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A Handful of Hard Men

The SAS and the Battle for Rhodesia

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A Handful of Hard Men

By: Hannes Wessels
Narrated by: Jack Chekijian
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About this listen

It is difficult to find another soldier's story to equal Captain Darrell Watt's in terms of time spent on the field of battle and challenges faced. Even by the lofty standards of the SAS and Special Forces, one has to look far to find anyone who can match his record of resilience and valor in the face of such daunting odds and with resources so paltry.

In the fight, he showed himself to be a military maestro. A bush-lore genius, blessed with uncanny instincts and an unbridled determination to close with the enemy, he had no peers as a combat-tracker (and there was plenty of competition). But the Rhodesian theater was a fluid and volatile one in which he performed in almost every imaginable fighting role.

After 12 years in the cauldron of war, his cause slipped from beneath him, and Rhodesia gave way to Zimbabwe. When the guns went quiet, Watt had won all his battles but lost the war. In this fascinating biography, we learn that in his twilight years, he is now concerned with saving wildlife on a continent where they are in continued danger and devoting himself to both the fauna and African people he cares so deeply about.

©2015 Hannes Wessels (P)2017 Tantor Africa Armed Forces Military Military & War Special & Elite Forces World World War II War

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All stars
Most relevant  
Disappointing book. Hard to follow at times and strangely written. Good account of an awful war.

Disappointed

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Skill sets that may be lost, and were wasted. I hope these men are cared for now, they have so much

Action packed

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FIRST OFF - NARRATION. Not the best but much better when played at x1.25 speed playback. Much improved after I did this, played at x1.0 I nearly deleted it. So not the narrators fault. As with most military books you hope the narrator is taught how to pronounce terms correctly but these can vary from country to country so again it's not the narrators fault if they don't match 100% to the 'norm' you're used to. A recent read focused on Vietnam -1937-1979 had the narrator calling helo's as 'Hello's' and the city of Hue (pronounced 'Whey') as Hooey!

Excellent background and historic point of view from the Rhodesian side. It's definitely candid, and lifted the lid on the behaviour from some UK politicians, who have since risen to the highest levels as nothing more the the worst kind of bigots and opportunists, and it goes without saying, imperialists.

Putting the political aspects to one side (I'll be searching for further reading on this) the stories of danger and camaraderie are captivating, written with emotion and exciting all at the same time. Never a glorification of war, these guys were fighting for a cause and were committed to the highest level of sacrifice.

The book really sets the scene for post colonial Africa and the politics and subterfuge sadly set the standard for African leadership, on the whole, up to this day and the interests of outside governments have generally enriched the rich and manipulated the masses to their own ends.

100% recommend as a book but remember to adjust the speed of the audio!!

A brilliant insight into this conflict.

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unfortunately the narrator Jack Chekijian reading was rather stilted and did not flow and his pronunciation of names and places was not well researched or practised.

Narrator

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The narration was somewhat monotonous, however, the stories were very interesting though.
Politics sucks, and being an Englishman, i am once again disgusted at the treachery of the British government.

Rhodesians never die

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this is the tale of the missing squadron or bat “C“22 Sas. I was watching to serve 22 Sas through this time on the league then as I do now it is a shame that the regiment did not support squadron. The book and the tale of Adele is letdown badly by, in my opinion, very poor narration dictation and pronunciation. In fact, I actually thought it was artificial intelligence narrator. The male squadron I can but slipped and reveal your memory
B And D. Squadron 1975/1983.

Great story historical note.

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An exceptional factual representation. An honest appraisal of the great betrayal of all people's of Zimbabwe. The only disappointment was the oratory mispronunciation of so many names and places.

the accurate history and validation of what happened and what these men did

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Would you listen to A Handful of Hard Men again? Why?

I actually might

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Handful of Hard Men?

There are some very gory scenes and you do start to wander just how fair these fights were a bit like modern day sas against isis .

Any additional comments?

Great book that you feel you mustn't miss any off, had me hunting around on the internet for various aircraft types etc.

Excellent

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I really enjoyed reading this book, elite soldiers trying to keep their country free by fighting terrorists, against a backdrop of betrayal & deceit from foreign politicians !

Fantastic read !

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This is a subject of great interest to me as I could quite easily have been born in Rhodesia because my parents were due to move to the county prior to my birth. I put off downloading this audio book because of the reviews mentioning the voice of the narrator being almost unlistenable, and they were not wrong. The content and the account is amazing but the tone and mispronunciation of some everyday words had me constantly rewinding to make sure I had heard correctly. The narrators voice sounds almost digital and synthetic and doesn’t suit this book at all. I made it through the book but considered abandoning it several times purely because of the narrators voice. I am not a voice actor, but I would happily record this book for free to ensure more people were a able to listen to it.

Fantastic account of the rise and fall of the country, and people need to hear the truth about how it unfolded

Fantastic account of history ruined by narrator

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