The Fallen: 31 March

On this day, we remember with honour and pride members of the Rhodesian forces who paid the ultimate sacrifice. May they rest in eternal peace.

1977 – District Security Assistant Johannes BUNGWE, Keep Protection, Intaf, KIA. Killed at Chipinga, Op Thrasher.

1978 – Dip Supervisor Mzingwane DUBE, ADF, Intaf, murdered. Killed by CTs.

1978 – Detective Sergeant Prosper TANI, CID, BSAP, killed on active service. Killed aged 26 in accidental shooting at Chabweno farm, Enterprise when engaged by a PATU stick at night. Prosper was in Pseudo role with SB Projects section at the time. His private funeral was held in Ft Victoria.

1979 – Sergeant John Zindoga HAMANDISHE, 1st Battalion, RAR, KIA. Killed in a CT action.

“So for those who fell in battle, let us stand,

Remember just for what they died,

Of those shall be our boast and pride”.

Gerry van Tonder

The Fallen: 23 March

The Fallen: 23 March

On this day, we remember with honour and pride members of the Rhodesian forces who paid the ultimate sacrifice. May they rest in eternal peace.

1973 – Warrant Officer 1 (RSM) Harold “Harry” BIRKETT, Base Group, 1st Battalion, RLI, killed on active service. Died aged 41 in Sinoia Hospital from injuries sustained in a vehicle accident. He was cremated at Warren Hills, Salisbury.

1977 – Corporal Eric Clifford CLARKE, 2 (Independent) Company, Rhodesia Regiment, killed on active service. Died in a vehicle accident aged 23. Buried in the Athlone Cemetery, Bulawayo.

1977 – Field Reservist Graham John EVASON, Police Reserve, BSAP, KIA. Killed in a contact/ambush, in the Maranda TTL (Map Ref TM2256), near Nuanetsi, Op Repulse at the age of 29. The incident happened at 11:00 hours when the first Land Rover (of two) they were travelling in was hit. Chris Everson was shot five times in his legs, but survived the ordeal. Neville Wright escaped unhurt. His funeral service was held in Salisbury on 23 March 1977. See also J. Terblanche and S. Mashonganyika, killed in the same ambush.

1977 – Constable Samuel Killian MASHONGANYIKA, Special Branch, BSAP, KIA. Killed in an contact/ambush, in the Maranda TTL (Map Ref TM2256, near Nuanetsi, Op Tangent, at the age of 23. He was buried in a private service at his home in Enkeldoorn.

1977 – Detective Patrol Officer Johannes Gideon “John” TERBLANCHE, CID, BSAP, KIA. Killed in an contact/ambush, in the Maranda TTL (Map Ref TM2256), near Nuanetsi, Op Tangent, at the age of 24. He was buried in Athlone Cemetery, Bulawayo on 28 March.

1978 – Field Reservist Pencil MILFORD, Stock Theft, BSAP, KIA. Killed in a CT action in the operational area. His semi-military funeral took place at Warren Hills Cemetery, Salisbury, on 5 April.

1979 – Auxiliary Constable Jealous MUGONI, Police Reserve, BSAP, killed on active service. Died in a vehicle accident, aged 20. His private funeral was held in Gokwe on 29 March.

“So for those who fell in battle, let us stand,
Remember just for what they died,
Of those shall be our boast and pride”.

Gerry van Tonder

The Fallen: 22 March

The Fallen: 22 March

On this day, we remember with honour and pride members of the Rhodesian forces who paid the ultimate sacrifice. May they rest in eternal peace.

1977 – Lieutenant Gerald William Andrew “Gerry” BELL, attached to RAR, KIA. Killed in a vehicle ambush in the Zambezi Valley, Op Hurricane. Gerry was returning from a call-up to Mana Pools via Rukomechi to take up his job with National Parks when they were ambushed by a group of ZIPRA terrorists. A single bullet entered his door-less Land Rover, striking him in the chest and resulting in his death. Buried in Masvingo.

1977 – Constable​Pearson​CHIZENGWE, Uniform BSAP, KIA. Killed aged 22 in an ambush in the Honde Valley during a routine patrol out of Ruda base camp, Op Thrasher. He was buried in a private funeral ceremony at his Wedza home on 26 March.

1977 – District Security Assistant Peter KAHARI, Keep Protection, Intaf, killed on active service. Killed near Sipolilo, Op Hurricane.

1978 – Trooper Roy (Robert?) John GODDING, 2 Commando, 1st Battalion, RLI, died on active service. Died from a heart attack whilst on R&R.

1978 – Private M. NYANGANI, 6th Battalion, Rhodesia Regiment, died on active service.

1978 – District Security Assistant James Amon VUMA, Keep Protection, Intaf, KIA. Killed when their convoy was ambushed and hit by an RPG rocket in the Chikore TTL.

“So for those who fell in battle, let us stand,
Remember just for what they died,
Of those shall be our boast and pride”.

Gerry van Tonder

The Fallen: 21 March

On this day, we remember with honour and pride members of the Rhodesian forces who paid the ultimate sacrifice. May they rest in eternal peace.

1974 – Lance Corporal John CHOWA, 1st Battalion, RAR, died on active service. Died aged 33 in Mpilo Hospital, Bulawayo, of multiple injuries. Buried in Inyanga.

1977 – Lance Corporal Wilson MUSHONGA, Army, died on active service.

1978 – Field Reservist George William FERGUSSON, Police Reserve, BSAP, KIA. Killed in a CT action in the operational area, at the age of 49 years. His semi-military funeral was held in Salisbury on 29 March.

1979 – District Security Assistant Mano GUMBO, Keep Protection, Intaf, died on active service.

1979 – Private ROGERS (not his surname), 2nd Maintenance, General Services Corps, Rhodesian Army Service Corps, killed on active service. Died from injuries received in a vehicle accident.

