Rhodesian McClellans and the Greys Scouts

[Todd]

Looks like earlier concepts of these current vehicles

Buffalo EOD
http://www.defense-update.com/products/b/buffalo.htm

Mine Resistant Vehicles
http://www.defense-update.com/products/m/mrap.htm

Cougar patrol vehicle
http://www.defense-update.com/products/c/cougar.htm

Todd

[roy elderkin]

Pat
I am not that clever, I recognised the horse but not the name I had to ask Gary, it was with a batch of horses that came up from Colsburg in SA. It is typical of its breed, perhaps a little smaller but the same conformation, tough and can carry weight, built like the proverbial block house.
Mares and geldings were mixed without problems throughout the Sqn's.

They are what we called Rhodaf 75's we also had 45's and 25's, they were in fact Mercs but were not allowed to call them that hence Rhodaf. The size and weight is counted by the number of wheels on the rear axle, 75 four 45 two the 25 whas in fact a Unimog.
The boards are in fact loading ramps for horses, they clip onto the rear section the first of the photo's showing horses being loaded, shows the boards clipped to the back forming the ramp.

Roy

[Pat Holscher]

Originally posted by roy elderkin
Pat
I am not that clever, I recognised the horse but not the name I had to ask Gary, it was with a batch of horses that came up from Colsburg in SA. It is typical of its breed, perhaps a little smaller but the same conformation, tough and can carry weight, built like the proverbial block house.
Mares and geldings were mixed without problems throughout the Sqn's.

Thanks Roy, very interesting.

They are what we called Rhodaf 75's we also had 45's and 25's, they were in fact Mercs but were not allowed to call them that hence Rhodaf. The size and weight is counted by the number of wheels on the rear axle, 75 four 45 two the 25 whas in fact a Unimog.
The boards are in fact loading ramps for horses, they clip onto the rear section the first of the photo's showing horses being loaded, shows the boards clipped to the back forming the ramp.

Roy

Thanks again. I wouldn't have guessed they were Mercedes, let alone the legendary Unimog. Where the bodies for the vehicles local? The closely resemble the similar truck that we've seen here in SA use, and another that has been in Israeli use.

Pat

[Pat Holscher]

Originally posted by Todd
Looks like earlier concepts of these current vehicles

Buffalo EOD
http://www.defense-update.com/products/b/buffalo.htm

Mine Resistant Vehicles
http://www.defense-update.com/products/m/mrap.htm

Cougar patrol vehicle
http://www.defense-update.com/products/c/cougar.htm

Todd

They do indeed, don't they?

It makes you wonder how much these later vehicles rely on the earlier ones.

Pat

[Pat Holscher]

Courtesy of Gary Snelling:



Gary's information on this photo:

Text by Gary Snelling
The first one show's the DAF's full of hay. This was taken at Inkomo Barracks just before setting out for the Mozambique border. Notice the footwear of the Troopers in the shorts. They are wearing the same boots as the Selous Scouts were issued with. The soles were tread-less. Hope that makes sense?

Another interesting photo. Boots show up earlier in this thread. An interesting aspect of this unit, one of the last, and 20th Century best, mounted infantry units used a type of riding boot we'd not normally associate with a riding unit.

Note also the trooper in the sweater and stable belt.

Pat

[Gary S]

The second picture shows two Troopers setting up a mortar, while being supervised by an inquisitive horse. This was inside Mozambique, and twenty minutes after this photo was taken, we had a contact with Frelemo forces, and the mortar was used from that exact position.

I'm sure the mortar barrel was carried in a special case, on a person. Each member of the stick carried a couple of mortar bombs, I think that was the only time we ever used this weapon in the field.

[Pat Holscher]

Some of the guy's at the end of our National Service

Note the stable belts and the FN MAG.

How long was the National Service period?

