It was the last great set-piece military confrontation of the Cold War.

It was the last great set-piece military confrontation of the Cold War. Angola's Battle of Cuito Caunavale may have been forgotten by most, both in the east and west, but its legacy is still deeply in dispute.

Back in late 1987, deep in the African bush, Cuban-backed government forces clashed with rivals supported by America and the then Apartheid regime of South Africa.

Nelson Mandela called the three-month fight "the turning point in the liberation of my people" as it prompted South Africa to pull out of both the Angola and Namibia as Fidel Castro threw modern weaponry in to the bush.

But one South African veteran believes history has been rewritten by the new powers in Pretoria and that he and his comrades played a crucial role in also defeating Communism, by ending Soviet adventurism in Africa.

English-born David Mannall, now living in the UK, was a teenage corporal commanding a South African Defence Forces armoured personnel carrier during on of the most crucial engagements of the campaign, the Battle on the Lomba.

In a book of the same name - to get a Scottish launch in Edinburgh later this month - he outlines what he believes is a "David versus Goliath" story of how a tiny band of conscripts halted the march of Communist armour in a single day in October 1987.

Speaking to The Herald, Mr Mannall said: "I decided to write this story after hearing a South African politician say that the battle was only won because there were 6000 of us and that all the hard word was done by Angolan rebels from Unita.

"The inconvenient truth is that there were just 36 South African boys on the frontline that day, but it is also true to say they would never have achieved such a stunning victory without the support of many more."

Mr Mannall believes the achievements of the South African Defence Forces (SADF) were forgotten after the fall of Apartheid. The former UK civil servant backed the change but says he "harmed no fellow citizen, black or white" while in SADF uniform. Veterans, he said, were left to deal with their memories, including post-traumatic stress disorder, as the country moved on.

"I thought we were capitalists fighting against Communism. Many people on the ANC side, of course, had been trained in Angola. So they have a different perspective."

Mr Mannall's unit - the 61 Mech battalion- was made up of armoured personnel carriers. It was able to defeat a much larger force. "We were better trained and better organised although we were outgunned and outnumbered. We had great esprit de corps. A lot of the government forces just didn't want to be be there."

* Mr Mannall, who received South Africa's Military Merit Medal for his role in the battle, will launch his book at Wanderers Rugby Club at Murrayfield on December 20, at 1pm.