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Operation Midford was New Zealand's contribution to the Commonwealth Monitoring Force in Rhodesia in late 1979 and early 1980 that eventually led to the Lancaster House Agreement and the independence of Zimbabwe.
By 1979, the Rhodesian Bush War had been in progress for 14 years, largely overshadowed by the television-driven Vietnam War and ignored internationally, until the guerrillas committed atrocities on various Missionary stations. [1] There were three belligerent parties, including the predominantly white-led Rhodesian Security Forces, and two rival black nationalist guerrilla factions: the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), armed wing of Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union, and the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), armed wing of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union.
In April 1979 an election was held in Zimbabwe Rhodesia in which 63% of the black population voted, and on 1 June 1979, Bishop Abel Muzorewa was sworn in as the first black Prime Minister of Rhodesia. Meanwhile, the Peace Talks at Lancaster House continued sporadically. By October 1979, a resolution to the conflict appeared possible, and the UK government made contact with various Commonwealth nations to discuss the provision of troops for a special operation.
In New Zealand, selection and training began immediately and a force of 75 officers and men were selected and moved to Papakura Military Camp for specialist training. None of the soldiers were told officially where they would be sent, but initially the 75-strong contingent was called "R Force", similar to the Korean War's "K Force" and the Vietnam War's "V Force". They were also instructed to listen to BBC World Service at 7am every morning, so the possibility of a tour of duty to Rhodesia was an open secret. Originally, both Mugabe and Nkomo did not want any New Zealanders in the Peacekeeping – Monitoring Force as they were thought to be American puppets, due to New Zealand troops serving in Vietnam. However, their opinions changed when they learned that one quarter of the New Zealand contingent was "coloured" (Māori/native New Zealanders).[ citation needed ] The Commanding Officer for the Kiwi Contingent was the professional soldier Colonel David W. S. Moloney RNZIR (later OBE).
The Operation patch worn as a brassard by the New Zealand members of the New Zealand Truce Monitoring Contingent (NZATMC) was a red, white, and blue diamond with a golden sunburst in the centre and a pangolin with its claws extended centred in the sun. This was to be worn on a white brassard. The uniform to be worn by all members of the MF was to be "Jungle Green" fatigues, and "Jungle Hats" would be worn by all members serving in the operational areas, to distinguish them from the Rhodesian Army, whose camouflage fatigues were extremely distinctive.
On 20 December 1979, the New Zealand contingent flew out from RNZAF Base Whenuapai, and between 22 and 24 December 1979 the various elements of the Commonwealth Monitoring Force began to arrive at Salisbury Airport. Upon arrival each plane load of troops was processed through a reception tent, given an initial briefing and issued anti-malaria tablets (Maloprim) which were known locally as the "Tuesday Pill". The entire nation was reminded on both radio and television to take their pill each Tuesday. Troops were also given the opportunity to exchange money and were given the location of their billets.
The Rhodesian Army built a tented transit camp which accommodated the majority of the troops with the exception of the Fijians, Kenyans, and New Zealanders who were accommodated at Morgan High School, which was to become NZATMC's headquarters. During this five-day phase of the operation, more than 60 aircraft sorties landed at Salisbury Airport, delivering more than 1,500 men and a large amount of stores and equipment.
The next several days were packed with detailed briefings, O Groups, and the issuing of stores, ammunition, and equipment. Due to the height of Rhodesia above sea level, every Kiwi soldier was also required to attend a range shoot and re-zero his personal weapon, as the altitude made a difference to sight settings. During this time the CMF, Major General John Acland personally introduced himself to every member of the Monitoring Force during his initial briefings, usually held at the RLI Barracks at Cranborne.
Other briefings included:
The operational areas during the Rhodesian War were:
The Peacekeeping Forces on the ground, were broken down as follows:
The New Zealand contingent provided:
The decision to deploy the Monitoring Force was made on 24 December 1979, and the forward deployment took place over the next three days with the ceasefire coming into effect at 2359 + 1, on 28 December. This was an extremely tense time as no one knew how the communist guerrillas in the operational areas might react, but the large number of reporters in Rhodesia may have prevented further escalation.
