Hannes Wessels,
Recently, a friend sent me some information that brought back memories of tumultuous events fifty years ago. Living in the town then known as Umtali, I was ten years old when my father, then a major in the local territorial reserve battalion, explained to the family that if the British decided to invade the country he would most likely be deployed to Grand Reef airfield outside town in the farming area known as Odzi, to be part of an operation tasked to destroy it and thereby deny the Royal Air Force use of the facility.
Ironically, the airfield was on land then owned by the Marquis of Salisbury, grandson of the former prime minister, after whom the country’s capital was named.
I remember being shocked and bewildered. Only weeks before, I, along with the rest of the audience, as was normal in those days before the feature film began, had been standing to attention in the cinema while watching the Queen at the Trooping of the Colour, and being proudly moved by the band playing ‘God Save Our Queen’. We had been brought up believing she was our beloved Sovereign, now I had to get my young mind around the fact she was sending her army, navy and air force to kill us. It was probably my first brush with true trauma, and I had reason to fear for my father and my country.
Part of the report reveals that, “…. the planners offer some cold comfort in a tentative American offer of C130 transport aircraft and suggest Umtali as the best landing ground, as it was lightly defended and could be seized in a paratroop attack.”
Meanwhile, it turns out, detailed invasion plans were unfolding:
“Initial deployment was by No 51 (rifle) Squadron of the RAF Regiment to secure the airfield at Ndola, in November 1965. This was then established as a logistics ‘air head’, and joint force HQ. No 29 with 16 Javelin all weather fighters subsequently arrived, along with L/70 40mm Bofors guns and Tigercat missiles. The role of 29 Sqn was to protect Zambian airspace, and specifically the oil air bridge into the country. They frequently flew parallel flights along the Zambian border with RRAF Canberras on the other.
“In December 1965, a company group of the 1st Battalion, the Gloucestershire Regiment, was airlifted to Bechuanaland to guard the BBC broadcasting station. This station commenced a propaganda campaign against the Salisbury regime,
“An invasion of Rhodesia was at a very high level of planning in 1966. This was to involve the use of 3rd Division as the main part of the invasion force. Using 16th Parachute Brigade, and 5th and 19th Air portable Infantry Brigades, and the Parachute Battalion Group from Bahrain (1PARA).
“The Royal Navy was to provide a task force in the Beira Straits using the aircraft carriers HMS Eagle and Centaur, with Buccaneer strike aircraft and Sea Vixen fighters, with Scimitar aircraft supplying air-refuelling, HMS Bulwark and Albion (both commando carriers) were to deploy each a Royal Marine Commando and it’s support Wessex helicopter squadron (total of 28 aircraft) ashore at Mtwara in Tanzania. With the troops and their vehicles then being airlifted by RAF Argosy and Beverley transports to Livingstone in Zambia, the helicopters then self-deploying through Malawi and Zambia.
“The intention being to deploy the three parachute battalions and support units, four infantry battalions, and an armoured reconnaissance regiment by air into Zambia using RAF VC10, Belfast, Comet and Britannia aircraft, also civil Britannia and Boeing 707 aircraft from BOAC and British Caledonia airways. The USAF (32 C130 Hercules, eight Globemaster and eight military versions of the 707) and Royal Canadian Air Force (which was involved in the oil airlift) (with four C130 and seven Canadian variants of the Britannia) would also give major support.
“RAF Victor bombers of No’s 100 and 139 Squadrons, operating from Eastleigh in Kenya, were to bomb the RRAF bases of New Sarum and Thornhill runways – each having four aircraft carrying 35 1,000 pounder bombs. At the same time troops of 22nd SAS Regiment were to seize the civil airports at Salisbury and Bulawayo by a coup de main, this followed by parachute insertion of a battalion group into both locations from Beverley and Argosy transports, the four infantry battalions then to be flown into both cities. Centres of government were to be taken over, along with important utilities. With the first objective in Salisbury being the Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation studios, with a Royal Signals team specially trained by the BBC to operate the broadcasting facilities, and a PSYOPS team to broadcast a constant message to the population. Part of the messages being in Shona and Sindebele as well as English for people to tune into the broadcasts from Bechuanaland.
