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I am a South African who spent nearly 3 years as a signals technician in the Rhodesia Army and as such spent a lot of time working with most regiments over the period, I have met some of the people in your very informative channel. Being very young and used to the rather severe dicipline of the SA army, I really enjoyed the time there. Like most, I suspect, nothing really exiting happened to me as I always seemed to get "there" just before or just after the event. Never the less, it taught me to not always believe everything I was told and that ruled my life till the present, mostly to my betterment. I would do it all again in a moment.
I agree with you on the Severe Dicipline in the SA Army.From what I hear from this amazing channel,it seems like the Rhodesian Army treated their soldiers with respect and allowed them to get on with their jobs.I am 62 now and think back to my time in the SADF,they treated us like Shit.
An open, accurate and honest account of a district policeman during the war, which in addition to showing the savagery of ZANU and ZANLA also admits to some of the oppressive measures and policies against the local population and the fact that they were between a rock and a hard place during the period and came of second best from both sides. I particularly like the credit given by him to the Black policemen and without doubt the BSAP would not have been as efficient and successful without them. I personally worked with many fantastic Black policemen who knew and achieved more than I did as a junior and who educated me and who served Rhodesia with distinction. They were invaluable.
Great and very informative interview. David Owen has a lot to answer for not just about Rhodesia but his lies and scheming in the UK and the rest of the world.
Deepest respect. Thank you. Dodington Farm. Eddie and Moira Mostert. Hartley/Gatooma/Chakari loop road. Where at all can I research any possible news regarding these wonderful people. Or their kin? Please, and thank you.
Hey Malcolm, my changamire from Depot, nice interview china, good to hear from you again, skabenga wena. I think you know I was posted to Selukwe, tean bun patrols with Ian Smith etc.
Hey Mike, thanks. I see you did a lot with Grey Scouts - well done, & lets hear the stories :) My next one is about my Operational time in Inyanga North - good times but scary sometimes
We were soldiers obeying orders from superiors in the chain of command who in their own rights were encouraged not to question the political leadership of the governing party. Listening to many of the men you have interviewed from different units of the Rhodesian Defence Force it astounds me to think that we fought in the same war. ComOps Intelligence did a poor job in informing the soldiers at the front of the battle what the mission and goals of the political leaders were. The raison d'être of war is to gain political expedience, and it is for this reason I believe the moral of the Rhodesian Forces would have been much improved had we been informed of the direction our political leaders were moving and what was necessary on our behalf to achieve those goals. In the seven years I was active the only field visit I and my unit had from a politician was from P.K. van der Byl who spent 15 minutes with us explaining how the FN Rifle was “superior” to the AK 47 because the FN round could penetrate a sizeable tree 😂
Ha ha, yes, by dog Cobber. I was married to it by Andy Sainsbury (Intaf Buhera) as it slept on my bed whilst on Platform patrols. Of course there was a beer or two involved ...
Agreed, first and foremost you couldn't vote in SA unless you were a SA citizen, which took quite a while for immigrants to obtain (if indeed you wanted it). But simply being white opened doors and created all sorts of opportunities not available to the majority of the population. I suspect that, whilst he's not talking any BS, time has possibly dimmed the memory bank. E.G. I was in Squad 10/69. Morris Depot December 1969-June 1970 and probably did my COIN training around the same time. Like Malcolm, I was also an immigrant rooinek beach bum from Cape Town and from my perpective we were well prepared for our COIN/Horseshoe Block week, which most of us looked forward to. I also don't recall any PATU type qualification yomp during the week. It's likely that, if PATU selection did occur, it was at another time because you didn't get the opportunity to join PATU until you had served in Duty/District after Depot. I was in Wankie PATU under Dave Tippetts. Subsequently I was in Support Unit with both Joe Surkont and the late Doug Seccombe.
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I am a South African who spent nearly 3 years as a signals technician in the Rhodesia Army and as such spent a lot of time working with most regiments over the period, I have met some of the people in your very informative channel. Being very young and used to the rather severe dicipline of the SA army, I really enjoyed the time there. Like most, I suspect, nothing really exiting happened to me as I always seemed to get "there" just before or just after the event. Never the less, it taught me to not always believe everything I was told and that ruled my life till the present, mostly to my betterment. I would do it all again in a moment.
I agree with you on the Severe Dicipline in the SA Army.From what I hear from this amazing channel,it seems like the Rhodesian Army treated their soldiers with respect and allowed them to get on with their jobs.I am 62 now and think back to my time in the SADF,they treated us like Shit.
Thank you Malcolm for your openness & honesty in this interview. Very insightful.