1979 – Driver Julius NYONI, ADF, Intaf, murdered. Killed by CTs.

“So for those who fell in battle, let us stand,
Remember just for what they died,
Of those shall be our boast and pride”.

Gerry van Tonder

Twin Browning’s On The Bridge (Part 1)

Some time back I had a rather spirited conversation with an individual over the idea of mounting twin 7,62 mm x 51 mm Browning machine guns atop the cab of a Hippo (converted Bedford RL), with the trigger mechanisms activated by push-bike (bicycle) handle-bar brake levers. The handle-bars were located in a convenient position for the co-driver of the Hippo to be able to fire the guns without sticking his head outside of the vehicle – thus avoiding a third-eye. All he had to do was pull the brake levers from inside the cab and the cables that led to the gun triggers, fired the weapons.

The Rhodesians thought that this was a brilliant idea, and in theory it probably was considering we were forced into using all kinds of solutions to problems that we had to overcome due to international sanctions and the arms embargo. Rhodesia used South African (Armscor) built Hippos. To the best of my knowledge Rhodesia never produced any of their own. Those that we used were former South African Police vehicles, donated to Rhodesia after their withdrawal.

In this episode I am going to relate my own personal experience firing these guns from a Hippo in a live contact with the enemy.

Firstly it would be remiss of me not to first give a bit of background to the two main actors of this episode – the Browning Machine Gun, or to use its correct nomenclature, the M1919A4 Browning Medium Machine Gun, and the Hippo personnel carrier (Bedford RL variant designed to protect against landmines and small arms fire).

M1919 Browning Medium Machine Gun

Lets start with a quick look at the weapon specifications:

• Weight: 14 kg
• Caliber: 7,62 mm x 51 mm (Springfield .30-06)
• Length: 964 mm (includes barrel of 610 mm)
• Action: Recoil operated
• Rate of fire: 400-600 rounds per minute
• Muzzle velocity: 853 meters/second
• Maximum firing range: 1,500 meters
• Ammunition feed: Belt-fed

The M1919 Browning is a .30 caliber medium machine gun which saw widespread service during WW2, The Korean war, and The Vietnam war. It was used by most NATO countries until the 1990s and is still in use today in some theatres.

Similar in design to the larger Browning .50 caliber M2, it is a recoil operated machine gun, highly versatile and was used widely as a light infantry weapon or mounted in some way on armoured vehicles. It was fitted to aircraft and also used in an anti-aircraft role, making it truly a weapon for all theatres of war.

Above – The air-cooled, belt-fed M1919A4 machine gun with its M2 tripod weighed only about 48 lbs., compared to more than 100 lbs. for the water-cooled M1917A1 machine gun. (National Rifle Association of America).

Above – In this original color photo from 1944, U.S. Army paratroopers train with the M1919A4 machine gun. (National Rifle Association of America).

Above – The Browning .30-cal. M1919A4 light machine gun was used to great effect in all theaters during World War II. A U.S. Army soldier (above) crews an M1919A4 during operations on Jan. 16, 1945, in northwest Europe. (National Rifle Association of America).

When used in the Infantry role the gun required at least a two man team but more usually four men were used; the gunner, the assistant gunner and two ammunition carriers. We never used them like this in the Rhodesian Corps of Engineers – and I definitely never saw them being lugged about by Infantry patrols.

Originally introduced as the M1919A1 the concept was of a light and easy to transport weapon featuring a bipod and light barrel. However, it soon became apparent that it was too heavy to be carried and also too light to withstand sustained rates of fire (the barrel would overheat causing a runaway gun), and so with the addition of a tripod and a heavier barrel, the M1919A4 had, at least addressed the sustained fire problem. It just needed more men to get it to where it was needed.

Usually mounted on a lightweight, low-slung tripod for use by the infantry the M1919A4 weighed in at 14 kg’s. Using fixed vehicle mounts it could be mounted on a variety of vehicles including Jeeps, tanks, Armoured Personnel Carriers, and of course – our Hippo’s.

The Hippo Armoured Personnel Carrier

Again, lets first have a look at the specifications of this beast:

• Weight: 8.8 tonnes
• Length: 6.53 meters
• Width: 2.46 meters
• Height: 3.3 meters
• Crew: 2
• Passengers: 10
• Main Armament: 2 x 7,62 mm Browning manchine guns, front mounted
• Chassis: Bedford RL
• Engine: 2.5 liter in-line 6 cylinder water-cooled, petrol
• Transmission: 4-speed manual synchromesh
• Ground clearance: 32 cm
• Fuel capacity: 240 liters
• Maximum operational range: 640 kilometers
• Maximum speed: 73 km/h

The Hippo is a South African designed Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC). Specially designed to be mine-resistant, it can carry ten infantrymen and a crew of two. The vehicle’s remote-operated turret mounts dual 7.62mm Browning machine guns, but like other improvised fighting vehicles, it is only lightly protected. An interim solution adopted to deal with the threat of landmines deployed by the South West African People’s Organization (SWAPO) in northern Ovamboland, the Hippo was simply a blast-proof hull fitted to a Bedford RL chassis. Similar to the BTR-152, it offered a staggered troop compartment with seating facing inwards. Vision was restricted to narrow plate glass windows. This layout was universally unpopular and later corrected with subsequent vehicle development.  There were firing ports for the occupants and a powered machine gun turret could be braced on the open top, though these were seldom fitted. Passengers and crew debussed from the rear. The Hippo Mk1R was based on a M1961 Bedford truck chassis, which was being phased from South African service in 1974. Some 150 were shipped to the South African Police that year, another 5 being donated to the South-West African authorities. South African Police units left several behind when they withdrew from Rhodesia in 1976, and these were retained by Rhodesian Security Forces. 

