Africa's Commandos - new book on the RLI

[JMA]

... all dressed up and ready to go.

[JMA]

Lt-Gen John Hickman who was a past CO of the RLI (see bio below). He wrote of his experiences for the book, an extract is as follows:

"It is my belief that there were three significant phases in the development of 1RLI into the potent counter-insurgency force it became. The first was the conversion from basic infantry into a commando role with emphasis on junior leadership, initiative and aggressive action. The next important phase was the full blooding of the battalion in Operation Cauldron which at that time included a comprehensive range of CO1N operations. It also cemented a sound and abiding trust and co-operation with the Air Force in general, and with 7 Squadron, the helicopters, in particular, especially when the dynamic Squadron-Leader Norman Walsh assumed command. The final phase as a reinforcing supplement to the Fire Force concept was the conversion of the entire battalion to parachute troops."

Bio John Hickman:

Born 18 October 1931 in the Police Camp, Bulawayo, eldest son of the late Col A S Hickman, MBE, QPM, formerly Commissioner of the British South Africa Police, and Mrs Mary Hickman. Educated at St George’s College, Salisbury. Attested into the Southern Rhodesia Staff Corps in1951 where he served until commissioned in 1954 and posted to 1st Battalion the Northern Rhodesia Regiment (1NRR). Served in Malaya with the 2nd Battalion The Kings African Rifles from 1954/56 and received the Award of the Military Cross for Gallantry and Distinguished Service through action as a platoon commander. Served in various training and staff appointments until attending the British Army Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, England in 1963. Posted to 1RLI as battalion 2IC on 1 December 1966 and then appointed CO 1RLI on 23 August 1968 where he served until 1July 1970 when he was once again posted to Army HQ. He assumed Command of 2 Bde on 15 October 1972. Appointed Commander 1 Bde on 7 May 1974. Posted to Army HQ on 26 January 1975 and appointed Chief of Staff. Promoted to Lieutenant-General and appointed Commander Rhodesian Army on 14 May 1977. Retired on 7 March 1979 and passed away on 28 October 2011.

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Innocence already lost...

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A commander reflects :

So what made 3Cdo so special for me? Success yes, being at the right place at the right time, yes yes yes. We had great troop commanders and just who they were at the time made a significant and substantial impact. However, the role played by our CSM, our sergeants and corporals, from top to bottom, just had to be the difference. They were the continuity, the professional soldiers, and the people who kept the culture, professionalism and family together over the long haul. It is they we were indebted to for what made 3Cdo.

A matter not often realised or considered at the time was “what impact and effect does such a job have on a person?” We had many a man who came out of recruit course and within a matter of days was being shot at, seeing death in its gory military form and having to shoot to kill people. With the services of men doing their national call-up, this also meant that some had just completed their schooling prior to their basic training. For such boys who became men and had to operate with hardened and experienced soldiers and the Fire Force, it was about doing this task every day. For the troop commanders it was about making these new soldiers a part of four-man effective fighting units. When there were only four men in a unit there were many considerations of where to put new and unknown soldiers. Going to sleep at night knowing what you had to do and face the next day in the FF was not something that many people could do, day in and day out. In hindsight I would like to think that it was for these very reasons that we lived and behaved the way we did and created our 3Cdo family which I have outlined above.

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The Freedom of the City of Salisbury was granted to The Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) on 25 July 1975.

In a message to the citizens of Salisbury, The Mayor, Councillor G H Tanser made these comments the day before the event:

“The conferment of the Freedom of the City by the Salisbury City Council is an acknowledgement of the exceptional service The Rhodesian Light Infantry has rendered to our city and our country.

When the men of The First Battalion of The Rhodesian Light Infantry, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel David Parker, march through the streets of our city tomorrow, with their bayonets fixed, drums beating, bands playing and colours flying, to receive the high honour accorded to them, it is hoped that you, the citizens of Salisbury, will turn out to welcome and applaud these valiant soldiers, the guardians of our welfare and safety.”

[JMA]

Photos:

Battalion CO - Lt-Col David Parker - with his 2IC - Maj Boet Swart - (on his left) lead the RLI through the city.


