COMMUNISTS AND TERRORISTS
If I have learned anything about politics during my life, it is that anyone with enough charisma and promises can obtain power. That is, if he has the guns and support to get his point across.—Pieter Krueler
Krueler had been back in Transvaal for several years when a vehicle pulled up to his bungalow home in 1971. The man who had come to speak with him remains unidentified. He represented General Peter Walls, then head of the Rhodesian Army under Prime Minister Ian Smith. Krueler described the meeting:
I sat down with this fellow, who was with a government organization. He inquired as to if I was aware of the recent border problems South Africa was having, as well as Rhodesia. I told him that I was, and sarcastically told him that I could read newspapers, although I had little faith in their accuracy. I was asked to assist in training and helping create a new antiterrorist unit, one that would unique among the world’s forces. We had a good discussion, and certain units as the United States Army Special Forces, their SEALs, and the British and subsequent Special Air Service units were all models from which to draw. I was immediately interested, and I said “yes” without any hesitation.580
Authors’ note: The exact details of Krueler’s involvement with the two governments has not been confirmed or denied, which is not unexpected. Much of the subsequent data not taken from the interview, and all subsequent written correspondence between the authors and Pieter Krueler, as presented in direct quotations was primarily gathered from accepted secondary sources.
As a result of the previous century of experience in unconventional warfare, several units were created. The most prominent and successful were known as the Selous Scouts. Originally the Selous Scouts were formed on January 1, 1964, as an armored car regiment of the Central African Federation of Southern Rhodesia and named after the legendary Rhodesian adventurer Frederick Courteney Selous. The regiment was disbanded seven months later, although in the early 1970s it became apparent that due to terrorist infiltrations Rhodesia needed to have a specialized counterinsurgency force.
General Wall had located and recruited Major (later Colonel) Ron Reid Daly to form a regiment of volunteers. Reid Daly, who had seen fighting in the Malayan conflict, was a Rhodesian-born former British SAS officer and veteran of the Rhodesian Light Infantry. His duty was to form a highly trained combat reconnaissance, interdiction and tracking unit. Reid Daly and his officers began recruiting the best men they could find, including instructors at all levels.
Trouble had been brewing on the borders of both Rhodesia and South Africa with the end of European colonialism. In 1967, during the initial terrorist incursions into Rhodesia, Operations Nickel, and Cauldron were launched. Among the deficiencies exposed by these operations was a lack of tracking expertise in the army. To remedy this the School of Infantry established a school at the base in Kariba. This was the genesis of the Tracking School, better known as the “Takkie Wing,” and it would prove critical in the resurrection of the new Selous Scouts. As Krueler described it:
What they were looking for were combat veterans in Africa, and indeed from around the world, who understood bush warfare, scouting, intelligence and reconnaissance, guerrilla warfare, and tracking. There was not a Boer still alive who did not have these qualities, hence my visitor, although there were few of us around. Many of the soldiers from World War II and postwar counterterrorism operations looking for work, even a few American Vietnam veterans who I met, came to be in the mix.
They had quite a few New Zealanders, Australians, British SAS and paratroopers, and a couple of Royal Marine Commandos. This was almost as interesting a group as the circus the British had formed in the First World War. The difference was that these men were mostly professionals, real killers, intelligent combat vets, and good lads who wanted action. Under Reid Daly they got all that and more. He was the best man for the job.581
While only having a life span of seven years, the Selous Scouts developed a well-earned reputation as the best and most effective guerilla warfare soldiers in Africa, if not the world. The unit operated in the capacity of a combat reconnaissance force and intelligence gathering unit specializing in both domestic and cross-border operations. By some rough estimates, it is believed that they may have accounted for as many as 68 percent of all terrorists killed during the Rhodesian War in the 1970s, and the Scouts remarkably suffered only thirty-six fatalities among their force during their existence. This combat-loss ratio undoubtedly makes them the most successful special forces unit in military history.
