Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is a great book, written by a guy who has more combat jumps than ANYONE in the US or UK military (well, that's unsubstanitated...but I'm pretty sure.) The book's about a conscript who signs on to become a regular in the Rhodesian Security Forces, Rhodesian Light Infantry. These guys jumped in combat several times a week. The American Paratroopers who had the most jumps in WW2 had maybe 5 combat jumps. The author had close to 40. I cannot say enought good things about this book. It's well written and easy to read. Very informative and full of good information. I'm reading these books to get insight on how to win against guerillas. The Rhodesians won militarily, but lost due to politics. It's the typical story of how the military does the right thing, fights well and wins, but is held back by gutless politicians. OK enough rant from me. The book is good. Lots of action, lots of detail. I'm not a professional reviewer (as if you couldn't tell), but this book was great! One of those that I didn't want to be over! The only better book I've read on the Rhodesian Bush War is At The Going Down Of The Sun, by Charlie Warren, another trooper that served with the author in the same unit. Both books are good and highly reccomended.
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Fireforce is the compelling, brutal but true account of Chris Cocks' service in 3 Commando, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, during Zimbabwe s bitter civil war of the '70s a war that came to be known almost innocuously as 'the bush war'. 'Fireforce', a tactic of total airborne envelopment, was developed and perfected by the RLI, together with the Selous Scouts and the Rhodesian Air Force. Fireforce became the principal strike weapon of the beleaguered Rhodesian forces in their struggle against the overwhelming tide of the Communist-trained and -equipped ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillas.The combat strain on a fighting soldier was almost unbelievable, for the Rhodesians, who were always desperately short of ground troops, were sometimes obliged to parachute the same men into action into as many as three enemy contacts a day. While estimates of enemy casualties vary, there seems little doubt that the RLI accounted for at least 12,000 ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillas - but not without cost. Fireforce is not for the squeamish. Although it has been written with unforgettable pathos and humor, it tells of face-to-face combat in the bush and death at point-blank range. It is a book which does nothing to glorify or glamorize war, for as Chris Cocks found at such a young age, war is merely a catalogue of suffering, destruction and death.Fireforce has been described by critics as being to the Rhodesian War what All Quiet On The Western Front was to World War I and Dispatches was to Vietnam. Read it ... it will an experience you never forget.
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