Svenska frivilliga Zimbabwe(Rhodesia) 70-talet
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Svenska frivilliga Zimbabwe(Rhodesia) 70-talet
Idag så läste jag om detta i en artikel i Oreda. Stod något om att kontakter förmedlades via Nordiska Rikspartiet och Sydafrikanska ambassaden.
Har inte Artikeln här men jag återkommer.
Någon annan som vet något?
Har inte Artikeln här men jag återkommer.
Någon annan som vet något?
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- Medlem
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Oreda finns ju på nätet, i vilket nummer fannas artikeln?
RHODESIA'S EXPERIENCE WITH MERCS
WEBMASTERS NOTE; The volunteers who fought alongside the Rhodesians during the bush war, contrary to the popular perception abroad (and guerrilla propaganda), were not mercenaries (in the legal sense of the word), but signed up in the Rhodesian Security Forces under the same conditions and at the same rate of pay as Rhodesian regulars. The word and tile "MERC" appears here because the following articles are about MERCs who served Rhodesia, But not necessarily in that mode. So the word is not politically correct, so what!
It is perhaps the counter-insurgency war in Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia), fought between 1965 and 1980, that offered the elite mercenary soldier the most interesting recent opportunity to practice his military skills. There were probably around 1,500 non-Rhodesian mercenaries in the Rhodesian security forces; including British, Australians, Canadians, Dutch, French, Germans, Greeks and Scandinavians. Little official recruiting went on outside the country; such recruitment as there was taking place by word of mouth and written invitation. The Rhodesian Information Office advised applicants on the enlistment processes, after which aspirants had to make their own way to the training centers. Successful mercenaries did however have their fares refunded.
Mercenaries who joined the Rhodesian armed forces did so for a minimum term of two years and were treated identically to local volunteers. Their basic salary, although a little higher than that then paid in the British Army, was far from generous, and was certainly not in itself sufficient reason for enlistment. Most men joined because they liked the life, the comradeship and the excitement; few for reasons of overt racism.
Mercenaries served in every element of the Rhodesian armed forces, including the SAS (which was reputed to have a tougher selection process than its sister-unit in Hereford), the Selous Scouts and the Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI). Others served in the counter-insurgency wing of the rather confusingly named British South Africa Police (BSAP) Special Branch.
With the coming of independence and the formation of Zimbabwe in 1980, a number of elite units - including the SAS, the Selous Scouts and the RLI - were disbanded. Those mercenaries who remained left quickly, many joining the now unemployed Rhodesians from these former units in the move south to seek employment with the South African Defence Forces. It is believed that at least one unit crossed the border with its armory and entire fleet of vehicles.
Båda texterna hämtade ifrån http://members.tripod.com/selousscouts/home_page.htmMERCS
AND THE
SELOUS SCOUTS
WEBMASTERS NOTE; The volunteers who fought alongside the Rhodesians during the bush war, contrary to the popular perception abroad (and guerrilla propaganda), were not mercenaries (in the legal sense of the word), but signed up in the Rhodesian Security Forces under the same conditions and at the same rate of pay as Rhodesian regulars. The word and tile "MERC" appears here because the following articles are about MERCs who served Rhodesia, But not necessarily in that mode. So the word is not politically correct, so what!
White-ruled Rhodesia lacked white manpower; and as in the mid-Seventies the war against the guerilla forces of Joshua Nkomo based in Zambia and those of his rival Robert Mugabe based in Mozambique grew more ferocious and more murderous, conscription of the local white settlers proved insufficient to fill the ranks. Therefore, at first discreetly, then much more openly, Ian Smith’s regime began to recruit professional white soldiers from all over the Western world. Most were British and American. They were of course fighting for a country that was technically a British colony in rebellion against the British Crown; but they can hardly be described as traitors. For Rhodesia was quintessentially British in style and way of life, and proud of it. Perhaps that is why so very few South Africans joined the Rhodesian army — there has always been a strong mutual antipathy between the Boers of South Africa and the British of Rhodesia despite their common boundary, shared interests and similar colour of skin. But a certain number of Americans came to Rhodesia, recruited indirectly via articles and advertisements in Soldier of Fortune and more directly via Major Robert Brown, the magazine’s publisher, who came himself to Salisbury in June 1977 to discuss recruiting with Colonel Lamprecht, head of Rhodesia’s recruiting office.
