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Author: Neil Grant
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472809637
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 68
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Book Description
The 1st Battalion, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, was one of the most innovative and successful counter-insurgency units in modern history. Formed as a commando battalion in 1964 after the dissolution of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, the RLI was an all-white unit made up of South Africans and men from the UK, Europe and US. It was a key weapon in independent Rhodesia's struggle against the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army and Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army during the bloody Rhodesian Bush War. This comprehensive study explores the unit's dramatic history, revealing the RLI's fearsome airborne and combat capacity, which gave the unit, at times, near total tactical superiority against its opponents.
Author: Neil Grant
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472809637
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 68
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Book Description
The 1st Battalion, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, was one of the most innovative and successful counter-insurgency units in modern history. Formed as a commando battalion in 1964 after the dissolution of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, the RLI was an all-white unit made up of South Africans and men from the UK, Europe and US. It was a key weapon in independent Rhodesia's struggle against the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army and Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army during the bloody Rhodesian Bush War. This comprehensive study explores the unit's dramatic history, revealing the RLI's fearsome airborne and combat capacity, which gave the unit, at times, near total tactical superiority against its opponents.
Author: Chris Cocks
Publisher: Lime Tree Press
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 341
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Book Description
Fire Force is the account of Chris Cocks’s service in 3 Commando, The Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI), during Zimbabwe’s civil war of the 1970s—a war that came to be known, almost innocuously, as ‘the bush war’. Fire Force, a tactic of total airborne/airmobile envelopment, was developed by the RLI, and became the principal strike weapon of the beleaguered Rhodesian forces in their struggle against the tide of the communist-trained and -equipped ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillas. “Like Reitz’s work, Commando: A Boer Journal of the Boer War, Fire Force, by first-time author Chris Cocks, is a personal account of close-quarter warfare. It is a unique, compelling, sometimes brutal account of a young conscript’s three years of service in the elite Rhodesian Light Infantry … Cocks’s work is one of the very few books which adequately describes the horrors of war in Africa … Fire Force is the best book on the Rhodesian War that I have read.” – Southern African Review of Books “Fire Force will be to the Rhodesian War what Remarque’s All Quiet on The Western Front was to World War I. A high claim indeed, but perhaps valid, for this moving book is a classic in any sense.” – The Star “The narrative is raw … it gives the book a veracity so complete that it will transport anyone involved in the ordeal back across the years with the force of a body blow … Rhodesia does at last have its own version of Michael Herr’s Vietnam experiences, Dispatches. A sense of regret is what really lingers, that the whole nightmare had to happen at all. The list of names of boys killed, or scarred physically and mentally, is moving beyond mere words.” – The Financial Mail
Author: Alexandre Binda
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781920143879
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
We've seen the stories of the more 'glamorous' Selous Scouts, the SAS and the Rhodesian Air Force, but very little about the RLI, often underrated, but arguably one of the most effective counter-insurgency units of all time. This was the unit that brought the 'Fireforce' concept to the world's attention--the devastatingly ruthless airborne envelopment and annihilation of a guerrilla enemy. Dubbed "The Killing Machine" by Charles D. Melson, chief historian of the US Marine Corps, the RLI was a veritable 'foreign legion' with over 20 diverse nationalities serving in her ranks. The RLI, a truly international airborne battalion, fought the bitter Zimbabwean 'bush war' for 15 years, against the overwhelming tide of communist-trained guerrillas. Kill rates don't win wars, but during its brief 19-year history, it is estimated that the RLI accounted for between 12,000 and 15,000 enemy guerrillas, for the loss of 135 men. RLI soldiers were recipients of four Silver Crosses and 42 Bronze Crosses of Rhodesia. An RLI trooper holds the world record for operational parachute descents --a staggering 73 op jumps--most under 500 feet! The Saints is not intended as a definitive history but, with more of a classic 'scrapbook' feel, the presentation attempts to capture the essence of this fine unit--what it was like to be a troopie, one of the 'ouens'. Alexandre Binda was born in Beira, Mozambique in 1945. He joined the Rhodesian Army in 1965. Although he had attested into the Pay Corps, he was to get more operational and combat experience than any of his colleagues. Between 1968 and 1972 he took part in a dozen or so deployments with RLI and SAS combat-tracker teams in support of the Portuguese Army in the Tete Province of Mozambique, countering Frelimo and ZANLA guerrilla incursions from the north. He was awarded a Military Forces Commendation. During his 15 years in the Rhodesian Army, he did a four-year tour of duty with the Selous Scouts and was commissioned in 1979. Alex is a keen student of African military history and has written several articles for Lion & Tusk, the magazine of the Rhodesian Army Association. He is also author of Masodja--A History of the Rhodesian African Rifles.
Author: Peter Abbott
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 52
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Book Description
Portugal is a small country, but for many years it possessed the world's third largest empire; and its armed forces deserve to be better known than they are in the English-speaking world. Fortunately, the British co-author was able to meet a Portuguese colleague who was not only an authority on Portuguese military history and uniforms, but who had also served in Mocambique himself. A collaborative venture seemed the best way of providing the kind of 'hard' information about Portuguese weapons, organisation, uniforms and insignia that has been lacking until now.
