Rhodesia / Zimbabwe / Op Agila
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( Tom Mcgreevy, Our Radio Station Manager & WebMaster, was on Operation Agila 1979-1980 )
' Op Agila '
Rhodesia/Zimbabwe 1979-80
' The Commonwealth Ceasefire Liaison and Monitoring Force '
Location of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe in South Africa
Direct Link to Facebook Group Page
' Rhodesia Monitoring Force... Op Agila '
Rhodesia Countdown
A film about 1979-80
Rhodesia Countdown from Journeyman Pictures on Vimeo.
My Plaque
Tom Mcgreevy
Damage caused to one of our Rovers after running over an IED
Many of the guerrillas in Rhodesia are refusing to keep inside the strict boundaries of the ceasefire camps. They have been visited by the British commander of the monitoring force, General Ackland.
The British Rhodesia Medal
The Zimbabwe Independance Medal
Given to us by the Zimbabwe Govt.
( President Mugabe )
Letter of thanks from the Medical Director General
MOD
Letter of thanks from The Governor of Rhodesia
' Chris Soames '
Our Op Agila ' Arm Bands '
With many thanks to ' Roy Banwell ' for a most accurate account of his memories, on his deployment with ' Op Agila '
Rhodesia 25 December 1979
I had been away, adventure training with our platoon. On our return the buzzword going around Aliwal Bks, Tidworth was ‘Rhodesia’. Within ten minutes of entering camp I was whisked into the OC’s Office, he informed me that the Bn was putting together a twenty-man team to go to Rhodesia. Its mission was to assist in the disarming of the guerrilla forces in the country prior to elections taking place. The OC wished to put my name forward to the CO, for consideration for selection to the team. The CO endorsed his choice and I was left to go home after two weeks away and inform my wife that I was going away again. The timing was again bad, Bridie had not long given birth to our second son Paul. Now she faced the prospect of Christmas on her own. This was solved by a quick trip to the mother-in-laws, farewells said I returned to Tidworth to start preparing for the operation.
L/Cpl Brian (Nav) Atherton found out I was going and asked me to see if I could get him on the team. I had a word with ‘A’ Company CSM WO2 R H McC. Shaw, who in turn put his name forward. To Nav’s delight, he was accepted. He went home and told his wife, who was due their first child, that he had just volunteered to go. She went through the roof, calling him all the rotten sods in the world and much more besides. The moral of the story is don’t tell your wife, (when you've volunteered for something), say you have been ordered to do it.
We had briefing after briefing on the situation and the current political climate, injection after injection it seemed that if you were able to catch it; it was there to be caught in Africa. Special Landrover armour was designed with armoured flooring and a rollover bars. This was great if you were in the front of the rover but not so good if you were in the back, no protection there I’m afraid. It was decided that due to the landmine problem it might be prudent to line the rear half of the floor with sandbags and as I would be travelling in the rear, this was quickly done. We were finally taken to RAF South Cerney, the place was a hive of activity most of the camp had been kept back, their Christmas leave cancelled to tend to us. We were issued with an amazing amount of kit all brand new it was like all our Christmases had come at once.
After an over night stay at South Cerney we flew out to Nairobi on route to Rhodesia. Landing at Nairobi we were treated with hostility, at first the authorities would not allow us to disembark the plane while it refuelled. Finally when we were allowed off, we were taken under armed guard and locked in a small room away from prying eyes at the far end of the runway. I felt insulted, that members of the British Armed Forces could be treated this way (I told you I was naive). I had visions of us on a mercy mission to help their fellow countrymen to achieve democracy (more naivety). On reflection, I suppose that officials in this country might act pretty much the same if a large group of foreign soldiers, armed to the teeth arrived at Heathrow on route somewhere. After the fuel stop our long journey continued down Africa, towards the troubled boarders of Rhodesia.
Approaching Salisbury airport, I was looking out of the small window of the plane to catch a glimpse of the new world I was entering. I was amazed to see mud huts and a endless assortment of cobbled together shacks lining the runway, all with washing lines displaying their wears in the morning breeze. I never thought that people actually still lived in mud huts these days, especially so overtly, spread around the capitals main airport. The plane touched down at 0600 hrs 25th December 1979. The contrast in the weather was most apparent, especially with it being winter in England. The fact that it was Christmas day was also far from our minds. Our thoughts were far from our families, they would be gathering around the Christmas tree opening their presents. Ours was a day of uncertainty, entering a new land and a new chapter in our lives, excitement and expectation was strong and tangible.
Our party was ushered through passport control, and then taken to the task forces secure area. A large tented camp had been set-up and there we were reunited with our advance party whom had flown out two days earlier with the vehicles and heavy equipment on Hercules C130 transporter planes. A quick general briefing on the camp routine and standing orders took place, before we settled in.
The strangest part of the whole adventure (for me) started to unfold. Most of the white people living in Rhodesia were ex-pats from the UK or South Africa. Most still had strong connections and family ties in the ‘old country’. They were also anxious to prove to us the British soldier, their good intent towards us. Whole families were turning up at the barbed wire perimeter of our camp asking to take soldiers home with them for Christmas dinner and a few hours of ‘normality’ before we started the dangerous task that lay ahead of us. I felt so strange and naked without my rifle, having only been in this country for a couple of hours, here I was being taken away from our secure base camp by an elderly couple with Christmas dinner on their minds. To my ever lasting regret, I cannot remember any of the names of the numerous people I was to meet this day, it never entered my confused little head to take notes for further reference.
My hosts were busily and happily telling me about their lives, the situation in Rhodesia and their families back in England. It even transpired that they had a son serving with the Cheshire Regt, a WOII Ken Burkes; he was the women’s son by an earlier marriage. I knew of him but could honestly say that I didn’t know him very well to speak to.
I was taken to their lovely bungalow in what I would consider an affluent part of the city. I was introduced to their son who had a very strong South African accent. I later transpired that he had lived in South Africa for a good while. This young man disturbed me very much, with his attitude towards the local black community. He took great pleasure in strutting around their very large garden brandishing an AK47, threatening to shoot any black person he saw. I remember thinking that if this was the way the whites behaved it was no wonder they had been fighting a guerrilla war for the last nine years, it was a wonder that any whites were still alive to tell the tail. His parents apologised for his behaviour saying that he had been poisoned by the attitudes of the South African whites and he was a good boy really, this I very seriously doubted. I made a mental note not to go out of my way to meet any South Africans.
Luckily for me the old couple introduced me to some of their friends and I was passed on to them. Again they took great pains to justify their position and how they looked upon our small task force as people who would eventually destroy their way of life forever. I knew this to be true, their way of life was about to change, the forth-coming elections would see to that. The end of white dominance must have about as easy to stomach for them as bellyful of poison. Not that they held it against us personally, they said they understood that we were just carrying out our orders, which was very decent of them I must say. This family was more ‘normal’ than the last one I had met and I was able to relax more.
After a wonderful Christmas dinner and a few beers my host took great pleasure in displaying his considerable armoury of weapons to me. As normal the armoury contained the infamous AK47 (what armoury would be complete without one), but in the main they were of smaller calibre weapons designed for local protection, four pistols rounded off their collection. The pistols again were used for things like taking the children to school, as they were easier to use in the confines of the car, I could hear my host telling me. The rest of the evening pasted with numerous people stopping over to make my acquaintance, asking questions about the old country and the ‘end of life as we know it’ statements came thick and fast. My hoist was now concerned about it being to dangerous for us to travel at night and insisted that I should stay in their spare room until first light when he would see me safely back to the task force camp. Quite why he hadn’t voiced these concerns while it was light, so I could have returned to camp earlier was a mystery to me. After a midnight swim in their outdoor pool, I retired for the night. I woke early to the smell of frying bacon, I showered and made my entrance just in time for a large breakfast of beacon and eggs. I was now concerned about getting back A.S.A.P. to camp, knowing Alf Taylor he would be getting in an arse kicking mood by now. I got back to camp just in time to jump on the bus that was leaving for the Task Force briefing session. I sat there sweating under the cold stare from WOII Taylor.
The main players in the ‘Rhodesian problem’ from a tactical point of view were, the Rhodesian army on one side, and the guerrilla forces of the ‘Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army’ (ZANLA) and ‘Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army’ (ZIPRA) on the other. ZANLA and ZIPRA were opposed to each other, this resulted in armed clashes whenever they met and both of them were at war with the Rhodesian army. This is rather a simplified view of the problem, as there seemed to be hundreds of smaller groups trying to out do each other and all fighting each other.
The Monitoring Force largely consisted of the British, but with Australian, Fijian, Kenyan and New Zealand detachments. In the main the British would go out and monitor the cease-fire on the ground and the other detachments would set up the collection areas for the guerrillas once we had contacted the Guerrilla forces in the bush. It was explained that we would be inserted into our areas of responsibility the next day. We were reliably informed that the local population was fully aware that we were coming and what our mission was. This information had been broadcasted on the wireless and in the papers for a couple of weeks. At the time we didn’t know that where we were going, the local population in the main didn’t have radios never mind local papers.
Capt. Tim Parks and his 2ic WOII Alf Taylor commanded the ten-man group I was attached to. We were to be inserted by Hercules C130 air transporter plane. Once on the ground the local Rhodesian army would escort us to Chibi Mission, which is in south of the country not far from the boarder with Mozambique. Chibi Mission, as I have said, was to be our base area, after being escorted in we would then be on our own to fend for ourselves and carry out our mission.
Our mission was with the help of a local guerrilla liaison officer, make contact with the armed guerrillas in the bush. To persuade them that the impending elections were above board and that it would be in their best interests to be taken by buses, from a set rendezvous to various collection areas around the country. Here they would meet up with their fellow freedom fighters and leaders. This seemed a tall order to me, and not one easily achieved. Just to cheer us up Chibi Mission was one of the remotest areas selected for contacting the guerrilla forces. We were told that help should we need it, would be a long time coming.
It was pleasing to know that the C130 that was to take us on our mission had fresh bullet holes in its fuselage from its last sortie into our area. The RAF decided that we must travel as light as possible on our trip by ‘Crab Air’ to this end they made us empty all our Jerry cans of water, not very wise in the middle of the African summer. Each Landrover was carrying about six Jerry-cans so the weight saving was in our eye’s was minimal and give us a problem of finding water at our drop off point, also this action was to make us look fools a little later in the day.
