Assignment Selous Scouts: Inside Story of a Rhodesian Special Branch Officer - Jim Parker~In 1968 Jim Parker attested in the British South Africa Police as a patrol officer, leaving five years later with the rank of section officer to pursue a career as a sugar farmer in Rhodesia 's Lowveld. When the bush war on the eastern border heated up in 1976 he was already a Police A Reserve section officer. His intimate local knowledge of the Chiredzi area led top him providing an invaluable contribution by assisting with the initial military deployments, this resulted in him being invited to join the exclusive Special Branch unit attached to the Selous Scouts.
While serving with them he was involved in the hunt for ZANLA guerrillas, the operational directing, briefing and debriefing of both Selous Scouts and Special branch pseudo guerrilla teams as well as biological and chemical warfare. It is a story of war, small fighting actions, major raids into enemy territory and of strikes and counterstrikes. (NB - see 'Notes' in Detailed section).
ISBN 1919854142, April 2006. Softback. 360 pages.~Galago, April 2006
360pp; size 242 X 168mm
32pp pages black and white and colour pics
10 maps and diagrams, in-text illustrations
ISBN 1-919854-14-2, softback

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NOTES - This book is said to be written by a former member of Special Branch Selous Scouts. The book also outlines his thoughts on operations that he was involved with and also describes operations that he says the Selous Scouts were involved with. While some well known, previously published facts are present, it has also been said that there are some extraordinary claims as to what the Selous Scouts did during the war.

It has been said by some former members of the Selous Scouts that the author Jim Parker, was NOT an attested member of the Rhodesian Special Branch and he was NOT a member of the Selous Scouts Special Branch. Rather that he was in fact a Police Reservist. The Selous Scouts Association, Mac McGuinness (Officer Commanding the Selous Scouts Special Branch) and Lt Col Ron Reid Daly (Commanding Officer the Selous Scouts Regiment) have all distanced themselves from this book. The Selous Scouts Association has described the major claims in the book as 'total fiction'.

Peter Stiff, the publisher of the book, has stated that the above claims are not true and that the author, Jim Parker, was a Reserve Detective Section Officer with SB Selous Scouts at Operation Repulse virtually full time as an A Reservist during the last years of the war.

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The Book
Assignment Selous Scouts is a compelling read that fully illuminates the day-to-day horrors of the bloody and brutal terror war that was fought in the former Rhodesia against Marxists guerrillas. ZANLA targeted white civilians, particularly farmers, to drive them from the land as well as tribal blacks to bring them onside using a strategy of murder, torture, rape, arson and other horrible acts of terror. They laid landmines indiscriminately on public roads. By the war's end there had been 21 782 recorded terrorist incidents in the country (7 996 in Hurricane, 5 398 in Thrasher, 5 676 in Repulse and 2 712 in Grapple and Tangent between them). There were 1 276 landmine detonations that caused 7 283 casualties.

Although involved in the conflict earlier while a regular policeman, the author stepped back into the Rhodesian Bush War in mid 1977 when as a farmer and a Police A Reservist he was appointed as a Special Branch liaison officer with the Selous Scouts at their Chiredzi Fort in the Lowveld. Much of what he has written in this book has come from his personal knowledge and experience. What Jim Parker didn't know then was that on 20 July 1977 the Security Force chiefs at Combined Operations had told Prime Minister Ian Smith that the war couldn't be won 'by purely military means' and that it was vital he arrived at an early political settlement before the point of no return was reached. The advice wasn't taken, the point of no return was reached, and the no-win-war dragged on for another 2½ years at the cost of countless lives.It had become apparent early in the war that the Security Forces couldn't make contact with the guerrillas using conventional counter-insurgency methods, because the enemy's tactic was to merge with and hide among the local tribal population. This had resulted in the formation of the Selous Scouts Regiment with the role of infiltrating pseudo guerrillas into enemy groups and bringing them to contact. The unit comprised two arms - an army unit under Major Ron Reid Daly whose operators were responsible for the pseudo groups operational deployment and Special Branch liaison officers under Superintendent Mac McGuinness, who gathered the intelligence and 'turned' captured guerrillas and got them to fight for the government. Each was a vital component of the whole scheme and neither could have successfully operated without the other. By the war's end it was estimated that the Selous Scouts had accounted for 68% of all guerrillas killed or captured during the war.

This is a story of pseudo warfare - the outwitting of an enemy by means that reminds one of the Trojan Horse - and of major armed column raids into surrounding black-ruled states. It is also tells the full unvarnished story for the first time of how the increasingly desperate Rhodesians faced with the impossible task of defending their 1 000 plus kilometre long eastern border with Mozambique looked around in desperation for a force multiplier to combat guerrilla infiltrations. Cholera was introduced into the Gaza Province of Mozambique in the hope of debilitating infiltrating guerrillas. It worked, but it also infected the local population and later spread into Rhodesia. Anthrax was introduced to kill cattle to reduce the food supply available. That also worked but it boomeranged back into Rhodesia and caused a large number of deaths in the tribal areas. Seizing the opportunity Special Branch and the Selous Scouts infiltrated ZANLA's logistical supply chains with canned food, medicines and other supplies contaminated with poisons. Clothing was impregnated with toxins that invaded the body through hair follicles. Thousands of guerrillas died.

In late 1979 all parties to the conflict - Bishop Muzorewa and the by then Zimbabwe-Rhodesia government - under the watchful eye of Ian Smith and his colleagues - Joshua Nkomo and his ZAPU-PF and Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF were elbowed to the negotiating table at Lancaster House in London by the British, where it was eventually agreed that fully inclusive free and fair elections would take place in April 1980 under the supervision of a British governor. The security chiefs regarded Mugabe as a terrorist and were determined he wouldn't live to see the elections. A CIO bomb plot to kill him in London during the Lancaster House talks reached trigger stage, but it was called off. It was then planned to detonate a car bomb at Maputo Airport on 27 January 1980 just before he caught a plane to Salisbury. Fortuitously for him he used a different airport entrance and survived. A back-up plan to kill him with command-detonated landmines buried in the road after he left Salisbury Airport had already been cancelled. At least another eight attempts on Mugabe's life either failed or were aborted.

During the election run-up two things were apparent. Robert Mugabe had no intention of playing by the rules and he ordered his hard-core guerrillas to remain outside the assembly points to brutally intimidate the black populace into voting for ZANU-PF. Comops expressed confidence that a coalition of Nkomo, Muzorewa and smaller parties would win. But Comops had its own secret agenda. With the connivance of South Africa and the tacit approval of British MI6 - who had been fighting the Cold War since 1946 and had no liking for Marxists like Mugabe - they intended to manipulate the election by 'stuffing' the ballot boxes

They fully expected that Mugabe would return to war when it was announced he had lost. Operation Quartz was created to deal with this. The Rhodesian and South African Air Forces would bomb the assembly points where ZANLA's forces were congregated. Rhodesian ground forces reinforced by South African Special Forces and paratroopers would mop up. With his guerrilla forces scattered or dead, it would be impossible for Mugabe to do anything to prevent Nkomo's armoured and motorised infantry formations from moving into Rhodesia to support the coalition government. But in the end CIO chief Ken Flower got cold feet and called off the ballot box stuffing. The rest is history.

Within a week of the election that brought Mugabe to power the vast majority of the Security Forces had been demobilised and sent home. The remaining regulars were confined to barracks. The danger of a coup from the Security Forces had been reduced to nil.