Sadly most, if not all of these grand old ladies of the bush, that probably saved countless lives, have now ended up as rusted hulks, waiting to be cut up and sold for scrap. The photographs above, whilst giving the reader excellent examples of what the Hippo was, are at the same time bringing me a personal sense of nostalgia and sadness – I have travelled in them, driven them and fought the enemy with them- they are therefore part of me, and I a part of them. We are inseparable in this sense.

In Part 2 of Browning’s on the Bridge, I will describe how one of these beautiful (to me at least) vehicles and my crew done what we were paid to do – make contact with the enemy.

And it was in such an unusual way – sort of a meant-to-be-moment.

More Cunning Contrivances

As a follow-on to my previous post I would like to share another booby-trap mission I took part in with you.

All armies and that includes the Rhodesian Army, have ammunition stores. Here they can keep anything from small arms ammunition, artillery shells, mortar bombs and hand-grenades. The number of ways that we can kill one another on the battlefield is endless and only restricted by the imagination of those that manufacture the means for us to do so. The interesting thing about ammunition and explosives is that it does not last forever, even if stored in ideal conditions – it is either used as intended, or much like the food in your pantry or fridge, it will reach a use-by date, after which it needs to be disposed of. Food is easy to deal with – but what do you do with hundreds of items of possibly dodgy out-of-date ordnance when they come to the end of their safe storage life?

Well, the EASY way is to take it to a demolition range, lay it all out nice and neatly, and destroy it in a safe and controlled manner, normally with plastic explosive donor charges, although I have also used TNT which was the only thing we had available at the time. We call this Sympathetic Detonation. Simply put, if we correctly place and detonate a donor charge next to a mortar bomb, the donor charge and mortar bomb will be destroyed – that’s the plan anyway. The theory of explosives is an interesting subject but I do not intend to discuss that at this time – possibly in another blog in the future.

Problem solved and everyone goes home happy and with all body parts in the right place.

The HARD way to do it is to let someone with an extremely vivid imagination and apparent lack of technical expertise have a think about it in the shower, and come up with a hairbrained and dangerous idea that actually added no value whatsoever to the Rhodesian war effort.

This post is about one of those hairbrained ideas that I reluctantly got dragged into executing on the ground. I was oblivious as to what had triggered the mission (probably “hot” int again) or what the result was.

I was running the Cordon Sanitaire Maintenance Teams out of Deka base at the time these events took place. I had been tasked to report to Wankie Ops Room (4 Indep Coy) for a special mission, leaving my second-in-command (also a sergeant) to run things at Deka base. He was highly competent and I had no qualms in leaving things in his hands. I was also ordered to bring 4 of my Sappers with me. One of them was my regular driver and I sat in the Unimog 25 right-hand passenger seat and enjoyed the scenery on the trip to Wankie, which usually took a couple of hours. I was not in a particular hurry and glad to be out of the camp with some my troops.

On arrival at the Wankie Ops Room for a briefing I was surprised to see one of our Staff Sergeants from 1 Engineer Squadron HQ (Bulawayo, Brady Barracks) there – I had no idea he was even in the area of operations so this was interesting. He was a good bloke though and I have good memories of working with him. Also present was an Infantry officer and one or two others who I cannot remember. A map of Ops Tangent was up on the wall – it had been overlaid with plastic so chinagraph pens of different colours could be used to emphasise different aspects. The briefing began and by the time it was finished I just could not believe that someone had thought this one up.

Apparently the idea was for me to return to my base at Deka and await the arrival of a convoy of vehicles carrying a number of boxes. Inside the boxes were dozens, possibly hundreds of obsolete or out-of-date rounds of ammunition including 3-inch, 60mm and 81mm mortar bombs, 25-pounder artillery shells, aircraft bombs and various hand-grenades. These items would be used as improvised booby-traps – not just any old kind of booby-trap though – these were going to be hung in trees and all connected up with detonating cord and connected to an electrical initiation ringmain – ready for command detonation. My job was to lead the convoy from my Deka base, up a back road to Victoria Falls. I will talk more about this back road to Victoria Falls in an upcoming post. As this was a supposedly secret mission we had to travel in darkness and I would meet up with more personnel from 1 Engineer Squadron at a secluded area near the Victoria Falls shooting range. All very cloak-and-dagger stuff which at times seemed to be over the top.

After doing some shopping in Wankie, we made our merry way back to Deka. Apparently the convoy carrying all of the ordnance would arrive during the following day and we would deploy to Victoria Falls in the evening after last light. Sure enough they arrived as planned and just after the sun dipped below the horizon, I led the convoy out of Deka Base and we were on our way. The trip up the back road could be a little dodgy, especially at night, however we travelled well and arrived at the junction where the back-road met the main Victoria Falls road in good time. Here we would turn right but I halted the convoy at this point to let the guys stretch their legs and make themselves something hot to drink.

The approximate location of this rest-stop is shown below as Point A, with Point B being the location of the mission forward base.

After a short break we moved the convoy the few kilometers to Point B where we met up with other elements as planned – including more personnel from Bulawayo and a protection group. The final tasking was now discussed in more detail and the plan now took quite a turn as it had been decided that laying these booby-traps at night was far too dangerous and we would proceed at first light to a position that is shown below as Point C below. This picture also shows the approximate back road route.

