South Africans at War: The Complete Ashanti Series (12-Volume Multi-Signed First Edition Set)

South Africans at War: The Complete Ashanti Series (12-Volume Multi-Signed First Edition Set)
The Definitive Chronicle of Twentieth-Century South African Military History

Published in the early 1990s, the Ashanti South Africans at War Series remains the most comprehensive, celebrated, and objective overview of South Africa's critical military interventions during the major global conflicts of the twentieth century. Moving away from dry bureaucratic records, this masterpiece collection blends rigorous academic research with deeply moving personal memoirs, diaries, and private letters. It meticulously charts the country’s contributions across World War I, World War II, and the Korean War—from the forgotten aerial dogfights over Somalia and the harsh realities of Italian mountain campaigns to the vital maritime defensive patterns of the South Atlantic. Crucially, the series stands out for its groundbreaking inclusion of The Unknown Force, which brought to light the long-overlooked contributions of Black, Indian, and Coloured soldiers. A true milestone of twentieth-century military publishing, this multi-signed set offers an unmatched focus for serious collections of military history.

The series brings together South Africa's foremost mid-century military historians and combat veterans. Chief among them is James Ambrose Brown, a celebrated playwright and desert veteran of the Western Desert campaigns who served as an official information officer. Peter Bagshawe and Dermot Moore brought unprecedented authority to the aviation titles using their long-standing ties to veteran fighter squadrons, while C.J. Harris drew on a lifetime of maritime analysis to produce the definitive text on domestic naval operations. Peter Digby, a leading military researcher and regular contributor to international insignia journals, spent decades collecting the private letters that shaped his foundational work on the Western Front.