An international bestseller since its release over 20 years ago, this new edition of Jim Hooper's classic captures the courage, fear and intensity of the Namibian bush war.
Never before had an outsider been given unrestricted access to Koevoet, the elite South West African Police counterinsurgency unit. His five months embedded with the semi-secret and predominantly black Ops K coincided with one of the most vicious and determined infiltrations ever mounted by the communist-backed South West Africa People's Organization. Crossing regularly into Angola in pursuit of the insurgents, he saw friends die next to him and was twice wounded himself.
This updated edition, drawing on the recollections and diaries of the men he rode with, will fascinate yet another generation of readers. In assembling this work Hooper had the opportunity to re-connect with many of the men who allowed this outsider to ride with them, all of which brought a new intensity and poignancy. A tribute to Koevoet and the legend they created, this new edition features a substantially rewritten and expanded text accompanied by nearly 100 colour photographs.
"...a valuable first-hand account of South African counter-insurgency operations in what was then South-West Africa and should be read by anyone interested in the southern African conflicts of the late twentieth century."Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research
“Hooper’s informal style of writing brings the reader immediately into the story. The more I read … the more I am amazed that this story has never been properly told before. I knew absolutely nothing about this conflict and through Jim’s book I am finding it so engrossing and educational it is hard to stop.It is full of detail, flavour and character… but what is most important is that he provides detail to a conflict that, I suspect, most people in the Western World have never heard of or if they have, have no real idea of what went on or why.The portrait he paints of Africa is hugely interesting, compelling and sad at the same time. I think this is a bestseller and deserves to be on the book shelves of everyone who has an interest in international conflicts. As editor I decided to publish these excerpts because of the descriptive nature of COIN operations and also because this kind of experience is currently unavailable from our COIN operations in Afghanistan.
British Army Review
“A thrilling exposé of modern military history, and of one of Africa’s bloodiest conflicts”.Dan Mills, author of the bestsellerSniper One: The Blistering True Story of a British Battle Group Under Siege
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The continued presence of irregular conflict in Africa has brought new interest in the conduct of contemporary counterinsurgency by South Africa and its roots, practices, and prospects after decades of neglect.Required reading should be Jim Hooper's account of South Africa's successful "Ops K" in Namibia against South West Africa's People's Organization guerrillas.The classic narrative is as timely today as it was twenty years ago.
Charles D. Melson
Chief Historian
U.S.MarineCorpsUniversity
The Canadian Army Journal 14/03/2012
The book Koevoet (read Koo-foot) is a reissue a publication originally published in 1988 relating the experiences of its author, independent journalist Jim Hooper, during the South African Bush War. Hooper spent a year embedded with the SWAPOLCOIN (South West African Police Counterinsurgency Unit), the official name of Koevoet, during the period 1986 to 1987. Hooper’s book traces the path he took that led him, as a journalist, first to Africa and the Chadian insurrections and then ultimately to South Africa. He outlines in detail the challenges that he faced getting the opportunity to join Koevoet on patrol and the even greater gulf that he had to overcome to become accepted and trusted by unit members. His book sheds light on aspects of the South Africa Bush War that were rarely seen and even more poorly understood by those not involved (including the people of South Africa themselves); those being the level of mutual trust and respect between members of the unit (which was a mix of black and white), the level of violence and the capability of the SWAPO (South West Africa People’s Organization) forces that they were fighting. Hooper details the development of the unit, the tactics that it developed to address bush fighting requirements, its success and failures, the nature of the war itself and the differences between what the world saw (and assumed) and the realities of fighting on the ground. He does not glorify what these men were doing nor does he gloss over the less palatable aspects of the war (including his own naiveté and preconceived ideas). Rather, he paints a picture that is raw, honest and enlightening. The small unit structure of Koevoet operations means that Hooper gets to know the soldiers themselves and is able to convey their frustrations, prejudices, loyalties and underlying motivations. This is critical to adding a human face to the conflict.
While today viewers may be well adjusted to seeing journalists placing themselves in as much of the ‘operational’ world as possible, this was not the case in the 1980s. This was especially true in the counterinsurgency war within South West Africa (modern day Namibia) where South African and Namibian regular and irregular forces (such as UNITA - National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) were engaged in a long running war with Soviet and Cuban-backed SWAPO who were seeking the establishment of a communist regime in Namibia. Hooper’s writing style is very accessible for the casual tactician. He specifically avoids long technical descriptions of equipment and operating doctrine; providing enough information to inform the reader without detracting from the overall picture. Instead, his narrative is focused on the ‘human’ dimension of the conflict; the soldiers with which he worked and came in contact with, their frustrations, fears and successes. He paints a very deliberate picture of the conflict itself blending into the storyline explanations of the external stressors placed on the unit through conflict with the international media, the regular army, the political climate and the great divide between the population “at home’ in South Africa and the soldiers doing the fighting at the front.
