Fighting Men of Rhodesia ep95 | Lt. Tony Ballinger | part 1
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- This video covers Tony Ballinger’s experience as a national serviceman from intake 152, based at Victoria Falls for the duration. He witnessed and took part in some interesting events, including a cross-border contact with the Zambian army at Kazungula. His book ‘A Walk against the stream’ expands upon the events detailed in this video. Available from Amazon or place an order from any good book store quoting the ISBN number 9781910294437
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Tony, you had a leadership style that was way before it's time, you interacted with your troops which resulted in you earning a respect that fits modern leadership training. Great respect, sir, and though I was seconded to 4 Indep the occasions I came under your command were ones I cherish to this day. We did some crazy stuff and you encouraged it. Thanks for the amazing memories and the humble way you come across in telling the story, you might have been unsure of your style, but I believe your "guys" would have followed you to the gates hell believing you would get them through.
I feel incredibly humbled by your comment Dave. I remember you as a fine young man that performed so well and was willing to do his best no matter what, as indeed, by far the majority of Rhodesians did for their beloved country.
Superb, makes me very proud to have been in the Rhodesian Army .Having had enough of school and having been in the country for less than two years I volunteered at 16 in Intake 163 and after Llewelyn was posted to 3 Indep Coy Inyanga. Nothing too exciting transpired, but am proud to have served a great country.
That is amazing well done to you boet!!
Great stories Tony, more RR guys should share their stories as they contributed as much as the regular forces, thanks for your service. Dave Steele
Cheers Dave thank you
Great interview Tony and John. Really intereting stories from our Indep Brothers.
Thanks very much boet.
Thanks looking forward to the next talk
remember going to vic falls and staying at camp ground, and then going to Elephant hills for dad to play golf, and we swam. hotel was a shell.
Ha yes crazy it still functioned! !
I had the pleasure of having a cheeky G&T at the vic falls hotel a few months ago, i have to say I thought it looked stunning. If its a shadow now I cant imagine what it was like before!
@@ChibabaDave Such a stunning place not so?
@@Toncor12 i thought it was fantastic
Humble and to the point Tony, enjoyed listening to your life experiences in support of Rhodesia. You showed integrity by choosing your country over the love. These days sadly lacking in my oppion, with the self
centred and self entitled next generation! Also great talk John, Thanks for putting this together!!
Much appreciated
Tony, John when you guys get togather the interviews never dissipoint.
Tony, it's amazing you were able to sleep again after such a horrific first contact. Your ability to stay calm and give instructions are unbelievable. I would be a ball of Mush in that situation.
Brilliant, looking forward to part 2!
Cheers boet!
As always, an honest account with no gung-ho attitude. Thanks Tony and John.
Here here Stuart I agree 100%.
1:03:09 What I forgot to mention is that where we got off the boat at Hippo creek, the dinghies belonging to Zipra were found the next morning on the other side of that big tree we had disembarked at and in one of those dinghies was a B-10 x 82 mm recoiless rifle that had been used in the attack of Ellie Hills.
I have your book here in My house in Kent UK, fantastic read , I always find it strange that I was born in the Copperbelt , Ndola, in 58 , yet a friendly country Northern Rhodesia , became the enemy, I cannot get My head around that, all I can assume we became Pawns on a Chest board by the cold war thugs.
I enjoy your battles , I am with you, thank you , I to enjoy how mored n donnered Zambia. ( We all know it was not the real Zambians , it was Moscow puppets ) Thanks for giving them a snot nose.
Thanks for the encouragement John, cheers boet! (Tony B)
I love to listen to these gentlemen. The world has all but forgotten Rhodesia
Zakanaka ‼️ Tatenda Sakuru’s.
I am supposed to be moving a load of silage this morning John, and now you post a video... late start again then. 😉
Sorry! 😆
@@fightingmenofrhodesia No worries, miserable outside anyway, Wales in January.... Very interesting, thanks to Tony for sharing his experiences - it's an odd thing but, when you know the exact places described, around the Falls in this case or e.g. Mana Pools before, it always brings it home a little more than at other times. looking forward to the next.
Good to see you on here Tony. Respect.