The ouens:

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This corporal said... "It wasn’t a bad war, really."

... The choppers were warming up and we got aboard. I put on my headphones which stick leaders used to listen in to the K-Car conversation and orders; also to listen to Radio 5 from the good old South Africa. That was a bonus and took your mind off things, plus the pilot chatter would break in on the music so nothing was lost. Well not much anyway. I remember flying into one scene and while I listened to a tune called ‘Some girls will’, the Lynx had dropped a fran (naplam) on a thickly-covered rocky area from which spurted a very fiery gook running like crazy until he dropped. He was forever remembered as ‘Flaming Fury’; and never forgotten actually. It was quite a sight.

Off we went, the K-Car with Major Price in the lead and the rest of the chopper sticks following in a loose formation. I can’t remember the flying time, probably about 15 to 20 minutes but that was my favourite part of the call-out: looking out of the chopper at the other aircraft flying into battle gave me a sense of exhilaration. It’s just a shame Radio 5 never played a James Bond tune just at that time; would have been brilliant. I say I enjoyed flying … well I did and I didn’t. Yes, it was exciting but it was also a bit scary; you see, it wasn’t the people-shooting-at-you bit so much as I am not great with heights … especially heights where you were going to fall a very long way to the ground. I’d spent a year as an MAG gunner hanging out of the side of choppers and didn’t enjoy it at all. Nope, I was quite comfortable as a stick leader listening to the radio, sitting between the helicopter technician / gunner and my MAG gunner. If the chopper banked too steeply they’d fall out first. (To the best of my knowledge this never happened.)

All too quickly the pilot raised his open hand: 5 minutes out. There was (for me) a strange rise and fall of adrenaline with call-outs: when the siren goes you are full of it, but when you are flying into the contact area it seems to go away until you get the fingers; that’s when the nerves and adrenaline really kick in and you can see it on everyone’s face. But the strange thing is; when you get on the ground and you are doing your job: no nerves at all. Weird. And that’s where we were, on the ground, and we started to sweep toward a rocky outcrop. We had started to come across a few suspect hidey-holes which we cleared with grenades along the way.

Trooper Wade however had a case of bad time-keeping and nearly blew my head off. One of the small caves had holes front and back but we could not see inside. To be sure, I put Wade at one end and told him on my command to count to 3 and chuck the grenade in, while I would do the same from my end. My grenade went in and bang. I waited a good two seconds and presumed they’d gone off exactly together. No. They hadn’t. I looked inside the cave to have a shufti and bang! The best laid plans … I think Wade is still on guard duty in Mtoko.

We approached quite a large outcrop and this is where the gooks had holed up. Theo Nel’s stick had got there first and we had a quick chat about what to do next. Best thing to do sometimes is get some civvies in to talk to the gooks; the gooks never actually take any heed of the advice to come out but you often get an idea of where they are in the cave when they first shout at the civvy and then, secondly, shoot him. So two were duly sprung from a nearby kraal, sent into the cave, got shouted at and then shot.

“Anyone know what the population of that kraal was?” But, we had a vague idea of where the gooks were and I told Theo I was going to put a bunker bomb in.
“No, I’ll do it” he said.
“Hey! My idea!”
“Okay, we’ll both do it then.”

Oh, diplomacy. Don’t you just love it! Our position was above and facing the cave entrance and although we were directly in front of the cave we were reasonably safe as anyone attempting to break for it or try and give us a ‘rev’ would be seen well before anything could happen and instantly cut down. We went slowly and silently to the cave entrance. I threw my hefty bunker bomb in first, then Theo threw his and we quickly took cover to the side of the cave mouth. Two powerful explosions went off one after the other and we waited a few seconds. But before we could go inside and check the damage an RPD started chattering again so we decided to wait and think about coming up with a plan B.

This was obviously an established hideout for the gooks; we had found anti-aircraft DIY kits consisting of three stick grenades with the pull-rings attached to nails laid over a small amount of plastic explosive. The theory being that if the explosive detonated the stick grenades would be blasted into the sky, detonating in the air. I wasn’t going to experiment as it all looked highly unsafe. We needed to cover all escape routes from the cave and I took my stick to the top of the outcrop where there was a long narrow opening about a metre wide. It was from this opening that the gooks were giving it stick with the RPD as the K-Car circled pretty low overhead. I called up the K-Car and told him that they were being revved. Major Price replied curtly: “I bloody well know we are!” I left it at that.