Then South Africa kicked in with its own agenda. The powerful Battle Group Charlie comprising motorised infantry, armoured cars and artillery was mustered and moved quietly moved in small batches to the border at Messina. The State Security Council declared Messina an 'operational area' to give the SADF 'more room to manouevre'. Meanwhile, SA Special Forces intended to place a series of powerful roadside bombs in the shape of electricity sub-stations and traffic light control boxes on a pavement past which a motorcade would travel when en route from Government House to a reception at Meikles Hotel on 17 April, Zimbabwe's inauguration day. Prince Charles, Robert Mugabe, President elect Caanan Banana, Governor Lord Soames, British Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington and others would be in that motorcade.

It was expected that the command-detonated devices would kill most dignitaries, including Robert Mugabe and Prince Charles. Meanwhile, many thousands of blacks would be packed into Rufaro Stadium where they would be eagerly waiting to witness the inauguration and the handover of their country to black rule It was a powder keg situation. When news of the outrage broke it was expected that the reaction would be for them to blame the whites. It was believed the response would be for them to stream from the stadium and head for the white suburbs, where more killings, looting, rapes and arson with whites as the victims would take place than had been seen in Africa since the Belgium Congo achieved its independence in 1960.

The little left of the Rhodesian Security Forces would be incapable of stepping in to restore order and nor would the skeletal British Monitoring Force be capable of interfering. The blasts, however, would have been the signal for Battle Group Charlie to cross the border and head for Salisbury to 'restore order'. In the circumstances it was unlikely that anyone would have raised objections - certainly not the British who had lost a member of the royal family and witnessed the most awful atrocities committed by Mugabe's supporters against people who, in the main, held joint British and Rhodesian citizenship, or were of British descent. Besides events would have moved too quickly.

For the same reasons no one would be likely to interfere when the South Africans called on Joshua Nkomo and Bishop Muzorewa and other smaller parties to form a 'temporary' government of national unity. This would be followed by Nkomo's ZIPRA regulars moving from Zambia into the country which would spell the end to ZANU-PF's political ambitions. Mozambique had let it be known during the Lancaster House conference that it would no longer host guerrilla forces. That would have achieved exactly what the Rhodesians had wanted, but not at the price of the slaughter of probably thousands of white civilians. But fortunately the plot was discovered several days before it was due to take place and reported to Danny Stannard of the CIO. The plot was foiled and the plotters fled the country, but it was not revealed to the press until some months later. Nor were the targets accurately identified and with the disappearance of white Rhodesian rule the world press was no longer interested in Zimbabwe, nor in putting two plus two together.

Ten years later President Mugabe, without prior fanfare, presented Danny Stannard, with the Gold Cross, Zimbabwe's highest award for valour. The cryptic citation said that on 16 April 1980 he had 'foiled an assassination attempt by South African agents' directed against Mugabe and international heads of state who were in Harare for the inauguration on 18 April.~Assignment Selous Scouts|ISBN 1919854142|~316~11180~British South Africa Police, rhodesia bush war, ZANLA guerrilla terrorist, Selous Scouts Special branch pseudo guerrilla teams biological and chemical warfare~

Badges and Insignia of the Rhodesian Security Forces 1890-1980 - AJ Aniel~A basic reference guide to the badges worn by service and auxillary arms in Rhodesia prior to the country's demise. The 400 plus drawings (no photos) are meant to show the evolution of various insignia and record some little known facts about each unit.
ISBN 0 620107 44 8. - Published 1987, 111 pages, Black/white illustrations.

NOTE - not to be confused with a similiar title Insignia and History of the Rhodesian Armed Forces 1890-1980 - Dudley Wall and The Military Badges and Insignia of Southern Africa - Colin Owen. Both of these books were published after Arniel's book and are more up-to-date / informative including photos, Colin Owen's is out-of-print and few new copies remain (listed below), Dudley Wall's has just been reprinted. (listed below).~~Badges and Insignia|ISBN 0620107448|~316~1476~Badges and Insignia of the Rhodesian Security Forces 1890-1980 - AJ Aniel~

Blue and Old Gold: The History of the British South Africa Police 1889–1980 - Peter Gibbs with Hugh Phillips and Nick Russell, Illustrated by Richard Hamley~The BSAP held the honour of occupying the Right of the Line - one of the finest police forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth. In 1889 Cecil Rhodes was granted a royal charter by Queen Victoria to settle Mashonaland, in what was to become Southern Rhodesia. So was formed the British South Africa Company; its regiment of troopers raised to protect the occupying Pioneer Column dubbed the British South Africa Police, the BSAP. From the 1893 Matabele War, the 1896 Mashona Rebellion and the Jameson Raid, the Anglo-Boer War, through both world wars and finally to the Rhodesian bush war of the 1960s and '70s, troopers and officers of this fine regiment of policemen, both black and white, were proudly to the fore, in civilian and military roles … until the disbandment of the Force in 1980. Incorporating the first two volumes by Peter Gibb : The First Line of Defence 1889-1903 and The Right of The Line 1903-1939 (both now Out of Print / scarce); and Volume III: The End of The Line 1939-1980, by Hugh Phillips. Also with dozens of anecdotal contributions and accounts from ex-members, updated and comprehensive nominal rolls and roll of honour.
ISBN 978-1920143-35-0. November 2009, Hardback. 640 pages 260 x 215 / 8½ x 10¼ 750 colour & b/w photos, plates, maps
Expected dispatch: Any day now (05/03/10) - UK shipment currently with UK Customs.~Incorporating Volume I: The First Line of Defence 1889-1903, by Peter Gibbs; Volume II: The Right of The Line 1903-1939, by Peter Gibbs; and Volume III: The End of The Line 1939-1980, by Hugh Phillips. Also with dozens of anecdotal contributions and accounts from ex-members, updated and comprehensive nominal rolls and roll of honour and Dick Hamley's beautiful colour plates. Over 750 photographs-many of them previously unpublished. This never-to-be-repeated 'coffee-table' record of the history of a country is a must for former BSAP members, their children and descendants, and anyone with an interest in the unfolding developments in the country now known as Zimbabwe.

The Authors

Peter Gibbs was born in London in 1903, educated at Aldenham, and lived in Bulawayo since 1936. A number of his books have been published in London and New York. He served in the BSA Police Reserve for 21 years, retiring with the rank of reserve superintendent. He was awarded the MBE in 1964.

Hugh Phillips was born in the UK and immigrated to Southern Rhodesia in 1951 to join the BSAP. He attained the rank of assistant commissioner prior to his retirement after nearly 30 years' service. Prior to returning to the UK in 2002, he was involved, without success, in liaison activities between the Commercial Farmers Union and Zimbabwean government in efforts to bring a more pragmatic outlook and policy towards the white farm invasions. Hugh wrote Part 3 of this history, covering the period from 1939 to 1980.