At first light we moved to a position close to Point C and began unloading the ordnance and other bits we would need to lay, or rather hang the traps. This included rolls of detonating cord and electrical initiation ringmain stores. The job itself was hard going as we needed to go down into the gorge to complete the work and it was hot and humid, with steep terrain. Dangerous if you lost your footing and I had to wonder who would want to infiltrate into Rhodesia using this route – but there we were hanging bombs in trees like Christmas decorations. The more we worked, the more this idea seemed to be a waste of time. Just try to imagine a bunch of guys tripping and cursing, sweating and swatting mopani flies from their eyes and ears while hanging bombs in trees. You couldn’t make it up but sadly this is what we were tasked to do. I don’t know how long it took but we never used everything we had and by late afternoon we had set the electrical ringmain and it was time for me to take my guys back to Deka. It seems that there was going to be a stay-behind team and these individuals would lie in wait for goodness knows how long and set off the bombs when the bad guys came across the border via the Zambezi River, and hopefully spoil there plans. I had no intention of asking any further questions or getting involved further, and after a quick meal we set of to Deka Base. Again, I have no idea what the result of this operation was as there were no reports of any crossings or enemy contact that came across my desk and I never heard anything about this mission ever again. My personal opinion is that the plan was abandoned quite quickly after we left as common sense should surely have eventually prevailed and the personnel in the ambush party redeployed to more useful activities. There is no glamour in this account and my intent is only to share some of the more bizarre activities that I got dragged into. An outlandish idea which came to nothing – all it really achieved was to put good men’s lives in danger once again.

Cunning Contrivances: Booby Traps (Part 2)

We were often required to carry out some pretty strange missions during the war and the one I am going to describe to you now is just one of them.

At the time I was posted to 4 Independent Company, an Infantry unit, located in a town called Wankie. I was responsible for running the 1 Engineer Squadron operations room. Those of you who are familiar with this base will remember that it was on top of a hill and one should not confuse the location with the old 1 Independent Company base on the left hand side of the main road as you left Wankie, travelling towards Victoria Falls.

We had a good set-up in Wankie that comprised of four offices, one of which was my sleeping quarters, another the operations room itself, one for my Sappers to live in, and one for Engineer stores. I had three Sappers under command who manned the radios and carried out other duties to support our little HQ and we were a rather happy bunch.

Our primary task was to maintain and support our Engineer callsigns in the Operation Tangent area and these consisted of Troop strength sub-units based at Deka and Victoria Falls. In addition to this we also had a responsibility to provide Engineer support to the operational efforts of the Officer Commanding 4 Independent Company whenever required.

The map below shows the area of our responsibility, including Wankie (now renamed Hwange), Deka and Victoria Falls:

This map below shows what is left of the 4 Independent Company base today – indicating where the Engineers were located (if my memory serves me correctly):

On this specific day I was called to the radio by our duty operator, who informed me that it was I Engineer Squadron Headquarters (Callsign 1) looking for me (Callsign 11). I picked-up the hand-set and called them up and was surprised that the Commanding Officer (Sunray) was on the other end. I had therefore either committed some high-level violation, or he had some dodgy mission for me. Luckily it was the latter, but if I had known what the mission was I would not have been so relieved as it turned into a badly resourced and dangerous task that to this day I cannot fathom the logic of. Anyway you can judge for yourself – read on.

Intelligence collected over the years by our spooks had led to the assumption that the gooks did not always navigate with traditional methods, meaning map and compass with time and distance (no GPS in those days). The reasons for this ranged from lack of navigation training to possibly a lack of equipment. To improvise they would instead use a number of known prominent landmarks that they used for navigating from point A to point B. Ingenious, simple, and it worked. These landmarks could be buildings, large trees, fence-lines, river junctions, cross-roads and so forth – anything that could be easily identified and confirmed. They also used T-junctions in roads – and it was one of these features that I was tasked to make uncomfortable for them. Working on “hot” intelligence my mission was to take a number of R2M1/2 anti-personnel mines and a single TM46 anti-vehicle mine to booby trap a certain T-junction in our area of operations (I cannot remember the exact location but there was also a trading store right at the junction). We would also take 2 rolls of detonating cord, plastic explosives and a pressure release switch (number 6) – and lots of black insulation tape.

“Hot” intelligence normally meant that there was credible evidence from sources that imminently, there would either be an attack, gooks crossing into Rhodesia, or movement of gooks within a known area. It therefore also meant that the mission would need to be carried out covertly and at pace. This was going to be challenging as we had been given little pre-warning and all I had was 24 hours to complete the mission or the opportunity would be gone. The only information that I was given regarding this mission was that a group of terrorists was going to be using a certain T-junction as a navigation point on their route to other parts of the operational area. Our job was to stop them at the T-junction by either eliminating them or disrupting their plans.

With the benefit of hindsight, laying a booby-trap was not a very clever idea from the start – for one it would take time to mobilise to the area and to set the trap, and secondly, a well placed ambush would have been a far better (and quicker) option to my way of thinking. At the time though, I got behind the plan and proceeded as instructed.

Due to the fact that we were supporting minefield maintenance teams at Deka and Victoria Falls, we had personnel mines in the 4 Independent Company magazine as well as plastic explosives and detonating cord. The pressure release switch and insulating tape we had in our Engineer store – so we were at least prepared equipment-wise. I was to be driven to an area close to the T-junction and accompanied by an infantry call-sign and one of my Sappers during the actual laying phase. This meant it was just me and a single Sapper (lets call him Moyo) laying the traps while the infantry stick would keep their eyes open for bad-guys. We had packed everything into back-packs to make carrying all of the kit easier – all except the vehicle mine which I carried by hand after collecting it from Wankie Special Branch.

On the way to our drop-off point I wondered how were we to lay this booby-trap without being seen or heard. Considering that there was a trading store right in the middle of the target area that was sure to be quite busy in the daytime, with surely some of the customers being gook sympathisers, or Mujibas (informers, usually youths who supported the gooks). We were being forced to do this at night – not a very clever idea as laying mines in the daytime is dangerous enough as it is – at night its just plain silly and not recommended.

