MTOKO RHODESIA- A
MOMENT IN TIME- 1979
History is by definition a chronicle of the past and
memories are made of this. Guard Force is a personal memory of a chapter in
Rhodesia’s history the details of which fade with the rigor of time. This
little memoir pays scant heed and certainly improper justice to the very real
and lasting human tragedy evolved of a civil war fought and lived through those
years ago so I apologise for this.
Rhodesia sic is probably as much a conundrum today as it was
back then? As Life and time are inexorably linked perhaps humans might be
considered victims of time? I have decided to simply jot down some of the
lighter moments remembered of those days back in 1979.
January 1979 found us drafted as 18 and 19 year old
conscripts into The Rhodesia Armed Forces-intake 163 I think- to contribute our
bit to the defence of the country, as indeed many had done before. Intake 163
–Rhodesia Guard Force- was white i.e. ethnically European whilst the G.F Unit
itself was probably 90% black African? We started our basic training at
Chikurubi (Prison farm) out on the Arcturus Road in Salisbury as this was where
Guard Force Regimental Depot and Training Centre were.
Our barracks consisted of two large Rooney’s marquees, of
the type hired for weddings and things. They leaked a bit, sometimes a lot in a
thunder storm, but we didn’t mind. A Rhodesian boiler serviced the open-air
showers and we had bucket type lavatories which had to be emptied by hand. We
were issued with ancient SLR rifles which didn’t work very well and initially
used the Cleveland Range for live weapons drill and target practice.
Battle-Camp took place on a tobacco farm near Mermaids Pool out on the Shamva
Road. There we ran everywhere, made warrior type noise and practiced bush
warfare using live ammo, grenades, claymores, 60mm mortars and other such
lethal ordinance we couldn’t use at Chikurubi.It rained a lot, was quite tiring
but good fun as nobody fired back at us-on purpose anyway!
Moving to 2 nd phase training- things got a bit more
serious- endless drill and morning parades, tedious inspections, lots of smoke
breaks, boring lectures and much more range practice, this time at an army base
near Darwendale? By now we all had the G3A3 rifle instead of the SLR.I didn’t
like my G3 very much as it tended to jam, it rattled and was made mostly of
plastic. More importantly though we became experts at finishing the impressive
GFRD assault course in an acceptable time.
Of significance for 1979 black (African) Rhodesians now
trained with us. Cloud M. once confided that some of the others thought it odd
that a black and a white should be friends? We must have been friends I guess
as he borrowed my coveted Phillips pocket shaver prior to important occasions
like CO’S inspection. His spoken English was excellent-sorry Horst. As the
weeks passed we were to discover that very occasionally Warrant Officer R.Atkinson
showed just a glimmer of humour which was very disconcerting. Bernard disturbed
a nest of wild bees whilst on our last battle-camp exercise- Richard (training
officer) was livid, almost as furious as the bees. Forced to abandon the
mission we took cover from the swarming insects, all except Duffy who ran to
Bernard’s rescue brandishing a burning* branch. Bernard might well have
perished that day - so badly
stung he looked like a singed*hairy caterpillar prior to
casevac.
And so we passed-out of Chikurubi-some of us to join 1 st
Infantry Battalion- Mtoko. From there we moved to our forward bases via Mrewa.
Mashambanaka sic and Mutawatawa Camps were supposedly in a
liberated zone-whatever that meant. I remember many destroyed causeways and
ruined bridges and that the dusty, corrugated gravel roads were liberally mined
and had wide trenches dug across them. It took hours to travel just a short
distance. We had some contacts but nothing terribly serious. I once had the
bright idea of running up the Rhodesian flag, our GF flag? and those of the
units we shared camp with i.e. Police and Intaf -but got Intaf’s upside
down-sorry for that. Someone then liberated the flags! Cloud somehow tangled
with a conventional lima-mike in his borrowed PATU Hyena. Luck had it that we
were close enough to react quickly to his location where he was found, grumpy
and covered in dust but otherwise uninjured-unlike his vehicle! He mentioned crossly
that it was my fault for some reason? Sorry Cloud- but on the positive we did
recover the vehicle so not all bad. We and other units lost precious vehicles
to centre-blast explosive devices, usually triggered by simple but cunning
pressure-plate contraptions.
Our short COIN adventure came to an abrupt end as we were
suddenly redeployed to the south of the country this time on Rail Protection duties-
Gwelo (Dabuka) to Beitbridge. At this time I transferred to 1 st Battalion HQ
Rutenga together with another chap, Paul (French name?) a capable and amicable
person. He and several other resourceful individuals were to leave Guard Force
and the bush war shortly afterwards as they had completed their 18 months
National Service. This left a gap but we wished them well of course. Our little
convoy out of Mtoko travelled through Salisbury to Fort Victoria and comprised
of Swift Transport, several civilian buses, some elderly Pumas, a few
Nissan/Isuzu flatbeds and a couple of trusted Kudus. Surprisingly and despite a
dusk skirmish just outside Fort Vic we arrived safely- well almost-a Swift driver
sustained shrapnel wounds and a civilian family of four were rescued as their
car tyres had been punctured.
Rail Protection was very different to what we had become
accustomed and there were some tragic moments, not all born of direct conflict,
which left scars that probably not even time could heal. 9RR (Rhodesia
Regiment) practically owned Rutenga and its airfield and comprised of
reasonably pleasant and seasoned Rhodesians-mostly family men from Bulawayo who
had rotated in and out of call-ups for years. They found sharing their camp with
Guard Force very annoying but we didn’t really care. They were good people
though and they had night vision binoculars-they really did!
And so my year’s National Service came to an end. Thinking
about it now I’d encountered many colourful and interesting characters along
the journey, most of whom had been fair and pleasant comrades, so thanks for
that. All things considered Intake 163-Rhodesia Guard Force-Infantry, Farm
Protection, Rail Protection …… achieved a great deal with very little and
that’s probably what really mattered in the end. History is what it was
-MAKOROKOTO
M.Laney
November 2018