Selous Scouts recruits were between twenty-four and thirty-two years of age, with some exceptions for those with prior combat experience. These men were imbued with the highest standards of professionalism, motivation, tenacity, loyalty, maturity and intelligence. The understanding and meaning of personal and unit responsibility went hand in hand with self-discipline. Being a loner able to survive the unique requirements of the African bush, as well as being a complete team player when necessary, were critical. They grew beards to help hide their faces for anonymity, which also assisted in the camouflage aspect of their missions.
Volunteers had to undergo a severe selection camp that lasted for eighteen long sleepless days at camp Wafa Wafa on the shores of Lake Kariba in the north of Rhodesia before the actual training started. Throughout its existence, only about 15 percent of the volunteers who started selection remained for the training stage and were retained in the Scouts.
(Ironically, “Wafa Wafa,” in the Shona language, loosely translated, means “who dies dies, who stays behind stays behind.” This was the Selous Scouts’ unofficial motto, and Reid Daly meant it. The official motto of the Scouts, “Pamwe Chete”—meaning “Together Only” or “All Together”—also from the Shona language, said it all. After almost two years of selections and organization, and despite some small commando units performing earlier cross-border missions, the new Selous Scouts were officially formed in 19 74.582)
The selection course created by Reid Daly went far beyond his own experience and training as an SAS operator. The purpose of his program, similar to the SAS, was to completely break a man down physically and mentally, to see how much he could take, and then take what was left and create a super warrior. Each man was tested and trained, then deployed according to the needs of the Scouts. Where the training differed from the norm was his special take on survival.
The selection process was grueling. There was no food or water provided for the first five days of the course. The recruits had to live off the land after going through a training program held by several classroom and field instructors, such as men who had been trained by Pieter Krueler who said:
Locating berries, roots, and various plants that were safe to eat, and identifying those were critical. I always told these men to use nature as their litmus test. If bovines can eat it, chances are you are fine eating it also. If you follow a herd of grazing animals, chances are they will lead you to water. However, water holes are the most dangerous places, either in the animal world or the world of the soldier. Predators wait there, knowing their prey will come for a drink at some point. These are also good ambush spots for friendly forces, so choose the sites wisely.583
The Scouts’ primary missions were to infiltrate the local tribal population and the terrorist networks of ZANLA and ZIPRA in Rhodesia and in neighboring countries. Due to their active cross-border operations, which were illegal according to international law, the Scouts’ identities were kept secret, and in many cases their missions are still classified. Due to the unique character of the African bush, and the lack of major roads and supply points, Reid Daly hammered home the point that self-reliance was essential.
On the fifth day of training, after miles of running with rucksacks, and no sleep or food, the recruits were usually given a baboon carcass that had been left to rot in the sun for at least three days. The recruits had to properly prepare and eat the rotten meat, which would be full of maggots. They boiled the meat to kill any remaining bacteria. Reheating was not advised, due to the chemical changes that occurred in the meat. Most of the time this was the test that weeded out the largest number of recruits. Scouts were expected to eat all kinds of animals, and were even trained and expected to drink the water from the stomachs of dead animals.584
In Krueler’s words:
Uniquely the instructors endured all the privations their students did, leading by example, unlike other military training commands in the world. The students were never allowed to shoot animals for food, although they were given live ammunition. Setting traps and eating carcasses was their trademark. The discipline was in trapping, stalking, or eating dead carcasses. The purpose was to instill selfreliance, but also to ensure that their position was not compromised following a gunshot. The same action may also convince friendly forces that they were being fired upon, creating a very uncomfortable friendly-fire situation.585
The last thirteen days of training were called “blending,” as the men were given daily rations equaling about one sixth of a normal man’s usual caloric intake. This is similar to some of the training at the U.S. Army’s Ranger School. Recruits learned to use terrain to their advantage, making the bush their own natural habitat by digging hides in the ground, establishing passive perimeter security, and learning to use nature as their barometer for danger. Land navigation may have been the most critical component in the training, a rigorous course in itself.
