We Dared to Win, Hannes Wessels
We Dared to Win, Hannes Wessels
3 Rating(s)
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We Dared to Win
The SAS in Rhodesia

Author: Hannes Wessels, Andre Scheepers

Narrator: Roger Clark

Unabridged: 10 hr 48 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/17/2020


Synopsis

Andre Scheepers grew up on a farm in Rhodesia, learning about the bush from his African childhood friends, before joining the army. A quiet, introspective thinker, Andre started out as a trooper in the SAS before being commissioned into the Rhodesian Light Infantry Commandos, where he was engaged in fireforce combat operations. He then rejoined the SAS. Wounded thirteen times, his operational record is exceptional even by the tough standards that existed at the time. He emerged as the SAS officer par excellence; beloved by his men, displaying extraordinary calmness, courage, and audacious cunning during a host of extremely dangerous operations. Andre writes vividly about his experiences, his emotions, and his state of mind during the war, and reflects candidly on what he learned and how war has shaped his life since.

In addition to Andre's personal story, this book reveals more about some of the other men who were distinguished operators in SAS operations during the Rhodesian War.

About Hannes Wessels

Hannes Wessels was born in 1956 in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) but grew up in Umtali on the Mozambican border. As a boy, holidays were spent with Game Department rangers; time on safari in Mozambique with the late Wally Johnson was a big influence on him.

Wessels also grew to know Robert Ruark whose love of Africa, its people, politics and the written word left a lasting impression. He saw action in the Rhodesian bush war before acquiring a law degree which he chose not to use. He has hunted big game in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Tanzania in a twenty-year career. In 1994 he was severely gored by a wounded buffalo which almost cost him his life.

While no longer directly involved in hunting, he is part-owner of a lodge and game ranch in Zambia on the Zambezi and remains keenly interested in all matters relating to African wildlife and conservation. He has published Strange Tales from the African Bush, a collection of anecdotes from his hunting days. He is also a syndicated writer for Outdoor Life.

He is married to Mandy and has two daughters, Hope and Jana, and lives in Darling in the Western Cape of South Africa.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Whitlaw

The book is an okay read. Not very exciting but nevertheless, well written and informative. For the non-historians, the minute details of the author´s countless military escapades can seem dispiriting. However, I believe the book is a valuable addition to the body of knowledge on the Southern Africa......more

It is a book that left me Out of Breath, angry and disappointed. It is about soldiers of a dying creed fighting a conflict that most people did not even know was going on that they were not allowed to win a war to save a country from itself. Yet, it is a book of unmatched bravery and sacrifices agai......more

I enjoyed reading this first person non-fiction account of various operations conducted by the Rhodesian SAS during the bush wars against communist terrorists. The accounts were interesting and had the realism and unexpected twists and turns you don't get in a fiction book. These men were some very......more