| Operation Panga | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Rhodesian Bush War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Rhodesia |  ZIPRA | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Maj. Peter Rich | Unknown | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
 RhAF | Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 10 troopers | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None | 1 killed 1 wounded | ||||||
Operation Panga was a military operation launched by the Rhodesian Security Forces (RSF) against a camp belonging to the communist insurgent group, ZIPRA. The cadres camp was located on the Mushenshi River in Zambia. [1]
At this point in the war Rhodesia's political and military position appeared to be a strong one. Nationalist guerrillas had been unable to make serious military inroads against Rhodesia. In the early 1970s the two main nationalist groups faced serious internal divisions, aid from the Organisation of African Unity was temporarily suspended in 1971 and 129 nationalists were expelled from Zambia after they were alleged to have plotted against President Kenneth Kaunda. [2] Furthermore Britain's efforts to isolate Rhodesia economically had not forced major compromises from the Smith Government.
In 1971, Rhodesia joined Alcora Exercise, a secret defensive alliance for Southern Africa, formalised in 1970 by Portugal and South Africa. Alcora formalised and deepened the political and military co-operation between the three countries in the fight against the revolutionary insurgency in the territories of Rhodesia, Angola, Mozambique and South West Africa and in the prevention of possible external aggression to those territories from the hostile neighbouring countries.
On 17 April 1971 a ten-strong force from the Rhodesian SAS, supported by the Rhodesian Air Force (RhAF) attacked the ZIPRA camp. During the raid one cadre was killed and another was wounded. Once the SAS team had secured the camp the troopers discovered enemy intelligence whilst recovering the enemy’s equipment. All of this was then brought back to Rhodesia when the SAS team was picked up by air force helicopters.
Rhodesia, officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979. During this fourteen-year period, Rhodesia served as the de facto successor state to the British colony of Southern Rhodesia, and in 1980 it became modern day Zimbabwe.
The Rhodesian Bush War, also known as the Second Chimurenga as well as the Zimbabwean War of Independence, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia.
Squadron Leader Christopher John Taylor Dixon D.C.D., also known by his callsign of Green Leader, was a Rhodesian military pilot for the Rhodesian Air Force and was born in Shabani, Southern Rhodesia. He was best known for leading the Rhodesian Operation Gatling bombing raid over Zambia, which later became known as the "Green Leader Raid".
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.
Alick Nkhata (1922–1978) was a Zambian musician, freedom fighter and broadcaster from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. He was also the director of the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC), and formed the Lusaka Radio Band, later called the Big Gold Six Band. The band played Zambian music and scored translations of original rural songs.
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.
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.
The 1st Battalion, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, commonly the Rhodesian Light Infantry, was originally formed in 1961 as a regiment of the army of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Raised as a light infantry unit at Brady Barracks, Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia, the Regiment served in the Rhodesian Bush War as part of the Rhodesian Security Forces between 1964 and 1979, from 1965 under the unrecognised governments of Rhodesia and latterly, during the second half of 1979, Zimbabwe Rhodesia. The RLI remained active during an interim period under British control and then, from April 1980, within the armed forces of Zimbabwe, before disbanding 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 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 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 Battle of Sinoia, also known as the Battle of Chinhoyi was a small military engagement fought near Sinoia between a small unit of Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) guerrillas and the Rhodesian police force on 28 April 1966. The skirmish is generally considered the opening engagement of the Rhodesian Bush War A team of seven ZANLA cadres engaged with British South Africa Police forces near the northern town of Sinoia. The seven guerrillas all eventually died in the battle, the police killing all seven.
Operation Placid was a Rhodesian military operation in Zambia with clandestine assistance from the South African Air Force (SAAF) during the Rhodesian Bush War. The Rhodesian Air Force planned raids against a ZIPRA camps in Zambia on the northern Rhodesian border.
Operation Motel was a Zimbabwe-Rhodesian military operation in Zambia with clandestine assistance from the South African Air Force (SAAF) during the Rhodesian Bush War. The Rhodesian Air Force planned raids against a ZIPRA camp in Northern Zambia.
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.
Operation Nickel or the Wankie Campaign or the Wankie Battles was a military operation launched by the Rhodesian Security Forces on 1 August 1967 in response to the group of ZIPRA and Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) fighters crossing the Zambezi River, which marked the Rhodesian-Zambian border. The operation was a success with only one of the cadres out of a force of seventy-nine making it back to Zambia.
Operation Cauldron was launched by the Rhodesian Security Forces in response to an incursion by ZIPRA insurgents on 28 December 1967. Despite the death or capture of 77 out of 79 men, ZAPU, from its base in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, did not regard the incursion as a failure; on the contrary, its leaders were pleased that they had inflicted some casualties on the Rhodesian African Rifles. Buoyed by what they perceived as a success, they planned another operation to take place in northern Mashonaland: about 100 men—75 ZIPRA and 25 MK—were to infiltrate the Zambezi valley and establish a series of camps, including underground caches containing food, clothing, weapons and other equipment. They were instructed to avoid the Rhodesian Security Forces "at all cost" while they recruited local tribesmen to the nationalist cause and trained them. Once a sufficient indigenous force existed, they were to inform Lusaka, which would then coordinate a mass uprising. The aim was not to defeat the government forces, but rather to force the British military to intervene. If the operation were a success, the MK men were to be escorted to South Africa to begin similar activities.
Operation Gatling, which took place on 19 October 1978, was a joint-force operation into Zambia launched by the Rhodesian Air Force and Rhodesian Army; the main forces which contributed were Rhodesian Special Air Service, Rhodesian Light Infantry paratroopers and No.5 Squadron of the RhAF. Gatling's primary target, just 16 kilometres north-east of central Lusaka, Zambia's capital, was the formerly white-owned Westlands Farm, which had been transformed into ZIPRA's main headquarters and training base under the name "Freedom Camp". ZIPRA presumed that Rhodesia would never dare to attack a site so close to Lusaka. About 4,000 guerrillas underwent training at Freedom Camp, with senior ZIPRA staff also on site.
Operation Griffin was a military operation launched by the Rhodesian Security Forces, on 16 July 1968, in response to an incursion into Rhodesia by communist insurgents belonging to the ZIPRA based in Zambia.
Operation Chamber was a military raid launched by the Rhodesian Security Forces (RSF) against a camp belonging to the communist insurgent group, ZANLA. The cadres camp was located in Chinvinge, Tete Province, Mozambique. During the course of the operation three troopers were killed, Corporal P O Rice, Trooper C.F Lang and Lance Corporal E Nel were killed.
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