Readers will certainly appreciate and understand the difficulties faced by the author as he endeavours to understand and be accepted by the men that he is stationed with. Given the lack of international support for South Africa and its operations on the international stage throughout the 1980s, it is very understandable that Hooper would have been met with a less then rousing welcome as an American journalist when he first arrived. His explanation of his efforts to obtain permission from the authorities to report on the conflict, his disappointment at seemingly being regulated to a unit he had never heard of and his gradual transition from green reporter to seasoned bush veteran make for a remarkable and engaging narrative.
While Hooper obviously respects and admires the soldiers that he is working with, he does maintain an impartiality that balances his storyline and draws attention to some of the less palatable aspects of the bush war. This includes the hypocrisy of the so called freedom fighters of the SWAPO organization and its blatant manipulation of the international media and organizations such as the UN. Through interviews with SWAPO representatives in London and elsewhere, he exposes a number of contradictions between what the world viewed and the realities on the ground. He also focuses upon the tragedy of the people of South West Africa caught up in the fighting between the opposing forces.
The production value of this book is high and it includes a myriad of maps, colour and black and white photographs and an acronym section that is of great value. The reprint of this book with an update by the author should be very well received by the reading public. It is an engrossing ‘amateurs’ insider view of operations during the Bush War and an outstanding glimpse into a region of conflict that remains virtually unknown to the general population.
Reviewer: Major Chris Buckham is a Logistics Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He has experience working with all elements including SOF. A graduate of the RoyalMilitaryCollege of Canada, he holds a BA in Poli Sci and an MA in International Relations. He is presently employed as an ILOC Officer with the multinational branch of EUCOM J4 in Stuttgart, Germany.
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Originally published almost 25 years ago, this book is an updated account by American journalist Jim Hooper who was embedded with the South West Africa Police Counter-insurgency unit, also called Koevoet (Afrikaans for crowbar), in 1986-87 during it’s struggle to prevent South West African People’s Organization (SWAPO) infiltration from neighbouring Angola. SWAPO fought an insurgency against South African occupation of South West Africa, which dated from 1915, from the late 1960s to 1989 when an international agreement led to becoming an independent Namibia in 1990. In this new edition recent statements by former members of Koevoet have been sprinkled throughout the book to give additional perspectives on specific incidents. Predictably, the Koevoet operators did not want Hooper around, as they distrusted foreign journalists who usually portrayed them as brutal agents of a racist regime, but eventually he gained some acceptance, particularly after being twice wounded in combat.
The book offers a day-to-day narrative of Koevoet’s main task, the rapid tracking and elimination of SWAPO insurgents that often led to hot pursuit across the Angolan border. Taking turns riding in mine-protected armoured personnel carriers, the skilled Ovambo trackers – some of whom were former SWAPO fighters who had changed sides - would stay on the trail of the insurgents for a long time, and ultimately catch up with them. At this point the Koevoet team, which usually consisted of four carriers, would use the superior firepower of its vehicle-mounted machine guns and on-call helicopter gunships to kill the insurgents. This was an incredibly dangerous tactic as given the sound of the armoured vehicles, the insurgents would usually know they were being followed and would plant anti-personnel mines and set ambushes for the trackers. As a result, Koevoet suffered high casualties rates compared to other South African units in what came to be called the ‘Border War’. Displaying a stunningly cavalier toward danger, Koevoet members initially shocked Hooper, and also their more conventional South African Defence Force colleagues, by using open cooking fires in their temporary bush camps, including those inside Angola, with the explanation that SWAPO insurgents could not predict where they would be located in the vast area and could not shoot straight if they did.
