| MAP45 Armoured Personnel Carrier | |
|---|---|
| Type | Armoured personnel carrier |
| Place of origin | Rhodesia |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1978–present |
| Used by | Rhodesia Zimbabwe |
| Wars | Rhodesian Bush War 1980 Entumbane clashes 1981 Entumbane uprising Mozambican Civil War Second Congo War |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 9 tonnes (combat) 7.59 tonnes (empty) |
| Length | 6.6 m |
| Width | 2.28 m |
| Height | 2.9 m |
| Crew | 2+12 |
| Armor | 10 mm mild steel |
Main armament | one 7.62 mm, 12.7 mm or 14.5 mm machine guns |
Secondary armament | personal weapons through gunports |
| Engine | 6-cylinder 5.67L Benz diesel OM352 110 hp |
| Power/weight | hp/ton hp/tonne |
| Drive | 4 × 4 |
Operational range | 600 to 700 km |
| Maximum speed | 80 km/h/60 km/h km/h |
The MAP45 Armoured Personnel Carrier (a.k.a. MAP 'four five') is a Rhodesian/Zimbabwean 4x4d heavy troop-carrying vehicle (TCV) first introduced in 1978 based on a Mercedes-Benz truck chassis. It remains in use with the Zimbabwe National Army.
The MAP45 Armoured Personnel Carrier ('MAP' stands for mine and ambush protected in Rhodesian military jargon) was developed in 1977-78 by the Rhodesian Army Workshops as a light version of the MAP75 TCV. Production started early in 1978 at Army Workshops but in order to meet the increasing demand, manufacture was contracted out to the Rhodesian private firm Zambesi Coachworks Ltd of Salisbury (now Harare). [1]
The MAP45 consists of an all-welded body with a cut-down troop compartment built on a modified Mercedes-Benz LA911B 4.5 ton Series truck chassis ('Rodef 45'). Adapted from the MAP75 TCV, the open-topped hull or 'capsule' is faceted at the sides, which were designed to deflect small-arms' rounds, and a flat deck reinforced by a v-shaped 'crush box' meant to deflect mine blasts. Three inverted U-shaped low 'Roll bars' were fitted to protect the fighting compartment from being crushed in case the vehicle turned and roll over after a landmine detonation. Due to the shortened top hull, their reduced height presented less of a problem since it did not hamper movements inside the troop compartment as in the MAP75.
The hull was made of ballistic 10mm mild steel plate; front windscreen and side windows had 40mm bullet-proof laminated glass.
Rhodesian MAP45s were usually armed with a FN MAG-58 7.62mm Light Machine Gun (LMG), sometimes installed on a locally produced one-man MG armoured turret to protect the gunner. Vehicles assigned to convoy escorting duties ('E-type') had a Browning M1919A4 7.62mm medium machine gun mounted on an open-topped, cylinder-shaped turret (dubbed 'the dustbin'). For 'externals' twin Browning MG pintle mounts were sometimes fitted, placed behind the driver's compartment. The Zimbabwean vehicles after 1980 sported single pintle-mounted Soviet-made 12.7mm and 14.5mm Heavy Machine Guns (HMG) instead.
The MAP45 TCV soon became a popular vehicle among the elite units of the Rhodesian Security Forces – including the Rhodesian African Rifles (RAR), the Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI), [2] [3] the Selous Scouts [4] and the Rhodesian SAS – who employed it late in the war on Fireforce operations and on their cross-border covert raids ('externals') against ZIPRA and ZANLA guerrilla bases in the neighboring Countries, [5] such as the September 1979 raid on the ZANLA's New Chimoio base in Mozambique (Operation Miracle). [6]
After independence, the MAP45 entered service with the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) in early 1980 and participated in the large military exercises conducted at Somabula Plain, Matabeleland that same year. ZNA's 'Four Fives' were thrown into action in November 1980 against ZIPRA troops at the 1st Battle of Entumbane and later at the February 1981 2nd Battle of Entumbane (near Bulawayo, Matabeleland), and later again after February 1982 by helping to put down the Super-ZAPU insurgency in Matabeleland. The converted MAP45 TCVs were also employed by the ZNA forces in Mozambique during the Mozambican Civil War, guarding the Mutare-Beira oil pipeline from 1982 to 1993. The MAP45 later served with the ZNA contingent sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo during the Second Congo War from 1998 to 2002. [7]
The Selous Scouts was a special forces unit of the Rhodesian Army that operated during the Rhodesian Bush War from 1973 until the reconstitution of the country as Zimbabwe in 1980. It was mainly responsible for infiltrating the black majority population of Rhodesia and collecting intelligence on insurgents so that they could be attacked by regular elements of the security forces. The unit did this by forming small teams that posed as insurgents and usually included captured insurgents. Over time, the Selous Scouts increasingly attacked insurgents themselves and operated in the countries that neighboured Rhodesia.
The Buffel is an infantry mobility vehicle used by the South African Defence Force during the South African Border War. The Buffel was also used as an armoured fighting vehicle and proved itself in this role. It replaced the older Bedford RL-based Hippo APC and itself was replaced by the Mamba from 1995 in South Africa, but remains in use elsewhere, notably Sri Lanka.
