Well its nearly 30 years she gave in to the Communist insurgents sobs....

So the RLI, RSAS; Selous Scouts, BSAP and pthers tha twas the mainstay of the great African country went into fame and eternal rembereance.

http://www.memoriesofrhodesia.com/

http://www.thenewrbc.com/pages/music.html

Here is some good music from Rhodesia.

And now to the topic.

The RLI was that also almost the Foreign Legion as they accepted foreign vouleenters like the French foreign legion has.

I`ve just wondered on it since on School we heard very little about Rhodesia, but much about the great leader Mugabe and Mandela.....yeahh youre right....

I had the pleasure to serve with the RLI from '77 to the end, met quite a few "crippled eagles" who I came to regard as friends. Apart from a couple of GSW's and the loss of a few friends the meories are good.
What a shambles that once great country has descended into, from the bread basket of Africa to a country run by basket cases in a few decades. If you really want to f*** up a country, turn it red.

Ok so you served with the Saints. how was that compared to being in an other army unit, i agree with you it was a tragedy that the socialist did to get Mugabe in power, or was it the Soviets that got him there?

Hopefully Zimbabwe will have learnt now as the finacial and nutrional crisis erupt as an volcano gone wild.

rhodesia had many good millitary unit, the Selous, RLI ,SAS , this should be an subject in school, but from an country that has engulfed the RED color for 80 years its difficult.

I was in 3 Commando, along with quite a few non-Rhodies. Had a few Americans, some ex-Nam others just looking for a fight. Several killed, others went on to die in other conficts or whilst working private contracts. Mainly ex-marines, paras, SF's.
They used Fireforce for internal ops, combined with operations in bordering countries. Good at what they did, which was basic COIN warefare.
But it was expensive, both in dollars and lives - RSA had a lot to do with ending it, then offered jobs to the vets (32 Bat, etc).
Bob describes himself as a liberator, but I have heard other descriptions.

I have heard that Norwegians served there, and many more served Rhodesia well agisnt the commies .

In SOF also there has been a lot of writing and they helped out with inspiration and so also.

The broadcast over here called it nothing good except when "Robbin bobbie " was mentioned then they started to speak of a charismatic leader , bla, bla, but its the same people that liked Mao and Pol Pot so much also....

How was ot to serve there in those days, and would it have been better off without Zimbabwe?.

This thread shouild probably be in the political posts!
As far as I recall, RSA, UK, French, US, Aussies, Canadians, plus one or two from other nations, but the order is in order of numbers. I met an Inuit, Alaskan, Swiss, Swede, Belgian plus a few other nations, but no Norwegians. The french contingent served as a unit, apart from one who served with 3 CDO - they were disbanded following an incident, but went on to stage a coup in Cameroon (or somewhere similar). Wierd bunch.

quote:

Originally posted by jerry o'brien:
The french contingent served as a unit, apart from one who served with 3 CDO - they were disbanded following an incident, but went on to stage a coup in Cameroon (or somewhere similar). Wierd bunch.

Perhaps you mean Bob Denard's group? Could the country be the Comoros?

It certainly was, though I can not recall the country involved. Had the impression it was about diamonds, but it is quite a few years ago now.
Did you know Bob? I only spoke to him once, though I knew some of the individuals in the unit (Jean D, etc)

If there were diamonds involved you are thinking about his two excursions in Katanga, Congo. This thread is too limited to discuss it. Suffice to say that Denard is the most famous French mercernary, employed by MI6 as well as Jacques Foccart (France) for several operations in Africa.

GOD BLESS RHODESIA

AND IAN SMITH.

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:

quote:

Originally posted by jerry o'brien:
The french contingent served as a unit, apart from one who served with 3 CDO - they were disbanded following an incident, but went on to stage a coup in Cameroon (or somewhere similar). Wierd bunch.

Perhaps you mean Bob Denard's group? Could the country be the Comoros?

Not Denard.
There was a group of French who joined individually what I think was rhodesian light infantry or a specific commando.
I met one of these guys in 1980.

Some did serve individually, but only after an incident that resulted in the group being withdrawn from service. Up to that point, they were an independent group serving with and paid by the Rhodesian government.
The incident occured in about 1977 and following that some did serve with the RLI, but most of the group went on to be involved in a coup. The groups length of service in Rhodesia was quite short.

I have some friends all PHs and ex SF operators from Rhodesia,Namibia and south africa ,they sent me a lot of information regarding this matter ,we studied this bush figthers while in the army and we consider them the best of the best.One of the causes we found is that they used trained vets ,local farmers and hunters .The group of PHs and trackers commanded by DANIEL ROXO was one of the best they fougth in all southern africa .Our friend DON HEATH can inform more on this .Juan

quote:

The RLI was that also almost the Foreign Legion as they accepted foreign vouleenters like the French foreign legion has.

Well, the Legion was (may still be) composed of foreign enlisted personnel exclusively (at least at one time, no French citizen could enlist), BUT ALL their commissioned officers were French. In addition, the Legion was prohibited from being stationed inside Metropolitan France.