WORLD ORDERS AND DECORATIONS
Martin Rogers Chikondo enlisted in the 1st Rhodesian African Rifles in March 1970. Having advanced to Lance-Corporal, he was one of the early pioneers of the Selous Scouts, and pseudo warfare. On 18 October 1973, Chikondo took part in an operation as part of an African pseudo team complemented by two former National Parks officers (Mike Bromwich and Robin Hughes), which was to have fatal consequences for one of them:
‘After some intensive training by Stretch Franklin and Andre Rabie in pseudo work both Robin and Mike were inserted, along with Basil Moss’s African pseudo team into the heavily infiltrated Chiweshe Tribal Trust Land which was to be their operational area.
“When it was completely dark we [Mike Bromwich’s narrative] moved off in file towards the contact’s village, Robin and I towards the back with an African soldier bringing up the rear. This was normal procedure and afforded the white element of the team protection from any undue surprises of locals. With the village being on high ground it was not long before we could make out the prominent feature; finding cover to cache our packs proved to be difficult in the open and overgrazed land. About half a kilometre from the target area we finally settled on a small patch of scrub where, once everything had been hidden, we gathered around for a final briefing from Robin.
The approach was slow and cautious; particular care was taken some hundred metres out as we moved towards the cattle kraal which was partially hidden by a few trees and a stone wall. We were actually walking on a path of sorts to the village. With the stone wall providing us with good cover from the side and one possible access route, the log cattle kraal protecting our back, and the village some fifty metres to our right on flat high ground, we had only our front to watch. As planned Medhu, the RPD gunner, Robin and I positioned ourselves with our backs against the cattle kraal about a metre apart with weapons resting across our outstretched legs. As the three of us settled down Corporal Martin Chikondo together with the four remaining members of the group made their way up the ‘ruware’ (big granite rock) and into the village; for a while we could hear talking and then only the odd muffled voice.
Out of nowhere there was a sound of shoe scuffling the ground and then to our front, out in the open, some three or four paces from where we sat a group of men appeared. The split-second warning enabled us to raise our weapons and for a moment it would seem our presence in the shadows would go unnoticed. This was not to be and I don’t know exactly what happened other than the fact that they stopped and bunched up and enquired in the vernacular as to who we were. Medhu responded and then, using the known passwords, challenged the group to identify themselves.
Immediately the correct response was given Robin, Medhu and I opened fire on full automatic. Screams penetrated the noise of gun fire and we knew there was at least one wounded terrorist a few metres from our position. I was a little night blind from the muzzle flashes when someone grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me up saying, ‘Come on.’ As we ran towards and over the bodies I fired two or three short bursts into those lying on the ground.
As we started to move away gunfire erupted and we were fired on from the back some thirty to forty metres behind the wall. I crouched down and found Medhu at my side without his weapon; somewhere along the line he had dropped his machine gun. I cannot recall Martin or any of his team opening fire but someone threw a white phosphorus grenade setting alight a number of huts and, with the flames spreading, the whole area was lit up.
I later learnt that Martin and possibly one other had bayoneted the contact man and perhaps one or two others.’ (Selous Scouts, The Men Speak by J. Pittaway refers)
Robinson had been killed, whilst the remainder of the party, including Martin Chikondo, made it back to the RV. They had managed to kill five terrorists and capture a wounded man.
Selous Scouts - Selection Martin Chikondo was part of Lieutenant-Colonel Ron Reid-Daly’s initial training programme for the Selous Scouts, as the latter relates:
‘My next battle was about to begin. The commanding officer of the RAR, whom I found a pig-headed, unpleasant individual, did his utmost to hinder my efforts to recruit from his battalion. Eventually I sought an interview with him, and told him that if he continued his obstructionist tactics, I would have no alternative but to advise General Walls, whose orders I was following, about his behaviour. This effectively silenced his bluster and we commenced our recruiting.
I devised a selection course that, although tough, was nowhere near as difficult as the later course, due to the experience we gained. The course commenced with about 120 African volunteers and eight Europeans. As expected, there was a very large percentage of failures but the survivors were in sufficient numbers to form 2 Troop. A troop comprised three sections of eight men. This fitted not only our orbat as laid down by army HQ (each section comprised two 4-men tracker teams) but it coincidentally fitted an insurgent section, which varied from eight to twelve men.
These men were moved to a bush camp modelled on a typical insurgent camp. Intensive training on how to operate as pseudo- insurgents took place under the expert direction of Franklin, Moss, Martin Chikondo, Rabson Maposa (Chipfeni) and some turned insurgents. As I explained to the troop before they started the course, they would have to become better insurgents than the real insurgents because their very lives were going to dependant on this.
www.dnw.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220 |
Page 221 |
Page 222 |
Page 223 |
Page 224 |
Page 225 |
Page 226 |
Page 227 |
Page 228 |
Page 229 |
Page 230 |
Page 231 |
Page 232 |
Page 233 |
Page 234 |
Page 235 |
Page 236 |
Page 237 |
Page 238 |
Page 239 |
Page 240 |
Page 241 |
Page 242 |
Page 243 |
Page 244 |
Page 245 |
Page 246 |
Page 247 |
Page 248 |
Page 249 |
Page 250 |
Page 251 |
Page 252 |
Page 253 |
Page 254 |
Page 255 |
Page 256 |
Page 257 |
Page 258 |
Page 259 |
Page 260 |
Page 261 |
Page 262 |
Page 263 |
Page 264 |
Page 265 |
Page 266 |
Page 267 |
Page 268 |
Page 269 |
Page 270 |
Page 271 |
Page 272 |
Page 273 |
Page 274 |
Page 275 |
Page 276 |
Page 277 |
Page 278 |
Page 279 |
Page 280 |
Page 281 |
Page 282 |
Page 283 |
Page 284 |
Page 285 |
Page 286 |
Page 287 |
Page 288 |
Page 289 |
Page 290 |
Page 291 |
Page 292 |
Page 293 |
Page 294 |
Page 295 |
Page 296 |
Page 297 |
Page 298 |
Page 299 |
Page 300 |
Page 301 |
Page 302 |
Page 303 |
Page 304 |
Page 305 |
Page 306 |
Page 307 |
Page 308 |
Page 309 |
Page 310 |
Page 311 |
Page 312 |
Page 313 |
Page 314 |
Page 315 |
Page 316 |
Page 317 |
Page 318 |
Page 319 |
Page 320 |
Page 321 |
Page 322 |
Page 323 |
Page 324 |
Page 325 |
Page 326 |
Page 327 |
Page 328 |
Page 329 |
Page 330 |
Page 331 |
Page 332 |
Page 333 |
Page 334 |
Page 335 |
Page 336 |
Page 337 |
Page 338 |
Page 339 |
Page 340 |
Page 341 |
Page 342 |
Page 343 |
Page 344 |
Page 345 |
Page 346 |
Page 347 |
Page 348 |
Page 349 |
Page 350 |
Page 351 |
Page 352 |
Page 353 |
Page 354 |
Page 355 |
Page 356 |
Page 357 |
Page 358 |
Page 359 |
Page 360 |
Page 361 |
Page 362 |
Page 363 |
Page 364 |
Page 365 |
Page 366 |
Page 367 |
Page 368 |
Page 369 |
Page 370 |
Page 371 |
Page 372 |
Page 373