The BTR-152 is a six-wheeled Soviet armored personnel carrier (APC) built on the chassis and drive train of a ZIS-151 utility truck. It entered service with a number of Warsaw Pact member states beginning in 1950, and formed the mainstay of Soviet motor rifle battalions until the advent of the amphibious BTR-60 series during the 1960s. BTR stands for bronetransportyor.
The 5th Brigade was an infantry brigade of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA). The 5th Brigade was created in 1981 from three former battalions of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA). It later incorporated over 3,000 ex-ZANLA guerrillas from various units. The brigade was based in Gweru and participated in the Mozambican Civil War as well as a genocide known as the Gukurahundi which targeted Ndebele civilians and Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) guerrillas.
The Rhodesian Bush War, also called the Second Chimurenga as well as the Zimbabwean War of Liberation, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia.
The Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) is the primary branch of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces responsible for land-oriented military operations. It is the largest service branch under the Zimbabwean Joint Operations Command (JOC). The modern army has its roots in the Rhodesian Army, which was raised between 1963 and 1964 after the breakup of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. A Joint High Command created in March 1980 to oversee integration of the formerly belligerent Rhodesian Security Forces, Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), and the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) officially established the Zimbabwe National Army in late 1980, nearly a year after the end of the Rhodesian Bush War.
The military history of Zimbabwe chronicles a vast time period and complex events from the dawn of history until the present time. It covers invasions of native peoples of Africa, encroachment by Europeans, and civil conflict.
The Thyssen Henschel UR-416 is a German armoured personnel carrier, first introduced in 1969 and based on the body of the Mercedes-Benz Unimog light truck.
The Rhodesian Armoured Corps, nicknamed the "Black Devils" — was the only standing armoured battalion of the Rhodesian Security Forces. During World War II, it took part in the Allied Spring 1945 offensive and the Battle of Monte Cassino as part of South Africa's 6th Armoured Division. The unit was among the first to enter a liberated Florence in July 1944. Prior to 1963, its crews were trained in the United Kingdom or Aden Colony and were known as the "Selous Scouts" under the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. After Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence, maintaining the armoured vehicle fleet became a responsibility of the Rhodesian Light Infantry until Major Bruce Rooken-Smith reactivated the former Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment in 1972. During the Rhodesian Bush War, the regiment fought in several major campaigns and battles, particularly Operation Miracle in September 1979. It was superseded by the new Zimbabwe Armoured Corps between 1980 and 1981.
The Leopard Security Vehicle is an unusual land-mine protected APC used by the Rhodesian Government and civilian population during the 1964-1979 Rhodesian Bush War. It offered basic but necessary protection against mine attack through the use of a V-hull.
The Gazelle FRV or Fast Reconnaissance Vehicle is a 4×4 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) built for reconnaissance on the chassis of the Mercedes-Benz Unimog light truck developed by Zimbabwe in the early 1980s.
The Mine Protected Combat Vehicle – MPCV was a Rhodesian 4×4 Infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), first introduced in 1979 and based on the body of the Mercedes-Benz Unimog light truck. It remains in use with the Zimbabwe National Army.
The Bullet Troop-Carrying Vehicle (TCV) is a light 4x4 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) developed by Rhodesia in the late 1970s based on the body of the Mercedes-Benz Unimog light truck.
The Crocodile Armoured Personnel Carrier or "Croc" is a Rhodesian armoured personnel carrier first introduced in 1977 and based on Japanese commercial heavy-duty trucks' chassis. It remains in use with the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA).
The MAP75 Armoured Personnel Carrier is a Rhodesian 4x4 heavy troop-carrying vehicle (TCV) first introduced in 1978 based on a Mercedes-Benz truck chassis. It remains in use with the Zimbabwe National Army.
Operation Eland, also known as the Nyadzonya Raid, was a military operation carried out by the Rhodesian Selous Scouts at Nyadzonya in Mozambique on 9 August 1976. The Rhodesians initially claimed that 300 ZANLA and 30 FAM soldiers were killed, but later claimed that documentation captured after the event suggested that more than 1,028 were killed. ZANLA and Amnesty International claimed that the people killed were unarmed refugees.
The 1981 Entumbane uprising, also known as the Battle of Bulawayo or Entumbane II, occurred between 8 and 12 February 1981 in and around Bulawayo, Zimbabwe amid political tensions in the newly independent state. Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) guerrillas, mainly in the city's western suburb of Entumbane, rebelled, creating a situation that threatened to develop into a fresh civil war, barely a year after the end of the Bush War. The Rhodesian African Rifles (RAR) and other white-commanded elements of the former Rhodesian Security Forces, fighting for the Zimbabwean government as part of the new Zimbabwe National Army, put down the uprising. Groups of Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) fighters attacked both ZIPRA and the government forces during the revolt, which followed a smaller outbreak of fighting between guerrillas in November 1980.
The Hippo is a South African armoured personnel carrier. Specially designed to be mine resistant, it can carry ten infantrymen and a crew of two. The vehicle's remote-operated turret mounts dual 7.62mm machine guns, but like other improvised fighting vehicles, it is only lightly protected against ballistic threats.
Operation Snoopy was an operation launched by Rhodesia in response to Air Rhodesia Flight 825 being shot down by a communist backed insurgent group, the ZIPRA. The operation took place in Mozambique, where many of the ZANLA's camps were located, particularly in the area in and around Chimoio.
| Infantry Fighting Vehicles | |
|---|---|
| Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) | |
| Combat engineering | |