Pieter Krueler described the training:
One thing the men were taught was this: that nature is an unforgiving bitch, but if understood and used wisely, nature can become your best ally in defeating your enemy. I was very careful to stress the fact that if using horses, they were very good for alerting you to danger, as were dogs. However, these animals could also betray you. One tactic I had learned during my career was to try to locate any high ground possible that had a large tree. This served many purposes.
The first purpose was that birds like to roost in trees, and they make great early warning devices. Once you are settled, and they are comfortable around you, they will settle down. If any intruders enter, animal or human, you will know soon enough. Another reason was that, if necessary, you could climb up and take a look around, or post a scout there on security. I always felt that the men should know how to locate the plants that have shallow roots. These were the plants that would provide underground water if you were to dig three feet or less. This water was usually pure, as there would be no topical contaminants getting into it.
I also stressed the water filtration method of using sand and charcoal to help purify water, as during the Great War, if boiling was not an option, thereby reducing the chance of some diseases. Iodine was great if you had it also. Sometimes the tactical situation did not allow for cooking fires. I also taught men who became instructors in how to build a pit fire, and camouflage the flames and even dissipate the smoke to not betray your position.
Trees also made a great known-point landmark, and if you were in communication with friendly units, especially a relief column, then that reference point would really help in locating your base of operations. There were some drawbacks. Bad guys liked trees too, as the shade alone was worth the effort in the hot African sun. Therefore, security around trees and water holes had to be maintained at all times.
Another critical technique that was taught, for which the Scouts became world renowned, was in tracking. Tracking is as much an art form as it is a learned skill. You can tell a lot from proper tracking methods. I learned in Africa many years ago how to gather intelligence from imprints in the ground. You can tell many things, such as, if the print is made by a sandal, tennis shoe, or a military boot. This can tell you with a certain degree of accuracy whether you are trailing a rag-tag group of terrorists, or whether you are tracking a well-supplied group of paramilitaries. If they have good gear, chances are they are well-funded, probably well-trained and disciplined.
Other things that can be learned are how many men are in a group. You can often determine the weight of an individual, or if that person is carrying a heavy weight. This is important. If you engaged an enemy and see a blood trail, but no bodies, and the indentations are twice as deep as others, then chances are they are carrying their wounded. This is important data, for that means they care about their men.
Most ad-hoc terrorist groups kill their wounded, rather than be burdened with carrying them. You can also tell how old a print is, if you know the weather. Indentations that flake around the edge in dry arid weather are probably no more than twelve hours to twenty-four hours old. This is because dew collects at night, and the sun the next day hardens the soil, making it firm and baked into the ground. Tracking in a hard rain is difficult, as tracks can be washed away.
Also, in looking at footwear, once you have determined the weight distribution, if there are no wounded being carried, and the impressions are still very deep for all persons in the enemy group, then they are carrying heavy gear. Either this means rucksacks with provisions for extended field operations, or perhaps crew served weapons. That data is always good to know. If you locate their camps, look for rubbish on the ground, open latrines and piss holes. If you find them then you are tracking amateurs. Good soldiers never leave their rubbish lying around, and dig deep holes to cover their latrines and rubbish. They will also sweep away any footprints leading to and from their site, so you would never even know they were there at a casual glance.
If you engage an enemy, and you fight through their position, never retreat if caught by surprise. The enemy will not expect a frontal assault if you walked into the ambush. You can learn many things from bent scrub and brush and bent tall grass. If you have no dead or wounded from which to gather intelligence, then collect their spent ammunition casings. You can tell what types of weapons they are using. If you have total consistency in the weapon types, you are looking at a cohesive, well-supplied and probably well-organized force. If you find various calibers and nationalities of ammunition and weapons, you are probably looking at a bunch of clowns using whatever they can get their hands on. Our boys never left their casings behind if it was feasible.