Nick Russell joined the BSAP as a cadet in 1975 and served at Sinoia and Kariba before attending Morris Depot where he formed part of the mounted squad for the opening of parliament. After graduation he was posted to uniform-branch duties at Mount Darwin and substations in the district. He transferred to Special Branch and spent two years, mostly in the Mt Darwin area, until the cessation of hostilities. He now lives in Australia.~Blue and Old Gold|X ISBN 9781920143350|~316~12672~~

Bound for Africa: Cold War Fight along the Zambezi - Douglass H. Hubbard, Jr~This is the story of the author's introduction to Africa at a time when much of the continent was in the grips of Cold War skirmishes between the free world and the communist forces of China and the Soviet Union. Frayed from three years of service during the Vietnam War, Hubbard traveled to Africa intending to become a rural policeman in a quiet area of what was then Rhodesia. The counterinsurgency war flared soon after, a conflict that bore many of the same characteristics of the country he had just left. Hubbard describes his assimilation into the police force and into Rhodesian society, and he recounts the challenges and satisfaction of leading and training young Africans. This is a very personal story of the frustrations he faced and of the attitudes and spirit of the nation's racially mixed security force.
ISBN-13: 978-1591143949. Nov 2008. Hardcover 304 pages, 32 photos, 33 illustrations.~In Douglass Hubbard's first book, Special Agent, Vietnam, he recounted the story of the highly dedicated professionals who volunteered to serve as officers, enlisted men, and civilian special agents of the Office of Naval Intelligence in Vietnam. Drawing on the experience of three tours of duty as one of two dozen civilian agents working for the organization that eventually became NCIS, he provided a compelling firsthand account of the clandestine and often dangerous world of counterespionage and crime in war-torn Vietnam.

In Bound for Africa, Hubbard pre-sents the next chapter of his career as a policeman conducting criminal investigations while fighting against another communist counterinsurgency. Physically drained by his three years as a criminal investigator during the Vietnam War, he traveled to Africa hoping to find a more peaceful life as a rural policeman in a quiet area of that country. However, when a counterinsurgency war flared soon after he arrived in Rhodesia, he found himself enmeshed in another Cold War conflict that bore many of the same characteristics of the war he had just left.

Bound for Africa is a very personal story that describes the frustrations of working and living in the shadows of a political settlement seemingly just beyond reach and of the attitudes and spirit of the nation's racially mixed security forces. He recounts the challenges and satisfactions of leading and training young Africans in police work and in fighting a counterinsurgency. Hubbard also provides a compelling insider's view of how the counterinsurgency was fought in the early days of the Cold War in Rhodesia, when much of the continent was gripped by political upheaval.

Hubbard's story will appeal to those with an interest in military history, intelligence, counterintelligence, and criminal investigation, as well as to those interested in a lesser-known chapter of a tragically unsuccessful war in the African country now known as Zimbabwe.


"A fascinating history of the activi­ties of the Naval Investigative Service (NIS) in Vietnam from 1962 to the fall of Saigon in April 1975. Special Agent, Vietnam should appeal to a broad readership, military historians, students of counterintelligence and criminal investigation, and Vietnam veterans."
- STUDIES IN INTELLIGENCE

" 'Bound for Africa' is a particularly timely book about an important continent which the United States has, until recently, largely ignored. An almost Kipling-esque tale of an American serving in a counterinsurgency role at the end of white rule in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and the beginnings of the murderous misgovernment of Robert Mugabe, ...... and lessons which are directly applicable to today's Global War on Terrorism."
- Rear Admiral T. A. Brooks, U.S. Navy (Ret.), former Director of Naval Intelligence.



Douglass H. Hubbard Jr. is a con­sultant who has spent more than three decades working with the disadvantaged in Asia and in Africa. He is also the author of Special Agent, Vietnam, a memoir of his years in counter­intelligence for the NIS in Vietnam (today known as NCIS).~Bound for Africa|ISBN-13 9781591143949|~316~12387~BSAP~

Britain's Rebel Air Force: The War from the Air in Rhodesia, 1965-80 - Nesbit, Cowderoy~Updated/revised version of the 'War in the Air: Rhodesian Air Force 1935-1980' written by the same authors. (see book listed below on this page)
The Rhodesian declaration of independence in 1965 heralded a rebellion by people of mainly British stock against their mother country. One of the main instruments which sustained this rebellion for 14 years was the Royal Rhodesian Air Force. Many of those who served in this force had strong affiliations with the RAF and were trained in its methods and aircraft. This account of the war has been compiled using the first-hand personal experiences of many pilots and crew. Appendices include matters such as Chiefs of Air Staff, air bases, rank structure, honours and awards, and lists of aircrafts and losses, as well as details of how Royal Navy warships and Royal Air Force units carried out patrols in attempts to enforce sanctions. Maps and photographs are included which illustrate specialized aircraft involved, such as twin-fuselage Lynx.
ISBN 1902304055. Grub Street Publishing 1998. Hardcover, 288 pages, b/w photos, maps, illustrations.

Publication status: Out of Print. Scarce - hard to get, collector status. Few good second hand copies available. Submit form below to request further information / indicate interest / reserve a copy. (Enter Item code BRAF in 4th box).

       
NB - Please replace the text inside the boxes with your details. After clicking on the 'I am interested' button. the webpage should report that the request has been succesfully sent. If it does not, please email us directly instead. Thank you.

~~~316~12523~~

Canberra: In Southern African Service - M Hamence & W Brent~The authors have combined their efforts and brought out a tribute to the Canberra in southern africa service. The Canberra served with distinction in the Rhodesian Air Force and is recorded by Michael Hamence, who had served on that aircraft for several years. Winston Brent records its SAAF service, including its operational service over SWA/Namibia and Angola. He lifts the lid on the South African "Nuclear Era" and speculates which aircraft would have carried the "A-bomb". He records the Canberra in an Electronic Warfare role and includes an aerial photograph of the Soviet "spy ship" Kapushka, when it passed around the southern tip of Africa in 1989.
IBSN 0 958 38804 0. 2001. Size - 297x210mm, 96 pages, 26 colour & 65 b/w photographs.~~Canberra|IBSN 0958388040|~316~12151~canberra~

Chopper Pilot - Monster Wilkins~The personal experiences and exploits of Monster Wilkins, who was regarded as the SAAF’s top helicopter pilot, with over 6,000 hours, of which he has spent in excess of 4,000 hours on his favourite chopper the Alouette III. He details his service in the various operational areas, such as Angola, SWA/Namibia, Rhodesia and Mozambique. He was still serving as a brigadier-general at time of the original publication in 2000.
ISBN 0958388075. JDP 2008 (Redone / re-printed from original first published in 2000). Size - 297x210mm (A4), 152 pages. 181 Black and White, 37 colour photographs.~JD Publishing, 2008
Re-worked edition of original title first published in 2000

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"Monster Wilkins joined the SA Air Force after leaving school and qualified for his Wings before he had a driving licence. He had his first flight in a helicopter (an Alouette II) in April 1965 and that was the start of a love affair which has grown stronger over the passing years.

In CHOPPER PILOT he tells us of some of his experiences, the places he has visited and the fun he has had while serving in the SA Air Force. He writes easily and with feeling and has the gift of describing events in graphic form...Monster is the most experienced helicopter pilot in the Air Force and is well qualified to introduce us to the great variety of roles of which this versatile aircraft is capable - and what a kaleidoscope of experiences this encompasses: Operations on our northern borders during the Border War, in an environment which was often decidedly unfriendly and where navigation at low level in difficult terrain with virtually no navigation aids was the norm; working with the SA Navy on the oceans round our coastline, where he chalked up nearly 900 deck landings; co-operating with the police during dagga (marijuana) raids; fighting runaway fires and rescuing people from the sea, from floods, from snow and from fires; and evacuating casualties from accidents, often in mountainous terrain, to safety"
. Lt General R.H.D. (Bob) Rogers SSA, SM, MMM, DSO, DFC (Ex-Chief of the Air Force.~Chopper Pilot|X ISBN 0958388075|~316~11680~~

Choppertech - Gordon 'Beaver' Shaw~ ('Cover' on left is not the book, just a photo we have selected pending the official cover design from the author/publisher)
This book covers the author's and other crewmen's experiences in No 7 Alouette Squadron as helicopter Technicians/Gunners who flew numerous operational sorties in Alouette G and K Car gunships on Fireforce operations during the Rhodesian Bush War. The Alouette III helicopters were extensively used within Rhodesia as well as on external operations into Zambia, Botswana and Mocambique. Beaver served during latter stages of the war - 1976-1980, and has the unique distinction as being the only gunner during the bush war who is credited with a successful Air to Air contact when he shot down a Botswana Defence Force Islander plane during an external operation.
Includes many photos and drawings.
A special hard covered edition (strictly limited to very few copies, with slightly more content), and a 'public' softcover edition is planned (subject to demand, so put your names down!).
Planned release date: TBA
(ITEM CODE - CHTE)~~~316~12673~~

Contact: A tribute to those who serve Rhodesia / Rhodesia at War - John Lovett~Subtitled 'A tribute to those who serve Rhodesia' or 'Rhodesia at War'
Magnificently illustrated throughout with countless very rare photos, a fascinating survey of the 1970s Rhodesian Bush War. Packed with information on the various specialized units formed and employed as well as their accomplishments, and what life was like for both soldiers and civilians throughout the various operational areas.
Published by Galaxie Press 1977 and reprinted Khenty Press 1978, 1982 . Large format hard cover, 240 pages, Numerous b/w photos, illustrations & maps throughout.

Publication status: Out of Print. Scarce - hard to get, collector status. Few good second hand copies available, most without dustjackets. Submit form below to request further information / indicate interest / reserve a copy. (Enter Item code CON1 in 4th box).

       
NB - Please replace the text inside the boxes with your details. After clicking on the 'I am interested' button. the webpage should report that the request has been succesfully sent. If it does not, please email us directly instead. Thank you.