We had stopped some way from the target and done our best to camouflage our vehicles and settled down in an all-round defence until darkness fell. Some of us slept……I’m sure that I did anyway.

I awoke in pitch darkness and there was movement all around me. I checked my watch and it was probably around 2100 or 2200 – something like that anyway. We had already planned to walk into the target area and we hoisted our packs and fell into a single file formation with the infantry who would be navigating us in. We were going to approach the target from the north and this would bring us in at the top of the long leg of the T-junction and on high ground – the road sloped downwards quite steeply to the actual junction itself, and the trading store. Please see my drawing below for a better idea of what the ground was like and what we were going to be doing booby-trap wise.

The mines that we used looked like these:

R2M2

TM46 anti-vehicle mine – (unknown copyright holders and apologies in advance)

Once we had arrived at the top of the hill and neared the road we took up positions from where we could observe the store and road for any movement or other activity. It was actually very quiet and strangely peaceful, and after giving it another 15 minutes or so I let the infantry stick leader know that we would commence laying the trap – he nodded and put his troops in as good a position as possible to offer covering fire for us to withdraw from the road if necessary.

Moyo, as a trained Combat Engineer would lay the mines on one side of the road and I would do the other. I would also lay the TM46 at the T-junction and fit the pressure-release switch as an anti-handling device. The plan was to ensure that if anyone tried to lift the mine it would detonate.

Laying the TM46 was hard work as besides the actual excavating of the hole and setting the pressure-release switch, I also needed to run a detonating cord line to the where the first anti-personnel mines would be laid on the verges. It was a complicated and tricky set-up but the best we could do under the circumstances and time given to us. Laying the anti-personnel mines was just as difficult as the verges of the road were hard packed and covered in small pebbles that made digging and covering the mines extremely dangerous. One pebble or clump of soil landing on a mine would set the whole lot off. Please bear in mind that every mine was connected to the next mine with detonating cord. The idea being that if any of the anti-personnel were activated there would be a mighty big bang and hopefully the gooks would take some pain.

I’m not sure how long the entire laying operation took but it was still dark by the time we finished. I will say it again that this was a very dangerous task that we had been given. Laying mines in the darkness is scary stuff, and the terrain made things more uncomfortable than ever – the soil was unforgiving and hard as hell – I know we were making enough noise to wake the dead and I am pretty sure that we had compromised ourselves over and over. The whole thing was pointless the more I looked at it and by the time we were finished it would have been a foolish move to double check everything, as I should have.

Imagine this:

• each anti-personnel mine had to have a two turns of detonating cord wrapped around it, armed and then covered
• a small channel needed to be dug between each mine to connect them to a common ringmain – each time we done this we were tampering with a number of fully armed mines
• working amongst the rocks and pebbles made covering mines difficult, especially in the dark
• ensuring everything was covered and concealed to avoid discovery was practically impossible in the dark
• working around fully armed mines, slipping and taking mis-steps is an accident waiting to happen

At the end of the day we done the best that we could and left the area by a different route with the infantry leading once again. Arriving at our vehicles it was time for a quick cup of coffee and then we were out of there by first light. I was looking forward to putting this one behind me and today I really consider this to have been one of the most pointless, unproductive and dangerous tasks I have ever had to carry out, not only from a personal perspective but also for the troops I was responsible for.

I never ever found out if the trap was sprung, and if it was by what or who? Terrorists, or an innocent civilian – or livestock? This is the danger with these devices – they know not friend or foe, killing or maiming anyone or anything that sets them off. The idea was for an aircraft to fly over the target now and again and check for a crater from the TM46 at the T-junction that would confirm detonation……..I’m not sure if these flights took place at all to be honest. Aircraft were needed elsewhere and certainly not to go and check a T-junction, so the result remains a mystery to me till this day.

To finish this one off let me just say this; booby-traps have their place in warfare, however they should be planned correctly, deployed with sufficient time to ensure the safety of the layer, and never used as a stand-alone substitute for a well-laid ambush. The way we were told to do this one could easily have cost own forces casualties and the planners should be ashamed of themselves – knee-jerking desk-jockeys with little insight into how things actually work on the ground are very, very dangerous indeed.

Thank goodness that the Rhodesian Corps of Engineers were some of the best trained Sappers in the world. Its the reason I am still here and able to write this blog.

Cunning Contrivances: Booby Traps (Part 1)

The definition of a Booby-Trap according to the Rhodesian Corps of Engineers (RhE) training pamphlet was as follows:

“A booby trap is a cunning contrivance, usually of an explosive and lethal nature, designed to catch the unwary enemy; a savage practical joke. It is aimed directly at the reduction of morale and mobility, both of which are vitally important to success in war.“.

In this post I would like to recall two occasions where I was tasked by my higher HQ to lay Booby-Traps. These operations were to take place in the Operation Tangent area and were to be sighted in such a way that terrorists would be well into the kill-zone before the traps were initiated, meaning that we were going for maximum gook casualties. Concealment of the entire set-up was therefore of critical importance, and this includes clandestine insertion of the Booby-Trap team, as we knew that there were eyes and ears everywhere in the bush. We therefore had to apply counter surveillance techniques from insertion to extraction as it is pointless to lay a Booby-Trap that can be seen, or the laying team are observed moving into the target area.

