Author: Neil Grant Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 1472809637 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 68
Book Description
The 1st Battalion, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, was one of the most innovative and successful counter-insurgency units in modern history. Formed as a commando battalion in 1964 after the dissolution of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, the RLI was an all-white unit made up of South Africans and men from the UK, Europe and US. It was a key weapon in independent Rhodesia's struggle against the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army and Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army during the bloody Rhodesian Bush War. This comprehensive study explores the unit's dramatic history, revealing the RLI's fearsome airborne and combat capacity, which gave the unit, at times, near total tactical superiority against its opponents.
Author: Neil Grant Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 1472809645 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 161
Book Description
The 1st Battalion, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, was one of the most innovative and successful counter-insurgency units in modern history. Formed as a commando battalion in 1964 after the dissolution of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, the RLI was an all-white unit made up of South Africans and men from the UK, Europe and US. It was a key weapon in independent Rhodesia's struggle against the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army and Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army during the bloody Rhodesian Bush War. This comprehensive study explores the unit's dramatic history, revealing the RLI's fearsome airborne and combat capacity, which gave the unit, at times, near total tactical superiority against its opponents.
Author: Peter Abbott Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 1849089620 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 110
Book Description
The Rhodesian War of 1965–80 is the battle for control of present day Zimbabwe. The former British colony of Southern Rhodesia rejected British moves towards majority rule and on 11 November 1965 the Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith announced his country's Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. That act sparked a series of violent encounters between the traditional colonial army and the African guerilla insurgents of the Patriotic Front. This book examines the successes and failures of the counter-insurgency campaign of Smith's security forces and the eventual bloody birth of a modern African nation.
Author: Kerrin Cocks Publisher: Helion and Company ISBN: 1910294055 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 73
Book Description
On 11 November 1965, Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith unilaterally declared his country independent of Britain. International sanctions were immediately instituted against the minority white regime as Robert Mugabe's ZANLA and Joshua Nkomo's ZIPRA armies commenced their armed struggle, the Chimurenga, the war of liberation. As Communist-trained guerrillas flooded the country, the beleaguered Rhodesians, hard-pressed for manpower and military resources, were forced to devise new and innovative methods to combat the insurgency. Fire Force was their answer. Fire Force as a military concept dates from 1974 when the Rhodesian Air Force (RhAF) acquired the French MG151 20mm cannon from the Portuguese. Visionary RhAF and Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) officers expanded on the idea of a 'vertical envelopment' of the enemy, with the 20mm cannon being the principal weapon of attack, mounted in an Alouette III K-Car ('Killer car'), supported by ground troops deployed from G-Cars (Alouette III troop-carrying gunships and latterly Bell 'Hueys') and parachuted from DC-3 Dakotas. In support would be a propeller-driven ground-attack aircraft armed with front guns, pods of napalm, white phosphorus rockets and a variety of Rhodesian-designed bombs; on call would be Canberra bombers, Hawker Hunter and Vampire jets. In spite of the overwhelming number of enemy pitted against them, Rhodesian Fire Forces accounted for thousands of enemy guerrillas, with a kill ratio exceeding 80:1. At the end of the war, ZANLA generals admitted their army could not have survived another year in the field-in no small part due to the ruthless efficiency of the Fire Forces, described by Charles D. Melson, the Chief Historian of the U.S. Marine Corps, as the ultimate "killing machine".
Author: Ian Knight Publisher: Osprey Publishing ISBN: 9781841766485 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Their lifestyle of hunting for sport and profit honed the Boers' skills of field-craft, horsemanship, and marksmanship, making them a formidable force in the field and well suited to guerrilla operations. This book describes the life and combat experiences of a typical Boer in this key period. Using meticulously researched analysis and comment, and the experiences of a composite character, Johannes de Bruyn, a revealing portrait of Boer life and military operations is drawn. The actions at Laing's Neck, Majuba, the Zulu Civil War and the Second Anglo-Boer War are covered in this packed and informative treatment.