~~~316~12240~Contact, lovett~

Contact 2: Struggle for Peace - Paul Moorcraft~This is the follow-up to the very successful Contact, although the new book, Contact II, can also stand in its own right as a chronicle of the Rhodesian war. The second volume is not intended to be a blow-by-blow account of the war nor a detailed analysis of each unit of the Security Forces - it is instead a pictorial overview of what the war has meant to all in Rhodesia.
Sygma Books 1981. ISBN 0868760064. Large format hard cover, 208 pages, Numerous b/w photos, illustrations & maps throughout.

Publication status: Out of Print. Scarce - hard to get, collector status. Few good second hand copies available. Submit form below to request further information / indicate interest / reserve a copy. (Enter Item code CON2 in 4th box).

       
NB - Please replace the text inside the boxes with your details. After clicking on the 'I am interested' button. the webpage should report that the request has been succesfully sent. If it does not, please email us directly instead. Thank you.

~~~316~12473~Contact, lovett~

Contact 2: Struggle for Peace - Paul Moorcraft (Softback Reprint, 2009)~Softcover Reprint Edition
Contact II has been out of print since 1982, despite the very rapid sell-out of its first two printings in South Africa. The reprint has been held up for over 20 years and now the author, Paul Moorcraft, has allowed the Reprint to satisfy the worldwide demand of this important title with this special edition. When Contact II was first published in late 1981, it was the natural successor to the bestselling Contact, but this title stands on its own two feet as an independent chronicle of the Rhodesian war. The book contains over 600 photographs plus a compelling narrative by the renowned military author, Dr Paul Moorcraft. The title concentrates on the climax of the war: from December 1976 until the ceasefire of January 1980. Many of the pictures taken in this book have been lost or deliberately destroyed at the end of the war - it would be almost impossible to re-create a similar pictorial record; hence the importance of this title as an historical legacy.
In order that this title be accessible and affordable to everyone wanting a copy of a key Rhodesian historical legacy, this book has been reproduced / reprinted in a lower quality & lighter format (as opposed to the high quality paper, etc as used in the original version, plus a slight reduction in size to A4), to keep costs down.
Reprint, 2009. Softcover.~~Contact 2 (Softback Reprint, 2009)|9461|Contact 2 (Softback Reprint, 2009) PAL|9461 PAL|Contact 2 (Softback Reprint, 2009) NTSC|9461 NTSC|~316~12721~~

Counter-Strike from the Sky: The Rhodesian All-Arms Fire Force in the War in the Bush 1974–1980 - JRT Wood~Includes 60-minute DVD, produced by Chris Cocks, author of Fireforce: One Man's War in the Rhodesian Light Infantry.
'Fireforce' as a military concept dates from 1974 when the Rhodesian Air Force (RhAF) acquired the French MG151 20mm cannon from the Portuguese. Coupled with this, the traditional counter-insurgency tactics (against Mugabe's ZANLA and Nkomo's ZIPRA) of follow-ups, tracking and ambushing simply weren't producing satisfactory results. Visionary RhAF and Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) officers thus expanded on the idea of a 'vertical envelopment' of the enemy (first practised by SAS paratroopers in Mozambique in 1973), with the 20mm cannon being the principle weapon of attack, mounted in an Alouette III K-Car ('Killer car'), flown by the air force commander, with the army commander on board directing his ground troops deployed from G-Cars (Alouette III troop-carrying gunships and latterly, Bell 'Hueys' in 1979) 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.
ISBN 9781920143336. May 2009. Hardback, 234x 153mm, . +/- 308 pages, 150 colour & b/w photos, maps, diagrams. Plus 60-minute DVD.
NOTE - see 'Special Offers' section at bottom of this page~ISBN: 9781920143336
Cloth & dust jacket (hard back)
234 x 153mm6 x 9
308 pages
150 colour & b/w photos, maps, diagrams
Foreword by Charles D. Melson, Chief Historian, US Marine Corps
Accompanying 60-minute DVD, produced by Chris Cocks, author of Fireforce: One Man's War in the Rhodesian Light Infantry * comprising of interviews with the author, army and air force veterans of Fireforce

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The Book
The militarily acclaimed Fireforce concept that has received worldwide acclaim in military circles for the past 30 years.

'Fireforce' as a military concept dates from 1974 when the Rhodesian Air Force (RhAF) acquired the French MG151 20mm cannon from the Portuguese. Coupled with this, the traditional counter-insurgency tactics (against Mugabe's ZANLA and Nkomo's ZIPRA) of follow-ups, tracking and ambushing simply weren't producing satisfactory results.

Visionary RhAF and Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) officers thus expanded on the idea of a 'vertical envelopment' of the enemy (first practised by SAS paratroopers in Mozambique in 1973), with the 20mm cannon being the principle weapon of attack, mounted in an Alouette III K-Car ('Killer car'), flown by the air force commander, with the army commander on board directing his ground troops deployed from G-Cars (Alouette III troop-carrying gunships and latterly Bell 'Hueys' in 1979) 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.


Includes a 90-minute DVD documentary with interviews with:

Dr JRT Wood (author and historian)
Lieutenant-Colonel Brian Robinson OLM, MLM (OC C Squadron, SAS)
Major Grahame Wilson GCV, SCR, BCR (C Squadron, SAS)
Major Nigel Henson MLM (OC Support Commando, 1RLI)
Captain Peter Stanton (Special Branch and Selous Scouts)
Lieutenant Alan Thrush BCR (A Company, 2RAR)
Sergeant Gordon 'Beaver' Shaw (Rhodesian Air Force)
Sergeant George Dempster (MA2 Medic, 1RLI)
Chris Cocks (3 Commando, 1RLI)

All the above gained several years of combat experience in the Rhodesian Bush War and all were heavily involved with the use of helicopters and fireforce tactics.


The Author
Richard Wood, BA (Hons) (Rhodes), PhD (Edinburgh), FRHistS was born in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). He was educated at St George's College, Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, and Edinburgh University, Scotland. He was a Commonwealth scholar and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He was the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Research Fellow at the University of Rhodesia and a Professor of History at the University of Durban-Westville. He is undoubtedly the foremost historian and researcher on the history of Rhodesia in the decades following World War II and, with exclusive access to the hitherto closed papers of Ian Smith, has written three definitive publications: The Welensky Papers; So Far and No Further!* and A Matter of Weeks Rather than Months*. He is a renowned military historian, having served as a territorial soldier in the Rhodesia Regiment, and the Mapping & Research Unit of the Rhodesian Intelligence Corps. He has published The War Diaries of André Dennison (1989)*, numerous articles, conference papers and chapters in books. He has a lifelong interest in matters military, rugby and fly-fishing. He lives in Durban, South Africa with his wife Carol.

* Available on this website~Counter-Strike from the Sky|X ISBN 9781920143336|~316~12315~~

Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare - D Marston, C Malkasian~Throughout history, armies of occupation and civil power have been repeatedly faced with the challenges of insurgency. British and American involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan has highlighted this form of conflict in the modern world. Armies, sometimes reluctantly, have had to adopt new doctrines and tactics to deal with the problems of insurgency and diverse counterinsurgency strategies have been developed, ranging from conventional operations to a combination of propaganda and political strategy. Here, 13 authors examine the development of counterinsurgency from the early 20th century to the present. Including information on the Arab-Israeli conflict, Afghanistan and Iraq, this book is a timely and accessible survey of a critical facet of modern warfare. Included is a chapter on the Rhodesian Bush War - 'Countering the Chimurenga: The Rhodesian Counterinsurgency Campaign 1962-80', written by authoritive Dr JRT Wood.
