Book Review of
Sanctuary Lost
Portugal’s Air War For Guinea 1961-1974
Vol. 1: Outbreak & Escalation (1961-1966)
Authors: Mathew M. Hurley & Jose Augusto Matos
Africa@War no. 59
Helion & Co. Ltd. Books
ISBN: 978-1-914059-99-5
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $29.95
ISBN: 978-1-914059-99-5
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $29.95
HISTORY:
From 1963 to 1974, Portugal and its nationalist enemies fought an increasingly intense war for independence of Portuguese Guinea, then a colony, but it is now the Republic of Guinea. For most of the conflict, Portugal enjoyed virtually unchallenged air supremacy, and increasingly based its strategy on this advantage.
The Portuguese Air Force (Forca Aerea 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. Moveover, 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.
THE BOOK:
Helion & Co. Ltd. is based in England.
This book is of soft-cover of 94 pages (3 pages are blank) in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format.
The front cover shows a color photo of a T-6 that is flying over jungle and rivers. It is climbing and showing its black undercarriage. It just shows its Portuguese Air Force roundels.
Below it is a color side profile illustration of a Fiat G-91 P-4. It is in a wave pattern camouflage of dark-green and grey with a medium-blue undercarriage. It has an illustration of a black panther’s face under the windshield and a shark-mouth. Portuguese Air Force roundels on the fuselage sides, a black stripe across the top of the rudder, over black serial no. 5403 and a red and black flag.
The back cover has the history of the conflict and color cover-arts of 15 other books in Hellion's Africa@War series:
The Flechas, Great Lakes Holocaust, Great Lakes Conflagration, Wings Over Ogaden, Libyan Air Wars, Uganda, Portuguese Commandos, Angola, Kolwezi 1978, Western Sahara, Operation Dingo, Congo, Bush War Rhodesia, South African Armoured Vehicles and Ripe for Rebellion.
Volume 1 of Sanctuary Lost is extensively illustrated with 67 black and white and 6 color photos (including the cover) and 15 specially commissioned color artworks.
The black and white photos are predominantly of aircrafts:
A Hawker Hurricane, a De Havilland Vampire, 2 photos of the F-84G, 2 photos of the Thunderjet, 12 photos of the F-86 Sabre, 4 photos of a P2V-5, 5 photos of a T-6, a Fiat G-9, a B-26, 2 photos of an Alouette II and a Alouette III helicopter, 2 photos of the Do-27, 3 photos of a C-47, a Noratlas, a Canberra P-2 and a Fiat G-91.
Also in black and white photos there are: officers, combatants, civilians, leaders, the flight-line at BA-4 Lagas, the BA-9 airfield at Luanda, the Bissalanda airfield, a photo of 80kg napalm bombs, 2 photos of a wrecked T-6, and a machine-gun on a tripod.
There are 17 maps and 24 data lists in the book.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Matthew M. Hurley is a military historian (Phd, the Ohio State University, 2009) and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel. His 24-year military career included intelligence assignments worldwide, as well as instructor tours at the NATO Tactical Leadership Programme and USAF Air Command and Staff College- and he left active service in 2014 as the outgoing Chief of USAF Intelligence Doctrine and policy.
Since 1989 Dr. Hurley has published and presented numerous studies regarding air power history, irregular warfare/counterinsurgency, military campaign analysis and intelligence matters, including works for the Air Force Research Institute and the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
Jose Augusto Matos is an independent researcher in military history in Portugal, with primary intent in operations of the Portuguese Air Force during colonial wars in Africa, especially in Guinea. He is a regular contributor to numerous European magazines on military aviation and naval subjects, and has collaborated in the major project “The Air Force at the End of the Empire”, published in Portugal in 2018.
He recently completed two books in Portuguese, One on the former Portuguese Regime’s relations with South Africa and the other on the attack against Guinea Conakry in 1970. This is his fourth book for Helion.
This book will be of interest to both modelers and historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample.
All Helion & Co. Ltd. books can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
From 1963 to 1974, Portugal and its nationalist enemies fought an increasingly intense war for independence of Portuguese Guinea, then a colony, but it is now the Republic of Guinea. For most of the conflict, Portugal enjoyed virtually unchallenged air supremacy, and increasingly based its strategy on this advantage.
The Portuguese Air Force (Forca Aerea 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. Moveover, 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.
THE BOOK:
Helion & Co. Ltd. is based in England.
This book is of soft-cover of 94 pages (3 pages are blank) in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format.
The front cover shows a color photo of a T-6 that is flying over jungle and rivers. It is climbing and showing its black undercarriage. It just shows its Portuguese Air Force roundels.
Below it is a color side profile illustration of a Fiat G-91 P-4. It is in a wave pattern camouflage of dark-green and grey with a medium-blue undercarriage. It has an illustration of a black panther’s face under the windshield and a shark-mouth. Portuguese Air Force roundels on the fuselage sides, a black stripe across the top of the rudder, over black serial no. 5403 and a red and black flag.
The back cover has the history of the conflict and color cover-arts of 15 other books in Hellion's Africa@War series:
The Flechas, Great Lakes Holocaust, Great Lakes Conflagration, Wings Over Ogaden, Libyan Air Wars, Uganda, Portuguese Commandos, Angola, Kolwezi 1978, Western Sahara, Operation Dingo, Congo, Bush War Rhodesia, South African Armoured Vehicles and Ripe for Rebellion.
Volume 1 of Sanctuary Lost is extensively illustrated with 67 black and white and 6 color photos (including the cover) and 15 specially commissioned color artworks.
The black and white photos are predominantly of aircrafts:
A Hawker Hurricane, a De Havilland Vampire, 2 photos of the F-84G, 2 photos of the Thunderjet, 12 photos of the F-86 Sabre, 4 photos of a P2V-5, 5 photos of a T-6, a Fiat G-9, a B-26, 2 photos of an Alouette II and a Alouette III helicopter, 2 photos of the Do-27, 3 photos of a C-47, a Noratlas, a Canberra P-2 and a Fiat G-91.
Also in black and white photos there are: officers, combatants, civilians, leaders, the flight-line at BA-4 Lagas, the BA-9 airfield at Luanda, the Bissalanda airfield, a photo of 80kg napalm bombs, 2 photos of a wrecked T-6, and a machine-gun on a tripod.
There are 17 maps and 24 data lists in the book.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Matthew M. Hurley is a military historian (Phd, the Ohio State University, 2009) and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel. His 24-year military career included intelligence assignments worldwide, as well as instructor tours at the NATO Tactical Leadership Programme and USAF Air Command and Staff College- and he left active service in 2014 as the outgoing Chief of USAF Intelligence Doctrine and policy.
Since 1989 Dr. Hurley has published and presented numerous studies regarding air power history, irregular warfare/counterinsurgency, military campaign analysis and intelligence matters, including works for the Air Force Research Institute and the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
Jose Augusto Matos is an independent researcher in military history in Portugal, with primary intent in operations of the Portuguese Air Force during colonial wars in Africa, especially in Guinea. He is a regular contributor to numerous European magazines on military aviation and naval subjects, and has collaborated in the major project “The Air Force at the End of the Empire”, published in Portugal in 2018.
He recently completed two books in Portuguese, One on the former Portuguese Regime’s relations with South Africa and the other on the attack against Guinea Conakry in 1970. This is his fourth book for Helion.
This book will be of interest to both modelers and historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample.
All Helion & Co. Ltd. books can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Highly Recommended.