Without going into too much detail, Booby-Traps can be initiated (set-off) by a number of actions, the most popular at the time being the application of pressure, the release of pressure, pull, pull (or tension) release, or the application of some form of Delay. There are many other ways that Booby-Traps can be initiated but I am not going to cover these here. We had specially manufactured devices known as switches, available to us, however for the specific tasks that I was to lead on we would be using Pressure switches only. In other words the required action for success was for someone or something to stand on the pressure switch for the Booby-Trap to detonate. Please note that I used the term “someone or something” as these devices cannot tell friend from foe and would therefore activate the trap regardless of who or what applied the pressure. Sadly animals and friendly forces have been collateral damage to these devices on a number of occasions causing death or injury. The following illustrations show the abovementioned methods in simple to understand detail:

Looking at the previous paragraphs, my readers will appreciate that there are a number of fundamental pre-requisites for a successful Booby-Trap result. One does not simply pick a spot on a map and Booby-Trap it and there are a number of basic principles that we observed when sighting and laying Booby-Traps, and these are as follows:

1. Concealment: The charges and mechanisms must be concealed or made to resemble some harmless object. The surroundings should be disturbed as little as possible and all signs of preparation should be concealed or removed.
2. Constricted Localities: The more constricted the site in which a trap is laid the more chance there is of its being sprung and the greater the difficulty of detection and clearance. Any form of defile is therefore a suitable site for boobytraps.
3. Concentration of Traps: Traps should be laid, whenever possible, in considerable concentrations to reduce the chances of finding them all without springing some. Dummies should be used freely.
4. Double bluff: An obvious trap may be used to mask a well concealed trap near by.
5. Inconvenience: Traps may be operated by the removal of obstacles such as road blocks and demolitions, or of furniture or litter in dug-outs or buildings, particularly if these are suitable for headquarters.
6. Curiosity: The handling of souvenirs, pictures, food and drink containers, musical instruments, weapons, etc, may operate a trap.
7. Everyday operations: Traps may be operated by opening or closing doors or windows, using telephones or electric light switches etc.
8. Attraction: Delay-action or incendiary bombs may attract personnel to a booby trapped site.
9. Alternative methods of firing: A trap may be provided with two or more methods of firing.
10. Variety: As many different types as possible should be employed in any one locality.

Before continuing I would like to be clear on what I was expected to achieve on both missions and you will note that this ties in closely with the foregoing paragraphs:

1. Inflict maximum casualties on the enemy.
2. Use Pressure as the initiating action.
3. Use of the following Principles – Concealment, Constricted Localities, Concentration of Traps, Alternative methods of firing and Variety.
4. Covert infiltration to laying site
5. Operational Security (Opsec)

A brief description of the two missions are as follows:

Mission 1

1. Operational Area: Tangent
2. Environment: Forest
3. Type of Booby-Trap: Multi-device, pressure operated
4. Concealment method: Existing vegetation
5. Explosives to be used: Date expired Air Force and Army ordnance
6. Insertion: Vehicle and night-march

Mission 2

1. Operational Area: Tangent
2. Environment: Existing dirt road
3. Type of Booby-Trap: Multi-device, pressure operated
4. Concealment method: Existing soil on dirt road
5. Explosives to be used: Anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines
6. Insertion: Boat and night-march

In the next post I will describe in detail Mission 1 and Mission 2.

Ambush (3)

Being a sergeant and a member of the Regular Rhodesian Army came with certain privileges, even while out in the bush.  The District Commissioners camp where we had established our field HQ had a number of well-maintained buildings within the compound some of which had single rooms for visitors.  Others had larger rooms which were used as dining areas, social areas and communal accommodation.

I was allocated one of the single rooms and was blessed to have a little table with a chair and a decent bed and mattress including a pillow.  A candle and box of Lion matches were neatly placed on the table.  A curtained window allowed views of the high ground we had approached the base from on our return and I could see the road high up above the base where the buses churned up huge dust clouds as they sped on their way.   At the end of the building was a huge veranda where we would sit at night, smoke, drink Castle Lager and generally shoot the shit.  One of the most interesting characteristics of this base was that the floors were highly polished in red by the camp labourers, so shiny and smooth that it was pretty much a challenge to avoid slipping on them when walking.  Many of you will recall the homely smell of Cobra floor polish.  This was then as good as it would get out in the sticks, unless of course you were a member of the Rhodesian Air Force who always seemed to be highly jacked-up when it came to the comforts of life in the bush and had cold beer and running fridges within a few minutes of wheels touching down.  Those guys could organise and there was no doubt about that.

It was late afternoon and I had finished showering and dressed in clean shorts and T-shirt.  Feeling well-relaxed after the long patrol I decided to treat my weapon to a full strip-down and clean.  She was a good weapon and deserved all the care and attention I could give her and on this last patrol she had served me well and never let me down, consistently firing round after round at the gooks that had ambushed us.  I also decided that I would empty all of my six magazines, stripping them right down so that the springs were completely eased and lying on the table for a good dusting-off.  This entire exercise took me about an hour, most of this time taken up cleaning the carbon off of the gas piston…..vinegar nicked from the kitchen done the trick very nicely.  Happy with my efforts I then took a stroll down the slippery passage to the veranda, met up with my mates and settled in for a relaxing evening with many ice-cold beers.  The sun was setting over the African bush and it felt as if I was a tourist in a luxury safari camp on one of those fancy trips, but of course this was not so.  There were some very bad people around, intent on spoiling our fun, and they were closer that night than I thought…..much closer.

At about midnight, with bellies full of good food and beer it was time to retire for the evening.  We had a Territorial Force Class 2 Warrant Officer with us, and he was the main spanner in the camp.  Although a tough disciplinarian he was always a fair man and I would be fortunate enough to work with him on a number of missions in the future, including the planned partial demolition of the Victoria Falls Bridge (I will be covering this in the fullness of time).  When he said enough was enough there were no arguments and to be fair, we were all knackered and running on fumes.  A good sleep without having to get up for a guard duty would be very welcome.

I returned to my room after making a detour to the kitchen to steal a left-over T-Bone steak and sat on my bed in the soft candlelight, in silence, slowly picking at the wonderfully soft meat and thoroughly enjoying every morsel of it.  Having stripped the bone bare, including an elusive little bit of marrow I disposed of it, wiped my hands, blew out the candle and climbed into my sleeping bag, the smell of cooked meat clinging to my fingers.  Contented and with a soft bed and pillow beneath me for the first time in weeks it was not long before I drifted off into a deep sleep.

