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COAL ITION SOF

by Dan Tharp Jun 7, 2020 MO S T R E AD

2,000 National
Guard Soldiers
1 Sworn in As
Special Deputy
U.S. Marshals

The Best Combat

2 Boots According
to Special
Operators

Soldier Charged

3 with Conspiring
wIth ISIS to Attack
US Troops

Will Women Be

4 Drafted Under
General Lloyd
Austin?

Just about every

nation has secret
5 missile platforms
hidden in shipping
You can read the previous part here. containers

We explored the historical background of the Rhodesian SAS C Squadron. Now it is time to
focus on a few of the missions that they undertook during the Rhodesian Bush War, a war that
threatened to destroy the government of Rhodesia, take the land and evict those of European
descent. RE C ENT COM ME N TS

There are resources available (though hard to find) that follow the actions of the SAS over a Christopher T.
He never went to an ANP station when
decade of constant contact with the enemy. Given the long period, it would be impossible in
he deserted
this article to do justice to all of the actions taken by the SAS. Yet, little by little, more of the
Soldier Charged with Conspiring wIth ISIS
men who served are putting pen to their experiences and letting us delve into a piece of
to Attack US Troops  · 2 hours ago
military history that is not widely studied.

Rhodesia Against the World

Just as Britain had carved up the Federation, it also made demands on the people of Rhodesia:
The British wanted to govern from London a people that had carved out its living from the
wilderness of Africa.
Although no formal form of Apartheid existed in Rhodesia, the British declared that Rhodesia Mark T.
Written like a true communist, are you
must immediately give up white Majority rule. Unlike South Africa at the time, Native Africans
een hn the USA ?
were part of the Ian Smith government and the Rhodesians themselves were working towards
FBI Bulletin Warns that Trump Supporters
further integrating the blacks into politics and the economy. Furthermore, the Tribal Trust Lands
Are Planning 'Armed Protests' at the US
were administered and provided for by the government. Yet, Smith believed it would be
Capitol and All 50 State Capitols Leading
disastrous to completely turn over the government to a people not yet integrated into the work up to Biden's Inauguration | SOFREP  · 7
or education necessary to govern a nation. hours ago

Ironically, the Bush War would take a higher toll on the Black Rhodesians than on the Whites as
William H.
the Communist terrorists slaughtered thousands of Shona and Matebele men, women, and In this case, I agree. He was a full-
children. blown Young Learner of ISIS when he...

Soldier Charged with Conspiring wIth ISIS

to Attack US Troops  · 9 hours ago

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S UBS C RIBE N OW
Read Next: The Rhodesian SAS: selection &
operator training

Wikimedia.org.

The demands from Britain led to the Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Great Britain.
Rhodesia declared itself free from being ruled as a colony and would go it alone. The British
immediately retaliated with sanctions on oil and other commodities in an attempt to strangle
Rhodesia into submission. Fortunately, there were a few allies that defied the United Nations
and helped Rhodesia in its struggle: South Africa was a stalwart ally, along with Israel and a few
other Middle Eastern countries.

Much of the desire for independence revolved around the communist influences making
headway into Africa. A western worldview was incompatible with altogether allowing
Communist African Nationalists to run the government.

Rhodesia would have to go to war alone against communism. On a personal note, as I have
discussed the war with several veterans of Rhodesia and South Africa, I have marveled at the
amount of time they were deployed. In many ways it is different than the current War on Terror,
in that, they had no place to rotate home to: Many veterans spent over 10 or more years on
active duty, enduring hundreds and hundreds of firefights. The answer is always the same, ‘We
had no choice, it was our home and we had nowhere to go.”

Immediately after the break from Britain, Rhodesia took matters into its own hands at stopping
the Communist Insurgency on its borders. It was no longer worried about the British Overlords
condemning its military actions nor would it suffer outright the murders of its citizens. Thus, it
was decided that rather than catch the crook in his home, they would hunt him down on his
own territory and prevent him from ever getting into Rhodesia.

SAS troopers near Lake Alexander.

The Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), supported and trained by the Communist
Chinese, had begun infiltrating from Zambia. Crossing the mighty Zambezi River and Valley,
they were getting deeper and deeper into Rhodesia. A horrifying event finally unleashed the
furor of the country and caused it to use its finest tool of war: In May of 1966, Johannes and
Barbara Viljoen, farmers with children, answered a knock at the door. They were shot dead and
mutilated. The anger of the nation turned on these terrorists.

Six years of preparation by the SAS were put into action. (Prior to 1966, SAS were involved in
Border Interdiction and tracking down small bands of terrorists which were causing mayhem;
this was an underutilization of the SAS’ capabilities.) A plan was formed to travel to Lusaka in
Zambia and blow up the ZANU headquarters. Up until this mission, only senior NCOs were
involved in any type of cross border activity.

The plan proceeded in October and ended in disaster. The explosives the SAS took with them
malfunctioned, before they were able to infiltrate Zambia killing several of the NCOs. The
Alouette sent to recover the bodies also suffered a malfunction and crash-landed.

After reviewing the failure, a better plan was formulated and became the first of many external
operations to come. It was called Operation Sculpture and its mission was the same: Infiltrate
ZANU’s headquarters and destroy documents and anything else vital to the organization. SAS
would infiltrate by light aircraft, meet an agent who would take them into Lusaka, drop them
off, and pick them up afterward.

After weeks of rehearsing, it was a go.

The men gathered their explosives and
small arms, dressed in civilian clothing,
and flew into Lusaka’s airport. The pilot
taxied down the runway and when it
turned to take off again, the operators
 jumped out and fled into the bushes.
The agent showed up and drove them
into town and into an unforeseen
Read Next: Africa Lost Chapter 3: The
problem: Outside of the headquarters,
Rhodesian SAS Part 2
several factions of ZANU were fighting in
the streets. Not having eyes on the
target before the mission was an intelligence failure. Nevertheless, the men decided to give try
exited the vehicle.

They hoped that the chaos outside the HQ would allow them to secretly enter the building
while the guards were watching the fighting in the streets. The leader of the team made every
effort possible to find a way into the building but it was airtight. At that point, they decided to
abort and fly home. The agent picked them up on time and drove them to the fence of the
airport. Nerves set in badly as the pilot was late. When he finally showed up, they frantically
flashed penlights at him. Once aboard and returned to Rhodesia, a series of changes were
made to external operations.

As most fledgling and isolated organizations do, Rhodesian SAS had to learn from experience.
The first thing that needed to be enhanced was intelligence. Had a man been in Lusaka, they
would never have risked going in knowing that fighting was taking place outside their target.
Secondly, they were without high-frequency communications. They were blind and deaf, relying
on trust for each person to be on time where they were supposed to be. Thirdly, they had no
SHTF plan. If they had to go into escape and evasion mode, what would they have done to
safely reach Rhodesia? The SAS were bold men but they needed to be operationally sound to
attempt cross border operations in the future.

The SAS continued to focus on the Zambian border area. ZANU, and later the Zimbabwe
People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), would use Zambia as a platform to stage incursions into
Rhodesia. Being remote and sparsely populated, Zambia was an ideal place, in theory, to cross
over from. The problem with this was the terrain itself. The Zambezi Valley is hot, dusty, sparse
in water and vegetation. Often times, the Valley did the work of the soldiers: nature simply
killed terrorists off before they could inflict harm.

The SAS with the help of the Rhodesian Light Infantry and the Air Force’s Alouette Helicopters
began to own the battlespace. On constant rotations in and out of the area, operators became
adept at using the Valley to their advantage. The art of tracking again became a foundational
skill of the SAS trooper. Those that excelled at it formed Tracking Teams that would continue to
be useful throughout the war.

When on patrol or following a call out, the troopers could be resupplied with water and food,
whereas, the terrorists could not. The Valley was mapped in detail and every water hole and
known footpath that could be used by the terrorists was located. Many ZANU men would be
lain to rest by ambushes that lay waiting for them at water holes. In essence, the SAS
neutralized the terrorists by harnessing the Zambezi Valley’s harshness and leading their quarry
to slaughter.

D.R. Tharp is the author of Highway to hell to and The Gold of Katanga.

M ORE F ROM SOF RE P

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