The general brief from the C130 loadmaster was, the plane would do a short take off and then spiral upwards within the footprint of Salisbury airport. He stressed it was important to gain height fast to avoid being shot at, once we had enough height the plane would clear the densely populated area around the capital Salisbury. Then once clear the C130 would fly very low, to avoid detection until it was to late for any ground forces to do anything about it. On arrival at our drop off airfield the C130 would do a short fast landing open the back cargo doors and while the plane was still in motion we would drive off the two Landrovers with all our party on board. The C130 would then accelerate away and take off without stopping, all good James Bond stuff this.
The flight went well and was very exciting, especially the low level flying. Some of the country we flew through was very hilly with ravines and vertical cliff faces. It was great to have the Hercules standing on it’s wing tips, flying down valleys while avoiding the beckoning cliffs on each side of the aircraft. It was all thoroughly enjoyable stuff, but not everyone shared my point of view especially those with their heads firmly stuck in their sick bags.
With our landing site fast approaching, we climbed aboard the Landrovers and started the engines ready to drive off the plane. The C130’s wheels hit the ground and the ramp started to be lowered, we were away, down the ramp and with a bump hit the ground running so to speak. Both Landrovers made it safely, we then became a laughing stock as the back wash from the turbo prop engines on the C130, lifted up our empty and extremely light plastic jerry cans and sent them flying around the landing sight. It was with red faces that we drove around picking up the empty jerry cans. The Rhodesian Army that were there to meet us had a great time making fun at our expense. We stayed overnight at their forward operating base, being briefed again on the local situation. Later in the evening we were invited to a barbecue and a couple of beers, again upsetting Alf Taylor who had stated that the mission was to be ‘dry’ (no beer).
The move next morning from the camp to Chibi Mission was fraught with danger. The Rhodesian Army were at best sceptical of our chances, of making it. Nobody had been along that route for months and then only in fully armoured vehicles, specially designed to withstand land mine explosions. They took one look at our open top Landrovers and said we were either mad or special forces. Not being the latter that only left the former of the two.
Luckily we made the trip without incident, after a long and slow process of checking every blemish in the dirt track that we were following for land mines. We viewed every likely ambush spot with more than a passing interest. If in doubt the Rhodesian army’s tactics was to flood the area with small arms fire just to be on the safe side. Chibi Mission on our arrival was a sad collection of mud huts, and church that dominated the most prominent position in the village, which had of all things a football field! Our camp was set up at the far end of the football field well away from preying eyes; it also gave us the best field of view (and fire should we need it).
The mission was now deserted, our escort told us that this was normal and when any military force arrived, the locals would dissolve into the bush for fear of being killed. It would be two days before people started to drift back to their homes. Our escort left us to fend for ourselves, they were certain and told us, they would be back to collect our bodies later.
The days at the mission consisted of morning vehicle patrols around to the nearest villages, doing the "hearts and minds" work to try and allay any fears the locals had. At the same time going out collecting bodies of those people that had been shot in the night (this was a daily occurrence), we would find them dumped on the side of the tracks, it was a smelly job in that heat. They, the bodies would be minus their ears or testicles depending on which side had killed them. Also part of our small force would go out with the liaison officer and make contact with the local guerrillas. In order to start in motion the process rounding up as many of the guerrilla forces as we could in the time frame given. Things went remarkably smoothly for us. This was down the excellent work put in by our team, very ably lead by Capt. Tim Parks and he was to be awarded the Queens Gallantry Medal for our part in the overall plan. One day Capt. Parks was conducting one such round up job. The buses had arrived at the set RV; the guerrilla forces had arrived and were in the process of getting on the buses. Just as this was happening along came a civilian convoy of vehicles, with their homemade armoured vehicles at the front and rear. The locals (normally whites) apparently travelled around in such convoys together for protection. They saw what they thought to be a group of guerrillas attacking a couple of buses. The convoy immediately opened fire, blood shed was imminent, and Capt. Parks worked miracles to defuse the situation before wholesale slaughter ensued.
The General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG), we had brought with us and the 5000 rounds of ammo to go with it had been kept well hidden since our arrival. It was secreted in the 12 x 12 Tent, surrounded by sandbags ready to go into action at a second notice, this we hoped, was the ace up our sleeve. It was to spring into action in our imitation of Rorkes Drift should the need arrive. Our little force of eight men were in little doubt that if things turned ugly there would be little chance of escape or help arriving in time, but we were determined to put up a good show and to take as many with us as possible. The closest we came to using the GPMG was when one day, when four of our number were away with the vehicles. WO2 Alf Taylor, myself, Cpl Baron Hardwick and Nav Atherton had remained back to guard our small camp. We could hear them coming long before we could see them. We could hear hundreds of men chanting in unison, banging their weapons and stamping of their feet. They appeared at the village end of the football field, in five ranks they came out of the bush running along in tight formation waving their klasnakov’s and RPG7’s in the air, banging them together and stamping their feet in the dusty earth. The chanting started low and built up to a fever pitch, a second row of five ranks appeared until they were ten deep and the whole length of the field, a lot of men at any time and when they are all carrying klasnakov’s and chanting like Zulu’s, definitely too many, you could say we were out numbered. Even so I remember thinking that they would make a good target with them being so tightly packed together.
A deputation detached its self from the guerrilla force and approached us, Alf Taylor, told us all to keep still, at the time I happened to be just behind Alf. I slipped off the safety catch, on my SLR and slowly turned the rifle to point at the belly of the person who was obviously the leader. My mind was made up, I would ‘belly shoot’ the leader and then try and drop the rest. Not knowing the location of the other two in our small party, I assumed that they were not in a position to help. Shooting the leader in the stomach, would hopefully make him scream a lot, without killing him outright, I was banking on the screams deterring the rest long enough to be able to get to the GPMG.
Alf who was sitting in a folding chair, he stood up to greet our visitors; this was meet by a stream of abuse and gesticulating. The ZANLA leader was ranting on about food and was threatening our death if we didn’t supply him immediately, with enough food to feed the five thousand. Alf Taylor was not to be bargained with and stated bluntly that, food would be supplied at the collection areas and not before. As a afterthought he also add that the man must be mad if he thought that they could take on the British army and that they would come of the worst for the encounter. A stunned silence followed, as if like magic, Alf pulled out a bottle of coke, removed the lid and took a large swallow. The bottle was then offered to ZANLA leader, who took the bottle and had a drink for himself, Alf then took the bottle back off the man and finished the contents. The ZANLA leader was taken aback, saying that a white man had never drank out of the same bottle as him, he had been given drinks after a white man had finished with them but never shared one like this. The leader seemed, at a loss with what to do, finally stating that Alf was a great Warrior and his long lost brother or words to that effect, the situation was defused by such a simple gesture. After a briefing by Alf the leader seemed quite happy to explain the situation to his men and they all sat around on their side of the field waiting for the return of the liaison officer.
Out in the Landrovers one day, we entered a small village that had it’s own Police station. The local Policeman (again white) took great delight in showing us his array of weapons. This included a 12 bore Shotgun, complete with very nasty looking solid shot rounds, instead of the more normal pellet type rounds.
He boasted that he had taken the head off some hapless Guerrilla, with this weapon and a solid shot round. One of the other British units ran over a land mine, while out in their Landrovers. The ZANLA liaison Officer, who had insisted that he travel in the front of the Landrover, with his legs straddled across the transmission tunnel, was cut in half by the gear stick. Everyone else was luckily alive, but dazed as you would expect. After last light each day, we would move away from our little camp into our night time ‘stand to’ positions. Working in pairs half of us would sleep, while the other half would remain alert for signs of danger. This would enable us to be in an ambush position, should anyone attack our camp at night. Nav Atherton woke me late one night, saying that someone was moving to our front with a torch and trying to find our location. After a few breathless minutes, not daring to breath, the torch turned out to be a ‘Fire Fly’, glowing in the dark and flitting around in the under growth obviously looking for a mate. It sounds funny now but at the time it was deadly serious.
On leaving Chibi Mission, we were again picked up by C130 that was on its way to a drop zone, to drop a load palletised maze and tins of fish. Being tired and temporarily relieved of the fear of attack or sudden death, I crawled unto my sleeping bag and fell asleep. I was woken by the movement of the plane, not three feet from where I lay was the open rear doors of the Hercules, I found myself staring down at the drop zone some 200 foot below, the load master was pushing out the pallets of maze and fish, he said "don't worry I was keeping an eye on you to make sure you didn't roll out the door". I had seen it so many times before in films were the plane comes in low and discharges its cargo without parachutes onto the ground, razing great clouds of dust. Now here I was, experiencing it for myself at close quarters and from the comfort of my sleeping bag. It was fascinating to see the people the size of ants, running out and swarming all over the dropped cargo, almost before it had hit the ground. I found Africa such a beautiful country, and even more so flying at low level over the bush land. Your view stretching out over the horizon, with everything bathed in the warm sunshine; there are very few places on earth that look so good, yet be so unforgiving
We were deployed to a collection area, where the rounded up guerrillas were now waiting. It was that uncertain time before the start of the elections. New Zealand forces were running this particular collection area. We were to stay with them for a few days before being sent back to Salisbury. They certainly had the short end of the stick, in those collection areas. Thousands upon thousands of armed and extremely fed up guerrillas with nothing to do. It was hard to say who was guarding whom; the guerrillas told us that if things went wrong we would be the first to die, charming people. The New Zealander’s forces did a great job pacifying these people and even organised football matches against there charges to try and stop the boredom.
It was to be a posh hotel on our return to Salisbury, not the hot and dusty tented camp we used on the way out. Having not been a great user of hotels over the years, I was surprised to find that we were expected to leave your shoes out in the corridor to be cleaned, and have ones clothes washed and pressed overnight. When I didn’t leave out my boots and uniform, I received a knock on the door from a worried porter asking if anything was wrong with the room service. Two days R & R was due, before we were to fly back to England. We were leaving Rhodesia earlier than the rest of the task force, because the Bn was due to deploy to Belize. Our little twenty-man group contained a lot of key members of the Bn, so were needed back for the training package, back in the UK.