We had thoughts of crawling up to the top cave opening and dropping grenades but there was quite a good RPD gunner in there and we didn’t know what was between our position and the opening. But, a few minutes later, for want of no other plan or strategy I decided to crawl over and dropped an M-962 in the crack. The grenade got lodged in rocks before it could drop to the cave floor and the RPD gunner took offence. Close thing! All this went on for some time and the afternoon was changing rapidly to evening; it was time to go home for as sure as eggs are eggs there’d be another call-out at first light and we couldn’t be tied up here. Not to mention the fact that we were completely knackered by now.

Two 1 Commando sticks plus a stick led by Paul Abbott, a very experienced ex-3 Commando ouen, arrived to take over. Paul had been the 14 Troop Sergeant before leaving us and was a good friend of mine. The 1 Commando sticks had been out on deployment operating with the Strike Force contingent which must have been nearby. For most of my army life, whatever was going on was a mystery and I hardly ever knew what the story was really. I sometimes wondered who did.

Rex Harding, one of the other stick leaders from 1 Commando, greeted me outside the cave with: “Budgie, if you laugh I’m going to hit you.” I knew Rex from our Troopie-to-Corporal course back in late ’78. I wasn’t going to laugh at all as the poor buggers must have been really pissed off after getting pulled in off a deployment where they’d probably been walking for miles … just to look after our scene. Paul Abbott joined us and asked for a sitrep.

“So the gooks are in there and that is the cave entrance?”
“Yep.”
“So why are we standing in front of it?”
“Good question.”

I explained that due to the nature of the cave the gooks were around a corner in the cave, couldn’t see us and vice versa. Plus there were three openings: the immediate one to our front, the crack above and to the right of us, plus another farther down below the outcrop which another stick had been dealing with. I suggested that the best ambush pozzy was probably a little back from where we stood and left them to it. Totsiens.

And off we went to steak, beer and bed. It wasn’t a bad war, really. ...

[JMA]

... but watch out for the sergeant major ... he probably doesn't have a sense of humour



Artwork by Peter Badcock

[JMA]

Nowhere to hide

I watch my children run and play
suddenly my mind is dragged back
to another time and different place
to the one’s I took away.

Huddled, cuddled beneath a blanket
a breathing, twitching mound
ignoring every bellowed command
the dusty lump made no sound.

God in the K-Car had made it clear
gooks dressed as women are in hiding,
this village is one for burning
and everyone is fair game here.

Should that include something alive
concealed in a corner of this hut,
that holds no immediate threat?
“ Absolutely ! No if’s or buts’! “

Somewhere close, rifle – fire spat out
taking us to our haunches
causing movement from the blanket
“ GET UP ! STAND UP ! “ I began to shout.

The shroud in the corner
had not moved at all
a full ten seconds or more
since I made the ceasefire call.

I lifted the smoking cloth
with the barrel of my weapon,
peeking , seeking what lay beneath
that which had faced our wrath.

Three entwined little bodies lay there
the oldest probably six,
no gook dressed in drag
one still clutched a shepherd stick.

A scream formed within me
but it had no voice,
for I knew this is what I’d see
yet still I made the choice.

My son shouts for me to go in goal
as I rise upon my feet,
his eager, smiling face looking at me
his father, who will never be complete.

Mark Goss Condon
Lincolnshire , 1993

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Things a pilot should watch out for when landing on a public road...



Message to pilot... "the squadron leader wants to see you in his office immediately!"