During the forward deployment phase the weather was highly unfavourable, and Royal Air Force aircrew flew missions that would never have been authorised under normal circumstances. There were a number of contacts during this phase of the operation: A Rhodesian Escort AFV (Crocodile) was destroyed by a mine near Bulawayo; an RAF Puma helicopter crashed killing the three-man aircrew; a Hercules aircraft was shot up by small arms fire near Umtali; and an RV Team was ambushed in the Zambezi Valley but escaped without casualties.
The Assembly phase was a seven-day period when all of the communist units and cells spread throughout Rhodesia, and in several of the neighbouring countries were guaranteed unhindered movement into RV's and Assembly Places. Once in the Assembly Place, all communists, both Regular Force and guerrillas were required to register their name, weapon and that weapon's serial number. Both the ZIPRA and ZANLA had played down the size of their forces and over that seven-day period more than 22,000 communist soldiers marched into the 16 Assembly Places.
The sheer size of the various ZIPRA and ZANLA units created logistical challenges, and to avoid "under issues", if any communist unit required some special item (e.g., sanitary pads, female underwear), a drop was immediately arranged to all of the Assembly Places, sometimes causing amusement to the troops on the ground (ZANLA had a sizeable force of female guerillas). The communists were supposed to arrive at the Assembly Places carrying all of their own equipment, however most of them carried little more than an AK47, a couple of magazines and the clothes they were wearing. Many wore no boots. Food and meat shortages caused major problems on a number of occasions and almost resulted in the deaths of a number of Peacekeepers who were taken hostage. It had been understood that the communists lived on sadza (i.e., corn mealie meal), and initially no meat was provided for them. This was quickly rectified, by the CMF importing several planeloads of South African beef.
Once in the Assembly Places, the communist troops became very lax and always carried their personal weapon "locked, cocked and ready to rock"; that is several magazines taped together on the weapon, the weapon cocked with a round in the tube, safety catch "off", and sights set to maximum range.[ citation needed ] This resulted in a plague of unauthorised discharges (UDs) and numerous casualties. It also caused tremendous stress and tension amongst the MF Teams. There were even UDs with hand grenades and Rocket-propelled grenades resulting in injury and loss of life.[ citation needed ] There was also the ever-present danger of mines throughout the entire operation.
The ceasefire ended on 4 January 1980 at 2359 + 1, and as most of the communists were now gathered at the various Assembly Places, the RV Teams were disbanded and those men were then added to various Assembly Places so as to boost the numbers there. Assembly Place "November" and Assembly Place "Quebec" were both closed as no communists had been recently operating in that area (Northern border), and the Commonwealth troops at those locations were redistributed to some of the larger Assembly Places that were holding several thousand communists. Assembly Place Foxtrot held over 6,000 communists.[ citation needed ]
This part of the operation lasted from 5 January 1980, when the ceasefire ended until 3 March 1980, which was in fact after the elections had been held, but before the results were announced. The election results were announced on 4 March 1980. During this period, a contingent of British police officers were flown into Rhodesia and they served as observers at the many polling places scattered throughout the country. There were many breaches in the ceasefire as all three sides attempted to gain a position of strength, and "large numbers of hard-core guerrillas remained outside the camps and continued to intimidate" the electorate. [2]
Black Rhodesians were barred from voting for Ian Smith under the terms of the Lancaster House Agreement.[ citation needed ] This left a two-horse race, and as Mugabe and Nkomo jostled for power, it became commonplace for hand grenades to be thrown into the interior of each other's beer halls by supporters.[ citation needed ]
On 2 March 1980, all Monitoring Force personnel were pulled back to a tented camp in and around New Sarum airport, and immediately the Royal Air Force began flying sorties of men and equipment back to the UK and various other Commonwealth countries. Many Rhodesians, and most especially the white population, had been hoping that Joshua Nkomo would win the election, as he was considered the more stable of the two candidates. It came as a shock for most whites when Robert Mugabe was announced as the winner, swiftly changing the name of the country to Zimbabwe. The whites who remained were mainly farmers as they stood to lose everything, as the first law Mugabe passed was that anyone leaving Zimbabwe, could take no more than a couple of hundred dollars with them. Those Rhodesians who left the country were virtually penniless.[ citation needed ]
By 16 March 1980, all of the Monitoring Force had departed from Rhodesia, apart from a small volunteer group (about 40 men) of British infantry instructors who were to train the new Zimbabwe National Army. Three weeks later on 18 April 1980, at a ceremony that was attended by HRH Prince Charles, the Union Jack was lowered for the last time from Government House in Salisbury, and the new African nation of Zimbabwe declared itself independent as a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations.
