A Handful of Hard Men: The SAS and the Battle for Rhodesia

CHAPTER 1

My country, right or wrong

This is my land my home,

I yearn not

For that strange unfamiliar place called Europe

I am an African

A white African.

—CHAS LOTTER

REBELLION

In the lives of most nations there comes a moment when a stand has to be made for principles, whatever the consequences. This moment has come to Rhodesia.

I call upon all of you in this historic hour to support me and my government in the struggle in which we are engaged. I believe that we are a courageous people and history has cast us in a heroic role. To us has been given the privilege of being the first Western nation in the last two decades to have the determination and fortitude to say: ‘So far and no further.’

We may be a small country but we are a determined people who have been called upon to play a role of worldwide significance. We Rhodesians have rejected … appeasement and surrender.

We have struck a blow for the preservation of justice, civilisation and Christianity—and in the spirit of this we have thus assumed our sovereign independence.

God bless you all.

—R HODESIAN P RIME M INISTER I AN D OUGLAS S MITH UNILATERALLY DECLARING INDEPENDENCE FROM B RITAIN

With the British government led by Harold Wilson insisting on ‘No Independence before Majority Rule’ (NIBMAR) Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith decided the black rule that would soon follow spelled doom for his country and decided it was time to go it alone. On 11 November 1965, surrounded by his cabinet, he reached for his pen and signed a document that signalled open rebellion against the Crown. Not since the American Declaration of Independence was promulgated in 1776 has such an event taken place. It was a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) and the die was cast; the country would soon be at war with the world. At midday Rhodesians sat riveted to their radios as Smith told them of his momentous decision.

DARRELL WATT

One young man listening to that fateful broadcast was Darrell Watt. "I was at school when we heard the news. There was uncertainty about what it all meant. I was quite frightened. I spoke to my Dad who was pro-Smith so I took my cue from him. I was reminded that many of my forebears were soldiers so if there was going to be a fight I was up for it.

"My dad was born in Bulawayo in 1921 and went to Milton Boys’ High where he was head boy. At eighteen he was called up for service in the Second World War and after training in Salisbury he was railed to Cape Town where he, along with his Rhodesian contingent, was shipped to Liverpool and on to Catterick in Yorkshire. In 1941 he was deployed to Algiers as part of the 78th British Infantry Division. He did not like it there because of the lack of hygiene. From there he went to Tunisia and took part in the battles against Rommel’s Afrika Korps. From there he was evacuated to Italy and trekked to Rogio and Taranto via Sicily. The advance north through Italy was a tough one and he told me of his high regard for the German soldiers. The weapon they appear to have most feared was the German 88mm with its high velocity and low trajectory.

"The Battle at Monte Casino left the biggest impression on him and he never quite got over the terrible loss of life he witnessed there. Wounded by shrapnel and sick with yellow fever, he was hospitalised in Bari on the coast before continuing the march into Austria. His final battles were in the Po Valley west of Naples. He also spoke highly of the civilised way in which the Germans soldiers conducted themselves.

"His lasting impression at the end of the war was Britain’s ingratitude. He was told to find his own way home. My grandmother nursed in both world wars and gave me her medals before she died.

"I was born in Fort Victoria in April 1949 but we moved to Gwelo and I went to school at Thornhill Boys’ High. Eventually my family ended up in Salisbury. All I can remember about life in Fort Victoria was sitting on the bonnet of my Dad’s old Citroën and having a hornet sting me on the arse. It was bloody painful, and I’ve been careful where I sit ever since.

"I loved the bush from an early age. I had access to surrounding farms and ranches, most of which were situated in open country teeming with game. I learned about the natural world from my black friends. It was the first part of a long learning curve that would help me in ways I never dreamed of then.

"My father, being in the Rhodesian Department of Water Development, used to spend a lot of time in the Tribal Trust Lands⁶ providing water to the black people and when not in school I used to travel with him. He was typical of so many of the Rhodesian civil servants; he was out in the field working hard to help the Africans improve the quality of their lives. This is something the world never wanted to know about. With my father on his government bush trips I met men from the Game Department like Paul and Clem Coetzee.

