Rhodesian Light Infantry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Rhodesian Light Infantry, or R.L.I., was a regular army infantry regiment in the Rhodesian army. Composed only of white recruits, the First Battalion Rhodesian Light Infantry was formed within the army of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1961 in Bulawayo.
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[edit] Origin
The battalion's nucleus was formed from the short-lived Number One Training Unit, which had been raised to provide personnel for a white infantry battalion as well as for C Squadron 22 (Rhodesian) SAS and the Selous Scouts (the Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment, not the special forces regiment of the same name - although Ron Reid-Daly, Commanding Officer of the Selous Scouts, had been an officer and non-commissioned officer in the R.L.I.).
1 R.L.I. included 100 recruits from South Africa, and was trained by instructors seconded from the British Army; shortly afterwards the regiment moved to its HQ at Cranborne Barracks near the capital, Salisbury.
[edit] Operations
The R.L.I. was at the forefront of the so-called Bush War or Second Chimurenga, the armed struggle by nationalist guerrillas against the white minority government of Rhodesia from the late 1960s until majority rule in 1980, when the country became known as Zimbabwe. One of the R.L.I.'s most characteristic operations was the so-called "fire force" reaction operation. This was an operational assault or response composed of, usually, 20 paratroopers supported by three or four helicopters. The commander supervised operations from one helicopter. The regiment also occasionally participated in incursive operations into the neighbouring states of Mozambique and Zambia.
As well as Rhodesian-born soldiers, the Rhodesian Light Infantry (and 3 Commando in particular) attracted Englishmen, Irishmen, Scots, Welsh, Americans, Norwegians, South Africans, Portuguese, Brazilians, Australians, New Zealanders, West Germans, and Canadians, plus a host of other nationalities. It was the closest parallel to the French Foreign Legion in recent times.
[edit] Zimbabwe
Following majority rule, the regiment was disbanded on 1 November 1980. A nucleus of former R.L.I. personnel remained to train and form the First Zimbabwe Commando Battalion of the Zimbabwe National Army. The regimental statue, "The Troopie", was spirited out of Zimbabwe to South Africa, and now stands in the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum in Bristol, United Kingdom.
[edit] External links
- The Rhodesian Light Infantry
- The Rhodesian Light Infantry - Members Listing
- Fireforce Operations
- Rhodesian and South African Military History: An extensive collection of histories and analysis of Rhodesian and South African military operations, to the early 1980s
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Bond, Geoffrey. The incredibles: the story of the 1st Battalion, the Rhodesian Light Infantry. Salisbury: Sarum Imprint (distributed by Kingstons), 1977. ISBN 0-7974-0233-0.
- Cocks, C. J. Fireforce: one man's war in the Rhodesian Light Infantry. South Africa: St. Albans: Covos; Verulam, 2000. ISBN 0-620-21573-9