The pay was at the time not high — a mere £40 a week — and the contract long: three years. But as the war against the guerillas intensified, the pay rose to $800 a month minimum, up to $3,000 maximum, and the number of foreigners serving with the Rhodesians, either as ‘volunteers’ or as ‘immigrants’, to no less than fifteen hundred. British and Americans apart, a number of other whites from different parts of the world were recruited. Precise figures are difficult to come by but it seems that the RLI — the Rhodesian Light Infantry — was largely composed of West Germans and Danes and mat both the Selous Scouts, a ferociously ruthless guerilla-killing unit and Grey’s Scouts, who patrolled stealthily on horses, were in effect mercenary units.
The foreigners were mercenaries, of course, but they were joining a structured, regularly paid regular army as individuals; and so they can hardly be said to constitute mercenary war-bands in the sense of what had been done in the Congo. Many of these hired soldiers found them selves gravitated toward the Rhodesian Special Forces. A certain air of mystery surrounds Special Forces. The Special Forces continued to function after the ceasefire of November 1979 up to and through the elections of February 1980. On 4 March Lord Soames — his last act of importance as Governor — asked the victor in the elections, the Marxist-orientated Mugabe, to form a government. There had been rumours in the interim of a last desperate fling by the still white-commanded army, a coup in Salisbury to preempt Mugabe’s installation as Prime Minister. It came to nothing. The white units — the Special forces; Rhodesian Light Infantry, the Selous Scouts and SAS — were dissolved. Many of the Mercs and Soldiers of these units then headed south, away from possible reprisals, across the into the Republic of South Africa. Many of these men were immediately enrolled, most of them, in a rather special unit of the South African Defence Force (as the Republic’s armed forces were called), the Reconnaissance Regiment known as “The RECCES”.
Ron Reid-Daly, the former commander of the Selous Scouts, found a new mercenary niche as commander of the Transkei Defence Force, with other fellow ex-Selous Scouts, becoming the CO of the Transkei Regiment.
The Rhodesian veterans did not, however, apparently fit in too well with what was very much an Afrikaner-dominated Afrikaner-speaking force; and when their contract came up for renewal, many were not renewed. This meant that Natal in general and Durban in particular, the former center of British power in South Africa to which the ex-Rhodesians naturally gravitated, was by early 1981 full of disgruntled ex-soldiers who had led an adventurous life in Rhodesia, who had had to become reconciled to the idea that the South Africa army did not want them, and who were trying half-heartedly to reconcile themselves to civilian life and civilian employment
***Source*** This information is edited from; THE NEW MERCENARIES -The History of the Hired Soldier from the Congo to the Seychelles. By Anthony Mockler.
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Har bedömt Sten Cedergrens redogörelse om krigsdeltagande i Rhodesia som sannolik, och har därför nämnt detta i not nr 7 på s. 372 i Svenskar i krig.
Ev. kan fler svenskar ha varit med - men har inga namn.
En ännu levande svensk journalist skall ev ha deltagit på ett aktivt (militärt) på den andra sidan i kriget - men har inte funnit så pass mycket belägg för det så att jag velat nämna det. Inte heller här vill jag nämna hans namn. Behövs mer belägg.
Mvh,
Lars
Ev. kan fler svenskar ha varit med - men har inga namn.
En ännu levande svensk journalist skall ev ha deltagit på ett aktivt (militärt) på den andra sidan i kriget - men har inte funnit så pass mycket belägg för det så att jag velat nämna det. Inte heller här vill jag nämna hans namn. Behövs mer belägg.
Mvh,
Lars
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Re: Svenska frivilliga Zimbabwe(Rhodesia) 70-talet
Uppar denna tråd.
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Re: Svenska frivilliga Zimbabwe(Rhodesia) 70-talet
Hej,
jag har inte så mycket att tillföra i ämnet men undrar om vad Oreda är för något? Är det en tidskrift på nätet?
