Arnè Söderlund - Iron Fist From The Sea: South Africas Seaborne Raiders 1978-1988

Co-published in 2014 by:

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Reprinted with corrections 2015

Designed and typeset by Farr out Publications, Wokingham, Berkshire

Cover designed by Euan Carter, Leicester (www.euancarter.com)

Printed by Henry Ling Ltd, Dorchester, Dorset

Text Danil Steyn and Arn Sderlund 2014

Photographs see Acknowledgements section.

The authors have made every reasonable effort to trace the copyright holders of material appearing in

this publication, and to credit them accordingly. Any correspondence regarding this matter should be

directed to the authors, c/o the publishers, at the above address.

Cover photographs front: Operators of 4 Recce Regiment conduct a training exercise on the Atlantic

coast; rear: Into the surf Recce Operators test their boat drills against the elements.

ISBN: 978-1-909982-28-4

EPUB ISBN: 978-1-910777-46-6

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Contents

Photographs in colour section

Take a community of Dutchmen of the type of those who defended themselves for fifty years against all the power of Spain at a time when Spain was the greatest power in the world. Intermix with them a strain of those inflexible French Huguenots who gave up home and fortune and left their country for ever at the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The product must obviously be one of the most rugged, virile, unconquerable races ever seen upon earth. Take this formidable people and train them for seven generations in constant warfare against savage men and ferocious beasts, in circumstances under which no weakling could survive, place them so that they acquire exceptional skill with weapons and in horsemanship, give them a country which is eminently suited to the tactics of the huntsman, the marksman, and the rider. Then, finally, put a finer temper upon their military qualities by a dour fatalistic Old Testament religion and an ardent and consuming patriotism. Combine all these qualities and all these impulses in one individual, and you have the modern Boer.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

They were a deeply specialised reconnaissance and sabotage unit capable for a long time to act in isolation from the main forces in the enemys territory often relying only on one selves. Commandos of the Defence Force of South Africa not only developed their own extremely effective and ruthless system of selection and training but also enriched tactics by specific techniques and modes of action. From a professional point of view, their experience is invaluable and unique.

The Russian Veterans of Angola

Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. Therefore we ask ourselves; will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone, and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?

British actor Sean Bean

The last and most important battle of any war is writing its history

I am, first and foremost, a soldier and if anyone had suggested 30 years ago that I would one day help write a book, I would have laughed at you. I dont look like and have never considered myself to be a Rambo type of man. In fact, most people who are not aware of my past would probably comment that I am a well-educated, quiet and methodical family man someone who could be easily missed in a crowd. This is exactly the type of man that Special Forces looked for when recruiting men to serve in the Reconnaissance Commandos (later Regiments) during the mid-seventies to late eighties the period covered in this book not the blood-crazed mass murderers the media sometimes depicted us as.

My mental strength and ability to remain silent, however, has been severely tested in recent years as I read the spate of books emerging on the market featuring individual operators and their involvement in the organizations military successes during the border war period of 1977 to 1989. In my view, most of these books have only addressed the sensational actions of a few radical operators and have failed to document what it was really like to be a recce operator or commando; the camaraderie and pride we felt to be part of what was an elite group of men; the best South Africa had to offer young men mostly recruited straight from school or university that were moulded into a deadly, highly efficient force of professional well-trained fighting men.

Generally known as recces, our role in the border war went largely unnoticed by the South African public at the time but not so for the liberation movements, the armed forces of our neighbours and their various foreign advisors who regarded the South African Recce Commandos with a combination of begrudging respect, fear and hate.