At the front. A general’s account of South Africa’ border war, by Jannie Geldenhuys

At the front. A general’s account of South Africa’ border war, by Jannie Geldenhuys. Jonathan Ball. Cape Town, South Africa 2009. ISBN 9781868423316 / ISBN 978-1-86842-331-6

In the preface to A general’s account of South Africa’ border war, the author General Jannie Geldenhuys, writes about what had motivated him to write his memories on the border war and the share that politics had.

Jannie Geldenhuys  

When I first wrote this book, between December 1990 and January 1992, I did not set out to research and produce a history. Instead I committed to paper an account of what I had experienced. The book was published in Afrikaans in 1993, entitled Die wat wen – n’ generaal se storie uit n era van oorlog en vrede, followed in 1994 by the English version, A general's story - from an era of war and peace. It was an uncomfortable time to write a story like this, because on 2 February 1990 South Africa had taken a quantum leap into the future, and in the weeks and months that followed the situation and the thinking changed faster than in all the previous years and decades. I have not modified that original story for this edition in any substantial way. Changes relate mainly to structure rather than content, although here and there are minor explanatory additions for the benefit of a newer and wider potential audience, a few small corrections have been made and I have added a final chapter and various new annexures. But it remains what it was: a story about life. A story about people, about friends and enemies: people who opened up the way ahead and people who went down that new path; about great people who turned out to be small, and small people who turned out to be great. There are people who would like secretly to think that we were beaten on the battlefield during what is now popularly called the 'bush war'. Even at this latest time of writing, 2007, they are still fossicking about in the embers of a war which is now past and long since burnt out. They hunt for defeats and hidden misdeeds by the winners, and look for angels and forgotten glories on the side of the losers. They are a pathetic sight in their suits of sackcloth and ashes. The last shoot-outs of the Cold War ended in 1988 - two decades ago. It is time for everyone to accept the facts. The global Cold War was an intertwined conglomeration of politics, propaganda campaigns and warfare. In southern Africa the shooting war ended in 1988 with a wave of Cuban defeats in the Angolan bush-lands. And in Europe, hot on the heels of these events at our back door, the political war ended with the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

Fables
A couple of decades after the fact, one wishful thinker after another, in books, newspapers, magazines and radio and tv programmes, is engaged in revealing alleged secrets and intrigues which belong in the realm of fables. They claim that we lost the bush war against the Cubans, and that we left behind great numbers of South African soldiers and combat aviators in shallow graves, and concealed mass burial sites of our victims near the erstwhile border base of Eenhana in Namibia ... All ancient and nonsensical propaganda stunts which are being dished up for a new audience. [...]

This is an extract from the book: At the front. A general’s account of South Africa’ border war, by Jannie Geldenhuy

Title: At the front
Subtitle: A general’s account of South Africa’s border war
Author: Jannie Geldenhuys
Genre: War memoirs
Publisher: Jonathan Ball
Cape Town, South Africa 2009
ISBN 9781868423316 / ISBN 978-1-86842-331-6
Softcover, 15 x 23 cm, 288 pages, several b/w photos