Author: Peter Baxter Publisher: Helion and Company ISBN: 1909982377 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 74
Book Description
It has been over three decades since the Union Jack was lowered on the colony of Rhodesia, but the bitter and divisive civil war that preceded it has continued to endure as a textbook counterinsurgency campaign fought between a mobile, motivated and highly trained Rhodesian security establishment and two constituted liberations movements motivated, resourced and inspired by the ideals of communist revolution in the third world. A complicated historical process of occupation and colonization set the tone as early as the late 1890s for what would at some point be an inevitable struggle for domination of this small, landlocked nation set in the southern tropics of Africa. The story of the Rhodesian War, or the Zimbabwean Liberation Struggle, is not only an epic of superb military achievement, and revolutionary zeal and fervor, but is the tale of the incompatibility of the races in southern Africa, a clash of politics and ideals and, perhaps more importantly, the ongoing ramifications of the past upon the present, and the social and political scars that a war of such emotional underpinnings as the Rhodesian conflict has had on the modern psyche of Zimbabwe. The Rhodesian War was fought with finely tuned intelligence-gathering and -analysis techniques combined with a fluid and mobile armed response. The practitioners of both have justifiably been celebrated in countless histories, memoirs and campaign analyses, but what has never been attempted has been a concise, balanced and explanatory overview of the war, the military mechanisms and the social and political foundations that defined the crisis. This book does all of that. The Rhodesian War is explained in digestible detail and in a manner that will allow enthusiasts of the elements of that struggle - the iconic exploits of the Rhodesian Light Infantry, the SAS, the Selous Scouts, the Rhodesian African Rifles, the Rhodesia Regiment, among other well-known fighting units - to embrace the wider picture in order to place the various episodes in context
Author: Paul L. Moorcraft Publisher: Stackpole Books ISBN: 0811707253 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 242
Book Description
- The vicious conflict (1964-79) that brought Robert Mugabe to power in Zimbabwe - Expert coverage of the war, its historical context, and its aftermath - Descriptions of guerrilla warfare, counterinsurgency operations, and actions by units like Grey's Scouts Amid the colonial upheaval of the 1960s, Britain urged its colony in Southern Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe) to grant its black residents a greater role in governing the territory. The white-minority government refused and soon declared its independence, a move bitterly opposed by the black majority. The result was the Rhodesian Bush War, which pitted the government against black nationalist groups, one of which was led by Robert Mugabe. Marked by unspeakable atrocities, the war ended in favor of the nationalists.
Author: Charles D. Melson Publisher: Casemate Academic ISBN: 1952715075 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 353
Book Description
This military study examines the evolution of the Rhodesian armed services during the complex conflicts of the Cold War era. Through the 1960s and 1970s, Africa endured a series of conflicts involving Rhodesia, South Africa, and Portugal in conflict with the Frontline States. The Cold War brought outside influences, including American interest at the diplomatic, economic, and social level. In Fighting for Time, military historian Charles D. Melson sheds new light on this complex and consequential period through analysis of the Rhodesian military. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, Melson examines the Rhodesian military’s evolution into a special operations force conducting intelligence-driven operations. Along the way, he identifies key lessons to be learned from this low-intensity conflict at the level of “tactics, techniques, and procedures.” Melson looks closely at the military response to the emerging revolutionary threat and the development of general and special-purpose units. He addresses the critical use of airpower as a force multiplier supporting civil, police, and army efforts ranging from internal security and border control to internal and external combat operations; the necessity of full-time joint command structures; and the escalation of cross-border attacks and unconventional responses as the conflict evolved.
Author: Madueño, Miguel Publisher: IGI Global ISBN: 166847042X Category : History Languages : en Pages : 326
Book Description
Colonial wars have been a very active part of 19th and 20th century history and their importance has often been overlooked. Their study and analysis, in order to understand the contemporary world and current international relations, is as necessary as it is interesting. Examining Colonial Wars and Their Impact on Contemporary Military History approaches the phenomenon of colonial wars with the intention of understanding the most immediate past in order to analyze the contemporary and current scenarios with new tools. It contributes to the dissemination of content without neglecting the considerations of social sciences and history, with a compilation and analytical character. Covering topics such as black-market armaments, imperialism, and military history, this premier reference source is a dynamic resource for historians, anthropologists, sociologists, government officials, students and educators of higher education, librarians, researchers, and academicians.
Author: Ian Castle Publisher: Osprey Publishing ISBN: 9781841765556 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
For many people the epitome of the British soldier of the late Victorian period is the Redcoat who fought in southern Africa in the 1870s. This title covers the key period of the wars against the Zulu and Boers; the dramatic battles of Rorke's Drift, Isandlwana, Ulundi, Laing's Nek and Majuba are some of the most famous engagements in the history of the British Army. The journey of the British soldier from the back streets of Britain's inner cities, to the isolated rock outcrop of Isandlwana and the mountain top of Majuba is one of discipline, devotion, loyalty, bravery, determination and sheer hard-work. It is a journey from which many men never returned.
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Author: Neil Grant
Author: Neil Grant
Author: Peter Abbott
Author: Kerrin Cocks
Author: Ian Knight
Author: Peter Baxter
Author: Paul L. Moorcraft
Author: Charles D. Melson
Author: Madueño, Miguel
Author: Ian Castle