The Bushmen of Angola

John P. Cann

Defense & Security Analysis, 2024, vol. 40, issue 1, 41-59

Abstract: This is the story about the particular indigenous force of Bushmen known as flechas or “arrows” that was established by the Portuguese in Eastern Angola in 1966 in response to an intelligence gathering need there during its campaign to retain its African possessions. The mobilisation of this indigenous people with a natural instinct to live invisibly yielded striking results. Its relentless pursuit of the enemy on the eastern front helped significantly to defeat him militarily, and indeed, the flechas at one stage accounted for 60 percent of all enemy kills. While this offensive was the result of a unity of effort by all elements of the Portuguese Armed Forces, the flechas played a successful and unique role, so much so that its duplication in other theatres and other wars was attempted, but never with quite the success of Angola.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1080/14751798.2024.2293341

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