Pat

[Pat Holscher]

Trooper with dogs at Inkomo

Pat

[Pat Holscher]

Trooper putting up posters of Abel Muzorewa in Mozambique. It was one of our first missions to put these up in Mozambique. Poster of Abel Muzorewa. What it say's I've long forgotten. Sorry

This is an interesting photograph in that it shows a Trooper in a cross border mission in Mozambique. Abel Mozurwea is a Methodists Bishop in Zimbabwe who formed a political party in 1971 to oppose the 1971 accord between the UK and Rhodesia. He became Prime Minister in 1979 following a 1978 agreement to change the structure of the government, but which did not result in an end to the war. He lost the position to Robert Mugabe in 1980.

This photo must have been taken during the 1979 period in which he was Prime Minister.

The longarm in this photo is once again a heavy barrel FN FAL. I'm surprised by how often this weapon appears in these photographs.

Pat

[Pat Holscher]

Courtesy of Gary Snelling:

Just some memorabilia I have of the unit.

The first picture is my belt and beret, with a T shirt our National Service intake got printed. Shame we never put the date on the shirt.

The second picture is just the stable belt and beret.

Third picture. Belt beret, and ashtray, bought when leaving Rhodesia.

Interesting items.

On the berets, was the color of the berets chosen in keeping with a traditional color for a Rhodesian or British unit? The sand color seems to be associated with one of the British special units in my mind, but I may be wrong.

Interesting how t-shirts have become a popular unit cycle item. I'm not actually sure when printed t-shirts became outer wear. I'd assumed quite recently, but on a thread here I was surprised to see a kid wearing one with an airborne insignia printed on it, that child being the child of a WWII paratrooper, and being taken during the war. So they go back that far at least. I have a t-shirt printed up for my basic training platoon from the early 80s, so they go back at least that far as training unit memorabilia in the U.S. Army.

Pat

[Tom Muller]

Pat,

isn't it rather an RPD with drum mag? I can't see it properly, but I guess I'm right.

Tom

[Pat Holscher]

Originally posted by Tom Muller
Pat,

isn't it rather an RPD with drum mag? I can't see it properly, but I guess I'm right.

Tom

You know, now I'm not sure what it is, but it isn't an FAL. You may very well be right.

Pat

[Pat Holscher]

In the category of a truly ignorant questions, I've never seen a photo of a Rhodesian soldier wearing a helmet.

Did any ever wear them, in any unit?

Pat

[roy elderkin]

Pat

It is not an ingnorant question, the fact is that helmets were not issued, they were held by various regiments for classical warfare, and not issued for COIN. The only other time they were worn was when Rhodesian forces, were engaged in two major operations in Mozambique. And for training purposes, when training for classical warfare, and they were British Army style, there were other helmets but these were Eastern Block style and were used for training and identification, these were taken after various contacts.

The armoured car Regt used them more than any one else, after the purchase of a number of tanks.

Roy

[Tom Muller]

Roy,

I think you mentioned it before, but could you give us some more information on the use of hounds by the regiment. We wanted to give it a try as well in SWA, but SWASPES had no experience, they used tracker dogs on footpatrols. I had some experience with hounds but only from hunting in the mountains, which wasn't applicable. In the end we never got down to it. I guess we might have encountered major problems in the National Park with lions mainly, having a go at the dogs. In the operational area there we hardly ever encountered any dangerous game. I'm interested in how many hounds were used, how they were deployed, how were they fed on patrol... you see many questions, but I hope you don't find them too boring.

Tom

[roy elderkin]

Tom

This is one area that I cannot help you, however I dont know if you have looked up the thread on page 8 by Nigel Ramshaw, but he was a dog handler so he may be able to help you. It was not something that I was involved in, and did not have enough experience to be of any use.

Roy

[Tom Muller]

Roy,

thank you very much. I'll look it up and hope Nigel can help me.

Tom

[Tom Muller]

Roy,

sorry I should have read this earlier and a couple of my questions would have been answered. Do you know if Nigel is still active on the forum?

Tom

[roy elderkin]

Tom

I am not sure he only posted one thread, and there was nothing after that perhaps Todd or Pat could help.

Roy

[Tom Muller]

Roy,

I sent him an email maybe he'll get in touch.

Tom