The gooks initiated the attack on our base at about 3 in the morning using the high ground with an 84mm Carl Gustav shoulder launched missile……. Some of you may also know it as a bazooka.  The first round detonated on our water tower, a brick construction with a corrugated iron tank at the top, causing the structure to collapse.  At the same time, they opened up with AK’s, PKM’s and RPD’s.  Green tracer was streaking through the camp and sky at a terrific rate and my room seemed to me to be a particular target for them as rounds were hitting the walls all around me, sparks flying.  Once I understood what was happening, I rolled out of the bed onto the floor and leopard crawled to my rifle and grabbed my chest webbing.  All of this time there was all hell breaking loose from along the veranda as my mates returned fire from where we had been partying just hours ago.  I heard the thump of a mortar detonating inside the camp and knew things were now getting more uncomfortable……more and more mortars were dropping however it appears these were not being launched by anyone with any experience as most of them overshot the camp.  It was then that I realised I had no magazine and my FN, nor had I replaced any in my chest webbing pouches after cleaning them.  The room was semi dark, and I could see that I had neatly stacked the 5 magazines on the table, and I inched my way towards them keeping as low as possible.  I reached up and managed to get a hand on the magazine at the bottom of the pile and pulled it out, instantly feeling a hard whack and sharp pain on the top of my head and thought shit I’ve been hit by a lucky shot or ricochet……why in the head and not somewhere else FFS?…….. until I understood that it was all the other magazines tumbling off the table with my head being their first point of impact as they surrendered to gravity.  I had taken the sharp end of one of them on the skull and blood trickled freely down the side my face, blinding me in one eye.  I rammed a magazine on my rifle (thanks to my bleeding head I had all five of them nearby now), chambered a round and moved towards the window, kneeling and keeping low I began to return fire in the direction from where I assumed the gooks were.  I could hear our MAG gunner giving controlled bursts from the veranda and this always warmed a man’s heart in these situations……the great peacemaker was speaking the language of the dead.  I continued to pump rounds up toward the road, my red tracer flashing through the sky as expended cartridge cases tinkled onto the polished floor burning my bare knees………I was pretty sure that my efforts at gook-killing were ineffectual though.  Shooting at night is never easy and upwards even more challenging…..ask anyone who knows their stuff.

Changing magazines and now chock-full of adrenaline I decided to join my mates down the slippery veranda as my room continued to be a hot zone and managed to make my way there without incident as the building covered my movements.  They shit themselves when they saw my face and also thought that I had a serious head-wound when in fact it was merely a deep cut that continued to bleed, as gashes in the head do.  One of the lads grabbed a first-field dressing from a webbing pouch and ripping it out of its plastic wrapper pressed it to my head while I tied it in place.  By now the floor of the veranda was a sea of hot cartridge cases making it even more deadly to walk on barefoot, the MAG endlessly devouring the 7,62 x 51mm rounds being belt-fed into its hungry maw at the side and spewing them out from below at a terrific rate.  We had all positioned ourselves at the low wall facing the road and continued to pump rounds in the direction of the enemy hoping for a lucky strike, doing our best to aim in the direction of where the green tracers were coming from.  In all honesty I think the hillside was the only casualty of our firepower that evening.

And then it was over just as suddenly as it had started.  No tracers, no mortars, no gunfire.  Except for one or two opportunistic singletons from would be Sapper Snipers.  Just the acrid smell of propellant and the beating of one’s heart in the ears.  Shouts of cease fire and calls for the medic rang in the air as signs of camp-life emerged……shadowy figures moving furtively from cover to cover in the gloomy darkness.  Not very clever considering there were some pretty desperate men with fingers on triggers……just looking for a gook that may have infiltrated our lines.

The bad guys were obviously satisfied that they had won the day and had disappeared back into the bush to do what gooks do……hope to fight another day.  Clearly, they decided that to hang around until first light was not an option as the chance of a Fire-Force deployment and follow-up was highly likely.  They sensibly chose to use the cover of darkness to slink off into the night.  I fitted a fresh magazine and made my way out of the building, along the red veranda and into an open area right next to where the downed water-tower lay.  A sea of mud and pools of water lay everywhere among the shattered red bricks.  I wondered if the labourers who shined the red floors would be pissed off with me for traipsing around their pristine surfaces with my muddy feet.

The first person I met was the Sergeant Major, doing his checks on personnel and damage control.  He also called a general stand-to and we all took up our allocated positions around the camp perimeter walls.  We would stay there for the next hour.  All in all, we had done pretty well though, repulsing a fairly well-planned attack from high ground and only suffering one fairly serious injury and the rest minor cuts and scratches.  No CASEVAC required until the morning though and getting away with no fatalities was always a winner.

The entire attack probably lasted 15 minutes although it felt like we had been under fire for hours and as I manned my stand-to position I reflected on lessons I would learn from the previous few hours.  Most importantly never become complacent, and I had.  As a Senior Non-Commissioned Officer this was unforgivable.  Cleaning my weapon and not refilling my chest webbing pouches with magazines was a cardinal sin, the same goes for not having a charged magazine on my weapon at all times.  Secondly, I had allowed myself to be drawn into a false sense of security after the patrol, believing we were inside some kind of fortified medieval castle, impenetrable to attack.  And thirdly……never underestimate the enemy……the guys that attacked us had balls for sure and we would find out later that this was the same group that had ambushed us previously and looking to finish the job.