"School mirrored life in Rhodesia—very tough but very fair. People often wonder why young Rhodesians were so quick to make the transition from schoolboy to soldier. I think the toughness of the country’s education system had a lot to do with this. While I did not shine in the classroom, I did play rugby for the 1st XV

When they told me I had to repeat Form IV I informed my parents I’d had enough, talked my Dad into buying me an old Land Rover and rifle, and headed to Gwaai Forest Area in Matabeleland to work for Allan Savory.

Savory, a brilliant but controversial wildlife expert, was about to make his mark in the Rhodesian political and military arenas. A former game ranger in Northern Rhodesia, he was an opinionated forward-thinker who would win a seat in parliament as a member of Ian Smith’s Rhodesian Front Party, only to later defect and align himself with the African Nationalists.

"Initially we camped at Amandundumela up on the hill in Gwaai and there we culled [shot] eland and sable which were there in numbers surplus to the carrying capacity of the area. Today I gather there is almost nothing left but then the numbers needed to be controlled. Later I moved to Liebigs Ranch in the south-east Lowveld. Then Allan and his associates formed a company called the Rhodesia Meat Company.

"We were paid according to the number of animals we shot and I was getting quite good at this. I ended up being the top earner and this irritated the senior guys who had more experience than me. Mike Bunce, who was a veteran, got so pissed off he wanted to beat me up a couple of times. I was only seventeen and I think they saw me as a bit of an upstart earning more than they were. £1 was a lot of money then and in one month I made £400 which was enough to buy a vehicle. This shocked everyone. I reached a point where I became highly effective with my 30.06. My trackers were Shangaans; one was Jacob and the other Philemon. We would hunt on foot and run the animals down. The problem was what we shot had to be loaded and processed and that was a lot of work. One day Jacob said he had enough and we must stop shooting. I said no, we must continue but he bolted with my bag of bullets, shouting at me as he ran away, ‘You have shot sixteen zebra out of one herd and we have to load them; we have had enough; you must stop now!’ Then he went and hid in the bush till dark. It sounds excessive but the game numbers were so high that there had to be a managed reduction to protect the habitat.

"Jacob and Philemon helped me learn the lessons of the bush which would later keep me alive. They were tremendous trackers. We would practise back-tracking human and animal spoor back to the vehicle. I learned how to age spoor and identify an animal that was tiring. Vegetation was a good way to age tracks and ‘aerial’ spoor helped identify numbers. Termite activity and the rate at which blood dried were important to timings. They also taught me how to anticipate the direction an animal was going, a difficult lesson to learn.

"While my black friends taught me the vital basics, Savory had a big impact. With his help I learned the additional skills that enable one to survive in the bush. Probably most importantly I learned how to anti-track. I never forgot those lessons and am convinced this is the reason that I and most of the men I commanded, survived.

Lessons well learnt were the value of the extended line rather than a single file where walking on top of tracks makes the trail easier to follow; choosing your footfalls to avoid soft ground; flat soles without treads; walking in rivers wherever possible; using hessian sacks to traverse sandy soil.

It was while perfecting the skills of the hunter that Watt received his compulsory military service call-up papers to join intake 89 in June 1967. He travelled to Llewellin Barracks in Bulawayo by train, with no real idea of what to expect. On our arrival in Bulawayo there were the Red Caps [military police] and regimental police shouting out orders. We were herded onto waiting trucks—a bit like cattle, really—and taken to Llewellin Barracks. I did not realise it then but a big story was about to unfold.

THE WIND OF CHANGE

In a sense an important chapter in that ‘story’ began in 1957 when Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast) became independent of Britain and Kwame Nkrumah assumed power. Europe then began ‘freeing’ its colonies with extravagant haste as African Nationalism took root across the continent. Rhodesians looked on in horror as mostly chaos, carnage and bloodshed followed.

Southern Rhodesia’s African Nationalists began seeking external schooling, believing it was denied them at home. Many also sought sanctuary from government watch-lists, banning orders and proscriptions.

They headed to communist-bloc institutions where they rubbed shoulders with like-minded anti-colonial activists, all of whom regarded Nkrumah as a hero. It was at this time that Robert Mugabe took up a teaching post in Ghana and married his first wife, Sally.

Within the Rhodesian dynamic an early tribal split saw Joshua Nkomo head up the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) with Soviet patronage and Ndabaningi Sithole the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) with Chinese help.