Rhodesia, officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the de facto successor state to the British colony of Southern Rhodesia, which had been self-governing since achieving responsible government in 1923. A landlocked nation, Rhodesia was bordered by South Africa to the south, Bechuanaland to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest, and Mozambique to the east. From 1965 to 1979, Rhodesia was one of two independent states on the African continent governed by a white minority of European descent and culture, the other being South Africa.
The Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) are composed of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA), the Zimbabwe Royal Navy and the Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ). Although it is a landlocked country, Zimbabwe has a small navy consisting of nine sailors and one grand admiral. The most senior commander of the ZDF is General Philip Valerio Sibanda. At the time of independence after the Rhodesian Bush War, the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe declared that integrating Zimbabwe's three armed forces would be one of Zimbabwe's top priorities. The existing Rhodesian Army was combined with the two guerrilla armies; the 20,000-strong Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) forces of Zimbabwe African National Union-PF and the 15,000-strong Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) forces of PF-Zimbabwe African People's Union. The current manpower stands at an estimated strength of 29,000 in the Army, and an estimated 4,000 in the Air Force. Since the Rhodesian Bush War, the armed forces has been mostly involved with the suppression of non-state armed cells in a number of operations.
The Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) was a militant socialist organisation that fought against white-minority rule in Rhodesia, formed as a split from the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) in 1963. ZANU split in 1975 into wings loyal to Robert Mugabe and Ndabaningi Sithole, later respectively called ZANU–PF and ZANU–Ndonga. These two sub-divisions ran separately at the 1980 general election, where ZANU–PF has been in power ever since, and ZANU–Ndonga a minor opposition party.
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 controversial domestic operation known as 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 Zimbabwe War of Independence, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia.
The Rhodesian African Rifles (RAR) was a regiment of the Rhodesian Army. The ranks of the RAR were recruited from the black African population, although officers were generally from the white population. The regiment was formed in May 1940 in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia.
Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), a Marxist–Leninist political party in Rhodesia. It participated in the Rhodesian Bush War against white minority rule of Rhodesia. ZIPRA was formed during the 1960s by the nationalist leader Jason Moyo, the deputy of Joshua Nkomo.
Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), a militant African nationalist organisation that participated in the Rhodesian Bush War against white minority rule of Rhodesia.
The Internal Settlement was an agreement which was signed on 3 March 1978 between Prime Minister of Rhodesia Ian Smith and the moderate African nationalist leaders comprising Bishop Abel Muzorewa, Ndabaningi Sithole and Senator Chief Jeremiah Chirau. After almost 15 years of the Rhodesian Bush War, and under pressure from the sanctions placed on Rhodesia by the international community, and political pressure from South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the Rhodesian government met with some of the internally based moderate African nationalist leaders in order to reach an agreement on the political future for the country.
General elections were held in Southern Rhodesia between 14 February and 4 March 1980 to elect the members of the House of Assembly of the first Parliament of the independent Zimbabwe. As stipulated by the new Constitution of Zimbabwe produced by the Lancaster House Conference, the new House of Assembly was to comprise 100 members, 80 of whom would be elected proportionally by province by all adult citizens on a common role, and 20 of whom would be elected in single-member constituencies by whites on a separate roll.
