Howard Neill
03-25-2009, 04:06 AM
Yesterday, I heard from a wedding videographer in Burlington, WI, USA. He had read a chapter of an article, according to the South African ANC, of the first South African incursions into Zimbabwe, which was then called Rhodesia. http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?doc=ancdocs/pubs/umrabulo/umrabulo29/art8.html (http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?doc=ancdocs/pubs/umrabulo/umrabulo29/art8.html)
He wanted to know what I could tell him about it. This was my reply
"I was around during both of those operations (Wankie & Sipolilo) - aged 24. In Wankie (August 1967), I was on Highway Patrol, driving a Police Jaguar with Section Officer Neville Eva. We went on the normal patrol, from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls. The only difference was that we were told to take an Uzi sub machine gun. It was never used.
The Wankie Agricultural show was held as normal. Neville and I were the only cops on duty there. We slept at the Wankie police camp, which was where we normally stayed. Camping stretchers were everywhere, because PATU (Police Anti Terrorist Units) had moved into the area. There was also the Bulawayo Dog Section. Amongst them was Spencer Thomas and Bob Horne, who was wounded when Spencer Thomas was killed.
Bob was wounded but played possum, whilst the gooks worked over Spencer Thomas, who was still alive. Spencer Thomas' Alsatian dog went missing at that time. He appeared in that area about 12 months later and Dog Section went up from Bulawayo. Understandably the dog was very nervous. They managed to coax him and take him home.
Fast forward to March 1968. By then, I was the Troop Commander of C Troop of the BSA Police Support Unit. We were on the Zambezi River, just below the main bridge at Chirundu, between Zambia & Rhodesia. Operation Cauldron had been in progress for a few weeks.
I was in an open LWB Landrover taking rations on a muddy road alongside the river. I had a Sergeant and two Constables with me. A Roads Department tractor and trailer were approaching in the opposite direction with some "workers" on the trailer. I pulled over to let them pass. The tractor stopped alongside us. I thought that the driver wanted me to proceed so I moved forward.
There were cries of "Stop. Stop." The tractor driver said something in Shona to the Sergeant. The Sergeant pointed to the six passengers on the trailer and said, "These are terrorists, Sir". The wide eyed terrs said, "We surrender". Oh great! I had arrested 6 terrs and I didn't even know that they were terrs. http://www.videouniversity.com/images/gossamer/laugh.gif I didn't know what else to say, so I muttered, "Bloody Tsotsies".
The terrs, who had surrendered to the Roads Department, had now surrendered to us. They were in pitiful condition having been in contacts with the regular army. They had been on the run through the Zambezi Valley for weeks, with no food. Being rainy season, they were never short of water.
I don't remember how we loaded them onto the LWB Land Rover? We took them the short distance to where my section was camped on the Zambezi River. We issued some ration packs to the gooks. They really climbed into the food. I was told later, by Special Branch, that we should have kept them on short rations. I am just too kind!
The terrs previously stashed their rifles some distance away. Special Branch flew in the next day and the terrs showed them where they were.
We pick up one other terr on that operation. He had somehow got separated from his group and crawled to the edge of the tar of the main Harare/Lusaka Road, near the escarpment.
He was even worse for wear than the Roads Department captives. I picked him up, literally, with one of my sections. I seem to recall that I was called out from the pub at the Makuti Motel for that one. War was hell! http://www.videouniversity.com/images/gossamer/laugh.gif I remember that terr's name was Reggie and he was from Durban.
That about as exciting as my "war stories" get. We picked up a couple more terrs, in August 1968. That was near Msuna Mouth on Devils Gorge on the Zambezi river. Before we met them, they had been bombed by an air strike, mortared by the RAR and been in a contact with a Police Anti Terrorist Unit. They were turned in by local tribesmen, who called our camp guards - we were on patrol down river. The guards called a Special Branch Inspector, who they knew to be staying at the Msuna Mouth camp. They went down and arrested the two terrs, whilst I was blissfully unaware, downstream on the Zambezi. Ja, war was hell! http://www.videouniversity.com/images/gossamer/wink.gif
Sam & I love going to the Zambezi. There is a saying that, if you drink the waters of the Zambezi, you will always return. We do.