In 1963 ZANU sent five candidates on a military course to China. Among them was future Zimbabwean government minister Emmerson Mnangagwa. Ghana and Tanzania also offered Chinese-run military institutions. In 1964 the first Ghanaian-trained group was flown to China to be trained as instructors. In 1965 a group of twenty-eight candidates underwent training in Cuba. In the same year the infamous ‘Crocodile Gang’ which included Mnangagwa became the first graduates of the Itumbi Reefs academy near Chunya in south-west Tanzania. They would return to the country and murder Petrus Oberholzer in the Eastern Districts of Rhodesia and set a precedent for the many farm murders to follow.⁷ Josiah Tongogara, who would go on to become ZANU’s military leader, was in the second in take.⁸ By the fourth intake the number of recruits had risen to a hundred and twenty. In 1966 ZANU sent eleven recruits including Tongogara to the Nanking Military Academy in China.

Scandinavian countries were especially sympathetic to African Nationalism and offered educational and professional assistance to young Rhodesians. This facility was often exploited to dupe recruits into attending military camps.

Contrary to the popular view that white oppression was driving thousands of recruits into the arms of Communist-bloc instructors, Bhebhe and Ranger, both sympathetic to the Nationalist cause, concede this in their book Soldiers in Zimbabwe’s Liberation War: As a result of the dearth of volunteers, both ZAPU and ZANU engaged in a policy of forced conscription in Zambia … ZAPU and ZANU … decided to employ … press-ganging. Many young men originally from Rhodesia and living in the Mumbwa rural area and in Lusaka were press-ganged into going for training.

Deception, they write, was also used. Both ZAPU and ZANU made it their custom to welcome such students at the airports but instead of finding themselves in colleges and universities as they had intended, they found themselves whisked off to military training camps.

Josiah Tungamirai who would later command the Zimbabwe Air Force and Ernest Kadungure who would be a minister in Zimbabwe’s first cabinet were both products of the forced recruitment programme that laid the foundation for armed resistance.

CHAPTER 2

The regiment has been,

is, will always be his life

and his reason for life.

—CHAS LOTTER

FORMATION OF THE SAS

The Special Air Service (SAS) originated in the desert war of North Africa. With Erwin Rommel rampaging and the Allied forces reeling, British commanders sought a means to destroy the Luftwaffe on the ground and to disrupt the enemy’s lines of communication. A young British subaltern named David Stirling sent parachutists behind German lines to destroy an airfield.⁹ Stirling was convinced that small groups maximising the element of surprise could inflict losses disproportionate to their numbers.

Although that first operation was a disaster, requiring the Long Range Desert Group to rescue the men, the seeds were sown. Made up from LRDG troops containing Rhodesian volunteers, the unit had destroyed more than 400 enemy aircraft, also airfields, fuel, munitions dumps and lines of communication by the end of the war. Hitler paid them the supreme compliment when he noted, These men are dangerous … and exhorted Rommel to do all that was necessary to eliminate the threat.

In June 1950 volunteers were sought for a Rhodesian task force to Korea. There was an overwhelming response but only a hundred men were selected. When a new emergency developed in Malaya the men were shipped there instead. Communist insurgents were gaining ground in a campaign against British colonial rule. Highly trained troops who could sustain themselves in the jungle were needed.

The legendary World War II veteran Major ‘Mad Mike’ Calvert was given the task of planning the British-led counter-insurgency. He decided to spearhead his effort with a Special Forces unit that became known as 22 SAS (Malayan) Scouts. The Rhodesian contingent, under the command of Lieutenant Peter Walls, would be known as C Squadron SAS (Malayan) Scouts. Among the Rhodesian ranks was ex-postal technician Ron Reid-Daly who had left his employment on the toss of a coin. C Squadron arrived in the Far East late in 1951. The Rhodesian SAS was born.

Three years later the Rhodesians returned home having performed with distinction under arduous circumstances. Peter Walls, who had rapidly been promoted to major, was awarded an MBE.

The unit was briefly disbanded but then resurrected when paratroopers were added to the Federal Army.¹⁰ A core group was sent to the UK for training at Hereford. On their return, the first selection course was run in the Matopos Hills in May 1961. By the end of the year the squadron strength was 184 and the Rhodesian SAS was looking for a home.

