Special Branch war : slaughter in the Rhodesian bush Southern Matabeleland, 1976-1980 / Ed Bird.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bird, Ed, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

British South Africa Police--Biography.

British South Africa Police.

Southern Rhodesia. Army. Selous Scouts.

Southern Rhodesia.

Zimbabwe--Armed Forces--History.

Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe--History--Chimurenga War, 1966-1980--Personal narratives.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (321 p.)

Place of Publication:

West Midlands, England : Helion & Company Limited, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This searing account primarily covers Ed Bird's Special Branch (SB) service in the Beitbridge area of southern Matabeleland, 1976-1980, encompassing Operations Repulse and Tangent of the bitter Rhodesian 'bush war'.Joining the British South Africa Police (BSAP) in 1964, Bird cut his teeth on Selous Scouts 'pseudo' operations during Operation Hurricane in 1974-1976, so was well equipped to deal with the insidious escalation of the ZANLA and ZIPRA campaigns in the south of the country.A meticulous recorder, Bird implemented and maintained the Beitbridge SB incident log, and it is this diary of t

Contents:

""Illustrations""; ""Maps""; ""Glossary""; ""Foreword by Winston Hart""; ""Introduction by Don Price""; ""Special Branch Beitbridge incident log by Brian Perkins""; ""Author�s note""; ""About Rhodesia""; ""Prologue""; ""Chapter One: Selous Scouts attachment, 1974�1976""; ""Chapter Two: Beitbridge: first blood to ZANLA, May 1967""; ""Chapter Three: Insidious intensification, late 1976""; ""Chapter Four: Overt intensification, January 1977�June 1977""; ""Chapter Five: Landmines, ambushes and poison,July�December 1977""

""Chapter Six: Protected villages and the litany of terrorcontinues, January�June 1978""""Chapter Seven: Dirty tricks""; ""Chapter Eight: A busy two months, July�August 1978""; ""Chapter Nine: Deployment of 1 (Indep) Company RhodesianAfrican Rifles, September�December 1978""; ""Chapter Ten: Routine slaughter, January�June 1979""; ""Chapter Eleven: Sweet Banana and a Q bus,July�November 1979""; ""Chapter Twelve: Transfer to Gwanda, November 1979""; ""Chapter Thirteen: A case of political expedience""; ""Afterword""; ""Appendix I: The Povo system: Beitbridge area""

""Appendix II: Samples of the incident log""""Appendix III: Weapons used in the Beitbridge area of conflict""; ""Appendix IV: Letter from Lt-Gen G.P. Walls toMargaret Thatcher""; ""Appendix V: Foreign and Commonwealth Office responds""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed September 3, 2014).

ISBN:

9781910294321

1910294322

OCLC:

889675627