“Kariba was to be seized by coup de main based on The Guards Parachute Company, with heli-born elements of 40 Commando seizing the airfield, bridge and power generators. The Armoured Reconnaissance regiment was to cross over the Kariba bridge making a road advance to Salisbury, 42 Commando and elements of 40 were to leap frog down the road using the Wessex helicopters and RAF Andover and Twin Pioneer aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm strike aircraft were to act as a cab rank close air support over the two main operational sites.
“5th Brigade was to be flown in direct from staging areas in Malta, and the RAF base at El Adem in Libya and the USAF Idris base also in Libya. They then to be followed by the artillery, armoured and engineer units of 3rd Division in an infantry role. These units were to act as holding units in Salisbury and Bulawayo. The initial strike units from Zambia and Bechuanaland then to spread out throughout the country.
“The garrison in Bechuanaland to be reinforced to two battalions and was to advance up the road to Plumtree then to Bulawayo.
“The plan required the use of all RAF air transports available with maintenance being a major concern. At this time there was still a substantial logistic support system in place in Kenya.
“The rationale behind the operation was for large numbers of lightly armed infantry to be on the ground, saturating the urban areas, to maintain control of the population, disarm military and police, as well as the civilian population. Apart from the armoured cars and some 120mm WOMBAT recoilless anti-tank guns, no heavy weapons to be taken. A colonial administration then to assume power backed up by some 1500 British civil police.”
But, it appears, there was disquiet at all levels in the government and military. Then PM Harold Wilson, despite being incensed by the ‘Rhodesian rebellion’, and insisting the ‘rebels’ would be ‘brought to their knees in weeks rather than months’, was uneasy about the ‘kith and kin’ issue. He knew that just over 20 years previously, some of the people who would be in British gun-sights had been fighting alongside his countrymen for King and Empire against Hitler. One of those people was former fighter-pilot, Prime Minister Ian Smith.
However, none of this recent history troubled Jeremy Thorpe who then led the opposition Liberal Party. Thorpe called loudly in the Commons for the Wilson government to simply order Bomber Command to deploy long-range Vulcans to bomb Salisbury and other strategic targets. Thorpe’s call drew enthusiastic support from the influential OAU (Organisation of African Unity), led by Nigeria who threatened Britain with an oil boycott.
Amidst the tumult, some wiser heads in the Ministry of Defence strongly advised the Government against military intervention. They said, “… the consequences of failure would be appalling”, and insisted the plan must avoid risks which in other circumstances would be acceptable. There was no direct access by sea and the only land access available entailed a journey of more than 1,000 miles on inadequate roads. “The invasion of a country with Rhodesia’s military capability under these conditions would, we believe, be without precedent.”
However they believed a conventional assault might succeed with a ground force of five brigades, aided by pre-emptive air strikes against Royal Rhodesian Air Force airfields.
A crucial component was American logistical support because the RAF lacked the air-transport capability. “The capability of our airlift is such that the maximum force that we could introduce and maintain would be two brigades, three short of the required force. The assembly of this force with all its equipment in Africa would take two and a half months and its introduction from there into Rhodesia would take another month.” If the plan was to succeed it was clear the administration led by President Lyndon Johnson would have to approve US military involvement and, while he empathised with the British, he balked at giving the go-head, and this may have been a decisive factor.
It has also been reported that officers in the British SAS, which would be tasked with a crucial role in the invasion, also made clear their reluctance to deploy. They after all, had been fighting alongside men like General Peter Walls, and Colonel Ron Reid-Daly, only years before in countering a communist insurgency in Malaya.
There was also the fact that they knew they would have a fight on their hands: “Our current intelligence assessments do not give us any grounds for supposing that there would at present be anything but wholehearted European opposition to any UK force introduced into Rhodesia.”
