A member of Stop I recalls enemy running beneath his para descent, and after landing in short grass, his stop managed to deal with 30-40 enemy who had blundered into them, probably exiting Camp C.
A little while later Stop 2 was ordered to advance on Camp B. Shortly after moving from the DZ Jackson recalls, “A couple of us noticed what looked like a lone man hiding behind a tree 500m to our front. Sweeping forward we suddenly found ourselves confronted by a large calibre black barrel in a fortified trench system. It was a 75mm recoilless rifle, pointed straight at us!” Stop 2 destroyed the weapon and continued with their advance, killing about 40-50 enemy before arriving at the outskirts of Camp B.
Meanwhile Stop 1 had been ordered to advance on Camp C, coming across limited opposition on the way. Many enemy had climbed into trees to escape the K-Cars and Golf bombs and the ground troops and aircraft were being constantly sniped at. After numerous skirmishes, eventually Stop 1 arrived at the outskirts of Camp C. Henson found, “I had next to me (as I subsequently had an all externals) Cpl Russell Phillips, SCR, with an MAG, my reasoning being that he had more than enough courage for both of us and I wasn't feeling particularly brave anyway!”
At this stage, the tally for Sp Cdo was about 90 ZANLA kills. “Under instruction from the command helicopter we continued our advance,” recounts Jackson. “We also ended up firing at Stop 1 who had slowed in their advance”. Stop 1 were kept active, not only by occasional fire from Stop 2, but with periodic firefights until the riverbank had been reached. Sergeant (Sgt) Graham Enslin picks up Stop 2’s story, “A captured enemy cadre led us to an AA position where there were 2 or 3 12.7mm weapons plus ammunition abandoned in a fortified trench. On instruction, we readied them for uplift out of the area”.
Stop 1, having reached the river, proceeded to search the huts, destroy weapons and gather documentation. Whilst waiting for Special Branch officers to arrive for an assessment, Henson recalls sitting under a large tamarind-type tree, when Cpl Phillips suddenly yelled out, “Watch out Sir!” and began revving the foliage with his MAG. Out fell a number of ZANLA cadres who landed at his OC’s feet. Henson, in surprise and confusion, recalled, “I immediately awarded Russell Phillips with every medal I could think of, whilst at the same time reprimanding him for waking a sleeping officer!”
Stops 1 and 2 then joined together, wheeled right and began sweeping upstream on the right-hand bank of the river. A considerable number of enemy were eliminated as they progressed, all hiding in a large latrine complex and in the various huts which were torched, as well as in the thickly-vegetated tree-line. This sweep, which covered a few kilometres was eventually halted by Airborne Command at a weapons pit which contained an 80mm mortar, and on instruction this weapon plus others were destroyed.
Stop 3 (SAS) then swept southward to meet Stops 1 and 2 who had been instructed to prepare for uplift. “The SAS continued to engage and eliminate small pockets of resistance,” recalls Neill Jackson, “but our evacuation had begun in earnest.”
The extraction involved the troops being lifted back to their parachutes at about 1420hrs, packing and then backloading them by G-Car. Stop 2, on completion of this exercise, were the first to be uplifted.
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