We took full advantage of the two days off to rest and see as much as we could. As I have already said this is a beautiful country and we wanted to experience as much as we possible could in our short stay. Dinning in nice restaurants after weeks of compo rations, was a particular delight. I was at one stage offered a ‘two carat’ diamond, by an ‘Expat’ in exchange for a create of whiskey. As normal the MP’s were well ahead of us on these matters and would were only allowing one bottle of whiskey per week, just my luck. On the morning that we flew out of Salisbury we drove the airport, expecting to load the Landrovers onto the plane. Only to be told that the vehicles were not on the load manifest, so must stay behind. There was no one to hand the kit to, so we had to just leave the vehicle loaded with all the kit and ammunition on the side of the runway, I often wonder what happened to it. The flight back was to be by C130, the flight was really interesting, flying much lower than commercial planes, I was able to enjoy the view of the African Continent, and it was a two-day flight. I spent most of the trip looking out of my small window at the changing views the open grassland, giving way to bush land, the flight up the river Nile was highlight of the trip. With nothing to do but dream the day away, trying to imagine what life must be like living in such places. We stayed over night in Nairobi, this time staying in a very posh hotel. There was no sight of the guards that had treated us so poorly on the trip out; maybe it was because our weapons were now under raps in the belly of the C130. Kenya is another beautiful country hopefully one day I will visit it again.
The trip back was not quite over we had to refuel in Cyprus. On landing as normal we disembarked to allow the refuelling to take place. The turn around took about an hour then we were allowed to get back on. When getting on plane, I mentioned to the load master that one of the tyres looked a little flat, his reply was, "yeah, yeah" obviously he had heard it all before. Two minutes later we were back off the plane while they changed the flat tyre, they must think us Infantry are thick. The flight up the leg of Italy was impressive sight, being locked in the grip of midwinter (which I had forgotten about). Covered in snow and ice the mountains looked formidable and the lightening storms made them look all the more menacing. On the two-day trip home WO2 Alf Taylor started to feel ill, he was taken to hospital on our arrival in the UK. He had pick up one of the dreaded bugs, lying in wait for you in Africa, so while we enjoyed a couple of days off with our families he was running a high favour in some isolation ward, lucky him.
I had been away, adventure training with our platoon. On our return the buzzword going around Aliwal Bks, Tidworth was ‘Rhodesia’. Within ten minutes of entering camp I was whisked into the OC’s Office, he informed me that the Bn was putting together a twenty-man team to go to Rhodesia. Its mission was to assist in the disarming of the guerrilla forces in the country prior to elections taking place. The OC wished to put my name forward to the CO, for consideration for selection to the team. The CO endorsed his choice and I was left to go home after two weeks away and inform my wife that I was going away again. The timing was again bad, Bridie had not long given birth to our second son Paul. Now she faced the prospect of Christmas on her own. This was solved by a quick trip to the mother-in-laws, farewells said I returned to Tidworth to start preparing for the operation.
L/Cpl Brian (Nav) Atherton found out I was going and asked me to see if I could get him on the team. I had a word with ‘A’ Company CSM WO2 R H McC. Shaw, who in turn put his name forward. To Nav’s delight, he was accepted. He went home and told his wife, who was due their first child, that he had just volunteered to go. She went through the roof, calling him all the rotten sods in the world and much more besides. The moral of the story is don’t tell your wife, (when you've volunteered for something), say you have been ordered to do it.
We had briefing after briefing on the situation and the current political climate, injection after injection it seemed that if you were able to catch it; it was there to be caught in Africa. Special Landrover armour was designed with armoured flooring and a rollover bars. This was great if you were in the front of the rover but not so good if you were in the back, no protection there I’m afraid. It was decided that due to the landmine problem it might be prudent to line the rear half of the floor with sandbags and as I would be travelling in the rear, this was quickly done. We were finally taken to RAF South Cerney, the place was a hive of activity most of the camp had been kept back, their Christmas leave cancelled to tend to us. We were issued with an amazing amount of kit all brand new it was like all our Christmases had come at once.
After an over night stay at South Cerney we flew out to Nairobi on route to Rhodesia. Landing at Nairobi we were treated with hostility, at first the authorities would not allow us to disembark the plane while it refuelled. Finally when we were allowed off, we were taken under armed guard and locked in a small room away from prying eyes at the far end of the runway. I felt insulted, that members of the British Armed Forces could be treated this way (I told you I was naive). I had visions of us on a mercy mission to help their fellow countrymen to achieve democracy (more naivety). On reflection, I suppose that officials in this country might act pretty much the same if a large group of foreign soldiers, armed to the teeth arrived at Heathrow on route somewhere. After the fuel stop our long journey continued down Africa, towards the troubled boarders of Rhodesia.
Approaching Salisbury airport, I was looking out of the small window of the plane to catch a glimpse of the new world I was entering. I was amazed to see mud huts and a endless assortment of cobbled together shacks lining the runway, all with washing lines displaying their wears in the morning breeze. I never thought that people actually still lived in mud huts these days, especially so overtly, spread around the capitals main airport. The plane touched down at 0600 hrs 25th December 1979. The contrast in the weather was most apparent, especially with it being winter in England. The fact that it was Christmas day was also far from our minds. Our thoughts were far from our families, they would be gathering around the Christmas tree opening their presents. Ours was a day of uncertainty, entering a new land and a new chapter in our lives, excitement and expectation was strong and tangible.
Our party was ushered through passport control, and then taken to the task forces secure area. A large tented camp had been set-up and there we were reunited with our advance party whom had flown out two days earlier with the vehicles and heavy equipment on Hercules C130 transporter planes. A quick general briefing on the camp routine and standing orders took place, before we settled in.
The strangest part of the whole adventure (for me) started to unfold. Most of the white people living in Rhodesia were ex-pats from the UK or South Africa. Most still had strong connections and family ties in the ‘old country’. They were also anxious to prove to us the British soldier, their good intent towards us. Whole families were turning up at the barbed wire perimeter of our camp asking to take soldiers home with them for Christmas dinner and a few hours of ‘normality’ before we started the dangerous task that lay ahead of us. I felt so strange and naked without my rifle, having only been in this country for a couple of hours, here I was being taken away from our secure base camp by an elderly couple with Christmas dinner on their minds. To my ever lasting regret, I cannot remember any of the names of the numerous people I was to meet this day, it never entered my confused little head to take notes for further reference.
My hosts were busily and happily telling me about their lives, the situation in Rhodesia and their families back in England. It even transpired that they had a son serving with the Cheshire Regt, a WOII Ken Burkes; he was the women’s son by an earlier marriage. I knew of him but could honestly say that I didn’t know him very well to speak to.
I was taken to their lovely bungalow in what I would consider an affluent part of the city. I was introduced to their son who had a very strong South African accent. I later transpired that he had lived in South Africa for a good while. This young man disturbed me very much, with his attitude towards the local black community. He took great pleasure in strutting around their very large garden brandishing an AK47, threatening to shoot any black person he saw. I remember thinking that if this was the way the whites behaved it was no wonder they had been fighting a guerrilla war for the last nine years, it was a wonder that any whites were still alive to tell the tail. His parents apologised for his behaviour saying that he had been poisoned by the attitudes of the South African whites and he was a good boy really, this I very seriously doubted. I made a mental note not to go out of my way to meet any South Africans.
Luckily for me the old couple introduced me to some of their friends and I was passed on to them. Again they took great pains to justify their position and how they looked upon our small task force as people who would eventually destroy their way of life forever. I knew this to be true, their way of life was about to change, the forth-coming elections would see to that. The end of white dominance must have about as easy to stomach for them as bellyful of poison. Not that they held it against us personally, they said they understood that we were just carrying out our orders, which was very decent of them I must say. This family was more ‘normal’ than the last one I had met and I was able to relax more.
After a wonderful Christmas dinner and a few beers my host took great pleasure in displaying his considerable armoury of weapons to me. As normal the armoury contained the infamous AK47 (what armoury would be complete without one), but in the main they were of smaller calibre weapons designed for local protection, four pistols rounded off their collection. The pistols again were used for things like taking the children to school, as they were easier to use in the confines of the car, I could hear my host telling me. The rest of the evening pasted with numerous people stopping over to make my acquaintance, asking questions about the old country and the ‘end of life as we know it’ statements came thick and fast. My hoist was now concerned about it being to dangerous for us to travel at night and insisted that I should stay in their spare room until first light when he would see me safely back to the task force camp. Quite why he hadn’t voiced these concerns while it was light, so I could have returned to camp earlier was a mystery to me. After a midnight swim in their outdoor pool, I retired for the night. I woke early to the smell of frying bacon, I showered and made my entrance just in time for a large breakfast of beacon and eggs. I was now concerned about getting back A.S.A.P. to camp, knowing Alf Taylor he would be getting in an arse kicking mood by now. I got back to camp just in time to jump on the bus that was leaving for the Task Force briefing session. I sat there sweating under the cold stare from WOII Taylor.
The main players in the ‘Rhodesian problem’ from a tactical point of view were, the Rhodesian army on one side, and the guerrilla forces of the ‘Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army’ (ZANLA) and ‘Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army’ (ZIPRA) on the other. ZANLA and ZIPRA were opposed to each other, this resulted in armed clashes whenever they met and both of them were at war with the Rhodesian army. This is rather a simplified view of the problem, as there seemed to be hundreds of smaller groups trying to out do each other and all fighting each other.
The Monitoring Force largely consisted of the British, but with Australian, Fijian, Kenyan and New Zealand detachments. In the main the British would go out and monitor the cease-fire on the ground and the other detachments would set up the collection areas for the guerrillas once we had contacted the Guerrilla forces in the bush. It was explained that we would be inserted into our areas of responsibility the next day. We were reliably informed that the local population was fully aware that we were coming and what our mission was. This information had been broadcasted on the wireless and in the papers for a couple of weeks. At the time we didn’t know that where we were going, the local population in the main didn’t have radios never mind local papers.
Capt. Tim Parks and his 2ic WOII Alf Taylor commanded the ten-man group I was attached to. We were to be inserted by Hercules C130 air transporter plane. Once on the ground the local Rhodesian army would escort us to Chibi Mission, which is in south of the country not far from the boarder with Mozambique. Chibi Mission, as I have said, was to be our base area, after being escorted in we would then be on our own to fend for ourselves and carry out our mission.
Our mission was with the help of a local guerrilla liaison officer, make contact with the armed guerrillas in the bush. To persuade them that the impending elections were above board and that it would be in their best interests to be taken by buses, from a set rendezvous to various collection areas around the country. Here they would meet up with their fellow freedom fighters and leaders. This seemed a tall order to me, and not one easily achieved. Just to cheer us up Chibi Mission was one of the remotest areas selected for contacting the guerrilla forces. We were told that help should we need it, would be a long time coming.
It was pleasing to know that the C130 that was to take us on our mission had fresh bullet holes in its fuselage from its last sortie into our area. The RAF decided that we must travel as light as possible on our trip by ‘Crab Air’ to this end they made us empty all our Jerry cans of water, not very wise in the middle of the African summer. Each Landrover was carrying about six Jerry-cans so the weight saving was in our eye’s was minimal and give us a problem of finding water at our drop off point, also this action was to make us look fools a little later in the day.
