Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Sanctuary Lost: Portugal's Air War for Guinea 1961-1974: Volume 1 - Outbreak and Escalation (1961-1966)

Sanctuary Lost: Portugal's Air War for Guinea 1961-1974: Volume 1 - Outbreak and Escalation (1961-1966)

Hurley, Matthew M.
Matos, José Augusto

Paperback

Series: Africa@War

African HistoryAir CombatGeneral World History

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 1914059999
ISBN13: 9781914059995
Publisher: Helion & Co
Published: Aug 25 2022
Pages: 100
Weight: 0.64
Height: 0.15 Width: 8.27 Depth: 11.71
Language: English
This is an informative and motivating book covering another little known Cold War/African Colonial War campaign that is a welcome addition to modelers and historian bookshelves. -- IPMS/USA

From 1963 to 1974, Portugal and its nationalist enemies fought an increasingly intense war for the independence of Portuguese Guinea, then a colony but now the Republic of Guinea-Bissau. For most of the conflict, Portugal enjoyed virtually unchallenged air supremacy, and increasingly based its strategy on this advantage. The Portuguese Air Force (Força Aérea Portuguesa, abbreviated FAP) consequently played a crucial role in the Guinean war. Indeed, throughout the conflict, the FAP - despite the many challenges it faced - proved to be the most effective and responsive military argument against the PAIGC, which was fighting for Guinea's independence.

The air war for Guinea is unique for historians and analysts for several reasons. It was the first conflict in which a non-state irregular force deployed defensive missiles against an organized air force. Moreover, the degree to which Portugal relied on its air power was such that its effective neutralization doomed Lisbon's military strategy in the province. The FAP's unexpected combat losses initiated a cascade of effects that degraded in turn its own operational freedom and the effectiveness of the increasingly air-dependent surface forces, which felt that the war against the PAIGC was lost. The air war for Guinea thus represents a compelling illustration of the value - and vulnerabilities - of air power in a counter-insurgency context, as well as the negative impacts of over reliance on air supremacy.

Volume 1 of Sanctuary Lost is extensively illustrated with photographs and specially commissioned color artworks.

Also in

Air Combat

View All