Great interview much respect
An open, accurate and honest account of a district policeman during the war, which in addition to showing the savagery of ZANU and ZANLA also admits to some of the oppressive measures and policies against the local population and the fact that they were between a rock and a hard place during the period and came of second best from both sides. I particularly like the credit given by him to the Black policemen and without doubt the BSAP would not have been as efficient and successful without them. I personally worked with many fantastic Black policemen who knew and achieved more than I did as a junior and who educated me and who served Rhodesia with distinction. They were invaluable.
My family were part of the Elim Church, and knew some of the missionaries. I was young but still remember the shock of hearing of the massacre
Very interesting
Malcolm is so right that often we had to learn on the job very fast.
Thanks.
Great talk from malcolm. Cheers
Every Podcast I learn so much..
And the comments educate me too...!! A lot...
Thank you One and all...
Cheers 🍻 And Respect...
Great to hear!
@fightingmenofrhodesia Cheers John.. 🍻 Shuwa thank you one and all...
Quite amazing all these untold stories were not common knowledge at the time. Thank you guys for a fascinating bit of information. Let's have more.
Malcolm managed to 'take me there'. He comes across as a thoroughly decent man, as many Rhodies did.
Fascinating story, thanks so much. As a district copper this felt like my war.
Great and very informative interview.
David Owen has a lot to answer for not just about Rhodesia but his lies and scheming in the UK and the rest of the world.
Brilliant, as always!
Deepest respect. Thank you.
Dodington Farm. Eddie and Moira Mostert. Hartley/Gatooma/Chakari loop road. Where at all can I research any possible news regarding these wonderful people. Or their kin?
Please, and thank you.
Thanks for a great chat......From Scouter Bravo GC Byo West.
Oh yes, Scouter AB was Inyanga North :)
🎉Thank you John 🎉😊
Mel O'Brien. He was ,my instructor too (10/69). We were in Depot at the same time. In fact our Squads passed out together on 23/6/70.
Sheesh that was really interesting, thanks Gents.
"P.S." Lindsay 'Kiwi' O'Brien wrote a book about the war, 'Bandit Mentality'
Hey Malcolm, my changamire from Depot, nice interview china, good to hear from you again, skabenga wena. I think you know I was posted to Selukwe, tean bun patrols with Ian Smith etc.
Hey Mike, thanks. I see you did a lot with Grey Scouts - well done, & lets hear the stories :) My next one is about my Operational time in Inyanga North - good times but scary sometimes
We were soldiers obeying orders from superiors in the chain of command who in their own rights were encouraged not to question the political leadership of the governing party. Listening to many of the men you have interviewed from different units of the Rhodesian Defence Force it astounds me to think that we fought in the same war. ComOps Intelligence did a poor job in informing the soldiers at the front of the battle what the mission and goals of the political leaders were. The raison d'être of war is to gain political expedience, and it is for this reason I believe the moral of the Rhodesian Forces would have been much improved had we been informed of the direction our political leaders were moving and what was necessary on our behalf to achieve those goals. In the seven years I was active the only field visit I and my unit had from a politician was from P.K. van der Byl who spent 15 minutes with us explaining how the FN Rifle was “superior” to the AK 47 because the FN round could penetrate a sizeable tree 😂
This rings very true
So proud of my brother Mal, I wonder if he will tell us about his wife Cobber 😂
Ha ha, yes, by dog Cobber. I was married to it by Andy Sainsbury (Intaf Buhera) as it slept on my bed whilst on Platform patrols. Of course there was a beer or two involved ...
Totally betrayed by Margaret Thatcher, very sad.
Good story but not necessary to BS about being granted residence in SA if you voted for the national party
I suspect it was a tongue in cheek remark.
You not a fan of irony...? 🤔
Bullshit...? Gospel truth !!
Agreed, first and foremost you couldn't vote in SA unless you were a SA citizen, which took quite a while for immigrants to obtain (if indeed you wanted it). But simply being white opened doors and created all sorts of opportunities not available to the majority of the population. I suspect that, whilst he's not talking any BS, time has possibly dimmed the memory bank. E.G. I was in Squad 10/69. Morris Depot December 1969-June 1970 and probably did my COIN training around the same time. Like Malcolm, I was also an immigrant rooinek beach bum from Cape Town and from my perpective we were well prepared for our COIN/Horseshoe Block week, which most of us looked forward to. I also don't recall any PATU type qualification yomp during the week. It's likely that, if PATU selection did occur, it was at another time because you didn't get the opportunity to join PATU until you had served in Duty/District after Depot. I was in Wankie PATU under Dave Tippetts. Subsequently I was in Support Unit with both Joe Surkont and the late Doug Seccombe.
I was 10 & that is what my Dad said, so I believe him.