Thanks Jim bless you brother 👍
6:41 "The rest of you are eligible for selection to become officers" 8:27 I said I was inake 142 but meant intake 152. At 17:52 "I decided to have a braai for the guys that evening". At 19:55 zoom stalled and what I said was 'it turned out they had been attacked for an hour and a half'. 21:19 I meant to say K Car with four-barrelled gun. At 22:26 zoom stalls again. What I said was I was concerned by the thick bush leading to the keep, from an ambush point of view. At 25:11 I said "there were about 500 people in a compound in the forest" At 29:57 and 30:42 zoom lost connection and missed out the name of a white soldier killed by the name of lance corporal John Hartley .At 32:11 the words "special branch" were omitted by zoom. At 32:56 "he rand into the low density suburbs"..At 33:46 I meant to say "at the end of that island".. At 34:38 he was put in an underground pit until the end of the war. At 36:59 I was ordered to Kazungula police camp. At 38:06 I got a call from Major Pearce at Vic Falls and was told to wait for him...At 38:37 in I should have said Major Pearce not Price. At 40:00 I meant to say "brown eyes" not brown noses . At 49:20 Kemp said "let's have a go at them" and I responded "what do you have in mind?" At 50:36 "an RPG 7 came over and hit a tree behind us"..At 51:08 "one of our tracers had set an abandoned hut on fire" At 51:41 I said it was an MB326 aircraft made by Aermacchi"..At 54:31 I said "in hindsight it would have been a good thing serving with Don"...58:36 I positioned a Browning Machine gun on a supporting pole. At 1:01:48 I emptied the entire box of .303 ammo into Zambia's shoreline. At 1:02:52 I said "we made contact with the terrs coming back from revving Elephant Hills". At 1:05:46 we were mortared from Zambia.
I think he is referring to Major Don Price of 3 Commando and 1 RR and of course LEGEND!!
@@pamberinehondo9447 Yes, the very one!(that should read 1 Indep)
@@Toncor12 Correct! Yes 1 Indep Coy. Don’t even know why I wrote RR. Getting old now 😂
@@pamberinehondo9447 - Me too ha ha, I look for other things to do when I bend down now as the effort is now rationed lol :)
@@Toncor12 🤣🤣🤣 So true Boet
Wonder-Men of the human race.
Absolutely outstanding chat Tony. You have some incredible and interesting accounts of the Hondo. No glory or seeking recognition or trying to put yourself on top of the “Look at me look at me I’m the best” pile, just s man that performed his duties in a professional manner. You did your job and you did it well and that earns big respect from me. ✊🏻 Thank you for this contribution. Fantastic indeed. John once again you have knocked the ball way way out of the park. This account of Tony’s Service is good. I look forward to hearing the second talk. Down to earth comical in parts and deadly serious in others. Great presentation indeed. Tatenda. Ken Perth Australia.
I am humbled by your comment boet, thank you so much, I was uncertain if I had much to say really but your comments amid others have given me a boost, thank you!
John, have you had anyone from BSAP Support Unit who I believe bore the brunt of the war in the end of Rhodesia? So sorry, I mean in internal operations while almost everyone was working outside the country.. The internal situation in Zimbabwe Rhodesia in the end is still "Fighting men of Rhodesia". Would love some of this like the Battle for Salisbury.
Good suggestion Ian. There are plenty more stories out there that we need to get on the record.
Another great interview in this excellent series. One question the term ‘member in charge’ crops up in a lot of the interviews- could you please explain the term ?. Thanks in advance
Member in charge referred to the senior policeman at a particular police station. His rank would vary depending on the size of the station & number of staff. So when liaising with the police you would always discuss things with the MIC. No good discussing plans with the monkey but keeping the monkey handler out of the loop, if you catch my drift
@@calummackenzie1797 Thanks
No way, I got stung by a wasp on the top lip wen I was about 10. We was idiotically throwing rocks at a nest. 🙄 so I deserved it ha.
Hurts like hell hey??
Bloody great interview John, Tony. The incidents that you re-called for us show that the Rhodesian fighting man, be he Special Forces, Regular, or National Serviceman possessed great 'spine', excellent devotion to duty, and utter loyalty to Rhodesia.
Thank you boet, much appreciated!
Great interview Mr van Zyl and thankyou for sharing your story Tony, and thankyou for pointing me to so many great stories, sources, and info about Rhodesia and the many great men and women that did their part for that country. Thankyou. I hope this series continues for as long as all of you men want to talk about everything. Thankyou.
Glad you enjoyed it
Thanks Hermit bless you. Tony
Interesting, Tatenda 🙏👍.
I was at Sprayview with armoured cars during those events, but I didn't take part in any of the action.
Wow, how cool you were there! You must have been as frustrated as me!
Excellent storytelling. The thing with the Rhodesian war is you don't have to be Special forces to have such excellent stories. Everyone was involved in combat.
Thank you Paul, I appreciate your comment very much.
You mention Cpl Dave "Piper" Kruger when you arrived at Wankie. Dave was a good friend. He was in the room next to mine at Walker House, Rhodes University and sat at our table in the dinning hall. Lovely lad. Sadly killed in '76(?) by a mortar. That was the day the war became very real for me.