The main strength of the book is on the individual policemen of Koevoet including their physical appearance, personalities and stories. However, as Hooper readily admits, his inability to speak Afrikaans or Oshivambo – the working languages of the unit – meant the personal accounts of the Ovambo trackers do not receive the attention they deserve. The few that are included offer a fascinating glimpse into the experience of the black security force personnel who fought for the South African apartheid regime. The book also raises questions – and again the author fully recognises this – about the potential objectivity of war correspondents embedded in military units engaged in combat. Hooper is obviously no fan of SWAPO, which he accuses of hypocritically brutalizing and killing the Namibian people it claimed to be fighting to liberate, and grossly dishonest in wildly exaggerating the extent of casualties and damage it inflicted on South African forces. Furthermore, given the time that has passed since the first edition, a few more explanatory notes would have been useful such as for Eugene de Kock, a founding Koevoet officer, who is briefly mentioned for his role in developing the unit, but in fact that he later became commander of a notorious apartheid-upholding police death squad in South Africa and is currently serving a 200-year sentence is omitted. Since Hooper was a photographer, there are several sections with monochrome and colour photographs of Koevoet operations and personnel, including many of those who are discussed in the text and who have contributed their own memories. The book ends with a new section on what eventually became of many of the Koevoet members that Hooper came to know after the unit was disbanded in 1990, including the betrayal of the Ovambo trackers who were re-settled to South Africa and promised jobs in the South African Police, but then abandoned during the political transition in that country. While this is clearly not an objective book, it is a valuable first-hand account of South African counter-insurgency operations in what was then South West Africa, and should be read by anyone interested in southern African conflicts of the twentieth century.
—Tim Stapleton
TrentUniversity
Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research
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KOEVOET!, experiencing South Africa’s deadly bush war by Jim Hooper
Jim Hooper is an American journalist based in England. A former parachute jumping instructor and business owner, Hooper turned to journalism in the 1980s. He began to seek out a small war that he could report on. His instincts lead him to the war in Namibia. He managed to get a short attachment to the South African Defence Forces operating against the SWAPO guerrillas in Namibia. Based on those experiences, he sought, and was granted a six-month attachment to Koevoet.
Koevoet[pronounced koo-foot] means Crowbar in Afrikaans. This was the name adopted by the South West African Police Counterinsurgency Unit during the period of the conflict with SWAPO in Namibia. Hooper was given complete and uncensored access to their operations. He accompanied several units on their week-long operations, and tried to acquit himself in the bar afterwards.
Publication of the book was controversial in 1987, as it showed a human face and a reality, to the otherwise contra view held by many areas of the liberal press and political establishment. This re-published version contains new material from those he worked with. This consists of their personal recollections, inserted into appropriate passages of the original text. This adds much to the original as it gives the perspective of those he was with at the time.
This is really two stories in one. Firstly, it is an account of Koevoet’s operations at a particular point in time. Secondly, it is an account of Hooper’s own passage as a War Correspondent. I found this a particularly good read. Despite the occasional use of Afrikaans, the language is clear and vivid. I only had recourse to the glossary once. It has a good pace. It also has a good postscript detailing what has happened to the main characters from Koevoet since he left. It wraps the book up nicely.
ARRSE - the Army Rumour Service –
Unofficial website of the British Army.
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“As editor I decided to publish these excerpts because of the descriptive nature of COIN operations and also because this kind of experience is currently unavailable from our COIN operations in Afghanistan.” So says the editor in the latest issue of the British Army Review.
There can be little higher praise from the point of view of serious military interest and possible applications to the vagaries of Counter-insurgency Operations Theory. This is a revamp of a book first published in 1988 and which subsequently became a niche best seller in the genre of “Obscure African Bush Wars during the Proxy Wars of the Cold War.” The current interest in Bar and others in these wars is indicative of the continuing intellectual search for a sound COIN basis for the West’s more recent and current conflicts; but as every “counterinsurgency” has proved to be quite distinct from the next, the arguments continue over the very definition.
Hooper describes the actions of the South West African Police COIN unit, which operated on the northern border of Namibia in the 1980s to counter the infiltrations of the communist-backed military arm of SWAPO, which had been provided with safe bases in Angola.
Most of the success of Koevoet, which comes out clearly in the book, was due to the fact that 90% of its members belonged to Ovambo tribe, some even included ex-SWAPO. The remaining 10% were white South Africans and “Southwesters” (whites from Namibia). SWAPO itself was dominated by the same Ovambo tribe, and a motivation to defeat what SWAPO stood for was the human combat driver for members of Koevoet. The application of what can be described as “cultural intelligence” by the Ovambo members of the unit, and the whites’ lifelong knowledge of southern Africa fulfilled the primary requirement for effective COIN: intimate knowledge of people and environment.