For financial reasons the SAS was initially based in Ndola where it was bankrolled by Northern Rhodesia’s Federal copper revenues. This was not a popular choice because of the need to continually rotate troops between Northern and Southern Rhodesia for training. During this period some elements were seconded to 22 SAS and deployed in Aden. In the middle of 1962 Rhodesian SAS troops were sent to Northern Rhodesia’s border with the Congo to assist Belgian refugees fleeing independence atrocities. This spectacle would have a profound effect on soldiers and civilians alike when, three years later, Southern Rhodesia was told to submit to a timetable for black majority rule.

At the breakup of the Federation in December 1963 the Federal Army was disbanded. Numbering only thirty men, C Squadron was re-formed in Salisbury and recruitment begun under the command of Major Dudley Coventry. One of the SAS ‘originals,’ Coventry was already a legend. On one occasion he was reputed to have killed a German soldier with a punch.¹¹ But despite a charismatic and colourful commander, morale was low, as were resources.

In 1965, C Squadron was offered an opportunity for an officer to be attached to the parent regiment in Hereford and Lieutenant Brian Robinson was given the slot. When he reported for duty the British SAS was heavily involved in operations in Borneo. He was fascinated to learn that they had a squadron permanently deployed on deep-penetration operations in Indonesia where, at times, they engaged in cross-border raids against Indonesian regulars supporting the insurgents.

He remembers, The British were initially highly circumspect about passing on any operational information to me, but gradually the atmosphere improved and the stiff upper lip relaxed. After a great deal of persuasion, Robinson was able to convince the commanding officer of 22 SAS to send him on a training operation to Borneo, but political fate was about to intervene.

After UDI I instantly became a ‘Rebel Rhodesian’ and had to decide on my loyalties. Offered a choice, he declined to stay with 22 SAS. I was desperate to get into a punch-up back in Rhodesia, he acknowledged.

HAROLD WILSON AND THE SOVIETS

Following the unilateral declaration in Salisbury, British Prime Minister Harold Wilson took his problem to the United Nations to have the ‘Rebel Regime’ declared ‘a threat to world peace’ and on 19 December probably the harshest and most comprehensive economic sanctions in history were introduced while outraged OAU members threatened to sever diplomatic relations with London if the rebellion was not crushed immediately. Wilson met with his commanders to weigh up the military options. The Rhodesian government was denied that most fundamental of human rights and refused an opportunity to defend itself in any international forum, including the United Nations. Relations with virtually the entire world were suspended and Rhodesian passports were declared invalid.

At this time senior figures within the Rhodesian political establishment, noting the synergy between Whitehall and the Kremlin, insisted that Harold Wilson and some of his senior lieutenants were in league with the Soviets. Predictably they were roundly condemned as members of the lunatic fringe of the ‘racist regime’ but recent revelations now tend to support their view.

The Soviet contact man in the West at this time was Alexander Chernyaev and his recently revealed diaries disclose the existence of a ‘special relationship’ between the British Labour Party and Moscow and a ‘reverential approach’ of the party leaders to their Russian ‘comrades.’ It is also now known that Jack Jones, who became the leader of the Transport and General Workers’ Union which helped Wilson win and maintain power, was a paid-up agent of the KGB.¹²

What is also now known is that the British Security Service had a file on Wilson and had been monitoring his frequent visits to Moscow since his election as an MP in 1945. MI5 and MI6 intercepted his communications and on one occasion burgled his house in a search for evidence. The intelligence services also knew that Wilson was in regular contact with KGB London operative Ivan Skripov and that the British Council for the Promotion of International Trade which Wilson headed was, according to them, Communist controlled.¹³

Just what happened then is revealed by Carl Watts¹⁴ where he details how advanced and detailed the British invasion plans were. Ironically, one regiment that made it clear there would be extreme unhappiness if ordered into action against the Rhodesians was the British Special Air Service (SAS). They had only recently been fighting alongside their Rhodesian counterparts against communist terrorists in Malaya and it was hard for them to contemplate so radical a change in circumstance.

Ken Connor, a serving member of the British SAS at the time, later wrote: Black African leaders immediately began pressing [Prime Minister] Wilson for armed intervention to bring the settlers to heel. His first reaction was to use the SAS and 39 Brigade, based in Aden, to put down the illegal regime. What stopped him was a near mutiny in the regiment.¹⁵

It is also now known that by February 1966 Ken Flower, who would soon become the Rhodesian intelligence chief, secretly briefed Harold Wilson on the country’s military capabilities. This information was doubtless of significant assistance to those planning to invade the country and proof that Flower’s loyalties were at best, split.¹⁶

Adding to the pressure it became clear that Britain’s Labour government was replete with men and women who disliked their tropical cousins on a highly personalised and partly class-based basis. The Rhodesians were seen as an embarrassing imperial hangover, but also rambunctious elitists who were too cocky for their own good and reeked of the old establishment that the Labourites wished to destroy. The scene was not well-set for Smith and his people; there was bad chemistry before the political dimension was even examined.