The report also warned against underestimating the Rhodesian air force. “Even after our pre-emptive strike we could not guarantee that the RRAF would not have some Hunter or Vampire aircraft still serviceable. A threat to transport aircraft would remain, against which we should have to provide air cover.”
The report adds: “We could only deliver two parachute battalions over a 24-hour period and the distance from commando ships off Beira to Salisbury precludes the delivery of a full commando. The Rhodesians would be able to field 11 and one-third major army units in a few days, only one containing black Africans.
“To intervene with a reasonable chance of success against such opposition, fighting stubbornly on its own ground, assisted by small ad hoc bands of guerrillas and perhaps white police, would require five brigades with artillery support.”
The planners reluctantly advised: “In the existing circumstances British forces could not intervene successfully in Rhodesia. There are no alternative options between a full-scale military intervention and introducing troops by invitation.”
Just how events would have played out had the British mounted an invasion, we shall never know, but if destruction was the aim of the campaign, then those who sought that goal might rest easy in the knowledge it was achieved, albeit by other forces.
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THANK YOU Hannes for a SUPERB article. I wonder what the average working stiff in the U.K. would have said when the many Body Bags and Injured Pommie Service people, came back to the U.K., after a debacle such as this would have been ???
Did those FOOLS in Whitehall and Number 10, think we would simply roll over and let them come in and DESTROY our Beautiful Land ??
Sheesh Hannes!! After reading this my first and immediate emotion was one of rage but it need not have been as watching what has been happening in that God-forsaken country over the last ten years should have dispelled any emotion I had.
I had heard that Wilson’s government wanted to deploy British troops to Rhodesia after UDI to take us down but had not previously seen the details so thanks.
Re @ Patrick Walsh. Peter Petter-Bowyer was a highly respected and accomplished Rhodesian Airforce combat pilot who pioneered airborne recce work during our bush war and retired as a Group Captain. He wrote and excellent book entitled “Winds of Destruction” and on Page 352 there is a picture of Muzorewa talking to Peter Carrington and underneath that picture he writes:-
“Muzorewa in typical dress seen here with that despicable rat Lord Carrington; ultimate architect of Rhodesia’s demise.”
A perfect description of the rat bags who have led that wretched country for the last 200 years, a completely morally bankrupt, treacherous, spiteful and treasonous species of humanity.
I submit this response to the excellent article by in a letter by Peter Petter Boyer An officer in the Rhodesian Territorial Army. Like all
Rhodesian who had fought and lost comrades, family and friends during our war against the communists we harbor disgust and betrayal by the manner we have been shunned by subsequent British governments. I remember a common sentiment amongst those of us who were were skilled fighters was – Bring them on!
11 November 2010
Letter to the ‘Times’ – Peter ‘PB’ Petter-Bowyer
“On Remembrance Sunday we repeat our promise, “At the going down of the sun and in the morning – WE WILL REMEMBER THEM”. Yet, since 1965, the British government has banned Rhodesian veterans from remembering their own fallen comrades in the Cenotaph parade. Rhodesia’s small white population provided, per capita, the highest number of servicemen and suffered the highest percentage losses of any national group that participated in WWII. In 1940 the Rhodesian Government had to stop many volunteers leaving so as to maintain vital services inside Rhodesia.
With black majority rule, Africa became a pawn in the Cold War and USSR propaganda demonised Rhodesia’s white government. The result was Robert Mugabe’s thirty-year campaign of national devastation and personal looting.
The white minority Rhodesian Government simply wished to keep the country in responsible hands whilst preparing the black majority to govern. Appalling developments in newly independent black countries made Rhodesians fear their country would follow suit. Their fears have been amply realised.
Unlike Australia and Canada, who decimated their indigenous peoples, Rhodesia expanded its black population from about 400,000 in 1890 to over 7 million by 1980. The country was entirely self-sufficient in food, with a highly efficient infrastructure of schools and medical facilities. Power-hungry nationalists took over a superbly managed country and destroyed it.