The general brief from the C130 loadmaster was, the plane would do a short take off and then spiral upwards within the footprint of Salisbury airport. He stressed it was important to gain height fast to avoid being shot at, once we had enough height the plane would clear the densely populated area around the capital Salisbury. Then once clear the C130 would fly very low, to avoid detection until it was to late for any ground forces to do anything about it. On arrival at our drop off airfield the C130 would do a short fast landing open the back cargo doors and while the plane was still in motion we would drive off the two Landrovers with all our party on board. The C130 would then accelerate away and take off without stopping, all good James Bond stuff this.
The flight went well and was very exciting, especially the low level flying. Some of the country we flew through was very hilly with ravines and vertical cliff faces. It was great to have the Hercules standing on it’s wing tips, flying down valleys while avoiding the beckoning cliffs on each side of the aircraft. It was all thoroughly enjoyable stuff, but not everyone shared my point of view especially those with their heads firmly stuck in their sick bags.
With our landing site fast approaching, we climbed aboard the Landrovers and started the engines ready to drive off the plane. The C130’s wheels hit the ground and the ramp started to be lowered, we were away, down the ramp and with a bump hit the ground running so to speak. Both Landrovers made it safely, we then became a laughing stock as the back wash from the turbo prop engines on the C130, lifted up our empty and extremely light plastic jerry cans and sent them flying around the landing sight. It was with red faces that we drove around picking up the empty jerry cans. The Rhodesian Army that were there to meet us had a great time making fun at our expense. We stayed overnight at their forward operating base, being briefed again on the local situation. Later in the evening we were invited to a barbecue and a couple of beers, again upsetting Alf Taylor who had stated that the mission was to be ‘dry’ (no beer).
The move next morning from the camp to Chibi Mission was fraught with danger. The Rhodesian Army were at best sceptical of our chances, of making it. Nobody had been along that route for months and then only in fully armoured vehicles, specially designed to withstand land mine explosions. They took one look at our open top Landrovers and said we were either mad or special forces. Not being the latter that only left the former of the two.
Luckily we made the trip without incident, after a long and slow process of checking every blemish in the dirt track that we were following for land mines. We viewed every likely ambush spot with more than a passing interest. If in doubt the Rhodesian army’s tactics was to flood the area with small arms fire just to be on the safe side. Chibi Mission on our arrival was a sad collection of mud huts, and church that dominated the most prominent position in the village, which had of all things a football field! Our camp was set up at the far end of the football field well away from preying eyes; it also gave us the best field of view (and fire should we need it).
The mission was now deserted, our escort told us that this was normal and when any military force arrived, the locals would dissolve into the bush for fear of being killed. It would be two days before people started to drift back to their homes. Our escort left us to fend for ourselves, they were certain and told us, they would be back to collect our bodies later.
The days at the mission consisted of morning vehicle patrols around to the nearest villages, doing the "hearts and minds" work to try and allay any fears the locals had. At the same time going out collecting bodies of those people that had been shot in the night (this was a daily occurrence), we would find them dumped on the side of the tracks, it was a smelly job in that heat. They, the bodies would be minus their ears or testicles depending on which side had killed them. Also part of our small force would go out with the liaison officer and make contact with the local guerrillas. In order to start in motion the process rounding up as many of the guerrilla forces as we could in the time frame given. Things went remarkably smoothly for us. This was down the excellent work put in by our team, very ably lead by Capt. Tim Parks and he was to be awarded the Queens Gallantry Medal for our part in the overall plan. One day Capt. Parks was conducting one such round up job. The buses had arrived at the set RV; the guerrilla forces had arrived and were in the process of getting on the buses. Just as this was happening along came a civilian convoy of vehicles, with their homemade armoured vehicles at the front and rear. The locals (normally whites) apparently travelled around in such convoys together for protection. They saw what they thought to be a group of guerrillas attacking a couple of buses. The convoy immediately opened fire, blood shed was imminent, and Capt. Parks worked miracles to defuse the situation before wholesale slaughter ensued.
The General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG), we had brought with us and the 5000 rounds of ammo to go with it had been kept well hidden since our arrival. It was secreted in the 12 x 12 Tent, surrounded by sandbags ready to go into action at a second notice, this we hoped, was the ace up our sleeve. It was to spring into action in our imitation of Rorkes Drift should the need arrive. Our little force of eight men were in little doubt that if things turned ugly there would be little chance of escape or help arriving in time, but we were determined to put up a good show and to take as many with us as possible. The closest we came to using the GPMG was when one day, when four of our number were away with the vehicles. WO2 Alf Taylor, myself, Cpl Baron Hardwick and Nav Atherton had remained back to guard our small camp. We could hear them coming long before we could see them. We could hear hundreds of men chanting in unison, banging their weapons and stamping of their feet. They appeared at the village end of the football field, in five ranks they came out of the bush running along in tight formation waving their klasnakov’s and RPG7’s in the air, banging them together and stamping their feet in the dusty earth. The chanting started low and built up to a fever pitch, a second row of five ranks appeared until they were ten deep and the whole length of the field, a lot of men at any time and when they are all carrying klasnakov’s and chanting like Zulu’s, definitely too many, you could say we were out numbered. Even so I remember thinking that they would make a good target with them being so tightly packed together.
A deputation detached its self from the guerrilla force and approached us, Alf Taylor, told us all to keep still, at the time I happened to be just behind Alf. I slipped off the safety catch, on my SLR and slowly turned the rifle to point at the belly of the person who was obviously the leader. My mind was made up, I would ‘belly shoot’ the leader and then try and drop the rest. Not knowing the location of the other two in our small party, I assumed that they were not in a position to help. Shooting the leader in the stomach, would hopefully make him scream a lot, without killing him outright, I was banking on the screams deterring the rest long enough to be able to get to the GPMG.
Alf who was sitting in a folding chair, he stood up to greet our visitors; this was meet by a stream of abuse and gesticulating. The ZANLA leader was ranting on about food and was threatening our death if we didn’t supply him immediately, with enough food to feed the five thousand. Alf Taylor was not to be bargained with and stated bluntly that, food would be supplied at the collection areas and not before. As a afterthought he also add that the man must be mad if he thought that they could take on the British army and that they would come of the worst for the encounter. A stunned silence followed, as if like magic, Alf pulled out a bottle of coke, removed the lid and took a large swallow. The bottle was then offered to ZANLA leader, who took the bottle and had a drink for himself, Alf then took the bottle back off the man and finished the contents. The ZANLA leader was taken aback, saying that a white man had never drank out of the same bottle as him, he had been given drinks after a white man had finished with them but never shared one like this. The leader seemed, at a loss with what to do, finally stating that Alf was a great Warrior and his long lost brother or words to that effect, the situation was defused by such a simple gesture. After a briefing by Alf the leader seemed quite happy to explain the situation to his men and they all sat around on their side of the field waiting for the return of the liaison officer.
Out in the Landrovers one day, we entered a small village that had it’s own Police station. The local Policeman (again white) took great delight in showing us his array of weapons. This included a 12 bore Shotgun, complete with very nasty looking solid shot rounds, instead of the more normal pellet type rounds.
He boasted that he had taken the head off some hapless Guerrilla, with this weapon and a solid shot round. One of the other British units ran over a land mine, while out in their Landrovers. The ZANLA liaison Officer, who had insisted that he travel in the front of the Landrover, with his legs straddled across the transmission tunnel, was cut in half by the gear stick. Everyone else was luckily alive, but dazed as you would expect. After last light each day, we would move away from our little camp into our night time ‘stand to’ positions. Working in pairs half of us would sleep, while the other half would remain alert for signs of danger. This would enable us to be in an ambush position, should anyone attack our camp at night. Nav Atherton woke me late one night, saying that someone was moving to our front with a torch and trying to find our location. After a few breathless minutes, not daring to breath, the torch turned out to be a ‘Fire Fly’, glowing in the dark and flitting around in the under growth obviously looking for a mate. It sounds funny now but at the time it was deadly serious.
On leaving Chibi Mission, we were again picked up by C130 that was on its way to a drop zone, to drop a load palletised maze and tins of fish. Being tired and temporarily relieved of the fear of attack or sudden death, I crawled unto my sleeping bag and fell asleep. I was woken by the movement of the plane, not three feet from where I lay was the open rear doors of the Hercules, I found myself staring down at the drop zone some 200 foot below, the load master was pushing out the pallets of maze and fish, he said "don't worry I was keeping an eye on you to make sure you didn't roll out the door". I had seen it so many times before in films were the plane comes in low and discharges its cargo without parachutes onto the ground, razing great clouds of dust. Now here I was, experiencing it for myself at close quarters and from the comfort of my sleeping bag. It was fascinating to see the people the size of ants, running out and swarming all over the dropped cargo, almost before it had hit the ground. I found Africa such a beautiful country, and even more so flying at low level over the bush land. Your view stretching out over the horizon, with everything bathed in the warm sunshine; there are very few places on earth that look so good, yet be so unforgiving
We were deployed to a collection area, where the rounded up guerrillas were now waiting. It was that uncertain time before the start of the elections. New Zealand forces were running this particular collection area. We were to stay with them for a few days before being sent back to Salisbury. They certainly had the short end of the stick, in those collection areas. Thousands upon thousands of armed and extremely fed up guerrillas with nothing to do. It was hard to say who was guarding whom; the guerrillas told us that if things went wrong we would be the first to die, charming people. The New Zealander’s forces did a great job pacifying these people and even organised football matches against there charges to try and stop the boredom.
It was to be a posh hotel on our return to Salisbury, not the hot and dusty tented camp we used on the way out. Having not been a great user of hotels over the years, I was surprised to find that we were expected to leave your shoes out in the corridor to be cleaned, and have ones clothes washed and pressed overnight. When I didn’t leave out my boots and uniform, I received a knock on the door from a worried porter asking if anything was wrong with the room service. Two days R & R was due, before we were to fly back to England. We were leaving Rhodesia earlier than the rest of the task force, because the Bn was due to deploy to Belize. Our little twenty-man group contained a lot of key members of the Bn, so were needed back for the training package, back in the UK.
