Angry as he was, the general still held the fate of the new Zimbabwe firmly in his hands; he had the power to authorise a coup. He recalled:
I had to weigh up whether we would make a Dingo-style strike with a few men against many thousands and with the countryside swarming with these people, who, by the accounts of the provincial commissioners, were fully on Mugabe’s side. Also, I was tipped off that our plan had been leaked to Mugabe’s men. Before seeing my commanders to give them my decision, I went off to see Boris Thomas, my Presbyterian minister. I didn’t tell him any details, just that I had to make a hell of a decision. He said I would be guided and I walked back to my office. I don’t always believe in proverbs, but there is this tiny proverb: ‘Don’t ever light a fire that you can’t put out.’
When Walls was back in Milton Building in Salisbury, the anxious commanding officers of the RLI, SAS and Selous Scouts – Charlie Aust, Garth Barratt and Pat Armstrong, respectively – arrived to hear their commander’s decision.
‘I have decided,’ Walls told them, ‘that this will be lighting a fire which we can’t put out.
‘Charlie Aust, the RLI commanding officer, was shocked. He just wanted to get in there and kill the bastards, as did the others. Pat Armstrong was, I think, non-committal, and Garth Barratt looked as if he was expecting it, but I may be completely wrong. Anyway, Garth said, “So we do nothing?” I confirmed that we would do nothing.’
Having made this historic decision, Walls drove to the Pockets Hill television studios to make an announcement to the Rhodesian forces that their job was to preserve the peace. ‘It came as a hammer blow to all the guys waiting to go and attack the assembly points. So I can understand why I was seen as the mongrel of the century, the traitor of the century,’ said Walls.
Peter Walls made a brave decision, one that history has probably judged as the right one. Had the coup gone ahead, Rhodesia would probably have lost the very few friends it still had – and the fire would probably have eventually been unquenchable.
By appointing Walls as his supreme military commander, Mugabe shocked his own commanders and surprised the world. It didn’t last long, however. Four months later, in August 1980, Walls gave an interview to the BBC and told the truth – that he had indeed asked Margaret Thatcher to annul the elections, although he didn’t reveal the contingent coup plan. Walls was either naive or deliberately precipitating a problem. In any event, he resigned his commission, which gave ZANU-PF all the ammunition it needed. Mugabe had a special piece of legislation drafted, enabling the state to strip Peter Walls of his birthright, the citizenship of the country in which he was born. The stateless general and his wife, Eunice, took exile in South Africa. He never returned. Peter Walls died in 2010.
After Peter Walls’ resignation and deportation, Rex Nhongo (Solomon Mujuru) became commander of the Zimbabwe National Army, a position he held until going into private business in 1995. He died in 2011 in a fire on Alamein Farm, a 5 000-hectare spread near Beatrice, 70 kilometres south of Harare. Nhongo had forcibly seized the farm and its moveable assets from a white commercial farmer, Guy Watson-Smith, 10 years earlier, at the height of the land invasions in Zimbabwe.
Norman Walsh stayed on in the Zimbabwe Air Force, rising to air marshal and commander in 1981; he played a vital role in developing the new air force. There was an unpleasant time when saboteurs, almost certainly operating from South Africa, blew up four brand-new British Hawk jets, five Hawker Hunters and a Lynx. Walsh’s chief of staff and colleague, Hugh Slatter, and five Zimbabwe Air Force officers were arrested and charged with sabotage, an offence carrying the death penalty. Walsh was deeply concerned and went to extraordinary lengths to support his officers.
Slatter recalled: ‘Norman`s position was precarious to say the least, because although he realised that the charges against us were false and he felt the need to support his officers as commander of the air force, he also recognised that the CIO, Ushewokunze, the Home Affairs minister, and others were watching for one move that would allow them to brand him as part of the sabotage plan and an enemy of the state.’
Walsh was not allowed access to the lawyers of his accused officers; he was under constant observation, with his phone tapped. He got round this by lying in the back of a car under a blanket. It was a huge risk, as he could have ended up in prison on the same serious charges. Slatter later said: ‘How many people do you know who would literally put their life on the line like that? I only know of one.’
