Author: Antonio Garcia

Antonio Garcia, is a civil servant, who additionally holds non-resident positions as a research fellow at Stellenbosch University, visiting lecturer at Durham University, and tutor at the Open University. As a combat engineer in the SANDF, Antonio has served in missions in the Sudan, the DRC, and South Africa and its borders. He has published widely on military history and strategy.
News Stories

Books: The Spioenkop Campaign by Robert Davidson

The Spioenkop Campaign, published by Helion as part of the ‘From Musket to Maxim 1815-1914’ series in 2023, is a new and important addition to South African historiography, providing a detailed and engaging account of key battles in the Anglo-Boer War.

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News Past, Present & Future Stories The War Diaries

Using ‘Whiteness’: Defeating the Apartheid Intelligence System (II)

We continue this week with an extract from Bob Newland’s life and experience, and his efforts in fighting the Apartheid regime in South Africa.

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Past, Present & Future The War Diaries

Using ‘Whiteness’: Defeating the Apartheid Intelligence System (I)

Following the Rivonia Trial in 1964, the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) and its armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) were either in prison serving life sentences or in exile.  Their underground organisation was crushed. The mass organisations of the African people were banned. A young saboteur from Durban, Ronnie Kasrils, was tasked by Oliver Tambo with finding a way to carry out propaganda exercises in South Africa keeping the name of the ANC alive while they regrouped and reorganised.

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Past, Present & Future The War Diaries

Combat Trauma – A Not-So-New Phenomenon

Before the launch of Number 788 and conscious of the impacts of conflict and trauma especially those caused by war, and other military operations, your war diarists wanted to publish a column on combat trauma & PTSD.

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Past, Present & Future The War Diaries

The Dawn of the Special Purpose Units & the International Ranger Platoon

This was the dawn of the International Ranger Platoon that formed the embryo of the future Swedish Special Forces. 

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