About the Author

Mike McWilliams was born in 1951. He was conscripted into the South African Defense Force as an infantryman and immediately volunteered to join 1 Parachute Battalion, qualifing as a rifleman paratrooper in 1970. He served in 1, 2 and 3 Parachute Battalions until his last operation in 1978, the Battle For Cassinga. He has worked as a television cameraman for Rhodesian Television and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. McWilliams is a championship skydiver and captained the Springbok team at the World Relative Work Championships in 1983 where his 8 Way Team won the Bronze Medal. He also captained the National Canopy Relative Work Team, winning the Deutschland Cup in 1982. Mike is married to Frances and has three sons, Christopher, Nicholas and Matthew.

Reviews

"Mike McWilliams is a good writer and his impassioned perspective led me to read this tome in one night...The contemporary photographs support the text, and they certainly give you a good perspective of the events described."-- "IPMS/USA"

"One of the most successful, daring airborne operations of all times"--Lt-Col Robert Brown "Soldier of Fortune"

"This book is just tailor-made for a tabletop scenario: small, mobile elite paratroopers with air support on the attack against better-than-average militants with armor in the wings. Well-written, too. Enjoyed it."-- "Historical Miniatures Gaming Society"

"Africa@War is a ground-breaking series concept, studying Africa's conflicts and military players in an informative and entertaining manner, examining some of the lesser-known campaigns and shedding new light on some of the better-known operations ... Both titles are great models of what the combination of authors and publishers can produce by way of useable case studies for the market place in a concise illustrated format. They are recommended as professional military education references."--Charles D. Melson, Chief Historian, U.S. Marine Corps

Each of the books in this series is a well-documented and researched synopsis of the events that they are focused upon. They layouts and presentation are logical and of a very high quality ... As an introduction to this field of operation, this series is outstanding. A definite asset for those wishing to improve their knowledge and understanding of the development of successful, multi-faceted doctrine in the fight against insurgent/assymetric war."--Major Chris Buckham, Royal Canadian Air Force