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.
Lieutenant General George Peter Walls was a Rhodesian soldier. He served as the Head of the Armed Forces of Rhodesia during the Rhodesian Bush War from 1977 until his exile from the country in 1980.
The history of Rhodesia from 1965 to 1979 covers Rhodesia's time as a state unrecognised by the international community following the predominantly white minority government's Unilateral Declaration of Independence on 11 November 1965. Headed by Prime Minister Ian Smith, the Rhodesian Front remained in government until 1 June 1979, when the country was reconstituted as Zimbabwe Rhodesia.
Air Rhodesia Flight 825 was a scheduled passenger flight that was shot down by the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) on 3 September 1978, during the Rhodesian Bush War. The aircraft involved, a Vickers Viscount named the Hunyani, was flying the last leg of Air Rhodesia's regular scheduled service from Victoria Falls to the capital Salisbury, via the resort town of Kariba.
During the Rhodesian Bush War, informational and political warfare was mounted by each of the involved factions: on one side, the Rhodesian government ; on another, the British government and the Commonwealth of Nations; on a third, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and its associated guerrilla army, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA); and, on a fourth, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and its armed wing, the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA).
The 1st Battalion, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, commonly the Rhodesian Light Infantry, served in the Rhodesian Bush War as part of the Rhodesian Security Forces between 1964 and 1979, under the unrecognised government of Rhodesia following its 1965 Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain. During the second half of 1979 it fought for Zimbabwe Rhodesia, a black majority-ruled version of the same state which also failed to win international recognition. After an interim period under British control from December 1979 to April 1980, the RLI briefly remained active within the armed forces of Zimbabwe, but did not see action under this government. It disbanded on 31 October 1980.
The 1st Battalion, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, commonly the Rhodesian Light Infantry, served in the Rhodesian Bush War as part of the Rhodesian Security Forces between 1964 and 1979, under the unrecognised government of Rhodesia after its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain on 11 November 1965. Latterly, during the second half of 1979, it fought for Zimbabwe Rhodesia, a reorganised version of Rhodesia under a black majority government which still went unrecognised. After an interim period under British control from December 1979 to April 1980, the RLI briefly remained active within the armed forces of the internationally recognised Republic of Zimbabwe, but did not see action under this government. It laid up its colours on 17 October 1980 and disbanded two weeks later.
The Geneva Conference took place in Geneva, Switzerland during the Rhodesian Bush War. Held under British mediation, its participants were the unrecognised government of Rhodesia, led by Ian Smith, and a number of rival Rhodesian black nationalist parties: the African National Council, led by Bishop Abel Muzorewa; the Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe, led by James Chikerema; and a joint "Patriotic Front" made up of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union and the Zimbabwe African People's Union led by Joshua Nkomo. The purpose of the conference was to attempt to agree on a new constitution for Rhodesia and in doing so find a way to end the Bush War raging between the government and the guerrillas commanded by Mugabe and Nkomo respectively.
The Victoria Falls Conference took place on 26 August 1975 aboard a South African Railways train halfway across the Victoria Falls Bridge on the border between the unrecognised state of Rhodesia and Zambia. It was the culmination of the "détente" policy introduced and championed by B. J. Vorster, the Prime Minister of South Africa, which was then under apartheid and was attempting to improve its relations with the Frontline States to Rhodesia's north, west and east by helping to produce a settlement in Rhodesia. The participants in the conference were a delegation led by the Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith on behalf of his government, and a nationalist delegation attending under the banner of Abel Muzorewa's African National Council (UANC), which for this conference also incorporated delegates from the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and the Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe (FROLIZI). Vorster and the Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda acted as mediators in the conference, which was held on the border in an attempt to provide a venue both sides would accept as neutral.
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.