Military Science - Elite Units: Books, Videos

Fireforce is the compelling, brutal account of Chris Cocks' service in 3 Commando, the Rhodesian Light Infantry, during Zimbabwe's bitter civil war of the 1970s - a conflict that came to be known simply as "the bush war." The book's title refers to a tactic of total airborne envelopment developed and perfected by the RLI, together with the Selous Scouts and the Rhodesian Air Force, that 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. This book is not for the squeamish. It blends the intrinsic pathos and humor peculiar to war with face-to-face combat in the bush and death at point-blank range. Now, here is your chance to read what several critics have called the best book on the Rhodesian War ever written.

Chris Cocks served with the Rhodesian Light Infantry from 1976-1979 in continuous combat situations. He drifted for the next 20 years before becoming a full-time writer and publisher in Johannesburg.
$30.00
Softcover 978-1-58160-615-7 368 pages 6" x 9" photos

A rare glimpse into how Soviet Spetsnaz and KGB units protected and defended their country from perceived enemies – inside and outside its borders. Includes special sections for Alpha Teams on assassination, sabotage and kidnapping.
$30.00
Softcover 978-0-87364-706-9 320 pages 5.5" x 8.5" photos, illust.

Out of Action is the sequel to the best-selling Fireforce: One Man's War in the Rhodesian Light Infantry.

Part 1, "War," chronicles Chris Cocks' final 16 months of combat in the Rhodesian bush war, as a stick leader in PATU, the Police Anti-Terrorist Unit. It is a time of unbelievable cruelty as the part-time white reservists battle overwhelming odds, without air support and . . . without a future.

Part 2, "Peace," recounts the author's painful adjustment to life as a civilian — a 15-year odyssey in the embryonic state of Zimbabwe. It is an intensely personal journey in which the author pulls no punches as he describes his clumsy attempts to come to terms with the new dispensation of black Africa and himself. It is a cri de couer, the story of a young man, brutalized by war, who seeks escape in alcohol and drugs, and who, in the process, causes immeasurable pain and suffering to those around him. These too are the casualties of war. Ultimately, though, it is a story of hope, of a man's triumph over his own demons.

Chris Cocks served with the Rhodesian Light Infantry from 1976-1979 in continuous combat situations. He drifted for the next 20 years before becoming a full-time writer and publisher in Johannesburg.
$30.00
Softcover 978-1-58160-707-9 310 pages 6"x9" photos

Paladin is now offering the most up-to-date version in print of the famed U.S. Army Ranger Handbook. This manual draws from bloody lessons learned from two centuries of special operations combat. Crammed with info on demolitions, booby traps, communications, patrolling, tactical movement, battle drills, combat intelligence and much more.
$24.95
Softcover 978-1-58160-568-6 448 pages 5.5" x 8.5" illustrations

Shadow War
The CIA's Secret War In Laos
by Kenneth Conboy, with James Morrison

This is the first comprehensive history of the CIA's largest paramilitary operation during the cold war. It took 10 years to write and involved interviews with 650 CIA case officers, U.S. military officials, and senior Lao, Thai and North Vietnamese officers. Includes outstanding photos and maps and never-before-reported details on the secret war in Laos.
$50.00
Softcover 978-1-58160-535-8 464 pages 8.5" x 11" photos, illust.

This rare document is the original used to train special agents dropped behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. Used by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and its American counterpart, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), it is an authentic, word-for-word reproduction obtained from a former operative with the clandestine services. It includes sections on ciphers, propaganda, selection of targets, methods of attack, passive resistance, the liaison agent, interrogation and more. The forerunner of all U.S. government guides to sabotage, propaganda, interrogation, burglary and other dirty tricks, this extraordinary historical document makes for riveting reading.
$25.00
Softcover 978-0-87364-744-1 272 pages 5.5" x 8.5"

In June 1940, the invasion of Great Britain by the Nazi war machine was imminent. But in the midst of plans to defend the country from the might of Hitler's Wehrmacht, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's vision was to take the fight to the enemy - harass them in Europe with small, specially trained raiding parties that would boldly attack targets along the extended Nazi-held European coastline, from Norway to France. Paladin Press is honored to reissue this historic book, originally published in Britain under the title It Had to Be Tough. Written in the style of a warrior who fought in the largest and possibly the most important conflict in human history, The British Commandos reminds us that irregular warfare is not new and that the winners are often those who "train hard, fight easy."
$20.00
Softcover 978-1-58160-612-6 224 pages 5.5" x 8.5" photos

The Rhodesian Bush War. It was a ferocious guerrilla warfare campaign between the regular and elite units of the Rhodesian Army doing battle against Communist-backed terrorist groups in the valleys, jungles and bush country of Rhodesia, Mozambique and Zambia. Warrant Officer Dennis Croukamp fought in the conflict from its beginnings in the 1960s to the very end in 1979, and his combat memoir is an extraordinary chronicle of that bitter struggle from inside some of the most highly regarded elite combat units to ever take the field.

In The Bush War in Rhodesia, Croukamp chronicles his eventful service with the Rhodesian Regular Army, the Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) and the Selous Scouts Reconnaisance Troop as he took part in cross-border reconnaissance operations, HALO jumps behind enemy lines, urban ops in the townships of Salisbury, raids, ambushes, demolition missions, prisoner snatches and more. And through it all, Croukamp brought along a camera, providing a remarkable visual documentation of this little-known war.

This searingly honest, action-packed memoir is sure to become a classic, ground-level account of the bloody "bush wars" of Africa.

Dennis Croukamp excelled in combat, earning Rhodesia's third highest award, the Bronze Cross, for gallantry under fire; becoming the first warrant officer in the history of the RLI to command a troop; and surviving an epic, six-day E&E from behind enemy lines.
$35.00
Softcover 978-1-58160-614-0 482 pages 6" x 9" photos