The POMZ-2M is a stake-mounted anti-personnel fragmentation mine made in the former Soviet Union. The body of the mine is a cast-iron thick-walled tube with five rows of cast fragmentation "chunks". This is usually mounted on a short wooden stake. Because the mine is...
The PMN is a bakelite-cased, pressure operated, anti-personnel blast mine (sometimes called the 'Black-widow'). Made in the former Soviet Union, it has been found in Afghanistan, Angola, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Chechnya, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Honduras,...
How rapidly times alter. As the so-called ‘Winds of Change’ swept through colonial Africa, the process of decolonisation gathered inexorable pace. Rhodesia was a prominent example. In July 1964, it experienced its first terrorist incident when a white farmer was...
In this video, Jean-Michel Caffin, who served in the Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI), SAS, and Recce's, discusses his experiences and observations about the Rhodesian army. Here are the key points from his discussion: Unique Qualities of the Rhodesian...
Rhodesian Bush War Operator Ranged against two powerful communist terrorist armies, the small, under-equipped army of Rhodesia defied all military convention by not only resisting the onslaught, but taking the fight to the very heart of the ZIPRA and ZANLA terrorist...
A Trooper's War in the Rhodesian Light Infantry Fire Force is the account of Chris Cocks’s service in 3 Commando, The Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI), during Zimbabwe’s civil war of the 1970s—a war that came to be known, almost innocuously, as ‘the bush war’. Fire...
The Selous Scouts were the toughest and most efficient killing machine anywhere in Africa, and its members consisted of the finest guerrilla fighting men in the Western world. Unconventional in many ways, disregardful of parade ground discipline, unorthodox in their...
Undeclared War In the light of developments in Southern Africa during the last few months of 1978, it has been decided to add two new chapters to the second edition of this book. These are an Introduction, entitled The Third South African War, and a new Chapter 4,...
OP URIC is the controversial operation of The Rhodesian War. Though it resulted in over 300 enemy dead for the loss of 15 of their own (the highest of the war) the Rhodesians, with their very high operational standards, did not regard it as a success. There was...
At 1200 the Frelimo operator at Maxaila reported helicopter movements in his area and requested reinforcements. In reply, Mapai (the controlling centre) ordered Maxaila to search the area and that troops from Chigubo had also been ordered to investigate the area of...
Rhodesian military operation in Zambia with clandestine assistance from the South African Air Force (SAAF) during the Rhodesian Bush War. The Rhodesian Air Force planned raids against a ZIPRA camp in Northern Zambia. The operation consisted of two raids on a ZIPRA...
A second civilian airliner, Air Rhodesia Flight 827, was shot down by a ZIPRA missile, killing all 59 people on board.
ZIPRA guerillas shoot down Air Rhodesia Flight 825 with an SA-7 missile; Of the 52 passengers and four crew, 38 died in the crash; the insurgents then approached the wreckage, rounded up the 10 survivors they could see and massacred them with automatic gunfire. Three...
Alouette III no R5701 hit by ground fire in the Motoko Area killing Flt Sgt A.I. Flemming
Operation Mardon was a series of coordinated Rhodesian cross-border raids into Mozambique between October and December 1976, aimed at disrupting the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA). These raids involved simultaneous attacks on ZANLA camps,...
Operation Long John was an operation undertaken by the Selous Scouts of the Rhodesian Army on 25 June 1976 against two ZANLA guerrilla bases located in Mozambique near Mapai. Operation Long John was an attack on a guerrilla transit camp at Mapai and staging post...