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The Rhodesian Bush War was a conflict in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) between the white minority government of Ian Smith and the black nationalists of the ZANU and ZAPU movements, led by leftist rebels Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo respectively. It lasted from 1971 to 1978.
Rhodesian equipment and personnel
The war saw the extensive operation of Rhodesian regulars as well as elite units such as the Selous Scouts and the Rhodesian SAS. The Rhodesian Army fought bitterly against the black nationalist guerrillas. The Rhodesian Army comprised regiments such as the Rhodesian African Rifles and conscription was eventually introduced to supplement the professional soldiers and the many volunteers from overseas. By 1978 all white males up to the age of 60 were subject to periodic call-up into the army; younger men up to 35 might expect to spend alternating blocks of six weeks in the army and at home. Many of the overseas volunteers came from Britain, South Africa, Portugal, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The Rhodesian Army was, considering the arms embargo, well-equipped. The standard infantry weapon was the Belgian FN FAL Rifle which was procured via South Africa however older weapons such as the British Lee-Enfield bolt action rifle were used by reservists and the British South Africa Police. After UDI Rhodesia was heavily reliant on South African and domestically-produced weapons and equipment.
The Rhodesian Air Force (RhAF) operated a variety of equipment and carried out numerous roles. When the arms embargo was introduced, the RhAF was suddenly lacking spare parts from external suppliers and was forced to find alternate means of keeping their aircraft flying. The RhAF was relatively well equipped and used a large proportion of equipment which was obsolete, such as the Second World War vintage Douglas Dakota transport aircraft and the early British jet-fighter the De Havilland Vampire, as well as more modern types of aircraft like the Hawker Hunter and Aérospatiale Alouette III helicopters.
At the beginning of the war much of Rhodesia's military hardware was of British and Commonwealth origin but during the course of the conflict new equipment such as armoured cars was procured from the South Africans or was produced by the Rhodesians themselves. The means with which the Rhodesians procured weaponry meant that the arms embargoes had little effect on the Rhodesian war effort. During the course of the war most citizens carried personal weapons and it was not unusual to see housewives carrying submachine guns. A siege mentality set in and all civilian transport had to be escorted in convoys. Farms and villages in rural areas were attacked frequently and ambushes were the norm.
Nationalist rebel equipment and personnel
The two main armed resistance campaigns against Smith's government were conducted by ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union) and ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People's Union) units. Both were unabashedly Marxist-socialist, although ZAPU was considered slightly more moderate than ZANU. Consequently both groups fought separate guerrilla wars against the Rhodesian Security Forces. The ZANU fighters were backed by the governments of Communist China and North Korea whereas the ZAPU fighters were funded by the Soviet Union and East Germany. Moreover, officers from the rebel movement received training in the then-Marxist country of Ethiopia, whose armed forces had extensive combat experience. In typical guerrilla style, the rebels were armed with a wide range of weapons but the most common infantry weapon was the AK-47. The nationalist movements also used a variety of Soviet and Chinese-made equipment which eventually included surface-to-air missiles and land mines. The use of ambushes and surprise attacks on civilian convoys and rural farms and villages was a common tactic as these areas were often hard to defend. Nationalists derailed several Rhodesian Railways trains with explosives. Nkomo's ZIPRA faction was also responisble for an attack on a civilian Air Rhodesia Viscount airplane, using a SAM 7 surface-to-air missile. Ten out of the eighteen civilians on board who survived the crash were subsequently abused, raped and massacred by the ZIPRA terrorists. Nkomo later spoke to the BBC of the attack in a near gloating fashion.
Timeline of the war
The conflict intensified after the Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain in 1965. Sanctions were implemented by the British government after UDI, and member states of the United Nations endorsed the British embargo. The Rhodesian Forces were hampered by a lack of modern equipment but used other means to receive vital war supplies such as receiving oil via the supportive government of South Africa.
In the latter months of 1971, the black nationalist factions united and formed a coalition which became known as the joint guerrilla alliance to overthrow the government.
The black guerrillas operated from secluded bases in neighbouring Zambia and from FRELIMO-controlled areas in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique and made periodic raids into Rhodesia. With the decline of the Portuguese empire in 1974-76, Ian Smith realised his country was now surrounded on three borders by hostile African nations and declared a formal state of emergency in order to combat the rebel guerrillas.
Soon Mozambique closed its 800-mile-long border with Rhodesia, but Rhodesian forces often crossed the border in "hot pursuit" raids, attacking guerrillas and their training camps. In 1976, Rhodesian Selous Scout soldiers destroyed a camp containing many hundreds of guerrilla trainees, called cadres. The Rhodesians also operated into Zambia after Nkomo's nationalists shot down two unarmed Vickers Viscount civilian airliners with Soviet supplied SAM-7 heat-seeking missiles. As the conflict intensified, the United States and Great Britain attempted to negotiate a peaceful settlement. However this was rejected by the Rhodesian government as they were unwilling to relinquish political and economic control, and the black nationalists were bitterly divided by feudal, tribal and political differences.
During 1978, the guerrillas launched an attack on the town of Umtali with intensive mortar fire. In retaliation for these acts the Rhodesian Air Force bombed guerrilla camps 125 miles inside Mozambique, using 'fatigued' Canberra B2 aircraft and Hawker Hunters - actively, but clandestinely, supported by several of the more capable Canberra B(I)12 aircraft of the South African Air Force. A number of joint-force bomber raids on 'terr' encampments and assembly areas in Mozambique and Zambia were mounted in 1978, and extensive air reconnaissance and surveillance of guerrilla encampments and logistical build-up was carried out by the South African Air Force on behalf of the RhoDAF. The increased effectiveness of the bombing and follow-up 'air mobile' strikes using Dakota-dropped parachutists and helicopter 'air cav' techniques had a significant effect on the then-development of the conflict, until a successful 'special forces' raid on the Rhodesian strategic fuel reserves near Salisbury forced the decision to explore a negotiated settlement. The conflict continued until 1978 when an agreement was reached on a constitution to transfer power to a moderate black government - the Lancaster House Agreement.
Resolution
Under the agreement of March 1978, the country was to be known as Zimbabwe Rhodesia, and in the general election of 24 April, 1979, Bishop Abel Muzorewa became the country's first black prime minister.
The two major black (communist) nationalist factions led by Nkomo and Mugabe denounced the new government as a puppet of the white Rhodesians and the fighting continued. Later in 1979, the new Conservative British government under Margaret Thatcher called a peace conference in London to which all nationalist leaders were included. The outcome of this conference would become known as the Lancaster House Agreement. The economic sanctions imposed on the country were lifted in late 1979, and British rule resumed under a transitional arrangement leading to full independence.
The elections of 1980 resulted in victory for Robert Mugabe, who assumed the post of prime minister after his ZANU-PF party received approximately 63 percent of the vote. On April 18 of that year, the country gained independence as Zimbabwe. Two years later the capital, Salisbury, was renamed Harare.
Mugabe has referred to the seizure of white-owned farms during the early 2000s as the "Third Chimurenga".
See also
- Rhodesian African Rifles
- Rhodesian Light Infantry
- Selous Scouts
- British South Africa Police
- ZIPRA
- ZANLA
External link
- The Selous Scouts Home Page a site with a lot of information on the war in general and in the Selous Scouts in particular
"Rhodesian Bush War"