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The second to last CO of the RLI - Lt-Col Tufty Bate - recalls:

A truce with the Police

Generally we combined well with Special Branch of the BSAP (British South African Police) but our soldiers had no time whatsoever for the uniform and traffic branch. Commandos returning from operations invariably painted Salisbury red on their R&R. This normally included taking out various long haired non-combatant civilians who were seen as draft dodgers and usually took place in the various nightclubs in Salisbury such as Coq d’Or and Bretts. On many occasions the police riot squad was called in to quell the restless mob. Eventually I received a call from my old mate Senior Assistant Commissioner Pat McCullough requesting a truce between the police and RLI. Thereafter we arranged for an RLI officer to be on standby when soldiers hit town to defuse a situation before it got nasty.

Oh boy...

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...the lads could put it away!

Tom Davidson explains:

RLI drinks breweries dry

Reg Edwards who took over as CO from John Salt in 1963, loved his golf and in the evenings could be found practising on one of the many sports fields in the barracks. I believe he initiated the nine-hole course which was constructed near by the prison. At weekends he moved to the Salisbury South course and soon became firm friends with a number of the farmers in the area. It was not surprising, therefore, that Salisbury South was selected as the area where we would undertake our battlecamp for the year. It was also not surprising that Battalion HQ was set up close to the course and the clubhouse with its excellent ablution facilities. Needless to say, the CO’s handicap improved during this period. The rest of us were scattered around in company areas on the various farms. Peter Rich was 2i/c of HQ Company and one of his tasks for the camp was to set up a central canteen from which sub-units would draw their stocks. Soon after placing his order with the breweries, he was contacted by the manager and asked if the unit really needed such a large supply of beer. Peter advised that he would rather have too much than have to carry out a resupply run during the week and, in any case, it was hot weather and the lads could put it away. On day three, a resupply was necessary which took care of the total beer stocks in Salisbury and a very embarrassed breweries manager was thereafter frantically pulling in stocks from elsewhere.

[JMA]

Something soldiers know so well...

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... from those who were involved in the proof reading of the book:

From Ian Macfarlane - one time troop commander and now hot-shot international destination marketing consultant with MBA:

Hi Mark,

I have now finished reading the book, as part of the ‘sub-editing’ project.

I must say that I often wished that I hadn’t been sub-editing; I got myself engrossed in the stories and often neglected the task at hand, having then to go back many pages and focus on the editing task !

The book is a fantastic account, it oozes authenticity and provides a strong human dimension to the regiment’s history. The range of writing styles and experiences truly capture one’s attention. The mosaic of stories provides for a compelling read, not only for military types but also for all those interested in the human condition

All the contributors need to be applauded for their efforts and time. They certainly add great value to the RLI narrative.

Best regards
Ian

and from Rob Marsh - one time National Service conscript and later Chartered Accountant, now happily retired at 56:

Hi Mark and Chris,

After having spent the best part of the last two weeks proof reading this book I would like to say what an outstanding job the two of you have done. The whole book is very professionally put together and I believe provides a great history of the Battalion from inception to the end through the eyes and words of the people involved.

Though when proof reading one reads with a different mindset than when sitting down to enjoy a good book, I found the articles from the ouens, of all ranks and times, both interesting and great reading. All of the articles were important in that they brought out different aspects of the RLI as seen by the people at the time and they put you right back into that time.

During my involvement with the project, from helping choose some of the pictures with Chris and proof reading the book, many memories were dredged up from the recesses of my mind, some were disturbing and led to bouts of introspection and sadness whilst others of course were humerous and uplifting. All in all though I found my whole involvement very cathartic and I must thank you all for letting me be involved.

Mark and Chris great job and I think the end product is excellent and is of the quality expected from a regiment like the RLI and of which you can be very proud of. It is a great testament to a fine regiment.

Thank you
Rob

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... from back in the day... requesting an invitation from the "boys in the bush" - as the gooks liked to be called.

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The date was 6 September 1979, and the tragic helicopter crash had occurred earlier that day on the Operation codenamed Uric by the Rhodesians, and Bootlace by the SA forces called in to support their embattled neighbours. Due to the extreme pressure of the battle, and the unacceptably high risks involved in attempting to recover the bodies of the dead men, the Rhodesian forces were forced, for the first time in the history of their counter-insurgency war, to leave their dead where they had fallen; in a quiet forgotten corner of a foreign land.