First light came and normal camp activity slowly got underway.  A CASEVAC was organised for the wounded Sapper who had been hit by shrapnel.  He had been well cared for overnight by our medic and a Cyclone 7 arrived mid-morning to take him to a better-equipped medical facility.  He would be fine and back on his feet within days asking to get back to his mates.

We were aware that our tour in this part of the country was coming to an end and we would soon be replaced by an infantry unit, probably elements of the Rhodesia Regiment.  We got stuck into getting the battle scarred camp sorted, with a replacement for the downed water tower a priority that the District Commissioner got onto straight away using local labour and expertise.  Its amazing the skills that some of the local population living out in the bush have.  Carpenters, bricklayers and general handymen all over the place.

Tactically there was post-attack work to be done too.  I arranged for two mine clearance teams plus protection elements to sweep the road 2 kilometers either side of the gook firing positions to confirm there had been no landmines planted as part of this attack.   Gooks had a nasty habit of planting mines on likely reinforcements/recovery approach routes and we were not going to take a chance on this as the last thing we wanted was for our relief convoy to hit a biscuit-tin.  At the same time, we swept through the gook firing positions looking for evidence of the gang’s strength or any equipment they may have left behind…. being ever alert for booby-traps.  There was nothing of any value to be had though.  No blood spoor either so we can assume not casualties their side which is not surprising.

The drawing below is produced to the best of my recollection………not a masterpiece I know but hope you get the idea.

Stay safe, thanks for dropping by and see you all again soon.

Please also have a look at my website dedicated to Rhodesian and South African Military Engineers.  You can join us on the forums by using the following link:

http://www.sasappers.net/forum/index.php

Copyright

© Mark Richard Craig and Fatfox9’s Blog, 2009-2022.  Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Ambush (2)

After the ambush described in my previous post, we continued to patrol the general area with a new vigor and attentiveness as we now knew that we were being targeted by the resident gang of gooks.  However, nothing more was seen or heard of them, nor were any tracks or evidence of temporary camps found and we were eventually given the order to return to base.  After a quick map appreciation, we set a course and continued our patrol which would now eventually terminate at the Engineer base camp adjacent to the District Commissioners camp.

Our departure from the patrol area was uneventful and the closer we got to base the more relaxed one became which in itself is a dangerous attitude to take and the patrol commander continuously reminded us to stay alert and not to become complacent.  Fair enough and we all understood that any slip in security now could at the minimum cause casualties, and in a worst-case scenario, fatalities.  Sweaty palms tightened on our FN pistol-grips, eyes scanned more intensely to see through possible cover where gooks could be lurking……shadows playing tricks with our eyes, the cicadas continuously transmitting their high-pitched whining that punished our ears………and when they suddenly went silent the question was always…..why?

It had taken us a day and a bit to arrive at a position where it would be a good idea to let the base know we were getting close to our destination and from which direction we would be approaching from.  The trusty but rather heavy TR48 was set up and due to the short distance between us and the camp, only the whip antenna was required……no unwinding miles of coaxial cable this time.  There was no reason to assume that the guards were expecting us and might shoot first and ask questions later…..that’s fair enough but no reason to needlessly get a lump of lead in your belly.  We quite rightly chose to mitigate this possibility by making it absolutely clear where we were going to approach from, how many of us there were and our estimated time of arrival.

About thirty minutes out we stopped to make a final brew and have a smoke……this would also give the patrol commander a chance to make any final adjustments to course and accurately pinpoint our position to ensure our angle of approach was correct and as reported earlier.  I lay back and enjoyed the cigarette, looking up at the clear blue sky that had the occasional small cloud slowly drifting in whatever wind there was up there, its edges slowly evaporating by the heat.  It was good to be almost there, and it had been a fair old slog from start to end.  I looked forward to a hot shower, cold beer and a decent cooked meal, hopefully one of those famously huge army T-Bone steaks with chips and fresh salads.

The camp was situated beneath a long stretch of very high terrain and on the other side of a very well used dirt road.  I have done my best to illustrate the position from memory in a Visio drawing……..I believe it to be as accurate as possible given this all took place over 40 years ago.  I will release this amazing work of art in the follow-up post to this one as this is where it is needed.

We were almost there now, taking the final few steps to take us to the summit of the high ground mentioned in the previous paragraph….once there we would be in a good position to observe the camp from above and ensure we were seen by the sentries during our approach.  Once we had confirmed our presence we began the slip and slide descent to the road, which was made even more difficult by loose rocks and soft sand.  Much cursing and far too much noise accompanied us all the way down and it was a welcome relief to finally reach the flat surface of the road, despite being covered in dust from a passing bus travelling at the usual needle-off-the-clock speed.  Once safe to do so we crossed the road in single file, the patrol commander waiting patiently on the other side until we all arrived in one piece.

The camp was approached by a long track that stretched from the road to the base main entry point which was manned by one of our Sapper muckers.  As we filed through the gate, the usual derogatory remarks were made in his direction, accusing him of being a REMF and a waste of fresh rations….him firing back that we were shit shots and couldn’t hit a gook even with them running away from us….a fair one indeed.  All good banter and the type one can only find in the military.  There would be much of the same in the bar tonight for sure.

We were back in the main base…….finally.  All the stress of the patrol was quickly forgotten.  It was good to be here with all our mates, and that we could finally relax in the knowledge that we were safe, secure and being protected by the reinforced camp perimeter, sentries and a substantially large military force in presence.

There was, on the face of it, nothing more to worry about………however this was an extremely poor assumption as what was to follow was even more brazen and chilling than the ambush we were caught in a few days ago…..and an event that still haunts me even to this day.

Copyright

© Mark Richard Craig and Fatfox9’s Blog, 2009-2019. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Please also have a look at my website dedicated to both the Rhodesian and South African Engineer Corps.  You can join us by using the following link:

http://www.sasappers.net/forum/index.php