The High Court found the men innocent of all charges, yet they were promptly arrested again, reflecting the paranoia gripping the Mugabe government. Under intense international pressure, the men were eventually released and deported. But the fact that they, and many other air force officers, were prime suspects just because they were white soured things permanently.
Norman Walsh resigned from the Zimbabwe Air Force that year and emigrated to Australia, where he lived until his death in 2010.
Brian Robinson left the SAS shortly after Dingo, achieving the distinction of being the squadron’s longest-serving commander. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel and took over as coordinator of special operations at ComOps involving the SAS and Selous Scouts, a role Robinson carried out until the end of the war in 1980, when he became commander of 1 Zimbabwe Parachute Regiment.
Robinson left Rhodesia later in 1980 to become an international arms-sales broker. He returned to his roots in Durban in 1984 as managing director and shareholder of an automotive company. In 2004 he became a military adviser to the United Arab Emirates until he retired a year later and returned to Durban, where he lives.
Despite the pleas of Rex Nhongo and others for him to stay on, Peter Petter-Bowyer left the air force in May 1980, a month after Zimbabwe was born. He became managing director of three Shell BP subsidiary companies. The Iraqi Air Force heard of his skills and asked him to develop a cluster bomb for high-speed delivery from a fighter jet. PB accepted the challenge, resigned from Shell BP and moved to South Africa, where he successfully developed the CB-470 cluster bomb for the Iraqis. He also developed weapons for the South African Air Force before setting up a trading business and ultimately a manufacturing business of his own. He left Africa for England in 2002 and settled in Norfolk, where he lives with his wife, Beryl.
Rich Brand left the Rhodesian Air Force in 1978, the year after Dingo, and, after a spell in the South African Air Force, emigrated to Las Vegas. He joined the flight department of Circus Circus, one of the main casino groups in the desert city, as an executive jet pilot. He soon realised that he wanted a career in gaming, so he started at the bottom, managing slot machines, and rose to general manager at Silver City Casino, part of the Circus Circus Group. But his passion for aviation never faded. With his considerable skill for building model aircraft – most apparent in the perfect scale-model, radio-controlled replica he built of the Percival Provost, in which he flew his first solo – Brand built some excellent full-scale aircraft, including a Super Eagle called Springbok, an Ultimate called Bateleur and a Rans S-16 Shekari called Flame Lily.
Rich’s ultimate achievement was building a Giles G-202, named Panzer One after the callsign of No. 1 Squadron, adopted under Brand’s leadership. He made over 50 modifications to the G-202, in which he went on to win Reserve Grand Champion at the EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh in 1998. He participated as a pilot in the aerobatic show circuit in the US with his wife, Susan, also a pilot, who took part as commentator.
A good example of Brand’s incredible eye for detail, a trait he was remembered for in the Rhodesian Air Force, is illustrated in an article that appeared in the March 1999 edition of Sport Aviation. Brand is discussing the application of seven coats of paint and primer to an aircraft he was building: ‘The finish is determined not by what you put on, but what you sand off. I went over every square inch of it with a magnifying glass, looking for pinholes before shooting the finishing coats.’
After retiring from gaming, Rich continued to build aircraft. He completed a
Lancair Legacy, named Protea, in 2011. Its registration is N3QB. The letters ‘QB’ stand for Quintin Brand, his famous uncle who, in 1920, piloted the first flight from London to Cape Town.
Glossary and abbreviations
aileron accumulator: small tank on an aircraft that stores reserve hydraulic energy for the ailerons
air-strike log: written air force record of an air-to-ground attack
AK-47: Kalashnikov automatic assault rifle
AKM: modernised Kalashnikov automatic assault rifle
ANC: African National Congress
BCR: Bronze Cross of Rhodesia
Black Watch: the Royal Highland Regiment
BSAP: British South Africa Police
callsign: a combination of numbers, letters or words used to identify a unique radio transmitting station (a group of soldiers, an aircraft, a base, etc.)