Surviving Rhodesians refuse to participate as Zimbabweans in London’s Remembrance Sunday because the name ‘Zimbabwe’ now represents Mugabe’s wholesale greed, corruption and the murders that have caused millions to flee their country or face every imaginable depravity.
Perhaps it is a blessing that Rhodesians who fought and died for King and country could not foresee how their sacrifice would be rendered worthless by successive British Governments. Nevertheless, Rhodesians in London on Remembrance Sunday will hold their own simple isolated remembrance service to honour fallen colleagues officially forgotten for reasons of ‘political correctness’
With kind regards’
PJH Petter-Bowyer”
Al of this supposed hatred and disgust of “Non-Black” Rhodesians stemmed from one thing only. JEALOUSY !! In as far as Our Beloved land created a functioning and highly efficient economy in little over 80+ years and this was done without wiping out the local tribal population as well.
Excellent. The best most comprehensive account of these plans since they came to light.
Do you know if the Rhodesian military or political establishment had any insight to these plans?
I would have thought with still close ties with kith n kin information could leak back!
Love to hear a counter factual war game scenario of how this could have played out. You’d have thought the SADF wouldn’t stand by.
Thanks
i believe there would’ve been considerable dissent amongst not only 22 SAS , but also other brit army and RAF units , since rhodesia contributed more servicemen -per capita – to britain’s forces during WW 11
Thanx for this more detailed synopsis of those proposed plans most know about. Eventually, the British military came to their senses about Wilson themselves, as detailed in this video, link below;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmKIa9dWI8E
Bloody hell! I had no idea of this plot by the British grubberment!
I had heard a bit about this Pommie Commie invasion of Rhodesia when I was younger but never knew much detail. I was 13 in 1966. Interesting scenario!!!! Not mentioned in the article but South Africa would have probably intervened on Rhodesia’s side and given the Poms a hiding like they did in the Boer War 66 years previously!!!! No doubt the Brits would’ve built concentration camps all over the country and locked us all up and committed genocide as is their style….
Actually the sociopath, war criminal, Fabian Socialist former pom PM Tony (Blah Blah) Blair wanted to bomb Comrade Bob Mugarbage in the 2000s because Bob made him “very cross”!!!! Tony has since re-invented himself as a member of the Globalist WEF pushing for Digital ID. His son is in charge of the roll out and there are billions of $$$$$$ to be made. So far everyone is resisting. They are trying the same thing in Aziland but no one is interested……watch this space!!!!
If the British had invaded it would have put the Rhodesians in the position of fighting on two fronts thus two wars.
All it would have taken was for the Black terrorists to double their efforts and the war would have been over in a short time.
I guess the plan did not go ahead because of fear of a political backlash against Britain. British against British.
I did learn years ago that the Rhodesian Scouts were funded from a British source. Does anyone have information on this?
Or possibly more correctly their payments came from a British source. Could have originated anywhere?
My source was a Scout who inexplicably was shot from behind. Treachery?
Some detail here guys. Excellent work. It’s fascinating reading about the difficulties of invading a landlocked country. We never seem to think hard enough about the challenges of such a situation.
A great article brought to light Hannes, one of which I had only heard about without any real explanation behind it. I find it wonderful that British servicemen were reluctant to act on their Governments ideology! It is with mild amusement that I watch the wheel turning for Britain and they themselves are now under invasion through mass migration. How the worm has turned for them, the empire has crumbled, and they themselves are pretty much heading towards the abyss at a rapid rate. Imagine us thinking the King of England would one day be blessing an islamic Mosque in the UK! What we learned in our younger days about so called Western Democracy has proven to be nothing more than an evil plan post WW11 to render weaker nations and populations hostage of the NWO and allow planned mass migration to most western nations. My new slogan is ‘RESIST! THEY WILL OWN NOTHING AND WILL STILL BE UNHAPPY’ Pamberi ne Hondo!
What a very unpleasnt surprise would have awaited them. I believe the South Africans would have been only too willing to join the fry. Mind you, now knowing J Vorster’s true character, maybe they wouldnt have??