April 2008. Hardback, 304 pages~April 2008
ISBN: 9781846032813
Hardback 304 pages

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About this book
Through history armies of occupation and civil power have been repeatedly faced with the challenges of insurgency. US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan has highlighted this form of conflict in the modern world. Armies, sometimes reluctantly, have had to adopt new doctrines and tactics to deal with the problems of insurgency and diverse counterinsurgency strategies have been developed. These have ranged from conventional military operations to a combination of military and political strategy including propaganda, Psy-Ops, and other approaches. In Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare, 13 contributors examine developments in counterinsurgency from the early 20th century to the present. Each author, an expert in his field, discusses in depth the conduct and outcomes of operations across the globe, including the Arab-Israeli conflict, Afghanistan and Iraq, and draws out the lessons to be learned from them. This book is a timely, serious yet accessible survey of a critical facet of modern warfare and present-day global conflict.

Contents

• In Aid of the Civil Power: Britain, Ireland and Palestine 1916-48 by Professor Charles Townshend
• Counterinsurgency in the Philippines 1898-1954 by Professor Anthony James Joes
• The first of the Banana Wars: US Marines in Nicaragua 1909-12 by Major Bruce Gudmundsson (ret)
• A Few Carrots and a Lot of Sticks: German Anti-Partisan Warfare in World War II by Dr Peter Lieb
• French Imperial Warfare 1945-62 by Professor Douglas Porch
• From Search and Destroy to Hearts and Minds: The Evolution of British Strategy in Malaya 1948-60 by Dr Richard Stubbs
• Counterinsurgency in Vietnam: American Organizational Culture and Learning by Lieutenant Colonel John A. Nagl
• Red Wolves and British Lions: The Conflict in Aden by Jonathan Walker
• Britain's Longest War: Northern Ireland 1967-2007 by Colonel Richard Iron
• Countering the Chimurenga: The Rhodesian Counterinsurgency Campaign 1962-80 by Dr J. R. T. Wood
• The Israel Defense Forces and the Al-Aqsa Intifada: When Tactical Virtuosity Meets Strategic Disappointment by Dr Sergio Catignani
• Lessons in 21st-Century Counterinsurgency: Afghanistan 2001-07 by Dr Daniel Marston
• Counterinsurgency in Iraq: May 2003- January 2007 by Dr Carter Malkasian
• Endnotes
• Bibliography
• Index

Reviews
"A wide-ranging, sophisticated anthology that all serious students of counterinsurgency should read and savor. Challenging, candid and provocative."
Francis J.'Bing' West; author of No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah and The Village

"The editors have recruited an impressive lineup of contributors comprising many of the leading experts... they provide an introduction to some of the leading counterinsurgency campaigns of the 20th century. Soldiers and civilians alike will learn a great deal here to help them better understand the challenges that confront us in Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond."
Max Boot, Senior Fellow in national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of The Savage Wars of Peace and War Made New

"A fine collection that should contribute significantly to contemporary debates about what leads to success or failure in counterinsurgency. The provocative essays reveal that such conflicts are always unique, requiring counterinsurgent forces to develop cultural awareness and learning organizations if they want to have any hope of victory."
Dr Conrad Crane, lead author of The US Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual~Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare|ISBN-13 9781846032813|~316~12377~~

Dead Leaves: Two Years in the Rhodesian War - Dan Wylie~ It is January 1978. Groups of nervous, dutiful white conscripts begin their National Service with the Rhodesian security forces. Ian Smith's white minority government is in its dying days and negotiations towards majority rule are already under way. For these 18-year-old rookies there is nothing to do but go on fighting, hold the line while the transition happens around them. Dead Leaves is a richly textured memoir in which an ordinary young soldier grapples with the unique dilemmas presented by an extraordinary period in history: the inner spectres of inner violence and death; the pressurised arrival of manhood; and the place of conscience, friendship and beauty in the pervasive atmosphere of futile warfare.
ISBN 1-86914-005-2 Softcover. 196pp; size 215 X 138mm. ~ISBN 1-86914-005-2 Softcover.
196pp; size 215 X 138mm.

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It is January 1978. Groups of nervous, dutiful white conscripts' begin their National Service with Rhodesia's security forces, Ian Smith's minority regime is in its dying days and negotiations towards majority rule are already under way. For these inexperienced eighteen-year-olds, there is nothing to do but go on fighting, hold the line while the transition happens around them ...

Cattle are moving ... and Mbiti says quietly, `Don't shoot, it is cows only.'

There are more than cows. There are two men, dressed in the classic dark denims of the guerrillas, bowing away into the shadowy bush, melting away. I am looking through the legs of cattle, I do not want to shoot the cows. I do hot want to shoot. I see the men, I know that I have seen them. But I do nothing, say nothing. I am spooked. No one else appears to have seen them. I am prepared even to doubt my own eyes; I can take the sighting with me to the grave.

The consequence of my silence isn't long in coming ...

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Dead Leaves: Two Years in the Rhodesian War is an absorbing memoir in which an ordinary troopie grapples with the unique dilemmas presented by an extraordinary period in history: the spectres of inner violence and death; the pressurised arrival of manhood; and the place of conscience, friendship and beauty in the pervasive atmosphere of futile warfare.

`Perhaps the most important part of our humanity is our capacity to question both our public and private selves, and how honestly they confront our experiences. Dead Leaves superbly achieves this task.' - Anthony Chennells, Professor of English. University of Zimbabwe~Dead Leaves|ISBN 186940052|~316~1477~Dead Leaves%3A Two Years in the Rhodesian War - Dan Wylie~

Delta Scout: Ground Coverage Operator - Anthony Trethowan~The story of a British South Africa policeman (BSAP) in Rhodesia's bush war, a young man who signed up as a raw eighteen year old and thence serving with this fine force for 8 years. Told with a sensitivity and pathos that is rare in military memoirs, it is a brutally honest, compelling account of innocence lost. After Uniform Branch, the author became a Ground Coverage operator (GC) before joining Special Branch (SB) towards the end of the war.
"A true story from one of Africa's forgotten wars ... of ordinary people fighting for thier lives in a war in the Rhodesian bush ... it made me laugh, it made me despair" - Will Leitch
ISBN 978-1-920143-21-3. April 2008. Softback, 304pp incl 32pp photo section (60 photos, 6 maps).
NOTE - see 'Special Offers' section at bottom of this page~30 Degrees South Publishing
ISBN 978-1-920143-21-3
April 2008
Softback
234 x153mm
304pp incl 32pp photo section (60 photos, 6 maps)

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Delta Scout was the call sign for Tony Trethowan's Ground Coverage 'stick' during the Rhodesian bush war of the late seventies. This is the story of an ordinary policeman, a young man who signed up with the British South Africa Police as a raw 18 year old and who was to serve eight years with that fine force.

As a young Patrol Officer, he was to experience rural life in remote stations in the bush of Matabeleland. He embraced the experience and learned Sindebele within a few months. The book is richly interspersed with anecdotes of wild frontier life-of rowdy prospectors, obstreperous farmers, maverick hunters and bizarre eccentrics. He deals with a wide array of crimes and incidents - from murder, tribal suicide, sorcery, robbery and drunkenness to horrific vehicle accidents.