On more than one occasion, Ian Smith recalled, Harold Wilson implored me to appreciate the wonders of being English. It was simply beyond his comprehension that we did not want to be English and fully integrated into their establishment. The fact that we actually preferred to be Rhodesians was seen as an outrageous affront.

With pressure mounting, the Rhodesians felt their options were limited in terms of places to go: this was their home, most planned to stay and they were prepared to fight for it. Unfortunately for them, that brashness of spirit was what irritated a Western world riddled with the perceived shame of an imperial association. In much of the West the ‘nanny state’ had arrived, elitism of any form was scorned and mediocrity against a backdrop of rampant egalitarianism had become the norm. The majority of white Rhodesians were the very antithesis of this and they refused to be constrained by a fashionable liberalism that frowned upon free enterprise and self-reliance.

As post-UDI Rhodesia fell out of favour with the rest of the world, the press painted a picture of whites living a life of undeserved luxury at the expense of the impoverished blacks and antipathy towards them escalated sharply.

Rhodesia was divided along racial lines and the black standard of living was lower than ours, says Watt, but still much of an improvement over their traditional lifestyle and where they had been when the white man arrived. The relationship between white and black was relaxed and friendly which is why I always questioned the need for war. Although the whites were politically dominant, there was a great deal of mutual respect between the races. That was very much a part of our way of life. I don’t think many whites took anything for granted; they were mostly honest and hardworking and just wanted to be left alone to get on with the job of building the country.

But that was not to be.

THE FIRST FARM ATTACK

On 16 May 1966, just over five months after UDI was declared, Johannes Viljoen and his wife were attacked in their homestead and murdered by terrorists on their farm near the town of Hartley (now Chegutu) north of Salisbury. It was a grim warning of what was to come.

With the threat of a British-sponsored invasion looming, a decision was taken in October 1966 to have the SAS destroy the rail bridge spanning the Kafue River in Zambia in order to sever the line that would bring troops and matériel to the frontier. But the operation ended in tragedy when the device being readied for the task exploded, killing four men. SAS Commander Major Coventry was a lucky survivor, but the unit had lost three of its most experienced non-commissioned officers (NCOs).

RECRUIT WATT

"I did my basic training at Llewellin Barracks. I recall an infantry major there and a lieutenant giving me hell for the way I was shooting at targets on the range. Rather than kneel, I was on my haunches and they didn’t like that but I pointed out I had hit all the targets and with a very tight grouping. An angry argument followed between them with the lieutenant coming to my side, telling the major that he too was a hunter and had used the same shooting position. The major then quietened down and both of them wanted to know more about my days as a hunter.

"It was after that that Ken Phillipson and Stan Hornby arrived to recruit for SAS Salisbury. They took us on a cross-country run from the gate of Llewellin Barracks across the Bulawayo road towards Gwelo over two hills with rifle, full battle-dress and webbing. It was Stan Hornby, dressed in his running shoes, shorts and vest who challenged us to keep up his pace but then suggested I slow down! Stan then ran out of gas and another instructor took over but he also fell away. I was in peak physical fitness then from running about twenty kilometres a day hunting animals.

In those days we did selection first at Inyanga, then the training course and at the end of the training we did what was known as ‘All In’ which was a very physically demanding, non-stop exercise designed to weed out those who were still deemed ‘suspect.’

Candidates commenced the selection ordeal with the punishing ‘prerev’ exercise during which men were subjected to non-stop physical and mental abuse. Dispensing with sleep, food, self-respect and modesty, they boxed, wrestled in mud, ran, swam, went over assault courses and participated in any other activity on hand that would wear them down. Most exercises were done carrying a rifle and a steel ball. One favourite was ‘chariot races’ which saw recruits hauling screaming instructors around the bush in vehicle trailers. It was an exercise designed to humiliate and exhaust before the real demands even began. No talking was allowed.

