1 Recce, volume 2. Alexander Strachan

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      PART 1

      Operations in Rhodesia

      1

      SADF deploys liaison officers in Rhodesia

      The Rhodesian Bush War was also known as the Second Chi­mu­renga7 and the Zimbabwe War of Liberation. This civil war lasted from July 1964 to December 1979.

      On the one side of the conflict was Ian Smith’s Rhodesian government and later Bishop Abel Muzorewa’s Zimbabwe-Rhodesian government. On the other side of the spectrum were the opposing groups: Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (Zanla) and Joshua Nkomo’s Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (Zipra).

      In March 1979 Lt. Gen. George Peter Walls GLM DCD MBE became commander of the Rhodesian armed forces. The Rhodesian Bush War was still in full swing. On the government’s side, it was organised and controlled from Combined Operations (COMOPS) that divided Rhodesia into seven operational areas. In each area a Joint Operational Centre (JOC) was established, which planned and controlled operations.

      Gen. Magnus Malan, Chief of the SADF, and Walls had identified the need for a South African liaison officer to serve on Walls’ staff (he was then still commander of Combined Operations). Consequently, from June 1977 to August 1980 SADF liaison officers were deployed at regular intervals at COMOPS in Salisbury (today Harare). At the time of the deployment of the liaison officers, Col. Minnaar Fourie was already settled in Salisbury as military attaché. He had to keep Gen. Malan abreast of the military and political situation in the country.

      The liaison officers’ duties involved personal liaison with Malan and Walls, as well as briefings regarding planned cross-border operations and air support for upcoming cross-border operations. They also had to take care of maritime support for east coast operations and the acquisition of special equipment for the Special Air Service (SAS), the Selous Scouts and the Special Branch.8 The liaison officers were at the same time closely involved with the provision of non-conventional weapons.

      * * *

      Col. Hans Möller, a paratrooper and former commander of 1 Parachute Battalion, was the first South African liaison officer to be deployed to Rhodesia. He was attached to Military Intelligence (MI) at the time. The liaison officers all stayed at the King George VI officers’ mess (KG VI) in the suburb of Borrowdale in Salisbury. Their accommodation was a secluded luxurious one-bedroom flat in the garden of the officers’ mess that was known as the ‘King George VI VIP Flat’.

      For security reasons, Möller was kitted out in Salisbury in full Rhodesian uniform with the rank of colonel. His ‘new identity’ did not always pass muster, and once he was confronted head-on by a Rhodesian who inquired: ‘Colonel, who are you?’ to which Möller responded: ‘I am a Rhodesian officer on the staff of COMOPS.’ But the Rhodesian replied: ‘Sir, with respect, that’s not true because I know all the officers on the COMOPS staff and you are not one of them.’

      Möller was part of the COMOPS planning team that crisscrossed Rhodesia and visited all the JOCs. The purpose of the visits was to determine the operational needs of each JOC as well as specific logistical needs with which the SADF could assist the Rhodesians.

      The Combined Operations team sometimes also visited Special Forces bases, such as Fort Bendura and Fort Buffalo Range. The bases were manned exclusively by the Selous Scouts, and there they were briefed on operations, methodology, training, and success or failure with regard to ‘turning’ captured enemies. It would then also be established what support the SADF could provide and a shopping list would be handed to EMLC,9 a highly specialised and secret engineering company that supplied special equipment to Special Forces.

      During one such visit Hans Möller talked to two Zipras ‘who had been turned. To my great surprise, I found myself sitting next to these two gentlemen on a flight to Pretoria. All I heard later was that they had been under way on a mission to “a foreign country”.’

      Möller personally relayed Rhodesia’s requirements to Malan and Maj. Gen. PW van der Westhuizen, Chief of Staff Intelligence (CSI). These included weapons and ammunition and any other armaments the Rhodesians required for specific operations or for their war effort as a whole. Malan and his top structure would then approve or turn down the requests.

      At COMOPS, the first briefing session in the morning was a general briefing about what had happened on the operational front over the past 24 hours. During the second session, too, general feedback was given, and depending on the morning session, future operations would be planned. The third session would take place on an ad hoc basis, and this was where special operations of a strategic nature were discussed. This type of operation was elaborated in the utmost secrecy, and the ‘need-to-know’ principle determined who was allowed to be present.

      By virtue of his appointment as military attaché in Salisbury, Col. Fourie had access to intelligence sources that were not always accessible to liaison officers. Hence he was in a position to give valuable input with regard to requests for support in operations, which he did.

      After a stint of about ten months (from June 1977 to March 1978) as liaison officer in Rhodesia, Möller was retransferred to South Africa and returned to his position at MI. Before long he was transferred to the Special Forces HQ in Pretoria as Senior Staff Officer Operations Army (SSO Ops Army). Here he served on the staff of the general officer commanding (GOC) Special Forces, Maj. Gen. Fritz Loots. Capt. (navy) Woody Woodburne was the SSO Ops Navy, and Col. Karel van Heerden the SSO Ops Air Force. Möller was the most senior of the three, and Gen. Loots employed him as his second in command (2IC) within Special Forces.

      During Möller’s deployment at Special Forces, he was very closely involved in the planning regarding the organisation’s future. He was inter alia involved in the so-called Serfontein Commission (1977–1979) that had been appointed to investigate Special Forces’ structures and deployment and make recommendations. This was a very stimulating time for Möller, as he had a natural aptitude for and interest in organisational work and investigations of this kind.

      He is remembered as a very popular officer who was universally liked. He excelled as a sportsman as well, and played wing for both Northern Transvaal and the Junior Springboks. On the rugby field he had the reputation of being one of the toughest players to bring down as he was an enormously strong runner and exceptionally firm on his legs. The highlight after many challenges in his military career was his appointment as officer commanding of Eastern Transvaal Command with the rank of major general.

      * * *

      Col. Ewald Olckers replaced Hans Möller as liaison officer in Rhodesia. He and his wife Isabel, along with her ginger cat Tau, flew to Salisbury with two suitcases filled with clothes on a South African Airways flight on 19 April 1978. On their travel documents, the purpose of their visit was merely stated as ‘on business’. Olckers had been given an undertaking by Gen. Loots that his deployment ‘would only be for a year’.

      Like Möller, Olckers was a paratrooper and former commander of 1 Parachute Battalion. A year and ten months would go by, however, before he was relieved as liaison officer when Cmdt. André Bestbier, another paratrooper, took over from him on 22 February 1980. The functions Olckers and Bestbier performed in Rhodesia were similar to Möller’s. On the day of Olckers’ return to South Africa (with ginger cat and all), thousands of supporters were thronging the airport to await the arrival of Robert Mugabe.

      Olckers recommended Bestbier to Gen. Loots as the appropriate person to replace him.10 He and Bestbier were good friends, had stayed together in the officers’ mess at Oudtshoorn, holidayed together, practised sports СКАЧАТЬ