But as the bush war intensifies, Tony finds himself more and more involved in paramilitary operations. Ground Coverage was a BSAP intelligence-gathering unit- operating literally 'on the ground' in the rural areas. Known by his enemy, Nkomo's ZIPRA guerrillas, as Baleka, or 'he who runs hither and thither' because of his propensity for rapidly covering vast areas, alone in his beaten-up police Land Rover, the second part of the book deals with the author's conversion from civilian policeman to full-blooded counter-insurgency operator in an African guerrilla war.

Told with a sensitivity and pathos that is rare in military memoirs, Delta Scout is a brutally honest, compelling account of innocence lost.

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The Author
Tony Trethowan was born in England in 1955. His parents immigrated to Southern Rhodesia in 1958, where he grew up. He served in the BSA Police from 1974 to 1981 but resigned shortly after Zimbabwean independence. He has had three careers-policeman, educator & trainer and health & safety professional. He is presently studying for an MSSc in Occupational Safety and Health at Queens University in Belfast. His home is in Northern Ireland, but he is currently working for a large oil and gas company as an HSE consultant in Yemen. Delta Scout is his first book.~Delta Scout|X ISBN 9781920143213|~316~11845~BSAP, Delta Scout, Ground Coverage Operator, British South Africa Police~

Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80 - Peter G Locke & Peter D F Cooke~A unique well researched book covering Rhodesia's attempts in producing home made armoured protected vehicles, firearms, anti-ambush weapons and mines during the Rhodesian Bush War.
ISBN 0-473-02413-6, paperback. Size - A4, 152 pages, numerous black/white photos, diagrams, maps, appendices.~~Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80|ISBN 0-473-02413-6|~316~11356~~

Fireforce: One Man's War in the Rhodesian Light Infantry - Chris Cocks~Widely acclaimed as the classic account of counter-insurgency warfare in Africa, as told by the combat soldier "on the ground". The gut-wrenching account of brutal face-to-face combat in the Rhodesian bush is not for the squeamish. This is the compelling, brutally honest account of Chris Cocks' service in 3 Commando, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, during the Rhodesian bush war was considered a close parallel to the French Foreign Legion. He joined the RLI at the age of 18, after living a somewhat sheltered life. Fireforce, a method of combat developed by the Rhodesians and perfected by the RLI, involved troops being helicoptered or parachuted into an area immediately after a guerrilla presence had been reported or a sighting made. Due to the enormous shortage of ground troops the same men were sometimes parachuted into contacts as many as three times per day. This is his story of his experience. Includes the RLI roll of honour, citations and operational orders, and appendices. *** RECOMMENDED READ ***
ISBN 0958489092, 4th Edition Paperback. Size - 228x152mm, 368 pages, 120 colour & b/w photos, map and sketches.

Sequel to Fireforce - Out of Action (formerly titled as Survival Course) is available under Rhodesia - Autobiographies.
NOTE - see 'Special Offers' section at bottom of this page~30 Degrees South
ISBN 0-9584890-9-2
Softback with gatefolds
222x152mm
320pages with 48 page photo sections

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Fireforce is the compelling, brutal but true account of Chris Cocks' service in 3 Commando, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, during Zimbabwe's bitter civil war of the '70s - a war that came to be known almost innocuously as 'the bush war'. 'Fireforce', a tactic of total airborne envelopment, was developed and perfected by the RLI, together with the Selous Scouts and the Rhodesian Air Force. Fireforce became the principal strike weapon of the beleaguered Rhodesian forces in their struggle against the overwhelming tide of the Communist-trained and -equipped ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillas.

The combat strain on a fighting soldier was almost unbelievable, for the Rhodesians, who were always desperately short of ground troops, were sometimes obliged to parachute the same men into action into as many as three enemy contacts a day. While estimates of enemy casualties vary, there seems little doubt that the RLI accounted for at least 12,000 ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillas - but not without cost.

Fireforce is not for the squeamish. Although it has been written with unforgettable pathos and humour, it tells of face-to-face combat in the bush and death at point-blank range. It is a book which does nothing to glorify or glamorize war, for as Chris Cocks found at such a young age, war is merely a catalogue of suffering, destruction and death.

Fireforce has been described by critics as being to the Rhodesian War what All Quiet On The Western Front was to World War I and Dispatches was to Vietnam. Read it - it will an experience you will never forget.

Reviews

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Southern African Review of Books, Issue 7, February/March 1989
Reviewed by Paul Moorcraft

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Few men of action can write well. The exceptions, though, such as T.E. Lawrence, have contributed greatly to the study of war. An African example is Deneys Reitz's Commando: A Boer Journal of the Boer War , first published in 1935. A book in that classic mould, but this time about the Rhodesian war, and entitled Fireforce , has recently been published. Like Reitz's work, Fireforce, by first-time author Chris Cocks, is a personal account of frequent, close-quarter warfare.

The book is likened on the cover blurb to the famous novel, All Quiet on the Western Front . That is an exaggeration, particularly as the book has been slightly marred by the occasional, racially-biased, editorial intervention by the South African publisher, himself a former senior Rhodesian policeman and well-known author. As one starts the book, the reader may be tempted to think, 'Oh, no, not another gung-ho story of how the tough, good guys lost because the world betrayed them'. It is not. It is a unique, compelling, sometimes brutal account of a young conscript's three years of service in the elite Rhodesian Light Infantry during the height of the bush war (1976-9).

Cocks was an 18-year-old white Rhodesian when he was called up for 18 months. He had wanted to go to university in England, but that had to wait, he was told by the authorities. His family had been opposed to Ian Smith and he planned to avoid his national service by making his way out of Africa via Mozambique. He had attended a multi-racial school, where he had, he says, made many black friends. Cocks notes:

... in my youthful mind I appreciated vaguely that something had to be radically wrong with the policies of the Rhodesian Front. Yet, I still went and fought for the green and white flag of Rhodesia ... and I certainly was no patriot. I still cannot understand it ... even to this day.

He was persuaded by his family to give up the idea of going into exile. Instead, he joined the tough 3-Commando of the RLI, as an ordinary trooper because the army decided he was not officer material. Originally the RLI had been an all-volunteer unit comprised largely of white Rhodesians and South Africans. By 1976 the tempo of the war had forced the RLI to take conscripts as well as a veritable legion of foreign adventurers, rogues and anti-communist idealists.

Much of Cocks' time was taken up by 'fireforce' duties. The RLI was one of the main reaction forces to hunt and kill nationalist guerrillas. The object was to land as many troops as quickly as possible on the ground, using initially French Alouette helicopters (later larger ex-Israeli Bell choppers) and also aged Dakotas for dropping paratroopers. (One of the Daks had actually flown at Arnhem in 1944.) Each fireforce had a K-Car (Killer-Car) gunship, an Alouette with a 20 mm cannon, which usually carried the operational commander. G-Cars, ferrying ground troops to and from the contact area, supported the K-Car. Often a Cessna 'Lynx' would initiate the attack, using rockets and napalm, and then the K-Car would direct the ground troops to ambush the escaping survivors. Heavy resistance would bring out Hawker Hunter fighter-bombers and Canberra bombers.