This was to be the highest death toll in a single operation in the entire history of the war:

Three South African Air Force (SAAF) aircrew;
Five Rhodesian Engineers;
Nine men of the RLI.

Everything happened so quickly, and the helicopters were all flying so low and so fast, that the eye witnesses on board the other aircraft say that they heard two loud, almost simultaneous bangs, and by the time they looked across, all that could be seen of Hotel Four was a rapidly-forming pall of black, oily smoke billowing skywards from the ball of flame on the ground. The shocked pilots called in the tragedy to the Command Dakota, and one of the Bell pilots immediately dropped his troops to search for survivors. The rest of the helicopters were ordered to continue on to Mapai.

The 1Cdo troops dropped beyond the crash site by the Bell, led by 2nd Lt Gavin Wehlburg and 2nd Lt Wayne Grant, advanced cautiously back towards the crash site, but met with no opposition, and saw no locals. The whole area was eerily deserted, and strangely silent.

The wreck of the Puma was found in a sparse tree line at the edge of a grassy clearing, next to a main gravel road. Immediately the soldiers realised that there could have been no survivors. The helicopter was totally destroyed, with only the engines remaining relatively intact. The bodies of the men on board Puma 164 had been scattered around the crash site by the impact of the aircraft and the subsequent explosion, and were reportedly still intact, but unrecognizably burnt. They had all died instantly in the searing heat of the explosions.

[JMA]

... in a war and had to bury their own experience that burning pain that never subsides.

[JMA]

Robert Clifford (another yank who served) recalls:

“I heard a single shot fired and saw Russell Poole fall to the ground as if pole-axed. As we started to run towards them, I saw Mike kneeling by the side of a hut firing into the doorway of another nearby hut. Shots were being fired back at him from inside this hut. As we arrived next to him, Mike threw a white phosphorus grenade at the other hut which landed in the straw roof. The roof began to burn.

As this was going on I began to treat Poole as he lay next to the first hut while Mike and Nigel continued to fire into the door of the other hut attempting to kill the gook inside. The roof of the other hut erupted into a blaze which jumped across to the roof of the hut that we were sheltering behind. The roof began to blaze and the heat became so intense that we had to withdraw.

As Nigel covered us with continued gunfire, Mike and I dragged Poole back along a path, away from the fire. Russell Poole was a big fellow, well over six feet and weighing around 190–200lbs. Mike Roussouw was a big strong guy while I was small and light. Even with both of us pulling, we struggled with his dead weight and all of his equipment to move him. The fire became so intense that at one point we both dropped him and ran to get away from it.

Fortunately for my peace of mind all of these years later, we both immediately turned back and finally managed to pull him away from the now disintegrating hut. I don’t know where we found the strength but we managed to pull him some 20 or 30 feet away where I could work on him. Mike then ran back to join Nigel as I began desperately to try to save Poole’s life.

After getting his shirt and kit off, I saw that he had been hit in both lungs. I sealed both the exit and entrance wounds and got a drip up on him. I then managed somehow to pull him up into a sitting position against a tree so that the blood would drain into the bottom of his lungs as I had been taught in medic school. I watched as his face became white and his lips blue and I knew I was losing him. I dragged him back down into a lying position and started to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but to no avail. He died there in that valley, the fourth of our troop that bush trip. I believe he was only 18 at the time.”

[JMA]

Providing the CAS on Fire Force operations:

[Firn]

Robert Clifford (another yank who served) recalls:
After getting his shirt and kit off, I saw that he had been hit in both lungs. I sealed both the exit and entrance wounds and got a drip up on him. I then managed somehow to pull him up into a sitting position against a tree so that the blood would drain into the bottom of his lungs as I had been taught in medic school. I watched as his face became white and his lips blue and I knew I was losing him. I dragged him back down into a lying position and started to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but to no avail. He died there in that valley, the fourth of our troop that bush trip. I believe he was only 18 at the time.”

How good was the training given in medic school? How was the first aid/combat care organized later in the war? In this example it seems that one of the stick, the author, was able to give quickly competent help. The whole stick performed according to this account well, doing seemingly a pretty good job.

With both lungs collapsed the chances of survival should have been very small indeed, especially there and then.

Thanks