Can: Canberra aircraft
Capewell: quick-release device to separate a parachute from its harness
casevac: casualty evacuation
Chimurenga: Shona for ‘resistance struggle’
CIO: Central Intelligence Organisation
ComOps: Combined Operations
CT: Communist terrorist
Dak: Dakota aircraft
Dare reChimurenga: ZANU’s war council
dispersal: aircraft parking and manoeuvring area at an aerodrome
donga: gully or ditch
DShK: Degtyarov–Shpagin Krupnokalibernyj, Russian-made anti-aircraft machine gun
elevator: controls the pitch axis (nose up/down) of an aircraft
ESM: Exemplary Service Medal
FAF: forward airfield
flechette canister: warhead carrying darts known as ‘flechettes’
FN: Belgian-made light automatic rifle
frantan: frangible tanks; form of napalm-based ammunition
FRELIMO: Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Freedom Front of Mozambique)
G-car: troop-carrying helicopter
G-force: gravitational force
gook: slang for insurgent, terrorist
HQ: headquarters
int: military intelligence
IP: initial point
JPT: jet pipe temperature
K-car: command car – helicopter gunship fitted with a 20-mm cannon
LTT: locally trained terrorist
LZ: landing zone
MAG: Mitrailleuse d’appui général, general-purpose machine gun of Belgian manufacture
mark one eyeball: in military contexts, the human eye
MBE: Member of the British Empire
MiG: Mikoyan-Gurevich military aircraft (Russian)
MP: Member of Parliament
NDP: National Democratic Party
OAU: Organisation of African Unity
OCC: Operations Coordinating Committee
OLM: Officer of the Legion of Merit
op/ops: operation/operations
OP: observation post
operations order: written battle plan
PTS: Parachute Training School
RAF: Royal Air Force
recce: reconnaissance
RF: Rhodesian Front
RhAF: Rhodesian Air Force
RLI: Rhodesian Light Infantry
RPD: Ruchnoy Pulemyot Degtyaryova, type of Russian hand-held machine gun
RPG: rocket-propelled grenade
RRAF: Royal Rhodesian Air Force
SAAF: South African Air Force
SAP: South African Police
SAS: Special Air Service
SB: Police Special Branch
Selous Scouts: Rhodesian military unit that specialised in pseudo warfare (i.e. imitating the enemy)
shamwari: Shona for ‘friend’
sitrep: situation report – daily report on the enemy’s and own forces’ tactical situation
SKS: Samozariadnyia Karabina Simonova, type of Russian semi-automatic rifle
Sneb rocket: rocket-propelled warhead fired from an aircraft
SSU: Short Service Unit
stick: group of four soldiers, usually deployed from an Alouette helicopter
stop group/stop: group of soldiers positioned to intercept (stop) fleeing enemy forces
terr: terrorist
TTL: Tribal Trust Land
UDI: Unilateral Declaration of Independence
VHF: very high frequency
VSI: vertical speed indicator
ZANLA: Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army
ZANU: Zimbabwe African National Union
ZANU-PF: Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front
ZAPU: Zimbabwe African People’s Union
ZBC: Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
ZIPRA: Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army
Select bibliography
Extracts from the Operation Dingo operations orders, log and air strike reports, located in Box 844, British Commonwealth and Empire Museum, Bristol, by courtesy of J.R.T. Wood
Adams, Mark, and Chris Cocks. Africa’s Commandos: The Rhodesian Light Infantry. Johannesburg: 30° South, 2012
Chung, Fay. Re-Living the Second Chimurenga: Memories from Zimbabwe’s Liberation Struggle. Stockholm: Nordic Africa Institute, 2006
Cocks, Chris. Fireforce: One Man’s War in the Rhodesian Light Infantry. Roodepoort: Covos Books, 1988