Fireforce, which relied upon good intelligence, mainly from trackers and observation points, accounted for 12,000 guerrillas killed. In hard military terms, the fireforce concept was an operational development which has attracted much detailed attention in army staff colleges throughout the world. But the Rhodesian obsession with body-counts made them blind, like the Americans in Vietnam, to the political requirements of combating and even comprehending the nature of the protracted people's war fought by the insurgents. Hearts and minds do, after all, live in bodies.

Cocks saw a lot of fireforce action. In blunt terms he describes the first kill he witnessed. He writes that a corporal:

spotted what looked to me like a bundle of rags beneath a bush. In an instant his rifle was at his shoulder and he fired three shots. The bundle grunted and rolled over, a Communist AK rifle clattering to the side. I was astonished ... so that was a guerrilla. The bundle had seemed so inoffensive. I studied the body curiously. Still-smouldering napalm had bored ugly holes into the flesh, which gave off a sickly sweet smell. The skull had been shattered by a bullet and brains were oozing through the scalp in a riot of blood and plasma. The mouth was fixed in a grimace of death while the eyes stared upwards as if in a trance.
So this was death. It was gruesome. It was messy. I suddenly wondered if RLI soldiers looked the same when they were killed.... I soon learned the practice of immediately shooting at anything suspicious regardless of whether it was obviously dead or not. If in doubt, shoot ... that was the way you stayed alive.

Clearly, the book is not for the oversensitive, but it does describe what war is really like. It is messy and dirty.

The details are there for the military specialist, but it is also an anti-war tract for the layman. And it is more: the sociologist's eye, the novelist's ear for down-to-earth dialogue and the unpretentious, sometimes amusing, narrative add up to a surprising tour de force . The style is very simple; initially it appears almost simplistic. At the end of the book, however, like Bunyan's Pilgrim, you have travelled a long way. This might seem like excessive praise, but, in this writer's opinion, after many years of researching on and working in African war zones, Cocks' work is one of the very few books which adequately describe the horrors of war in Africa. Vietnam seemed to have grabbed the stylists.

Like Bunyan's Christian, Cocks' load gets heavier. Towards the end of 1978, he confides:

One of the American Vietnam vets brought a "Doors" tape to the barrack room and the melancholy, almost death-laden voice of Jim Morrison, saddened my already numb and exhausted mind. We lost track of the kill rate as the days wore on. None of us really cared any more. Did scores matter anyway? The enemy had an inexhaustible supply of replacements, no matter how many we killed.

As the war escalated in 1979, the Rhodesian security forces advanced towards the heart of darkness. Cocks' friends are killed or badly wounded. They continue the grotesque tradition of looting the corpses of dead insurgents, despite their officers' disapproval. Cocks hears about an RLI machine-gunner who shot an African child he had enticed with a sweet. Cocks explains that atrocities were never encouraged, and that he worried about repeating a My Lai when civilians were caught in crossfire. He describes the psychopaths and the weirdos, such as a soldier who went to war in a tall black top hat adorned with a yellow AA badge. (As the war intensified the army tightened up on combat dress.) There are the booby-trapped radios and guerrilla uniforms treated with contact poisons. Cocks and his men didn't disapprove of the dirty tricks. 'After all, if it was effective it saved us the job of going out to kill them and maybe getting killed ourselves in the process.'

There are landmines and raids into Zambia and Mozambique. By this time few prisoners were taken. After a firefight, the now promoted Corporal Cocks gives the order to finish off a wounded guerrilla.

A year ago we might have saved him, but not in 1979. We didn't want guerrilla prisoners who might only get a gaol sentence, or even be reprieved and integrated into the army as a reformed ally. Execution in the field, we rationalized, saved the troops extra work ... to say nothing of taxpayers' money The officers still insisted that Special Branch badly needed captures for information purposes, but the intelligence we got in the field was always out of date and second grade anyway ... so what did it matter. Besides that a whole chopper would have been taken up to casevac [casualty evacuate] him, which meant a stick [patrol] would have had to stay out over night.

Besides life or death issues, more mundane matters intrude: letters home to his fiancée, and the obsession that all frontline soldiers have with food and with the soldiers who never leave the safety of their barracks, 'jam-stealers' in Rhodesian parlance.

When Cocks leaves the RLI in January 1979, the guerrilla onslaught is swamping the security forces. Cocks describes how on occasions cooks, clerks and bottlewashers were pulled into the front line. As he walks out of the barracks, the burden falls from his shoulders: 'I felt the weight of my fifty years lifting. Perhaps it was because I was still only twenty-one'.

Cocks asks himself what was it all for. 'I do not believe I had any blood lust. It was just a big adventure which slowly began to turn sour only when I discovered that upwards of thirty thousand people had been killed in the conflict.' Cocks was initially a reluctant conscript. Yet he volunteered to stay on as a regular soldier to complete three years of very active duty.

Cocks' minor masterpiece explains why people fight. Cocks risked his life for his mates. Not Ian Smith. Most soldiers fight well because of peer group pressure -- solidarity with small unit or larger regiment -- no God, Queen or country. Cocks was no exception: it was the camaraderie of the highly professional RLI 3-Commando which motivated him to volunteer, and to fight, sometimes three times a day, in fireforce actions.

A small minority of whites refused to fight. Some slipped off quietly to colleges or exile in Britain and a few publicly registered as pacifists. In most wars the bravest of men are usually found in the ranks of either frontline combat troops or conscientious objectors.

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WHAT THE CRITICS SAY

"Fireforce is bound to enjoy a large readership . . . Of the many books that are appearing dealing with Rhodesia and the war years, this is probably the best." - Armed Forces South Africa

"The Rhodesian bush war, like most conflicts, has spawned a large number of books but none has been written with the passion of Fireforce. Cocks' book, more than any other of this particular conflict, smashes home the gross corruption of youth by war . . . it is an immensely moving story." - Patrick Taylor, The Citizen

"Chris Cocks' Fireforce . . . is informative, entertaining and, at times moving stuff." - The Frog, Pretoria News

"This (book) is however notable in that it is the first account of the Zimbabwean war by a Rhodesian soldier which does not attempt to deify the Rhodesians or their war. The strength of the book lies in that in the same way as Platoon refuses to disguise the psychological trauma consequent on youth being conscripted into the army, Fireforce highlights some of the debasement and brutality which face the average recruit." - Oudtshoorn Courier

"Chris Cocks has resisted the temptation to glorify the fighting to any extent at all. He sees it for the catalogue of destruction, suffering and death that war is all about; and in the bush it was, very often, a matter of face-to-face combat at point-blank range." - "Homefront" The MOTH Magazine.

