Commando News Edition 17 Dec2019

cynosure for all signals. The troop headquarters section
was relocated to the RLI Joint Operations Command
(JOC), and a team of specialist operators — properly
cross-trained as proficient riflemen for combat duties
— was attached to and deployed with each of the
Commandos. So Signals Troop was scattered but still
functioned as the vital organ that connected all the
detachments in the combined operations network.
Tracking Troop was also sedulous and operated out
of Base Group in the same manner as Signals Troop; a
number of specialist trackers would be attached to a
Commando as/when required to be dropped onto
spoor for follow-up work. The new Selous Scouts
Regiment had requested some specialist trackers for a
combative tracking unit, so Tracking Troop was
disbanded and a distinct home found for everyone
concerned — primarily within the Selous Scouts unit
and RLI, but also the SAS (Rhodesian Special Air
Service). The majority were transmigrated to Support
Group where they eventually became known as
Reconnaissance Troop after the change to a
Commando was actualised.
Support Group Commando
As mentioned, Support Commando had been
called Support Group and came from the original
Headquarters Company; consequently, they had some
additional skills and resources.
Support Commando had a Headquarters and four
cross-trained Troops: Mortar, Assault Pioneer, Anti-Tank
and Reconnaissance………. so, every commando was a
similar size (4 troops). The troops were not renamed
because they maintained their capacity to provide the
battalion with supporting fire and specialised resources
in both conventional warfare and counter insurgency
operations.
During most counter-insurgency operations
Support Commando fulfilled the same role as all the
other commandos (viz. Fireforce), which was enough to
justify the change from being called Support Group.
Mortar Troop was equipped with 81mm mortars
and consisted of a headquarters section and three
purposeful sections (two mortars per section).
Assault Pioneer Troop provided the Battalion with
combat engineering capabilities through a head -
quarters section and three purposeful sections.
Anti-Tank Troop was equipped with six 106mm
recoilless rifles, and also consisted of a headquarters
section and three purposeful sections (two anti-tank
weapons per section, each mounted on a modified
Rodef 2.5).
Reconnaissance Troop the remnants of Tracking
Troop, with additional resources for reconnoitring,
were the basis for the fourth troop:
The RLI was a fledgling unit when operations
started, and it needed to grow and mature; albeit
being very prominent in the permanent forces, its size
did not warrant a full Colonel. Sometimes the Officer
Commanding a Commando/Group was a Captain. The
ranks above Colour Sergeant were addressed as "Sir"
by the subordinate ranks. The Officers would refer to a
CSM as "Sergeant Major" and the RSM as "R-S-M". All
ranks tended to be called "troopies" by the Rhodesian
media.
Operations
The RLI was at the forefront of the Rhodesian Bush
War, an arduous conflict between the internationally
unrecognised government, made up mostly of the
country's minority whites, and communist guerrillas
attempting to overthrow it and introduce majority rule.
The Bush War had started in earnest on 21 December
1972, when Zimbabwe African National Liberation
Army (ZANLA) insurgents attacked Altena and
Whistlefield Farms near the north-eastern town of
Centenary, and lasted until the Lancaster House
Agreement of 1979. The country became known as
Zimbabwe the following year.
A map showing operational areas of the Rhodesian Security Forces
during the Bush War.
The Fireforce
The RLI's characteristic deployment was the Fire -
force rapid response operation, first created at Mount
Darwin and then tested at Centenary in June 1974.
This was an operational assault or reaction composed
of a first wave of 32 soldiers (as a rule) carried to the
scene by three helicopters and one DC-3 Dakota,
called "Dak", with a command/gun helicopter and a
light attack aircraft in support.
The latter was a Cessna Skymaster, armed with two
roof mounted .303 Browning machine-guns and
normally two 37 mm SNEB rocket pods and/or two
small napalm bombs called Frantans, and/or two mini-
Golf bombs which were manufactured in Rhodesia.
The RLI became extremely adept at the execution
of this very technical type of military operation.
A Commando would be based at an airfield with
usually four helicopters, one DC-3 Dakota and the
Cessna (known as the "Lynx"). One of these helicopters
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