Selous Scouts by Peter Baxter

Author:Peter Baxter
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781908916020
Publisher: Helion and Company
Published: 2011-12-26T16:00:00+00:00

Selous Scout mortar teams stand by in Gaza Province, Mozambique.

John Murphy rests up during an external raid.

An air force resupply C-47 Dakota comes in to land at Mapai. A Dakota was later shot down here on take-off.

Goggled and bearded, a fearsome sight. This Unimog is mounted with. 50-calibre Browning machine guns and a 20mm cannon.

A Selous Scout flying column follows the Cabora Bassa powerlines.

And so it was. In June 1976, Operation Long John played out. This was a far more aggressive attack than at any time hitherto, aimed at the Mozambican settlements of Mapai and Chicualacuala. These two nominal towns were situated on the northern bank of the Limpopo River and both were home to large ZANLA transit facilities. The operation involved 58 Selous Scouts travelling in four trucks, with an additional two members dropped off in the contiguous South African Kruger National Park posing as tourists. From here the two slipped through the border fence and made their way overland the short distance to Mapai.

Chicualacuala was situated 20 miles inland from the Rhodesian border and Mapai 25 miles farther. The main target was Mapai and much peripheral damage was achieved en route before the column entered the ZANLA camp almost by invitation of a witless sentry. Once inside, sappers set about destroying 13 Mercedes Benz buses used to transport ZANLA guerrillas to the border. One bus was spared to transport captured armaments back to Rhodesia. What could not be hauled away was destroyed. Nineteen guerrillas were reported killed with another 18 wounded.

The death was also recorded of Selous Scout WOII Jannie Nel and the severe wounding of Lieutenant Dale Collett who was left paralyzed after being shot in the back.

One notable effect of this diversification of the Selous Scouts from pure pseudo operations was the increased need for more infantry-type soldiers, which resulted in a recruitment drive directed mainly at the territorial battalions of the Rhodesia Regiment.

The initial crop of territorials introduced into the regiment— those that had attracted a little of Reid-Daly’s contempt—had by then won the respect of the regulars who, it must be said, could be guilty at times of a narrow field of vision. According to the late Captain Johne Fletcher: ‘We ended up with an astonishing cross-section of the population, from the unemployed to chartered accountants, doctors, veterinarians, farmers, lawyers, tradesmen and one or two individuals with no visible means of support but who drove nice cars.’11

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