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General Sir John Hackett's famed book Third World War: August 1985 depicts a war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact and their respective allies. One of the notable things in it is a depiction of a mass invasion of apartheid South Africa by the black frontline states. My instinct is to say this isn't possible. But maybe...

Anyways, I was trying to think of a way this could happen, starting with who would participate in the black coalition and where they would invade from. I assume they would either invade from Mozambique or would launch a flanking attack on Southwest Africa through Botswana. As for participants: Zimbabwe, Mozambique/FRELIMO, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Ethiopia/Derg, Libya, Somalia (offered a way back into the fold in exchange for participating and renouncing any claim on Ogaden) and possibly others. Maybe the Soviets could influence Algeria and/or Nigeria to get involved purely against the RSA but not anyone else. In addition, the Cubans and MPLA go all-out in Angola to tie up additional South African forces. Select Warsaw Pact units are provided to boost capabilities the African coalition would have been short on: engineering, aviation, logistics, etc.

So what do you think? I doubt they could have defeated the SADF, but could the effort have been made, and how far do you think they could have gotten?
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