We took full advantage of the two days off to rest and see as much as we could. As I have already said this is a beautiful country and we wanted to experience as much as we possible could in our short stay. Dinning in nice restaurants after weeks of compo rations, was a particular delight. I was at one stage offered a ‘two carat’ diamond, by an ‘Expat’ in exchange for a create of whiskey. As normal the MP’s were well ahead of us on these matters and would were only allowing one bottle of whiskey per week, just my luck. On the morning that we flew out of Salisbury we drove the airport, expecting to load the Landrovers onto the plane. Only to be told that the vehicles were not on the load manifest, so must stay behind. There was no one to hand the kit to, so we had to just leave the vehicle loaded with all the kit and ammunition on the side of the runway, I often wonder what happened to it. The flight back was to be by C130, the flight was really interesting, flying much lower than commercial planes, I was able to enjoy the view of the African Continent, and it was a two-day flight. I spent most of the trip looking out of my small window at the changing views the open grassland, giving way to bush land, the flight up the river Nile was highlight of the trip. With nothing to do but dream the day away, trying to imagine what life must be like living in such places. We stayed over night in Nairobi, this time staying in a very posh hotel. There was no sight of the guards that had treated us so poorly on the trip out; maybe it was because our weapons were now under raps in the belly of the C130. Kenya is another beautiful country hopefully one day I will visit it again.
The trip back was not quite over we had to refuel in Cyprus. On landing as normal we disembarked to allow the refuelling to take place. The turn around took about an hour then we were allowed to get back on. When getting on plane, I mentioned to the load master that one of the tyres looked a little flat, his reply was, "yeah, yeah" obviously he had heard it all before. Two minutes later we were back off the plane while they changed the flat tyre, they must think us Infantry are thick. The flight up the leg of Italy was impressive sight, being locked in the grip of midwinter (which I had forgotten about). Covered in snow and ice the mountains looked formidable and the lightening storms made them look all the more menacing. On the two-day trip home WO2 Alf Taylor started to feel ill, he was taken to hospital on our arrival in the UK. He had pick up one of the dreaded bugs, lying in wait for you in Africa, so while we enjoyed a couple of days off with our families he was running a high favour in some isolation ward, lucky him.
The Background
With many thanks to
' John Taylor '
Zimbabwe and the Commonwealth of Nations have had a controversial and stormy diplomatic relationship. Zimbabwe is a former member of the Commonwealth, having withdrawn in 2003, and the issue of Zimbabwe has repeatedly taken centre stage in the Commonwealth, both since Zimbabwe's independence and as part of the British Empire.
Zimbabwe was the British colony of Southern Rhodesia, gaining responsible government in 1923. Southern Rhodesia became one of the most prosperous, and heavily settled, of the UK's African colonies, with a system of white minority rule. Southern Rhodesia was integrated into the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. In response to demands for greater black African power in government, the anti-federation white nationalist Rhodesian Front (RF) was elected in 1962, leading to the collapse of federation.
The RF, under the leadership of Ian Smith from 1964, rejected the principle of NIBMAR that the Commonwealth demanded, and the Southern Rhodesian government, now styling itself 'Rhodesia', issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965. The United Kingdom refused to recognise this, and the Commonwealth was at the forefront of rejecting the UDI, imposing sanctions on Rhodesia, ending the break-away, and bringing about Rhodesia's final independence under black majority rule as Zimbabwe in 1980. However, differences of opinion of how to approach Rhodesia exposed structural and philosophical weaknesses that threatened to break-up the Commonwealth.
In recent years, under the presidency of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe has dominated Commonwealth affairs, creating acrimonious splits in the organisation. Zimbabwe was suspended in 2002 for breaching the Harare Declaration. In 2003, when the Commonwealth refused to lift the suspension, Zimbabwe withdrew from the Commonwealth. Since then, the Commonwealth has played a major part in trying to end the political impasse and return Zimbabwe to a state of normalcy
Zimbabwe was the British colony of Southern Rhodesia, gaining responsible government in 1923. Southern Rhodesia became one of the most prosperous, and heavily settled, of the UK's African colonies, with a system of white minority rule. Southern Rhodesia was integrated into the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. In response to demands for greater black African power in government, the anti-federation white nationalist Rhodesian Front (RF) was elected in 1962, leading to the collapse of federation.
The RF, under the leadership of Ian Smith from 1964, rejected the principle of NIBMAR that the Commonwealth demanded, and the Southern Rhodesian government, now styling itself 'Rhodesia', issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965. The United Kingdom refused to recognise this, and the Commonwealth was at the forefront of rejecting the UDI, imposing sanctions on Rhodesia, ending the break-away, and bringing about Rhodesia's final independence under black majority rule as Zimbabwe in 1980. However, differences of opinion of how to approach Rhodesia exposed structural and philosophical weaknesses that threatened to break-up the Commonwealth.
In recent years, under the presidency of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe has dominated Commonwealth affairs, creating acrimonious splits in the organisation. Zimbabwe was suspended in 2002 for breaching the Harare Declaration. In 2003, when the Commonwealth refused to lift the suspension, Zimbabwe withdrew from the Commonwealth. Since then, the Commonwealth has played a major part in trying to end the political impasse and return Zimbabwe to a state of normalcy
Ceasefire & Independence
With many thanks to
' John Taylor '
At the 1979, CHOGM, the Heads of Government issued the Lusaka Declaration, once again committing itself to ending racial discrimination. The official communiqué of the meeting invited Rhodesia-Zimbabwe's new Prime Minister Abel Muzorewa and Ian Smith to a constitutional convention with the leading guerilla leaders, giving rise to the Lancaster House Agreement in 1979.
The agreement demanded a ceasefire, reverted Rhodesia back into the British colony of Southern Rhodesia, with full control from London, and paved the way for an election in 1980. To implement the Lancaster House Agreement, at the behest of Commonwealth Secretary-General Shridath Ramphal and Kenneth Kaunda (and in the face of opposition from Lord Carrington), the Commonwealth created the Commonwealth Monitoring Force (CMF). This included 1,097 Britons, as well as representatives of Australia, Canada, Fiji, Kenya, and New Zealand, totalling 1,548 service personnel.
They organised ceasefire assembly places, at which guerillas could disarm and reintegrate into their communities in time for the election. Observers expected the operation to fail, as the composition and swiftness of deployment seemed to fly in the face of convention wisdom. Nonetheless, it succeeded in maintaining peace, demilitarising the militia and guerillas, and presiding over a peaceful election that election observers deemed free and fair.
The resounding victory of Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF in March 1980 led to Southern Rhodesia's independence as the Republic of Zimbabwe later that year. Upon independence, Zimbabwe joined the Commonwealth, five decades after Southern Rhodesia's government had mistakenly believed that it had in the wake of its invitation to the 1930 Imperial Conference. The end of the Rhodesian crisis was a victory for Commonwealth principles, and their application to the policies of a member: in this case, the United Kingdom itself. Shridath Ramphal played a vital role in the affair, whilst it was the 1979 Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting that played host to the deliberations and resolutions of the crisis, and a Commonwealth military force that kept the peace.
The agreement demanded a ceasefire, reverted Rhodesia back into the British colony of Southern Rhodesia, with full control from London, and paved the way for an election in 1980. To implement the Lancaster House Agreement, at the behest of Commonwealth Secretary-General Shridath Ramphal and Kenneth Kaunda (and in the face of opposition from Lord Carrington), the Commonwealth created the Commonwealth Monitoring Force (CMF). This included 1,097 Britons, as well as representatives of Australia, Canada, Fiji, Kenya, and New Zealand, totalling 1,548 service personnel.
They organised ceasefire assembly places, at which guerillas could disarm and reintegrate into their communities in time for the election. Observers expected the operation to fail, as the composition and swiftness of deployment seemed to fly in the face of convention wisdom. Nonetheless, it succeeded in maintaining peace, demilitarising the militia and guerillas, and presiding over a peaceful election that election observers deemed free and fair.
The resounding victory of Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF in March 1980 led to Southern Rhodesia's independence as the Republic of Zimbabwe later that year. Upon independence, Zimbabwe joined the Commonwealth, five decades after Southern Rhodesia's government had mistakenly believed that it had in the wake of its invitation to the 1930 Imperial Conference. The end of the Rhodesian crisis was a victory for Commonwealth principles, and their application to the policies of a member: in this case, the United Kingdom itself. Shridath Ramphal played a vital role in the affair, whilst it was the 1979 Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting that played host to the deliberations and resolutions of the crisis, and a Commonwealth military force that kept the peace.
The Elections and Operation Quartz 1980
With many thanks to
' John Taylor '
After the election of Bishop Muzorewa’s government in 1979, Rhodesians hoped that Britain and the international community would recognise his administration and end sanctions. After all, British observers had pronounced the election free and fair in their official report. African voters had turned out in great numbers to vote for the Bishop, and, with a few minor exceptions, there had been no intimidation or coercion. The Rhodesians rightly felt that they had fulfilled the demands of the international community for African majority rule in Rhodesia, now renamed Zimbabwe-Rhodesia.
Nyerere of Tanzania and Kaunda of Zambia, however, objected at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Lusaka in August 1979, demanding that their protégés, Mugabe and Nkomo, leaders of the two main terrorist groups seeking power, should be included in any final arrangement for majority rule in Rhodesia. Their pressure was instrumental in causing Thatcher to withhold recognition. The fact that Muzorewa had been democratically elected into power by a 67% majority, whereas his critics, Kaunda and Nyerere, were both heads of one-party dictatorships with shaky economies (Kaunda had even been unable to provide a red carpet for the Queen at the Lusaka meeting and had been forced to borrow one from "arch-enemy" South Africa!
Pressure thus mounted for the Rhodesians to hold new elections, again monitored by the Commonwealth, but this time including Mugabe and Nkomo’s parties. Tired of the war and sanctions, and with the increasing level of white emigration seriously affecting the economy, Muzorewa was eventually forced into going along with an agreement for a new election.
The fact that the Rhodesian security forces were increasing their cross-border raids on terrorist bases in Zambia and Mozambique persuaded Presidents Kaunda and Machel to exert their influence on Nkomo and Mugabe to moderate their conditions for participating in the new election. Mugabe, for example, had initially demanded that the Rhodesian security forces be disbanded prior to the election and that the country be policed by a combination of the terrorist forces. This was a condition to which the Rhodesians would never agree, as it was a patently transparent attempt by ZANU to ensure its forces would have de facto control of the country prior to the election, and allow him to influence the voting and ignore any result unfavourable to ZANU. The resulting distrust that Rhodesians felt for Mugabe’s methods and manoeuvrings was probably the prime reason behind the preparation of a contingency plan.