Author: Stuart Reid
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1782005242
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 169
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Book Description
The commissioned officer ranks in the British Army from 1740-1815 were almost entirely composed of the affluent and educated the sons of the landed gentry, the wealthy, and other professional people. This title looks at the enlistment, training, daily life and combat experiences of the typical British officer in the crucial periods of the North American conflicts, the American Revolution, and the Napoleonic Wars. It compliments the author's previous treatments in Warrior 19 British Redcoat 1740-93 and Warrior 20 British Redcoat (2) 1793-1815, which deal exclusively with the common infantryman, and balances these discussions through a look at the 'fellows in silk stockings'. Particular emphasis is placed on the experiences and activities in North America in the late 18th century.
Author: Kerrin Cocks
Publisher: Helion and Company
ISBN: 1910294055
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 73
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Book Description
On 11 November 1965, Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith unilaterally declared his country independent of Britain. International sanctions were immediately instituted against the minority white regime as Robert Mugabe's ZANLA and Joshua Nkomo's ZIPRA armies commenced their armed struggle, the Chimurenga, the war of liberation. As Communist-trained guerrillas flooded the country, the beleaguered Rhodesians, hard-pressed for manpower and military resources, were forced to devise new and innovative methods to combat the insurgency. Fire Force was their answer. Fire Force as a military concept dates from 1974 when the Rhodesian Air Force (RhAF) acquired the French MG151 20mm cannon from the Portuguese. Visionary RhAF and Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) officers expanded on the idea of a 'vertical envelopment' of the enemy, with the 20mm cannon being the principal weapon of attack, mounted in an Alouette III K-Car ('Killer car'), supported by ground troops deployed from G-Cars (Alouette III troop-carrying gunships and latterly Bell 'Hueys') and parachuted from DC-3 Dakotas. In support would be a propeller-driven ground-attack aircraft armed with front guns, pods of napalm, white phosphorus rockets and a variety of Rhodesian-designed bombs; on call would be Canberra bombers, Hawker Hunter and Vampire jets. In spite of the overwhelming number of enemy pitted against them, Rhodesian Fire Forces accounted for thousands of enemy guerrillas, with a kill ratio exceeding 80:1. At the end of the war, ZANLA generals admitted their army could not have survived another year in the field-in no small part due to the ruthless efficiency of the Fire Forces, described by Charles D. Melson, the Chief Historian of the U.S. Marine Corps, as the ultimate "killing machine".
Author: Mark Adams
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781920143596
Category : Zimbabwe
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
The RLI killing machine extraordinaire
Author: Mark Lardas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1782000712
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 66
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Book Description
Before the American Civil War most Native Americans or Indians lived in an area of the South known as the Five Civilized Nations. At the war's outbreak many of these Indians enlisted in the Confederate and Union armies, and were organized into regiments of mounted riflemen. They were motivated to protect their land and way of life, often fighting against their fellow Indians from other Tribes. This book explores these fascinating warriors, and their controversial actions in battles, such as Pea Ridge and Bird Creek, using contemporary sources to detail not only their battle experience but also their beliefs and views of the war.
Author: Hannes Wessels
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1612005888
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 233
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Book Description
A memoir from a Special Forces fighter about his experiences in the Rhodesian War and how combat has shaped his life. Andre Scheepers grew up on a farm in Rhodesia, learning about the bush from his African childhood friends, before joining the army. A quiet, introspective thinker, Andre started out as a trooper in the SAS before being commissioned into the Rhodesian Light Infantry Commandos, where he was engaged in fireforce combat operations. He then rejoined the SAS. Wounded thirteen times, his operational record is exceptional, even by the tough standards that existed at the time. He emerged as the SAS officer par excellence—beloved by his men, displaying extraordinary calm, courage, and audacious cunning during a host of extremely dangerous operations. Here, Andre writes vividly about his experiences, his emotions, and his state of mind during the war, and reflects candidly on what he learned and how war has shaped his life since. In addition to Andre’s personal story, this book reveals more about some of the other men who were distinguished operators in SAS operations during the Rhodesian War. “Andre was the best of the best and the bravest of the brave.” —Capt. Darrell Watt, ex-SAS and subject of A Handful of Hard Men
Author: Ian Sumner
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 68
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Book Description
'Why,' the Kaiser enquired of Czar Nicholas in 1913, did he wish to ally himself with France when 'the Frenchman is no longer capable of being a soldier?' Indeed, during World War I (1914-1918) the French Army was in a state of disarray, plagued by indiscipline, mutinies and desertion. The ordinary French citizens that were called upon to defend their motherland, the Poilu, were disrespected and demoralized, and the infamous mutinies of 1917 by the Poilu were not protests against the war itself, but against how the war was conducted. The rebellions sent a stark warning, forcing a reform in the management of the war. Consequently, the performance of many French regiments improved and the Poilu went on to become the only European troops to fight the entire war within their own borders. Ian Sumner expertly charts the history of the Poilu, from the conscription of hundreds of thousands of men, through their training, to the horrors of the trenches and the fear of no-man's land, providing a fascinating insight into the events that led to the 1917 revolts. New artwork and diagrams illustrate the experiences of the soldiers as the comforts of civilian life were stripped away from them and the trenches became their homes.