Cole, Barbara. The Elite: The Story of the Rhodesian Special Air Service. Amanzimtoti: Three Knights Publishing, 1984
Flower, Ken. Serving Secretly. An Intelligence Chief on Record: Rhodesia to Zimbabwe, 1964 to 1981. London: John Murray, 1987
Geldenhuys, Prop. Rhodesian Air Force Operations: With Airstrike Log. Durban: Just Done Productions Publishing, 2007
MacKenzie, Robert. ‘Fast Strike on Chimoio’ (Parts 1 and 2), Soldier of Fortune. Boulder, Colorado, January and February 1994
Martin, David, and Phyllis Johnson. The Struggle for Zimbabwe. London: Faber & Faber, 1981
Meredith, Martin. The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence. Jeppestown: Jonathan Ball, 2005
Moorcroft, Paul, and Peter McLaughlin. The Rhodesian War: A Military History. Jeppestown: Pen and Sword Military, 2008
Petter-Bowyer, P.J.H. Winds of Destruction. Victoria, Canada: Trafford Publishing, 2003
Presler, Titus. The Transfigured Night: Mission and Culture in Zimbabwe’s Vigil Movement. Pretoria: Unisa Press, 1999
Salt, Beryl. A Pride of Eagles: The Definitive History of the Rhodesian Air Force 1920–1980. Weltevreden Park: Covos Day Books, 2001
Smith, David, and Colin Simpson. Mugabe. Falmouth, UK: Sphere Books, 1980
Smith, Ian. The Great Betrayal: The Memoirs of Ian Douglas Smith. London: Blake Publishing, 1997
Tekere, Edgar. A Lifetime of Struggle: Edgar ‘2-Boy’ Zivanai Tekere. Harare: SAPES Books, 2007
Wood, J.R.T. Counter-Strike from the Sky: The Rhodesian All-Arms Fireforce in the War in the Bush, 1974–1980. Johannesburg: 30° South, 2009
Index
Abraham, Chris 153
Adams, Mark 135, 176–177
admin base
attack on Chimoio (Zulu 1) 142–143, 184–186, 209
attack on Tembue (Zulu 2) 220–223, 228, 234
Adriano Antonio farmstead 67, 82, 247
Aero Commander aircraft 125
Aeromodelling Championship 149
African National Congress (ANC) 5, 58
Afrikaans press in South Africa 58
agriculture in Rhodesia 23
Air Trans Africa 133, 162
Aitcheson, Mark 153
Alamein Farm 249
Alexander, George 162, 185, 234
Alouette helicopters (G-cars and K-cars)
attack on Chimoio (Zulu 1) 141–142, 144–145, 155–159, 171, 178–181, 185, 187–190, 193, 195–199, 205, 209–211
attack on Tembue (Zulu 2) 219–220, 222–225, 226, 228–229, 232, 234, 236–237, 240–243
history of 18–19, 21
planning for Operation Dingo 90–92, 108,
Second Chimurenga 22, 24–25, 37, 53–55
Alpha bombs 98–99, 172–173, 193–194, 206, 207–208, 231
Altena Farm 46–48
altimeters 153
America see United States
ammunition trains 106–107
ANC see African National Congress
Andrew Fleming Hospital 135
ANFO 152
Angola 59, 73
Annan, John 54, 153, 166–167, 170, 202–203, 211
anti-aircraft weapons 81, 132, 179–180, 196–197, 204, 212
Antonio farmhouse 67, 82, 247
Armageddon Gang 24–29
armoured cars 75, 132
Armstrong, Pat 248–249
Aust, Charlie 248–249
aviation in Rhodesia, history of 15–19
Baldwin, Baldy 197
Banda, Hastings 58
Banket 23
Barfoot, Frank ‘Slash’ 27
barrage trains 106–107
Barratt, Garth 51, 52, 248–249
Battle of Britain 16
Battle of Chimoio (Operation Dingo, Zulu 1) 1–2, 155–225, 245–247
Battle of Sinoia 20–28
Becks, Dave 26, 28
Belgian Congo 7–8 Bellringer, Finch 198
Belvedere airport 16, 18
Bene 39, 218, 239
Benecke, Cocky 124, 153
bird strikes 124
Bland, Robert 49
blue note 153, 233
Blue Section 133, 137, 167–168, 173, 179, 194, 201, 227, 239
Blythe-Wood, John 137, 166–167, 173, 203, 227, 231, 239
Boer Union 147
bombs
Alpha bombs 98–99, 172–173, 193–194, 206, 207–208, 232
CB-470 cluster bombs 251
flechettes (darts) 217, 227, 230, 231, 239
frantan (napalm) 35, 55, 125, 133, 166, 171, 211, 217
fuel-air bombs 152
Golf bombs 133, 135, 152–153, 166, 217