Eventually agreement was reached for the holding of new elections. Commonwealth monitoring forces arrived in Rhodesia and the terrorist forces of ZAPU and ZANU began to send their men to Assembly Points throughout the country.
At midnight on 28 December 1979 a ceasefire came into effect. The majority of white Rhodesians hoped or expected that Muzorewa would again secure a majority vote. However, it did not take long for experts to work out that this would not come to pass. For one thing, thousands of armed ZANLA terrorists remained at large inside the country. In their place in the Assembly Points were thousands of youngsters masquerading as guerrillas, leaving the real terrorists free to intimidate the population and influence the voting. Commanders of the Rhodesian security forces informed General Walls of this, and he tried to persuade Lord Soames, the temporary governor sent out by Britain to preside over the election, to disqualify ZANU. Soames gave Mugabe several warnings, but took no further action to prevent ZANU from taking part in the election.
Prior to the election a military intelligence paper was prepared by Rhodesian officers, setting out the possible courses of action for opposing ZAPU and ZANU, and preventing them from winning the election. A second intelligence paper predicted a victory for Mugabe and warned that this could precipitate a rush of victorious terrorists into the capital, Salisbury, confronting white civilians and the security forces. Further studies described what would be "Vital Assets Ground" in the event of this happening and detailed action that would need to be taken to retain these strategic areas. The papers also stressed the need in this case to swiftly "neutralize" the terrorist Assembly Points! Members of COMOPS and Special Branch involved in drafting these papers appeared to be convinced of the need for some sort of pre- emptive action to prevent the country from falling into chaos. This pre-emptive action would be named Operation Quartz.
Operation Quartz
With many thanks to
' John Taylor '
Intelligence papers probably formed the basis of the plan that was given the code-name "Operation Quartz". This plan envisaged placing Rhodesian troops at strategic points from which they could simultaneously wipe out the terrorists at the Assembly Points and assassinate Mugabe and the other terrorist leaders at their campaign headquarters. The strike would be assisted by Puma helicopters of the South African Air Force and would involve the participation of elite recce units of the South African army. Clearly the Rhodesians had discussed Operation Quartz with their counterparts in the SADF and obtained their approval and co-operation. Lord Soames had already agreed to allow 400 South African troops into the country in order to protect the Beitbridge area, the main route of escape for whites if the situation were to degenerate into chaos and all-out war. In fact the number of men that the SADF sent across the border was closer to 1,000, although some were later withdrawn following protests by Mugabe.
Operation Quartz was apparently based on the assumption that if Mugabe were defeated in the elections it would be necessary to carry out a strike against ZANU to prevent its forces from attempting a coup and taking over the country by force. The plan pre-supposed a victory by either Nkomo or Muzorewa, or, more likely, a coalition of the two. ZIPRA forces had in fact already begun joint training exercises with the Rhodesian forces, and undoubtedly their leaders had been given an idea of what Op Quartz would entail. Nkomo was not popular with the whites, however, and there was a distinct possibility that the white troops would ignore orders to avoid clashing with ZIPRA.
Although the full details of Operation Quartz have never been made public, some aspects of the plan have been revealed by former members of the security forces. It was divided into two parts: Operation Quartz, an overt strike against the terrorists, and Operation Hectic, a covert strike to kill Mugabe and his key personnel.
The Assembly Points had been agreed on as part of the Lancaster House Agreement and were simply huge camps where thousands of terrorists were congregated, overseen by much smaller numbers of Ceasefire Monitoring Force members. The Rhodesian security forces had been tasked with monitoring the pre-election activities and keeping the peace. Most of the front-line units were therefore already in positions within easy striking distance of the terrorist camps. Attacks on the camps would be preceded by strikes by the Rhodesian Air Force.
The covert part of the plan - Operation Hectic - was to be carried out by the elite troops of the Rhodesian Special Air Service (SAS). ‘A’ Squadron of the SAS would assassinate Mugabe, while ‘B’ Squadron would take care of Vice-President Simon Muzenda and the 100-man contingent of ZANLA based in the Medical Arts Centre. ‘C’ Squadron was designated to take out the 200 ZIPRA and ZANLA men with their commanders (Rex Nhongo, Dumiso Dabengwa and Lookout Musika) based at the Audio Visual Arts building of the University of Rhodesia. As far as possible, the ZIPRA men would be given an opportunity to escape, and had possibly been informed of the plan beforehand.
The SAS squadrons were to be backed up by tanks and armoured cars of the Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment, together with a surprise weapon in the form of hitherto undisclosed 106mm recoilless rifles in the Rhodesian armoury.
Eland armoured cars would support ‘A’ and ‘B’ Squadrons, while the Rhodesian T-55 tanks would support ‘C’ Squadron by pounding the Audio Visual Arts building into rubble prior to the attack by the troops. At first it was intended that all eight of the T-55 tanks would be used against the university buildings, but later four of them were sent to Bulawayo to assist the RLI Support Commando in the attack planned for a large Assembly Point in the area.
The tanks were secretly put onto low-loaders and moved to a forward assembly area at the King George VI barracks. Rehearsals with the tanks had taken place at Kibrit barracks, and the planning was thorough and detailed. The tanks would fire approximately 80 high-explosive rounds into the building at point-blank range, after which a single tank would ram the security wall around the university. With foresight, the troops had even removed the front fenders of the tank concerned, so that debris from the wall would not get caught under them and foul the tracks! This was the command tank and during the preparations the CO was in close contact with SAS Major Bob MacKenzie, whose troops would subsequently enter the building and clear it. The SAS teams would use this breach to storm the building and clear it of terrorists, marking each cleared room with a sheet draped out of the window. The SAS men were well-prepared for their task, equipped with AK-47s, body armour and stun grenades, similar to those used by their British counterparts. The operation would be over before the terrorists were aware of what was happening.
As the voting drew to a close, the troops of the SAS, RLI and Selous Scouts waited eagerly for the code word ‘Quartz’ to be given. They were impatient to get to grips at last with the enemy that had always used classic guerrilla hit and run tactics. There can be no doubt that if the order had been given the terrorist forces would have been decimated within hours. Their superior numbers would have counted for little in the face of an attack by the small, but highly motivated and effective Rhodesian troops. The reaction of the over-seeing Monitoring Force troops was uncertain was resistance to attack from either Security Forces or ZANU PF guerrillas was felt to be considerable.
The signal for Operation Quartz was never given. Three hours beforehand the operation was cancelled and Mugabe was announced as the victor, his men jubilant in the streets of Salisbury, while the Rhodesian troops watched in silence
The reason for the cancellation of Operation Quartz is not known, but there are several possible explanations.
Lt. Col. Garth Barrett, commanding officer of the SAS, believed that it had been compromised by someone at the upper planning levels who was secretly working for the British. A credible theory as several earlier attempts to kill Mugabe had been seemingly dogged by bad luck - meetings where ambushes had been laid had been cancelled at the last minute and Mugabe narrowly escaped several bomb attempts on his life. Nkomo too, had narrowly escaped a well-planned and executed attempt on his life by the SAS in Zambia. It was almost as if they were being warned beforehand.
Another theory is that the operation was compromised by ZIPRA men who had been informed of the plan, either on purpose or by accident. Their close proximity to the ZANLA forces would have made it difficult for them to keep their own preparations secret for very long.
A third possibility is that once General Walls realised that Mugabe had won the election he cancelled the operation on the grounds that it had been intended only to be implemented if Mugabe were to lose the election and attempt to take power by force.
Walls later claimed in an interview that he had not known of Operation Quartz, but then went on to explain that he had not ordered a coup because it would not have lasted 48 hours in the face of world opposition. Ken Flower, head of the CIO, certainly knew of the plans, since they had been given to him by a Special Branch officer. Interestingly, he made no mention of Op Quartz in his memoirs.
Ian Smith also reportedly told Ian Hancock in an interview in July 1989 that he had spoken to the security force commanders at a meeting in his Salisbury house just prior to the elections, and said that Walls had assured him that Mugabe would not win, but when pressed by Smith, Walls had admitted that there was a contingency plan to stop Mugabe. It seems very unlikely therefore that Walls was unaware of the existence of the Op Quartz plans.
Even after Mugabe’s election victory had been announced, troops of the security forces waited in tense anticipation and the situation remained uncertain until Walls went on television that evening and announced that "anybody who gets out of line or for whatever reason starts disobeying the law will be dealt with effectively and swiftly..." This carefully- worded statement signalled the end of any hopes that Operation Quartz might still take place
According to the journalist, Pat Scully, details on Op Quartz became public after Mugabe decided to get rid of Peter Walls, following the latter's caustic comments about Mugabe in TV and Press interviews in South Africa. By accusing Walls of having been the mastermind behind the whole plan, Mugabe would be able to dismiss him and at the same time distract public attention from the 'Tekere Affair' (Edgar Tekere, one of Mugabe’s cabinet ministers, had been arrested for the murder of an elderly white farmer), which was giving Mugabe a lot of bad publicity abroad at the time.
Nathan Shamuyarira (Minister of Information) therefore accused Walls in the House of Assembly on 15 August of treason and claimed the following:
1. Op Quartz involved a military takeover of the country on 4 March, the day of Mugabe's election victory. 2. ZANLA troops had been purposely massed in assembly points so that the Rhodesian Air Force could take them out en masse. 3. ZIPRA was not to be attacked, in hopes of promoting an alliance between Nkomo and Muzorewa after ZANLA had been neutralised. 4. Op Quartz was cancelled a bare 3 hours before it was due to be launched, because Walls felt that it could not succeed in view of Mugabe's overwhelming victory at the polls.
John Ellison, a 'Daily Express' (London) foreign editor, who originally broke the story, later claimed that the version given by Shamuyarira in the House of Assembly had been deliberately distorted to implicate Walls. Op Quartz, according to Ellison, was simply a contingency plan that had been drawn up six weeks earlier and was designed to protect the coalition government (Nkomo-Muzorewa) which many believed would be the outcome of the election. The operation would thus have been carried out, if it proved necessary, in support of a legally elected government.
General Walls flatly denied Shamuyarira's claims, saying he had never heard of Operation Quartz, but Mugabe refused to believe this, demanding that Walls leave the country as soon as possible. Walls had already pointed out to Mugabe that he did not have sufficient control over the three ex-terrorist forces, and in an interview in August on SABC-TV predicted that trouble was coming. He was right - three weeks later shoot-outs between ZIPRA and ZANLA started.
