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The Selous Scouts was a special forces regiment of the Rhodesian Army which operated from 1973 until the introduction of majority rule in 1980. They were named after British explorer Frederick Courteney Selous (1851-1917), and their motto was pamwe chete, which translated from Shona means "all together", "together only" or "forward together". The charter of the Selous Scouts directed "the clandestine elimination of terrorists/terrorism both within and without the country."[1]
[edit] ContextThe period in which the Selous Scouts operated was known as the Rhodesian Bush War or Second Chimurenga. This was a civil war fought between black nationalist guerrillas (ZANLA/ZANU and ZIPRA/ZAPU) and the white minority government of Ian Smith. Unlike the Rhodesian Light Infantry and the Rhodesian Special Air Service (SAS), the Selous Scouts were a mixed race force and had many black Rhodesians in its ranks including the first African commissioned officers in the Rhodesian Army. [edit] Selection and trainingThe Selous Scouts acted as a combat reconnaissance force, its mission was to infiltrate Rhodesia's tribal population and guerilla networks, pinpoint rebel groups and relay vital information back to the conventional forces earmarked to carry out the actual attacks. Scouts were trained to operate in small under-cover teams capable of working independently in the bush for weeks on end and of passing themselves off as rebels. The Selous Scouts were a strictly volunteer force, and only highly motivated men of the very highest calibre could fulfil the task they had to undertake. A mere 15 percent of the many who signed up to join the regiment emerged from the tough training programme with the right to wear the brown beret of the Selous Scouts. As Lt. Col. Ron Reid Daly stated[2]:
Selection was rigorous, and even tougher than the Rhodesian Special Air Service course. As soon as volunteers arrived at Wafa Wafa, the Selous Scouts' training camp, on the shores of the Lake Kariba they were given a taste of the hardships they would have to endure. On reaching the base (which was a 25 kilometres run away from the drop-off point) they saw no cosy barracks, no welcoming mess tent, but only a few straw huts and the blackened embers of a dying fire. There was no food issued. The goal was to starve, exhaust and antagonise the recruits. This usually proved successful as 40 or 50 men out of the original 60 regularly dropped out in the first two days. The selection course lasted seventeen days. From the first light to 7 am they were put through a strength-sapping fitness programme. Afterwards they sharpened their basic combat skills and they had to pass a particularly nasty assault course several times, designed to overcome their fear of heights. As soon as the night fell, they went on to the night training. In the first five days, no food was issued at all. After this only rotten animals were available. At the end, there were an endurance march of 100 kilometres, laden with 30 kilograms of rocks in their packs. The rocks were painted red, so they could not be discharged and replaced at the end. The final stage of these was a speed march, and had to be completed in a mere two-and-a-half hours. Those who survived these days were given a week off, and taken to a special camp for the dark phase of their training. There they learned to act and talk like the enemy. The base was built and set out as a real rebel camp, and the instructors were on hand to turn the recruits into fully-fledged members of the enemy groups. In this phase recruits were taught to break with habits such as shaving, rising at regular times, smoking and drinking and to adopt a guerilla lifestyle. The recruits, after finishing their training had little time to congratulate themselves, because only a week after their successful completion of the course, they were in the bush on patrol with the Selous Scouts[3]. [edit] CompositionThe regiment was proposed by members of the British South Africa Police Special Branch, and many of its earliest recruits were policemen. The Selous Scouts differed from C Squadron 22 (Rhodesian) SAS, in that it was formed specifically to take part in tracking and infiltration operations in which soldiers would pretend to be guerrillas -- so-called pseudo-operators. These tactics were used very successfully in the Mau Mau Uprising. In addition, it often recruited from enemy forces; captured guerrillas were offered a choice between prison, a trial and possible execution or joining the Selous Scouts.[4] This concept was initially highly controversial in the Rhodesian government; the idea of "turning" what they regarded as captured terrorists instead of punishing them was unpalatable to some.[5] However, the idea's supporters, who won out, portrayed these operations as an aspect of counter-insurgency similar to the law enforcement use of informants and 'sting' methods to penetrate and disrupt criminal and subversive organizations. In order to keep knowledge of their existence as restricted as possible, the "turned" guerrillas were paid from Special Branch funds which were not accountable to government auditors,[6] and volunteers for the unit were not told of its actual function until they actually joined it;[7] in some cases, where captured guerrillas had already entered the judicial system, the Selous Scouts would fake their escapes without informing the Criminal Investigation Department.[8] In order to prevent the regular army or police from firing at the regiment while it was operating, the authorities would declare "frozen areas", where Army and Police units were ordered to temporarily cease all operations in, and withdraw from, certain areas, without being told the reason for this.[9] Many commanders felt that the initiation of "frozen areas" ceded control to the enemy and reduced the initiative of the security forces. In addition to the obvious tactic of luring "fellow" guerrillas into ambushes, the pseudo-operators also took measures to weaken any popular support for the guerrillas that might have existed; in one case, for example, a group of pseudo-operators pretending to be guerrillas accused eight of the most enthusiastic guerrilla supporters in the Madziwa region of being police informers and beat them up before leaving.[10] The unit's detractors cited events like this as the difference between the phrases anti-terrorism and counter-terrorism. The Selous Scouts used covert forms of chemical warfare. Clothing was impregnated with parathion and left for enemy guerillas to find. Cigarettes and canned food were used in a similar fashion after being contaminated with thallium.[11] The camouflage used by reserve members of this unit as pseudo-forces were captured "Warsaw Pact" clothing originating from various countries and specified for certain operations. There is no doubt that the regiment achieved many of its objectives; its members were acclaimed trackers, and the unit was responsible for 68% of all guerrilla deaths within the borders of Rhodesia.[12] However, its C.O., Ron Reid-Daly, was irascible and enjoyed a poor relationship with many of the Rhodesian Army commanders; [13] in addition, from 1978 there were persistent rumours that soldiers in the regiment had been implicated in ivory poaching in the Gonarezhou National Park and that an ivory processing "factory" existed at Andre Rabie Barracks near Inkomo Garrison.[13] The friction between the Army command and Reid-Daly peaked on 29 january 1979, when a bugging device was found in Reid-Daly's office. Needless to say this compromised ongoing Selous Scout operations, and therefore it became necessary to call them off[14]. The Selous Scouts numbered only about 1,500 men at peak strength, yet according to a Combined Operations statement, they inflicted 68 percent of the nationalist guerilla fatalities between 1973 and 1980[15]. [edit] DissolutionFollowing the dissolution of the regiment in 1980, many of its soldiers travelled south to join the South African Defence Force, where they joined 5 Reconnaissance Commando. Those that remained formed 4th Bn(HU)R.A.R. which was placed on "immediate standby " for most of its short service. The battalion covered the areas to the north of Andre Rabie Barracks, as far as Miami/Mangula in the east and as far as Kariba in the north. The unit existed from 23 April to 30 September 1980 when it changed its name for the final time and became as it is today, 1st Zimbabwe Parachute Battalion/Group. [edit] Previous UsesThe name Selous Scouts was also given to the short-lived Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment, a regiment in the Army of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland between about 1960 and 1962 that drove Staghound armoured cars and scout cars. [edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] Footnotes
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