Cheers
Howard"
.
He wanted to know what I could tell him about it. This was my reply
"I was around during both of those operations (Wankie & Sipolilo) - aged 24. In Wankie (August 1967), I was on Highway Patrol, driving a Police Jaguar with Section Officer Neville Eva. We went on the normal patrol, from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls. The only difference was that we were told to take an Uzi sub machine gun. It was never used.
The Wankie Agricultural show was held as normal. Neville and I were the only cops on duty there. We slept at the Wankie police camp, which was where we normally stayed. Camping stretchers were everywhere, because PATU (Police Anti Terrorist Units) had moved into the area. There was also the Bulawayo Dog Section. Amongst them was Spencer Thomas and Bob Horne, who was wounded when Spencer Thomas was killed.
Bob was wounded but played possum, whilst the gooks worked over Spencer Thomas, who was still alive. Spencer Thomas' Alsatian dog went missing at that time. He appeared in that area about 12 months later and Dog Section went up from Bulawayo. Understandably the dog was very nervous. They managed to coax him and take him home.
Fast forward to March 1968. By then, I was the Troop Commander of C Troop of the BSA Police Support Unit. We were on the Zambezi River, just below the main bridge at Chirundu, between Zambia & Rhodesia. Operation Cauldron had been in progress for a few weeks.
I was in an open LWB Landrover taking rations on a muddy road alongside the river. I had a Sergeant and two Constables with me. A Roads Department tractor and trailer were approaching in the opposite direction with some "workers" on the trailer. I pulled over to let them pass. The tractor stopped alongside us. I thought that the driver wanted me to proceed so I moved forward.
There were cries of "Stop. Stop." The tractor driver said something in Shona to the Sergeant. The Sergeant pointed to the six passengers on the trailer and said, "These are terrorists, Sir". The wide eyed terrs said, "We surrender". Oh great! I had arrested 6 terrs and I didn't even know that they were terrs. http://www.videouniversity.com/images/gossamer/laugh.gif I didn't know what else to say, so I muttered, "Bloody Tsotsies".
The terrs, who had surrendered to the Roads Department, had now surrendered to us. They were in pitiful condition having been in contacts with the regular army. They had been on the run through the Zambezi Valley for weeks, with no food. Being rainy season, they were never short of water.
I don't remember how we loaded them onto the LWB Land Rover? We took them the short distance to where my section was camped on the Zambezi River. We issued some ration packs to the gooks. They really climbed into the food. I was told later, by Special Branch, that we should have kept them on short rations. I am just too kind!
The terrs previously stashed their rifles some distance away. Special Branch flew in the next day and the terrs showed them where they were.
We pick up one other terr on that operation. He had somehow got separated from his group and crawled to the edge of the tar of the main Harare/Lusaka Road, near the escarpment.
He was even worse for wear than the Roads Department captives. I picked him up, literally, with one of my sections. I seem to recall that I was called out from the pub at the Makuti Motel for that one. War was hell! http://www.videouniversity.com/images/gossamer/laugh.gif I remember that terr's name was Reggie and he was from Durban.
That about as exciting as my "war stories" get. We picked up a couple more terrs, in August 1968. That was near Msuna Mouth on Devils Gorge on the Zambezi river. Before we met them, they had been bombed by an air strike, mortared by the RAR and been in a contact with a Police Anti Terrorist Unit. They were turned in by local tribesmen, who called our camp guards - we were on patrol down river. The guards called a Special Branch Inspector, who they knew to be staying at the Msuna Mouth camp. They went down and arrested the two terrs, whilst I was blissfully unaware, downstream on the Zambezi. Ja, war was hell! http://www.videouniversity.com/images/gossamer/wink.gif
Sam & I love going to the Zambezi. There is a saying that, if you drink the waters of the Zambezi, you will always return. We do.
Cheers
Howard"
.