Farm
Protection duties Headlands, GF Bravo Op Hurricane October 1978
Sgt George
Parker remembers:
I had been based at the
Headlands BSAP station on my 3rd GF call-up, and my first involvement
in Farm Protection. This was Group Bravo whose area HQ was at Rusape
Landmine:
Inyati Road
Around late October 78,
(I think it was a Sunday morning) I was asleep in my quarters when an extremely
loud explosion woke me up, it was probably just before 6am. I quickly got
dressed and reported to the Charge Office (we were based at the British South
Africa Police station to hear if there were any reports on the radio network.
It soon came through that the explosion had been heard on the road to Inyati
mine. (This I believe was a chromium mine situated about 30 kms from Headlands
on a dirt road to the north).
I teamed up with a
European PC (van Wyk?) and drove out on the Kudu in the direction of the mine.
Over the radio we got the message that the Police Reserve road check Land Rover
with a European and 2 African Police Reservists had not returned from their
morning patrol. We continued towards the mine, the sun was well up at this
stage and it was going to be a very hot day.
Approximately 20 kms up
after leaving the main drag we recognised a large hole in the main road on the
downward slope towards the river and a low level bridge. The Reservists vehicle
was lying upside down in the river to the west side of the concrete bridge.
There was at this time no other attendees at the scene. The Constable and I were very careful not to
go straight to the area in case of ambush etc. It was quite apparent however
that there were no CTs in the vicinity. However
we could also see no sign of the vehicles occupants. We checked as far as
possible that they were not in the vehicle. The river was very shallow.
Whilst searching the
opposite banks we could see a large gap in the bush/tree line about halfway up
the bank and about 4 feet in width. We quickly checked that immediate area and found
an African Police Reservist lying at the base of a tree. The gap in the trees
was where he had ‘flown’ when the rear wheel of the vehicle had detonated the
mine, he was literally thrown through the tree line and the Land Rover flipped
into the river. There was no sign of the other occupants. The policeman was
barely alive. Both his legs below the knees were completely severed and his
boots were still attached to his legs as the laces were tied high up on his
calves. He had lost a tremendous amount of blood and was near death. Whilst I
stayed with him my colleague retrieved morphine from our vehicle. We tried to
locate a vein in his arm but it seemed all veins had collapsed. Nevertheless we
found one and attempted to put a needle into the ‘vein’ to administer pain
killers and perhaps get a drip into him. This was unsuccessful and it was
during this exercise that the man passed away. One thing stuck in my mind
during this time. The man was crying softly... possibly through fear I do not
know, I also recognised that my colleague was holding the policeman’s hand. The policeman never became conscious but I
like to think that he recognised that friends were trying to help him. This
whole episode from detecting him until he died probably took no more than 15
minutes.
Shortly afterwards
other BSAP guys retrieved the body of the other policeman. The driver had
walked back to the mine without injury. The names of these two policemen who
were volunteer reservists from the mine are named below:
Field
Reservist Zuzeyo Bitirinyu and Field Reservist Waison Magirazi
Both these men had
attested into BSAP some 10/12 years previously. With these deaths it further brought
home to me that the Rhodesian War could never be seen purely as a black/white
conflict, when African men volunteered on the side of the Government and paid the ultimate price.
George Parker (February 2015)
Pictures above supplied by KC Eddie Mendes after 1st camp in Op Thrasher 1978
This picture was taken when we were heading to the White Rose on our way
to stand down at Chikurubi. I cannot recall the guard’s name but from the left
is – Junior Commandant ‘Randy’ Rees, KC Eddie Mendes, KC ‘Ollie’
Amerigo D’Olivera and KC Hans (can’t recall his Surname) Note the 42 Zulu on
Eddie and Ollie’s G3s

Showing the two guards, Ollie, Eddie and Hans. The 42 Zulus Ollie and
Eddie have are those I snivelled at Grand Reef from the Selous Scouts. The
rifle and Zulu the guard is holding is mine he is holding it while I took the
picture. (Jnr Comdt Gary Rees)
KC EDDIE
MENDES remembers his
time when serving
at the Farm Protection AREA
HQ Bravo 3 , part of OP
THRASHER and responsible for
the area MELSETTER,
CASHEL and CHIPINGA
under Jnr Comdt Gary Rees .
“ I remember doing the PAYRUN in our area of responsibility during the
weeks before Christmas. During the pay-run you had to pay in cash the monthly
pay / salary to all the guards deployed on the many farms in the area. The
money and pay-documents were transported in the standard military trucks. After
returning [ hopefully ] from the pay-run you had to balance the payroll with
the cash you had received before you left. A nail-biting exercise because you
may have found out that you made a mistake and the money you returned was
short. You had to follow up the pay-queries of your soldiers and give feedback
to them. But that was only the administrative side of a pay-run.
From the operational side there
was the permanent threat of being ambushed or blown up by a landmine. You were
travelling mostly in one of the mine protected vehicles [ very seldom you had
the luxury of an additional escort vehicle ] with a few guards as protection
and the trunk full of money. Roads leading to the farms were mostly small dirt
roads and many were known as ambush alleys. Sometimes thick vegetation on both
sides and very difficult to navigate in the mountainous areas of the Eastern
Highlands, specific during the rainy season.
On this specific pay-run , which
was a two weeks deployment, it rained most of the time and the dirt roads
became difficult to use. Christmas Eve I spent under the truck which got stuck.
The rain was coming down in buckets and we got stuck going uphill just before
we reached the farm. As the sun came up the next morning we saw that we were
about 150 metres from the farm-fence. We managed to get the truck to the farm.