That Op Quartz was in fact seriously considered by the security forces. Preparations were detailed and far-advanced, including seemingly a willingness to destroy all Commonwealth Monitoring troops, at the time of the election. This has been demonstrated by the existence of some of the original signals sent to units of the army. Copies were kept, against orders, by some of the officers, and a number of these originals are now in the possession of the Rhodesian Army Association.
With many thanks to
' John Taylor '
Intelligence papers probably formed the basis of the plan that was given the code-name "Operation Quartz". This plan envisaged placing Rhodesian troops at strategic points from which they could simultaneously wipe out the terrorists at the Assembly Points and assassinate Mugabe and the other terrorist leaders at their campaign headquarters. The strike would be assisted by Puma helicopters of the South African Air Force and would involve the participation of elite recce units of the South African army. Clearly the Rhodesians had discussed Operation Quartz with their counterparts in the SADF and obtained their approval and co-operation. Lord Soames had already agreed to allow 400 South African troops into the country in order to protect the Beitbridge area, the main route of escape for whites if the situation were to degenerate into chaos and all-out war. In fact the number of men that the SADF sent across the border was closer to 1,000, although some were later withdrawn following protests by Mugabe.
Operation Quartz was apparently based on the assumption that if Mugabe were defeated in the elections it would be necessary to carry out a strike against ZANU to prevent its forces from attempting a coup and taking over the country by force. The plan pre-supposed a victory by either Nkomo or Muzorewa, or, more likely, a coalition of the two. ZIPRA forces had in fact already begun joint training exercises with the Rhodesian forces, and undoubtedly their leaders had been given an idea of what Op Quartz would entail. Nkomo was not popular with the whites, however, and there was a distinct possibility that the white troops would ignore orders to avoid clashing with ZIPRA.
Although the full details of Operation Quartz have never been made public, some aspects of the plan have been revealed by former members of the security forces. It was divided into two parts: Operation Quartz, an overt strike against the terrorists, and Operation Hectic, a covert strike to kill Mugabe and his key personnel.
The Assembly Points had been agreed on as part of the Lancaster House Agreement and were simply huge camps where thousands of terrorists were congregated, overseen by much smaller numbers of Ceasefire Monitoring Force members. The Rhodesian security forces had been tasked with monitoring the pre-election activities and keeping the peace. Most of the front-line units were therefore already in positions within easy striking distance of the terrorist camps. Attacks on the camps would be preceded by strikes by the Rhodesian Air Force.
The covert part of the plan - Operation Hectic - was to be carried out by the elite troops of the Rhodesian Special Air Service (SAS). ‘A’ Squadron of the SAS would assassinate Mugabe, while ‘B’ Squadron would take care of Vice-President Simon Muzenda and the 100-man contingent of ZANLA based in the Medical Arts Centre. ‘C’ Squadron was designated to take out the 200 ZIPRA and ZANLA men with their commanders (Rex Nhongo, Dumiso Dabengwa and Lookout Musika) based at the Audio Visual Arts building of the University of Rhodesia. As far as possible, the ZIPRA men would be given an opportunity to escape, and had possibly been informed of the plan beforehand.
The SAS squadrons were to be backed up by tanks and armoured cars of the Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment, together with a surprise weapon in the form of hitherto undisclosed 106mm recoilless rifles in the Rhodesian armoury.
Eland armoured cars would support ‘A’ and ‘B’ Squadrons, while the Rhodesian T-55 tanks would support ‘C’ Squadron by pounding the Audio Visual Arts building into rubble prior to the attack by the troops. At first it was intended that all eight of the T-55 tanks would be used against the university buildings, but later four of them were sent to Bulawayo to assist the RLI Support Commando in the attack planned for a large Assembly Point in the area.
The tanks were secretly put onto low-loaders and moved to a forward assembly area at the King George VI barracks. Rehearsals with the tanks had taken place at Kibrit barracks, and the planning was thorough and detailed. The tanks would fire approximately 80 high-explosive rounds into the building at point-blank range, after which a single tank would ram the security wall around the university. With foresight, the troops had even removed the front fenders of the tank concerned, so that debris from the wall would not get caught under them and foul the tracks! This was the command tank and during the preparations the CO was in close contact with SAS Major Bob MacKenzie, whose troops would subsequently enter the building and clear it. The SAS teams would use this breach to storm the building and clear it of terrorists, marking each cleared room with a sheet draped out of the window. The SAS men were well-prepared for their task, equipped with AK-47s, body armour and stun grenades, similar to those used by their British counterparts. The operation would be over before the terrorists were aware of what was happening.
As the voting drew to a close, the troops of the SAS, RLI and Selous Scouts waited eagerly for the code word ‘Quartz’ to be given. They were impatient to get to grips at last with the enemy that had always used classic guerrilla hit and run tactics. There can be no doubt that if the order had been given the terrorist forces would have been decimated within hours. Their superior numbers would have counted for little in the face of an attack by the small, but highly motivated and effective Rhodesian troops. The reaction of the over-seeing Monitoring Force troops was uncertain was resistance to attack from either Security Forces or ZANU PF guerrillas was felt to be considerable.
The signal for Operation Quartz was never given. Three hours beforehand the operation was cancelled and Mugabe was announced as the victor, his men jubilant in the streets of Salisbury, while the Rhodesian troops watched in silence
The reason for the cancellation of Operation Quartz is not known, but there are several possible explanations.
Lt. Col. Garth Barrett, commanding officer of the SAS, believed that it had been compromised by someone at the upper planning levels who was secretly working for the British. A credible theory as several earlier attempts to kill Mugabe had been seemingly dogged by bad luck - meetings where ambushes had been laid had been cancelled at the last minute and Mugabe narrowly escaped several bomb attempts on his life. Nkomo too, had narrowly escaped a well-planned and executed attempt on his life by the SAS in Zambia. It was almost as if they were being warned beforehand.
Another theory is that the operation was compromised by ZIPRA men who had been informed of the plan, either on purpose or by accident. Their close proximity to the ZANLA forces would have made it difficult for them to keep their own preparations secret for very long.
A third possibility is that once General Walls realised that Mugabe had won the election he cancelled the operation on the grounds that it had been intended only to be implemented if Mugabe were to lose the election and attempt to take power by force.
Walls later claimed in an interview that he had not known of Operation Quartz, but then went on to explain that he had not ordered a coup because it would not have lasted 48 hours in the face of world opposition. Ken Flower, head of the CIO, certainly knew of the plans, since they had been given to him by a Special Branch officer. Interestingly, he made no mention of Op Quartz in his memoirs.
Ian Smith also reportedly told Ian Hancock in an interview in July 1989 that he had spoken to the security force commanders at a meeting in his Salisbury house just prior to the elections, and said that Walls had assured him that Mugabe would not win, but when pressed by Smith, Walls had admitted that there was a contingency plan to stop Mugabe. It seems very unlikely therefore that Walls was unaware of the existence of the Op Quartz plans.
Even after Mugabe’s election victory had been announced, troops of the security forces waited in tense anticipation and the situation remained uncertain until Walls went on television that evening and announced that "anybody who gets out of line or for whatever reason starts disobeying the law will be dealt with effectively and swiftly..." This carefully- worded statement signalled the end of any hopes that Operation Quartz might still take place
According to the journalist, Pat Scully, details on Op Quartz became public after Mugabe decided to get rid of Peter Walls, following the latter's caustic comments about Mugabe in TV and Press interviews in South Africa. By accusing Walls of having been the mastermind behind the whole plan, Mugabe would be able to dismiss him and at the same time distract public attention from the 'Tekere Affair' (Edgar Tekere, one of Mugabe’s cabinet ministers, had been arrested for the murder of an elderly white farmer), which was giving Mugabe a lot of bad publicity abroad at the time.
Nathan Shamuyarira (Minister of Information) therefore accused Walls in the House of Assembly on 15 August of treason and claimed the following:
1. Op Quartz involved a military takeover of the country on 4 March, the day of Mugabe's election victory. 2. ZANLA troops had been purposely massed in assembly points so that the Rhodesian Air Force could take them out en masse. 3. ZIPRA was not to be attacked, in hopes of promoting an alliance between Nkomo and Muzorewa after ZANLA had been neutralised. 4. Op Quartz was cancelled a bare 3 hours before it was due to be launched, because Walls felt that it could not succeed in view of Mugabe's overwhelming victory at the polls.
John Ellison, a 'Daily Express' (London) foreign editor, who originally broke the story, later claimed that the version given by Shamuyarira in the House of Assembly had been deliberately distorted to implicate Walls. Op Quartz, according to Ellison, was simply a contingency plan that had been drawn up six weeks earlier and was designed to protect the coalition government (Nkomo-Muzorewa) which many believed would be the outcome of the election. The operation would thus have been carried out, if it proved necessary, in support of a legally elected government.
General Walls flatly denied Shamuyarira's claims, saying he had never heard of Operation Quartz, but Mugabe refused to believe this, demanding that Walls leave the country as soon as possible. Walls had already pointed out to Mugabe that he did not have sufficient control over the three ex-terrorist forces, and in an interview in August on SABC-TV predicted that trouble was coming. He was right - three weeks later shoot-outs between ZIPRA and ZANLA started.
That Op Quartz was in fact seriously considered by the security forces. Preparations were detailed and far-advanced, including seemingly a willingness to destroy all Commonwealth Monitoring troops, at the time of the election. This has been demonstrated by the existence of some of the original signals sent to units of the army. Copies were kept, against orders, by some of the officers, and a number of these originals are now in the possession of the Rhodesian Army Association.
The Rhodesian conflict with Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) had dramatically escalated during 1977 as thousands of ZANLA forces poured into staging camps in Mozambique along the entire Eastern border of Rhodesia.
Operating under the Communist Chinese philosophy of 'the long march' and now actively being supported by USSR advisors and FRELIMO soldiers in Mozambique, ZANLA had successfully established a logistical network in that country and had infiltrated into the Rhodesian tribal areas throughout the north east, east and south east where they had indoctrinated and subverted both a willing and unwilling African population. This posed a huge challenge to the Rhodesian Security Forces (RSF) who had previously enjoyed 10 years of a largely supportive local population and who now faced ground swell passive resistance and non-cooperation with RSF in those regions, while themselves being stretched over a vast border region. The RSF were being worn down by attrition and stretched thin by the thousands of ZANLA inside Rhodesia. An effective network of informants, called Mujibas, within the tribal areas in support of ZANLA operated which further impeded the RSF operations.
Faced with larger groups of ZANLA inside the country and being stretched thin on the ground and with limited air support, RSF began to find themselves out gunned in patrol contacts.