"Fireforce will be to the Rhodesian War what Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front was to World War 1. A high claim indeed, but perhaps valid, for this moving book is a classic in any sense." - Jim Mitchell, The Star.

"This is one of the best books to come out of the Rhodesian War . . . these pages put you right back in the bush." - Armed Forces South Africa.

"Few books have brought home the reality of war as well as Fireforce . . . Fireforce is not a book for the tender- hearted, but it makes for a cracking good read." - Jean Gardine, Personality.

"It (Fireforce) is one of the few books to emerge from that era which is brutally honest, and intensely moving." - Joy Cameron-Dow, SABC - Radio South Africa's "Talking of Books".

~Fireforce|X ISBN 0958489092|Fireforce|ISBN 1919874321|Fireforce|Z ISBN 0958489092|~316~11090~Fireforce - One Man%27s War in the Rhodesian Light Infantry - Chris Cocks, elite parachute battalion, rhodesian bush war~

Half a Century in Uniform: The Life story of Group Captain OD Penton OLM AFC - Rob 'Ralpapajan' Thurman~The life story of a journeyman pilot who spent his entire working life connected to aviation and the Air Force. Group Captain Ossie Penton helped establish the Rhodesian Air Force and epitomised its spirit and excellence.
"I commend this story to the reader, not only as the fascinating one of the career of a Service Pilot, but also because it gives a very clear picture of the chronicle of events and politics pertaining to the period of time that it covered." Air Commodore Dickie Bradshaw OLM
Lulu 2007. Hardcover 242 pages.~~Half a Century in Uniform|8960|~316~11687~Rhodesian Air Force, Ossie Penton~

Insignia and History of the Rhodesian Armed Forces 1890-1980 - Col. Dudley Wall~4th Edition
Dudley Wall has thoroughly researched the history and insignia of the Armed Forces of Northern and Southern Rhodesia - now Zambia/Malawi and Zimbabwe respectively. He describes and illustrates insignia, badges, patches, equipment, history and organisation of the various branches starting with the British South Africa Police, the forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Rhodesian Air Force and the Air Askiri Corps, to the complex structure of the Rhodesian Army. This consisted of Mounted and Infantry/Rifle regiments plus Commando units and Special Forces such as the Rhodesian SAS and the legendary Selous Scouts. Detailed text on the military history of Rhodesia plus synopsis of the units and regiments mentioned is accompanied by many beautifully reproduced colour photographs of the insignia, badges, caps and some contemporary uniforms.
"This book is a record of the insignia and history of the Rhodesian armed forces from inception to 1980. Rhodesia had a fascinating history that characterised the pioneer spirit of early Africa. The continent of Africa was in a stage of being colonised by the various European countries. It must be noted that the politics and motivations of the various political parties are not discussed in this book at all. There are many writers who have looked at this from different viewpoints and there are many books published on the subject. The purpose of this book …. is, rather, a reflection on the spirit and actions of the military kith and kin of a country." - Dudley Wall
Nov 2009. 4th Edition. Softback. A4 size, 156 pages. Colour illustrations/photos~~Insignia and History|X ISBN 9781920315535|~316~12807~~

James and the Duck: Tales of the Rhodesian Bush War (1964 - 1980) - Faan Martin~A very different tongue-in-cheek personal account about a forgotten war. Between 1964 and 1980 Rhodesian men from all walks of life left their families and jobs to fight for their country. They were farmers, bankers, railwaymen, shopkeepers, miners and even Members of Parliament, who every six weeks, changed their soft civilian life for battle dress, rifles and grenades.These are their stories.It's not really about war heroes. It's more about bluestone charged, but still lustful troops coping with fighting terrorists, boredom, longing, fear and death. All this set against the background of Africa's sweltering heat, annoying insects, dangerous animals and venomous snakes. Definitely not for the faint-hearted.The reader will meet a long suffering prisoner-of-war, infantry soldiers, helicopter gunship pilots, tribesmen, pompous army officers, mercenaries and even a duck.Some of the personal incidents will have you laughing and crying at the same time.No matter how you view the Rhodesian Bush War, you will enjoy the humour and at times satire and even sadness of this true account of how men coped with the horrors and hardships of war.
ISBN 9781434319739, 2007. Paperback 284 pages, large font.~Authorhouse, Sept 2007
ISBN-13 9781434319739
Paperback, 284 pages
Large font

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About the author

Faan Martin, was born in 1947 in the scenic Rhodesian border city of Umtali. He was educated in Rhodesia and South Africa. During the war he was a cattle rancher in the Manicaland province of Rhodesia.

After completing his national service with 1 Independent Company he served as a territorial soldier with the 4th Infantry Battalion.

During his time in uniform, he qualified as a marksman and served in the Operation Hurricane, Thrasher and Repulse areas. He also took part in external operations into neighbouring Mozambique and served with a helicopter gunship group known as a "Fire Force."

In November 1978, Rhodesian Security Forces attacked 200 terrorists on a mountain on the Martins' farm.

Three days after the battle in which eight ZANLA insurgents were killed and a Rhodesian helicopter was shot down, the author and two friends searched the mountain and found a huge arms cache.

Not long afterwards Rhodesian Special Branch policemen visited the author and his wife Jayne and warned them that their names had been found on a ZANLA death list after a highly successful attack on a massive terrorist base in Mozambique.

One night in January 1979, 12 terrorists launched a bazooka attack on the Martins' family. They survived the attack, but it changed their lives.Concern over the safety of their four small children, the regular theft of their cattle and knowing Robert Mugabe would soon become the new political leader of the country, eventually made the Martins immigrate to South Africa.

After a short spell of teaching and farming in South Africa, Martin became a journalist. He has written 500 published magazine articles and was the Editor of two weekly newspapers, the Northern Review and The Pietersburger. Later he was the Assistant Editor of the Farmer's Weekly magazine.

He now lives in Scotland.~James and the Duck|ISBN-13 9781434319739|~316~11546~Faan Martin~

Long Range Desert Group Rhodesia: The Men Speak - Jonathan Pittaway~"2nd Edition" - re-titled, revised, updated. and re-worked with a lot of new material added to the earlier book 'LRDG Rhodesia: Rhodesians in the Long Range Desert Group' .The first of 3 similar books on the Rhodesian Special Forces by the same author.
This title offers a comprehensive view of the Rhodesian contribution to the special forces LRDG during the 2nd World War. Covering the organisation, training and operations, it contains the most detailed account of the Rhodesian patrols of the LRDG - as written by men who were actually there. The book is lavishly illustrated with many previously unseen photos of operations & personnel and includes personal stories by well known men, and details gallantry citations. The upcoming revised 2nd edition SAS Rhodesia and the new Selous Scouts Rhodesia will follow a similar format and includes respectively, full nominal rolls, Rolls of Honour, chronologies, orbats, tables, medals, badges, uniforms, documents, maps and miliaria. There are numerous black & white & colour illustrations throughout, and is officially authorised by the respective local Associations.
Private publication. Nov 2008. Softcover, US Letter size, coffee-table quality, gloss finish, 462 pages, 1000 photos,.

As we can only order stock in small batches, there is currently a waiting list. Order now, we will endeavour to dispatch your copy in approx 7 weeks. We expect to have stock on hand from March/April onwards.~~LRGD%3A Rhodesia 2|X ISBN 9780620389|~316~12353~~