The farmer was killed some time
back and his courageous wife was running the farm. We had a hot bath and an
excellent meal . It was a Christmas I always will remember and made my call-up
a very special one.
Another time we were on the way
with supplies and mail from Cashel to Chipinga. At about 15:30 hrs we were
driving close to the turn-off to the Birchenough Bridge. We were driving one of
the mineprotected trucks and I decided to close all the side hatches and only
leaving the driver side open. Shortly thereafter we got ambushed but we had no
casualties with the exception of one of the guards and myself. We were injured
by shrapnel. We went to the Chipinga Hospital and got patched up. I used the opportunity to visit another KC
who was ambushed the week before and was admitted to the hospital. From
Chipinga we went back to our Base at Melsetter. The shrapnel in my shoulder blade
was only removed in later years in South Africa.
Remarks
: KC Eddie Mendes was of Portuguese ancestry and
served with the Portuguese Army in Mocambique. He came in 1975 to Rhodesia and
worked for CMED at Workington / Salisbury and also for TARMACADAM in road
construction. With Tarmacadam he was working in the OP Hurricane areas of
Bindura, Kandeya TTL, Rusambo, MaryMount etc., constructing roads in areas
infested with CTs and experiencing the necessity of having his FN- Rifle always
close by. He joined Guard Force in 1978 and did his training from January to
March 1978 at Chikurubi together with George Parker in Intake GF11. His
experiences when serving with the Portuguese Army in Mocambique became very
useful not only for him but also for his comrades- in-arms during training and
later during his operational deployments. After the war he settled in South
Africa, served in the SAPS as a
Reservist for 18 years at the Jeppe / Jhbg. Police Station and achieved the
rank of Warrant Officer. Not much is known about his activities in other parts
of Africa. He left in August 2014 South
Africa and returned to Portugal his ancestral Home . A bewildering experience after so many years
in Africa.
Comments
by KC
George Parker : If
only the CTs knew how much money we were carrying in this tin trucks – lucky it
was not worse.
I also did a couple of pay runs
when I was stationed at Kezi [ up to the
Matopos ] which formed part of the Farm Protection Area HQ Delta 3 situated in OP TANGENT. Great pay run
deployments. I had my trusted NCO riding shotgun with a 42 ZULU Rifle Grenade
on the barrel of his rifle and ready to fire.
The worst thing was when there was
a forfeiture or deduction of pay for some of the guards. It was easy for the
payclerks at GFHQ but never pleasant for us when we faced the guards full of
disappointment and even hate in their eyes , refusing to accept that there were
legitimate reasons for these deductions and with their G-3 rifles close by. In
retrospect I can say that sometimes we must have been crazy. But that was service
in Guard Force.
The best part of my service in
Guard Force was my deployment in Farm Protection. I always felt that we were
doing a worthwhile job . The farmers and
their families were always pleased when we arrived and extended their generous
hospitality to us.
Comments by Snr
Comdt Horst Schobesberger : PAY RUNS, belittled by the “real” soldiers as
an Admin function. The Admin function was when you paid physically your
soldiers in their bases, PVs or on farms. The rest of the operational deployment,
because that’s what it was, falls under the heading VEHICLE MOVEMENT IN THE
OPERATONAL AREA and if you have been trained in COIN then
you will know that it entails quite a number of operational activites and
dangers. E.G. Vehicle Ambushes and Landmines.
Let me share with you my first pay
run in Guard Force. I was 2 weeks in the country and 8 days with Guard Force,
based at GP 5 Mrewa. My OC was Cmdt Guenter Maeser, an Austrian like
myself. Guenter Maeser decided after my
first week in Guard Force that I was ready to be sent on a pay run. I was given
one hour practical introduction in how
to drive a KUDU, the vehicle I had to drive on the pay run. I was given the
then Sgt George Chinsen as payclerk, three guards as escorts and a trunk with
56.000 Rh$. My task was to pay all the Guard Force soldiers in all the PVs of
GP 5 Mrewa . African soldiers and their names difficult to pronounce for me,
the Rhodesian money, my very basic driving skills in driving a mineprotected
vehicle and my little English I spoke, made me in hindsight not the ideal
candidate for such a task. And this was only the Admin part of it. The
operational side was actually worse. The PVs in GP 5 area were situated in CT
infested and sometimes dominated areas like Maramba TTL, Uzumba TTL and Pfungwe
TTL and others. My ignorance, naivite and poor knowledge of the difficulties
and dangers ahead made me very confident of completing the task ahead .
It was
my first journey into the real Africa and I enjoyed it. Today I am still
surprised that I never was ambushed or blown up by a Landmine during the two weeks of pay run. I saw everything just
as an enjoyable challenge . In Austria we say that each person has an “
Schutzengel “ [ angel who protects you in times of danger ] But maybe it was
just luck.
My other task given to me was to start to understand how the PV
system was working which was probably
the most interesting part of it. I enjoyed the way how pay parades were
conducted in a very formal way [ Pay checked and found correct, Sir ] with a
lot of feet stamping , smart turning and saluting. George Chinsen was not very
much impressed with my driving skills after I managed to got stuck with the Kudu on a low-level bridge
overflowing with water. The thoughts of our African soldiers watching me
without any sign of concern – one can only guess. Balancing the money after my
return showed that I had a 50 cent surplus , not bad for a beginner. The
following week it was decide that my introduction into Africa, Rhodesia and the Guard Force was good
enough and I was posted as 2iC to GP 9 Mount Darwin . But this was Guard Force
, a different pair of boots altogether.
[ compiled
in July 2015 ].
Above contribution by Horst Schobesberger