, which was the last major engagement of the Angolan Civil War involving the Cuban and South African militaries. It briefly describes the background, and then discusses the aftermath. The focus is almost exclusively on Cuba and South Africa, with very little attention paid to their FAPLA and UNITA allies. Also, at the end, the author largely avoids discussing the claims, justified or not, that the "defeat" of the South African forces led to DeKlerk's decision to start dismantling Apartheid.Much of the book covers, quite well, the respective Orders of Battle for the Cuban and South African militaries, but the reader learns almost nothing about what the Angolans brought to the table.For these reasons, I can give this book 3 stars, and recommend it to a serious student of History. However, for anyone with a more passing interest, I don't think they would find this book a good read.

Hard going as the book is disjointed with little in the way of a clear narrative. The author is obviously very familiar with his subject matter but he’s not taken those who aren’t into account; there are no maps and the photos are thrown in without building a clear picture. I agree with other reviews that the list of units and persons would be far better as annexes.I’ve nearly finished reading it but it’s a slog and it’s only because I’m stubborn that I haven’t given up on it.Update: I gave up!

Far too many proof and typographical errors.Good and interesting story spoilt by info on units/personnel which would have been better dealt with in appendices.Having this info within the body of the chapters interrupted the flow of the story Photo quality poor- not surprising considering the conditions under which they were taken.

Disjointed account of a campaign. Frequently uses lists like casualties or weapons. Lacks a real flow to the account. Weak asides - referring to a combatant named Earp he quips “... not Wyatt”

I was interested in a rare topic: but I've been deeply disappointed. The book jumps through the cronology, through the different armies, through military facts and politics without order, without timelines, without finishing a matter. A lot of memories, but in the end I've not found a clear description of this last battle. The author is a self confessed novice, and succeeds in being simpathetic to all sides of the war. Not worth to buy.

I an pretty ignorant about the subject so bought the book to learn a bit about the Cubans vs the South Africans.I think this book has the expectation you already know about the conflict.I an the type of petson that likes to follow battles with maps provided. There was not even onr map in the book. I think thry assumed you knew the area.Therefore the information and the way the book was laid for me trying to learn about the conflict did not really expand my knowledge greatly. I guess the book should be advertised as not for a beginner trying to learn about the conflict.Of course I did learn some things. But not what I was hoping for.