An easy escape from the pain was to accept a hot meal and a cold beverage. Those who prevailed and refused to accept assurances from the instructors that they were certain failures, were then transported to the cold, forbidding landscape of the Inyanga highlands in the east of the country, where the mountains are massive, their slopes sheer and the undergrowth thick and thorny.

Here, the selection began at night. Cold and hungry recruits were dumped in the wilderness, told to meet at a given ‘locstat,’ a map grid reference, within twenty-four hours, and thrown a jumble of maps along with a steel trunk full of metal balls. Apart from the steel trunk, which was shared, each man carried a loaded weapon, heavy pack and steel balls. Misdemeanours such as presenting at any stage with a dirty rifle would see the load of balls increased. Disoriented, unseeing, they were left to stumble and fall while battling to reach an uncertain destination. Those who made it to the rendezvous found no more than a map and another ‘locstat’ and so the grind went on. When instructors appeared it was invariably for no other reason than to heap invective on those who would share their colours and encourage them to give in.

Five days later, those who had not fallen were taken aside for interviews. Instructors questioned them closely to ascertain from the observations of the recruits themselves who in their respective teams had performed and in what way. This information was considered vital in making the final assessments.

With the team phase completed, the emphasis shifted to individual endurance and initiative. Apart from water, the only other liquid generously supplied was blister medication. On the final day, with the survivors literally on their last legs, they were given their ultimate instructions: march more than nine kilometres back into the mountains with full loads. But this time, they had a five-hour time limit. For many who had already suffered so severely for so long it was a bridge too far and they went down trying at the final, heart-breaking hurdle.

ROBINSON ON SAS SELECTION

"The world is bored to tears reading about the various selection courses run by Special Forces units worldwide. Each unit tries to outdo the next, introducing new methods of torture designed to break the incumbent but I think we worked out a very effective process.

"Compatibility is probably the most important aspect of all. Operating in enemy territory for protracted periods calls for a special kind of tolerance. Perpetual sniffing or unacceptable eating habits of an operator could easily lead to dissension in the ranks, a breakdown in morale and, eventually, tragedy.

"Mental strength: operating in enemy territory for protracted periods is dangerous. It is essential to have the mental strength to cope with this unnatural way of life.

"Physical strength: re-supply is the most vulnerable phase of any operation. It is therefore imperative to try and reduce the frequency of re-supply. This means that an operator must be capable of carrying a heavy rucksack for long periods over difficult terrain and be able to survive with as little as possible.

"Initiative: we looked for chaps who could think fast on their feet, no matter how exhausted. A junior leader might have to make instant decisions under severe pressure which in some cases might lead to the fall of a government should things go wrong.

Skills: the SAS soldier must have the necessary military skills to allow him to operate in a clandestine manner against an enemy.

Robinson continues: In the course of his training the SAS recruit would learn a variety of skills including tracking, bushcraft, survival, demolition, attack-diving, watermanship, mines, mortars, foreign weapons, signals, parachuting, navigation and marksmanship. All this was premised on parade-square drill and punishing physical training. In the critically important area of shooting the SAS instructors were well aware that the majority of exchanges were taking place at close range with the enemy invariably hugging the ground. We therefore deviated from conventional shooting drills which encouraged a ‘shoot-high’ tendency, with targets consistently just above ground level on the ranges.

Dave Westerhout, Rhodesia’s World Practical Pistol Champion, provided expert instruction on the use of side-arms and extremely high standards were expected. Rob Johnstone, former SAS training officer, recalled: Shooting was always competitive and a prize was presented to the worst shot in the form of a cowbell, suspended around the neck and quaintly named the ‘Shit-Shot Bell.’ This prize was open to all ranks and was to be worn at all times except in bed. Amazingly, no one ever won it twice.

On his course Watt impressed immediately. Out of a hundred volunteers he emerged as the top marksman and won all the runs and route marches. It was clear that a man of substance with all the requisite skills had found his way to the SAS. Training officer Ken Phillipson told the young recruit: We need naturals, Watt, and you are a natural.

Ten of us made it into the unit under the command then of Major Dudley Coventry, remembers Watt. If I had known then what I was heading for, I think I would still have signed up, but I might have thought about it a little longer.

CHAPTER 3

Into the cauldron

Walk the fields of war with me,

With a people blown in the winds of change.