The external raids by RSF on staging camps were proving hugely successful in ZANLA casualties and equipment destroyed or seized, while the Fire Force (chopper born rapid response) was also proving a very effective killing combination. Both strategies relied heavily on the Air Force which had limited manpower capacity, ageing aircraft and restricted armaments.
ZANLA had a large manpower pool and pipeline of trainees in Tanzanian trading camps. The availability of armaments from USSR and China plus FRELIMO was largely unrestricted.
The rocky outcrop terrains in which this conflict was being fought often posed significant limitations to air strike success. A solution was required to increase the kill rate of such air strikes and to be more effective in halting RSF casualty rates in contacts. Having devised in 1977 a very capable and destructive bouncing bomb, Alpha, for the Canberra aircraft attacks on terrorist camps Sqn Leader Petter-Bowyer turned his intellect to solve this problem by developing a weapon that was extraordinarily destructive which was called the Golf bomb. Creating a combined explosion and implosion, it pulverised everything within 45 meters, while sending shrapnel over 70 metres. Those not killed from these effects but who were within 100 metres were killed by over pressure destroying internal organs. It proved a highly effective weapon for both internal and external air strikes.
Together with his colleagues in industry, he also developed an inexpensive frantan bomb in containers made from fibre glass and asbestos fibre that shattered like glass on impact sending a huge spray effect of fire and heat. These weapons proved especially deadly.
Petter-Bowyer had also created the Flechette - an anti-personnel weapon released from an aircraft that had devastating impact as 4,500 nail type projectiles saturated a 900 metre long and 70 metre wide area.
The scene was therefore set when 1978 arrived for a bitter and bloody war to once again notch up a level, while political events were to bring in a joint black / white Government and commitment towards a general election to herald in a black majority government in 1979 - a process the communist sponsored terrorist leadership were hell bent to prevent. Mugabe declared 1978 the year of the people and would not accept the internal political reproachmon being brokered with Nationalist leaders.
1978 began with the usual daily /weekly contacts internally between RSF and ZANLA. In mid January a large group of ZANLA were engaged by the RSF fire force near Mtoko in a fierce contact which developed into a rather confused duel contact in thick bush that lasted a day and night. During the contact a K-car (Allouette) was returning to Mtoko Forward Air Field when it was struck by a barrage of ground fire killing the gunner. The airborne army commander was wounded after the chopper he was in took many hits and Air Lieutenant du Toit (ex SAAF) took over operational command from his chopper - he was awarded a Military Forces Commendation. A G-car chopper with a Rhodesian African Rifle stick was hit by a barrage of ground fire and it gunner was killed, the pilot shot in the legs and another soldier wounded. This chopper was badly damaged and a forced landing near the ZANLA terrorists occurred resulting in a hot extraction under heavy fire. As night descended not all the RSF troops could be extracted due to unserviceability of the choppers and several call signs where left to set up overnight ambush positions. A group of 25 ZANLA mounted a sustained attack during the night on one RSF call sign killing a soldier.
3 RSF soldiers died, several wounded, 3 choppers damaged. ZANLA lost 2 killed and several believed wounded.
In mid February 1978 Operation Acrobat was launched. Recognising the possibility that SADF would one day be in conflict with FRELIMO in their support for AANC and needing to expose their special forces to bush conflict in Mozambique, South African Recce Commando soldiers were deployed in South Eastern Rhodesia as D Squadron, Rhodesian SAS. This was a secret secondment so as not to expose South Africa to overt military support of Rhodesia - so secret that the Recce soldiers only found out when on the transport plane! Their deployment in south east Rhodesia gave welcome manpower relief to an overstretched RSF. Operating from Chiredzi and FAF 7 under RSF commanders and with Rhodesian Air Force support, D Squadron engaged ZANLA and FRELIMO in Gaza Province of Mozambique. This continued until early 1980.
On arrival from Durban, D Squadron soon deployed into Mozambique. They were parachuted in by Dak to ambush FRELIMO troop movements but when one soldier was hurt in the decent a chopper had to go in to extract him. That alerted FRELIMO who descended on the area and began harassing the SAS soldiers. They laid land mines that took out a FRELIMO troop carrier and anti-personal mines on the road side did the rest accounting for 20 FRELIMO before they exited back to Rhodesia. The next week D Squadron attacked a ZANLA camp at Madulo Pan near the Mozambique South Africa border. In a contact several ZANLA and one D Squadron soldier were killed. Harassed by FRELIMO they exited back to Rhodesia, but were soon back to disrupt the logistics and transport links in Gaza Province.
The story continues........
**************************
The novel RETRIBUTION based on actual historical events in the Rhodesian bush war is available at:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/…/produ…/1910162906/ref=as_li_ss_tl…
http://m.bookdepository.com/Retribution-John…/9781910162903…
(Free worldwide delivery)
Operating under the Communist Chinese philosophy of 'the long march' and now actively being supported by USSR advisors and FRELIMO soldiers in Mozambique, ZANLA had successfully established a logistical network in that country and had infiltrated into the Rhodesian tribal areas throughout the north east, east and south east where they had indoctrinated and subverted both a willing and unwilling African population. This posed a huge challenge to the Rhodesian Security Forces (RSF) who had previously enjoyed 10 years of a largely supportive local population and who now faced ground swell passive resistance and non-cooperation with RSF in those regions, while themselves being stretched over a vast border region. The RSF were being worn down by attrition and stretched thin by the thousands of ZANLA inside Rhodesia. An effective network of informants, called Mujibas, within the tribal areas in support of ZANLA operated which further impeded the RSF operations.
Faced with larger groups of ZANLA inside the country and being stretched thin on the ground and with limited air support, RSF began to find themselves out gunned in patrol contacts.
The external raids by RSF on staging camps were proving hugely successful in ZANLA casualties and equipment destroyed or seized, while the Fire Force (chopper born rapid response) was also proving a very effective killing combination. Both strategies relied heavily on the Air Force which had limited manpower capacity, ageing aircraft and restricted armaments.
ZANLA had a large manpower pool and pipeline of trainees in Tanzanian trading camps. The availability of armaments from USSR and China plus FRELIMO was largely unrestricted.
The rocky outcrop terrains in which this conflict was being fought often posed significant limitations to air strike success. A solution was required to increase the kill rate of such air strikes and to be more effective in halting RSF casualty rates in contacts. Having devised in 1977 a very capable and destructive bouncing bomb, Alpha, for the Canberra aircraft attacks on terrorist camps Sqn Leader Petter-Bowyer turned his intellect to solve this problem by developing a weapon that was extraordinarily destructive which was called the Golf bomb. Creating a combined explosion and implosion, it pulverised everything within 45 meters, while sending shrapnel over 70 metres. Those not killed from these effects but who were within 100 metres were killed by over pressure destroying internal organs. It proved a highly effective weapon for both internal and external air strikes.
Together with his colleagues in industry, he also developed an inexpensive frantan bomb in containers made from fibre glass and asbestos fibre that shattered like glass on impact sending a huge spray effect of fire and heat. These weapons proved especially deadly.
Petter-Bowyer had also created the Flechette - an anti-personnel weapon released from an aircraft that had devastating impact as 4,500 nail type projectiles saturated a 900 metre long and 70 metre wide area.
The scene was therefore set when 1978 arrived for a bitter and bloody war to once again notch up a level, while political events were to bring in a joint black / white Government and commitment towards a general election to herald in a black majority government in 1979 - a process the communist sponsored terrorist leadership were hell bent to prevent. Mugabe declared 1978 the year of the people and would not accept the internal political reproachmon being brokered with Nationalist leaders.
1978 began with the usual daily /weekly contacts internally between RSF and ZANLA. In mid January a large group of ZANLA were engaged by the RSF fire force near Mtoko in a fierce contact which developed into a rather confused duel contact in thick bush that lasted a day and night. During the contact a K-car (Allouette) was returning to Mtoko Forward Air Field when it was struck by a barrage of ground fire killing the gunner. The airborne army commander was wounded after the chopper he was in took many hits and Air Lieutenant du Toit (ex SAAF) took over operational command from his chopper - he was awarded a Military Forces Commendation. A G-car chopper with a Rhodesian African Rifle stick was hit by a barrage of ground fire and it gunner was killed, the pilot shot in the legs and another soldier wounded. This chopper was badly damaged and a forced landing near the ZANLA terrorists occurred resulting in a hot extraction under heavy fire. As night descended not all the RSF troops could be extracted due to unserviceability of the choppers and several call signs where left to set up overnight ambush positions. A group of 25 ZANLA mounted a sustained attack during the night on one RSF call sign killing a soldier.
3 RSF soldiers died, several wounded, 3 choppers damaged. ZANLA lost 2 killed and several believed wounded.
In mid February 1978 Operation Acrobat was launched. Recognising the possibility that SADF would one day be in conflict with FRELIMO in their support for AANC and needing to expose their special forces to bush conflict in Mozambique, South African Recce Commando soldiers were deployed in South Eastern Rhodesia as D Squadron, Rhodesian SAS. This was a secret secondment so as not to expose South Africa to overt military support of Rhodesia - so secret that the Recce soldiers only found out when on the transport plane! Their deployment in south east Rhodesia gave welcome manpower relief to an overstretched RSF. Operating from Chiredzi and FAF 7 under RSF commanders and with Rhodesian Air Force support, D Squadron engaged ZANLA and FRELIMO in Gaza Province of Mozambique. This continued until early 1980.
On arrival from Durban, D Squadron soon deployed into Mozambique. They were parachuted in by Dak to ambush FRELIMO troop movements but when one soldier was hurt in the decent a chopper had to go in to extract him. That alerted FRELIMO who descended on the area and began harassing the SAS soldiers. They laid land mines that took out a FRELIMO troop carrier and anti-personal mines on the road side did the rest accounting for 20 FRELIMO before they exited back to Rhodesia. The next week D Squadron attacked a ZANLA camp at Madulo Pan near the Mozambique South Africa border. In a contact several ZANLA and one D Squadron soldier were killed. Harassed by FRELIMO they exited back to Rhodesia, but were soon back to disrupt the logistics and transport links in Gaza Province.
The story continues........
**************************
The novel RETRIBUTION based on actual historical events in the Rhodesian bush war is available at:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/…/produ…/1910162906/ref=as_li_ss_tl…
http://m.bookdepository.com/Retribution-John…/9781910162903…
(Free worldwide delivery)
The Aftermath
and How Rhodesia / Zimbabwe is in 2003
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