Rhodesian Association as at 17/4/01 The military history of Rhodesia until the early sixties is a history of Rhodesia's participation in wars fought on behalf of Britain, the mother country. Rhodesians partook of these varied conflicts with competence, bravery and a marked degree of enthusiasm which, on consideration of their military inclination and origins, is perhaps not surprising. The first of these wars was the South African War 1899-1902. Rhodesia's main contribution was in sending the new BSA Police and the Southern Rhodesians Volunteers to the relief of the siege of Mafeking. This force included a new unit, the Rhodesia Regiment, raised specifically for the occasion. Rhodesians were also prominently involved in the defence of Mafeking. The first shots of the war were fired against Rhodesians. Although this conflict saw the emergence of trench warfare, concentration camps and a variety of other refinements, a real appreciation of the nature of modem war did not penetrate the consciousness of western man until the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. It was in the mud of the Somme and Flanders and on the barbed wire and machine guns of the German lines that Rhodesia's sunshine settlers, in company with the whole European race, finally lost their innocence. Over 6000 white Rhodesians 'played the game' and went to war in Europe, East Africa and South West Africa. This represented two-thirds of all European men between the ages of 15 and 44, and a quarter of the total white population of the country. Rhodesia served in eighty Imperial regiments ranging from the Black Watch (all twelve who joined this unit were killed) to the Tank Corps, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. This, in addition to those who joined the 1st and 2nd Rhodesia Regiments (2000) men, the BSAP, the Union of South Africa forces and the 400-man Rhodesian Platoons of the King's Royal Rifle Corps. Some 2800 men of African and mixed race, most of them in the Rhodesia Native Regiment, also went to war. 900 were killed, of whom 732 were European. A total of 527 decorations, ranging from Britain's Victoria Cross to Russia's Order of St Viadimir and France's Croix de Guerre, were awarded to Rhodesians. Pitiful compensation, perhaps, for the unbelievable obscenity and horror of war. An indication of how small the Rhodesian armed forces were between 1920 and 1939 is that in the latter year, the Permanent Staff Corps totalled only 47 officers and men. The BSA Police, however, have always been trained as both policemen and soldiers, a dual role which was abandoned with the outbreak of WWII but not completely relinquished until 1954. With the upsurge of armed incursions into Rhodesia in the 1960's however, the BSAP once again became a para-military force. Distance, for Rhodesians, has always made the heart grow patriotic. They flocked to volunteer when, on Monday 4 September 1939, the local press carried full page advertisements for recruits. According to one historian, quite a few seriously wondered whether Germany would be defeated before they could get into action. They were not to be disappointed. Conscription, that Catch 22 technique of modern industrialised man, was introduced and initially six full time units were formed. Some 6650 white and 1730 black Rhodesians served outside Rhodesia in North Africa, Sicily, Normandy and Burma. A total of nearly 11000 Europeans and mixed race personnel of whom 1500 were women, actually went into uniform, as did 15000 African troops. Rhodesia supplied more troops per head of population to the allied war effort than any other country in the empire. One in ten of the 8500 Rhodesians of all races who served overseas were killed or died on active service. Rhodesia's most important contribution to the ultimate success of the allies, it could be argued, was the fact she provided the nucleus, and the enemy free skies, for the huge Rhodesia Air Training Group of the Royal Air Force. During the six years of war the Southern Rhodesia Air Force itself was absorbed into the RAF initially as No. 237 (Rhodesia) Squadron (in which Prime Minister Ian Smith served) and later in the form of at least two other squadrons. Of the 2409 Rhodesians who joined the Air Force, 498 were killed. The squadrons performed splendidly. In the variety of conflicts that preceded Britain's post-war shedding of her colonial possessions, Rhodesia's armed forces have occasionally played a limited role. These have included sending men of the Southern Rhodesia Far East Volunteer Unit to Malaya in 1951 as the Rhodesian Squadron of the Special Air Services, Malayan Scouts. The last chief of Rhodesia's Security Forces, General Peter Walls, was the commanding officer of this unit. In 1952 a detachment of 400 men of the Rhodesian Africa Rifles went to Egypt for deployment in the Canal Zone. The Regiment also later fought in the foetid jungles of Malaya against the "CT's". By 1959 the Royal Rhodesian Air Force, acquired a wider responsibility as apart of the RAF's potential in the Middle East, helping to cover such hot spots as Aden, Kuwait and Cyprus with their Vampires and Canberra bombers. From the first clashed with the Matabele in 1893 to the early counter- insurgency moves in the 1972-80 guerilla war, Rhodesians have acquired a fighting tradition which is often their rationale and inspiration.