—CHAS LOTTER

FIRST BLOOD

The first time the Squadron would draw enemy blood was in May 1967 when word was received of a pantechnicon suspiciously parked on the side of the road thirty-five kilometres north of the town of Karoi. Then Squadron Commander Dudley Coventry took a team to investigate and heard movement inside. Called on to present themselves, the occupants opened fire through the sides of the vehicle. Launching himself at the man directing the fire, Corporal Joe Conway dragged him from the vehicle while his team opened fire, killing four.

Throughout the late 1960s, incursions from Zambia took place along the length of Rhodesia’s northern border, from the Victoria Falls in the west to Kanyemba on the eastern border with Mozambique.

In late 1967 a significant incursion took place at the Batoka Gorge near Victoria Falls when a combined ZANU and South African ANC (SAANC) force of close to a hundred crossed into Rhodesia, comprising the biggest incursion to date. Planned and launched by Oliver Tambo of the SAANC, and James Chikerema acting for the anti-Rhodesian fighters, the precipitous crossing using ropes and pulleys was organised by Soviet advisers. The prime objectives were to support the SAANC insurgents through western Rhodesia to the Limpopo River so they could infiltrate South Africa and to establish friendly supply routes in Matabeleland for future incursions. They believed the size of the group was large enough to take on the Rhodesian security forces if required. Included in the ANC force were future stalwarts Chris Hani and Joe Modise who would later become the first Defence Minister under Nelson Mandela.

Word of the incursion reached the ears of Rhodesian intelligence operatives but the whereabouts of the enemy remained unclear until a railway repair team on the Victoria Falls line heard of a suspicious presence and reported it. Troops of the Rhodesian African Rifles were deployed and a series of rolling contacts took place over a period of weeks with much of the action taking place in the Wankie (now Hwange) National Park. At the end of the operation Rhodesian forces suffered eight deaths, the enemy forty dead and thirty-four captured. The ANC element, known as the Luthuli Detachment, by all accounts gave a good account of themselves, earning the respect of their Rhodesian adversaries while awakening the South African authorities to the need to bolster their military presence in Rhodesia.

Looking at the lie of the land, the vast expanses that had to be covered and low troop levels making conventional border control difficult, a decision was taken to send two-man SAS teams into Zambia to identify infiltration routes being used by ZAPU insurgents.

Unfortunately, remaining covert was vital, said Robinson, and much to the chagrin of lurking operators, some wonderful killing opportunities had to be passed up in favour of remaining clandestine and carrying out the true SAS role.

Forbidden to wear Rhodesian uniforms, the men carried no weapons or equipment that could be identified as Rhodesian, and if captured their orders were to insist that they were dissidents operating at their own behest. While operational successes were minimal, the SAS men were learning valuable lessons all the time that would stand them in good stead in the years ahead.

To combat the growing threat ‘tracker-combat teams’ were formed consisting largely of white game rangers and their scouts from the Department of National Parks who worked closely with soldiers of the Rhodesian Light Infantry, but this arrangement had its limitations. The National Parks trackers were skilful, but when their casualties mounted their enthusiasm to close with the enemy and kill, waned. A pressing need arose for soldiers who could track and kill and this was a role that Watt fitted into perfectly.

Soon we began to hear about incidents regarding so-called ‘terrorists,’ remembers Watt. "These contacts with the enemy involved mainly National Parks rangers trained by Savory. The unit was known as the TCU (Tracker Combat Unit). The first contact I recall hearing of took place near Bulawayo and was a successful demonstration of our ability to track to combat. The idea was then brought to the SAS to run our own tracking courses under Savory’s supervision and this was done close to Pandamatenga on the Botswanan border.

I was really pleased when they made me an instructor as a troopie as all the instructors were NCOs and officers. Also there were ‘Stretch’ Franklin, Hennie Pretorius and Jop Oosthuizen. After doing this course we were deployed to the Zambezi Valley in an operational role.

THE TWO-TOED TRIBE

"It was during this time I first made contact with the Vadoma¹⁷ people near the Redcliffs on the Zambezi and it was an incredible experience that I will never forget. These people were hiding from the Zezuru people who hunted them down and killed them. We managed to catch two tame ones and asked them to show us the main group somewhere in the hills near Kanyemba. We found them; they were like wild animals, dressed only in animal skins; they