Mvh,
Peter
jag har inte så mycket att tillföra i ämnet men undrar om vad Oreda är för något? Är det en tidskrift på nätet?
Mvh,
Peter
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Re: Svenska frivilliga Zimbabwe(Rhodesia) 70-talet
Skulle tro att Gyllenhaal sedan inlägget ovan tagit upp ämnet i del 2 av han & Westbergs eminenta kartläggning Svenskar i krig (inte kommit till 70-talet än).
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Re: Svenska frivilliga Zimbabwe(Rhodesia) 70-talet
Tror inte den finns längre.PeterE skrev:Hej,
jag har inte så mycket att tillföra i ämnet men undrar om vad Oreda är för något? Är det en tidskrift på nätet?
Mvh,
Peter
http://libris.kb.se/bib/8842092
Ah. Jag har missat att den kommit. Får ta och inhandla då.Hexmaster skrev:Skulle tro att Gyllenhaal sedan inlägget ovan tagit upp ämnet i del 2 av han & Westbergs eminenta kartläggning Svenskar i krig (inte kommit till 70-talet än).
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Re: Svenska frivilliga Zimbabwe(Rhodesia) 70-talet
Nix. Hittar inget i den. Men en mycket trevlig bok ändå.Hexmaster skrev:Skulle tro att Gyllenhaal sedan inlägget ovan tagit upp ämnet i del 2 av han & Westbergs eminenta kartläggning Svenskar i krig (inte kommit till 70-talet än).
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Re: Svenska frivilliga Zimbabwe(Rhodesia) 70-talet
För många år sen läste jag en Rhodesisk veteransajt om de utländska frivilliga.Som jag minns det,så var de Portugisiska veteranerna den största gruppen.De anslöt sig 1974,när Portugals 13 år långa kamp i Angola och Mocambique avslutades.Den näst största gruppen var Britter.Många var ärrade SAS,Paras och Royal Marines-veteraner från striderna på Borneo 1963-66 och Jemen 1962-67.Övriga stora grupper var Australiensare,Nya Zeeländare,Amerikaner och Kanadensare.Från Europa kom en hel del Västtyska underofficerare från Bundeswehr.En av dem,en fallshirmjäger som anslöt sig 1968,hadde enligt artikeln fått den Rhodesiska krigsmaktens allra högsta tapperhetsutmärkelse.
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Re: Svenska frivilliga Zimbabwe(Rhodesia) 70-talet
Välkommen Rocky, jag vet att Sydafrika letade efter frivilliga även från Sverige. Har du någon aning om antalet svenskar i Rhodesia?
MVH
Hans
MVH
Hans
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Re: Svenska frivilliga Zimbabwe(Rhodesia) 70-talet
Tack Hans! Glad över att vara med.Eftersom Sverige var så fientligt inställda mot både Rhodesia och Sydafrika,och så hängivet stöttade dessa länders fiender,så förefaller det som Svenska frivilliga som stridit för Rhodesia/Sydafrika talat väldigt tyst om detta,efter hemkomsten till Sverige.Den enda med anknytning till Sverige som jag känner till är en Sverigefinsk kille.Född och uppvuxen i Sverige av Finska föräldrar.Han gjorde militärtjänsten i ett Finskt jägarförband 1968-69.Han stred som frivillig för Rhodesia 1970-80.Efter landets upplösning 1980 anslöt han sig likt många Rhodesiaveteraner,till den Sydafrikanska krigsmakten.Där stred han fram till krigslutet 1989.Han bosatte sig i Finland 1990.
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Re: Svenska frivilliga Zimbabwe(Rhodesia) 70-talet
Jag skrev faktiskt till Sydafrikanska ambassaden runt 1980 och frågade, fick en ansökningsblankett som jag turligt nog aldrig fyllde i.
Kontakta Gyllenhaal och fråga om han har mer. http://gyllenhaals.blogspot.com/
MVH
Hans
Kontakta Gyllenhaal och fråga om han har mer. http://gyllenhaals.blogspot.com/
MVH
Hans
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Re: Svenska frivilliga Zimbabwe(Rhodesia) 70-talet
Tack för info!🖒