Dave Kruger with short, blond curly hair? I did not know he went to University. He was killed in a landmine incident while I was in Salisbury having my ear looked at from another landmine I had been in. He was in my platoon and died with two other guys.
@@Toncor12 That was Dave. Also went to Churchill and was a Piper and continued to play the pipes but not in on near the Residence. He did a B.Com and graduated in '74.
@@TheTigerOC - a brave man doing his NS after getting a degree in SA., he could have stayed there or gone overseas. Many NS guys had alternative routes out of their call-ups but chose to fight. We were a unique breed of people I think.
Was wondering if youd pop up on here Tony. Great to see! Superb stuff
Ah cheers boet!!
Tony, great to hear about the events in that part of Rhodesia as the war escalated out of control in the Op Tangent areas. You may not remember me after all these years but I was doing my NS in the BSAP at the time and was based at Kazangula police post during the confrontation with the Zambian army. SO Rob Kemp was member in charge and I was there with another NS guy called Mike Smith. Our little GC/PATU team missed the main event involving you and armoured cars during the day as we were patrolling the main Botswana infiltration point along the Chamabonda vlei to Vic Falls, but I was on the boat with you, Rob and another 4 indep guy whose name I forget, later on that evening. I even lent him my FN for the main event. I operated the Browning 303 machine gun mounted on the police boat when we decided to start our own little naval war with the Zambian army. We certainly managed to set the cat amongst the pigeons that night.
Good Lord Mike I have only just picked up this message a month after you posted it. I sometimes think that night was a figment of my imagination thanks so much for mentioning it, I actually remember it like it happened last night! What a time. A bit naughty but great fun. Rob was a real wild card I thought he was fantastic! You must buy my book called "A walk against the stream" it covers that and other events I was involved in!! On Amazon!
G'day Tony,
Great to hear your story again, I really enjoyed reading your book and your previous you tubes. Glad you're doing well. Cheers my friend Chris
Hey Chris just seen your comment 5 months later!! Sorry about that but thank you so much!!
G'day Tony, no worries on the delayed reply. Always nice to hear from you and that your doing ok. Cheers Chris 👍🏻🍻🇦🇺
@@chrisparkinson1351 God is good my mate, thank you indeed!!
Growing up in Chipinga, I liked history and have also written plenty books on life from the 1970s in Rhodesia until present. Your accent and voice is the same as mine. Cheers.
Two blessed people boet!!
At the end of the day…. A drug free army.
Excellent! Looking forward to 2nd talk.
Cheers my brother!
Splendid, as usual....
Thank you so much 😀
Bless you brother!
Howzit Tony great to see you on FMOR. Could you elaborate more on that guy you were sent out to rescue who was running from the enemy dumping his kit? I think it was you who mentioned it in one of your videos. Many thanks John and Hannes great work as always.
Hey Angry Saxon this does not ring a bell with me. Could you perhaps find it among my talks on Voices of Rhodesian soldiers?
@@Toncor12 part 6 around 15min you mention someone called Crouks but I seem to remember a sentence along the lines of “he was running for the border dropping kit and had a radio.” Might be my imagination. I have watched so many interviews now i must be getting them all mixed up. Take care boet.
@@ledman9135 oh yes we were tasked to intercept a special forces guy at the power lines between caborra bassa and SA as he had got separated from his team and I am pretty sure it was Dennis Croukamp. We did all we could to let him see we were SF but we never intercepted him. We washed off black is beautiful cream, put our caps inside out to show dayglo panels, opened up shirts and rolled up sleeves 'cos at a distance of 80m or so we looked like Frelimo.
@@Toncor12 Thanks for that. Will check it out. Take care.
@@ledman9135 - - you too boet.
Guys!I swear I have seen this before somewere!
My book perhaps? Or my own video series, Voices of Rhodesian soldiers?
Tony did a series of articles for my firearms website a couple of years ago. Possibly there?
Another great Churchill man!
Um ha Um ha chasawaka wa wa waa, illya illya tibuka tat and so our war cry went (more or less lol) 😄
Old boys are called "Bulldogs".
@@alantownsend8022 - Yes, what a great school it was with a very high standard of education.
Well done Tony. Your talk was lucid clear and of great interest. The problem Armoured Cars had getting permission to fire over the border was the same as experienced in Artillery. It drove the gunners wild and COMOPS was called everything evil under the sun. But our time did come.
Thank you Alan and yes, frustrating all around. As far as I was concerned if men in the field needed help it should have been given automatically no matter the consequences.
Thanks For a great interview guys !
Cheers my friend, than you. - Tony
Well done Tony very interesting
Thanks very much boet!!