You can also tell how fast a group or individual is moving, and how disciplined they are. If you are following a bunch of footprints abreast and all over the place, then they are not a disciplined patrol. However, if you have many imprints in a line, then they are moving in column file formation, with a point man, and probably rear security, meaning they are disciplined and probably well trained. If the spacing is more than thirty-six to forty inches between impressions, they are moving at a fast pace. And if so, they must have a good reason.
You can also determine other things. You have to be wary of mines, which are perhaps a soldier’s worst nightmare. If you find evidence of deep toe and knee imprints in the area, chances are that they were planting something. Also, you never patrol on unsecured roads or well-used trails. Skirting these will keep you safe, and watching the locals always works. They are alive and well for a reason. They are not stupid. Follow in their tracks. They know where the bad shit is.586
Upon successful completion of the first eighteen days the official training to become a Selous Scout would begin. Parachute training and high altitude-low opening (HALO) infiltration, tactical and close quarters weapons use, communications, field medical, language, tracking, stalking, and intelligence training were given. “Pseudo-Groups” or “Psy-Ops” teams were created, which were small teams of two or three men who infiltrated behind enemy lines, dressing like, acting like, and even speaking the language of terrorists, in order to earn their trust. Language training was extremely high on the training priority, and again Krueler explained from his previous Great War experience:
The one thing that the Selous Scouts did, only mirrored by the SAS and America’s Green Berets, was the expectation of language skills. However, unlike any other force in the world, the successful Scout had to speak at least two languages, besides English or Afrikaans. Swahili, Shona, Arabic, Bantu, or various tribal dialects were stressed with instructors secretly recruited and paid to perform these training cycles. I worked in Swahili, Afrikaans, Zulu, and the like. I also worked with many of the men in German and Spanish, as well as pure Dutch, although these languages were not in high demand. French was also important given some of the potential threats during the war coming from the former French and Belgian colonies where the Communists had set up shop.587
The teams were expected to gather vital information, while being completely self-sufficient, and being completely cut off from outside assistance, with the rare exception of scheduling an occasional airdrop. Living off the land, cultivating friendly informants, and resupplying themselves with arms and ammunition from the bodies and strongholds of terrorists they killed were the primary method of operational survival.
Krueler recalled the security situation in Rhodesia:
The numbers of potential enemies Rhodesia and even South Africa faced were great. You had ZANLA [Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army], which was the military part of the ZANU [Zimbabwe African National Union]. That clown Ndabaningi Sithole and his sidekick Robert Mugabe led this group of terrorists. The Shona tribe in the north supported ZANU/ZANLA, and these were primarily Maoists in their doctrine, supported by Communist China. Real bad guys.
Then you had the Communist ZIPRA [Zimbabwe Peoples Revolutionary Army]. They were the military support for ZAPU [Zimbabwe African Peoples Union] led by Joshua Nkomo, another quasi-literate idiot and worked in southern and western Rhodesia. They were supported by the Ndebele tribe, and received aid from the Soviets. These guys had their asses kicked by the RLI [Rhodesian Light Infantry], Scouts and SAS so often they were raping and impregnating women in the hope of raising a new generation of fighters to replace the poor bastards they had killed.588
The Scouts first saw major action during Operation Hurricane in 1973, even before their formal designation as a proper unit, crossing into terrorist territory and infiltrating their ranks, killing uncounted numbers of terrorists, and capturing key personnel and valuable intelligence. In March 1974 an eight-man team of four European and four African Scouts was clandestinely infiltrated into Francistown, Botswana, to kidnap some well-known ZIPRA terrorists. The team captured four targets at ZIPRA headquarters and returned to Rhodesia without incident. A similar raid occurred the following September with the target carried back to Rhodesia in the trunk of a car.
As Krueler recalled:
By 1974 ZIPRA stopped being a real threat. It was hard to recruit into a terrorist organization that was suffering 80 percent losses and had made no appreciable gains in its cause. Hell, I even think the Soviets saw them as a waste of time. A bunch of clowns, really. Due to their collective ass kickings, ZIPRA and ZANLA joined and created another circus called ZPA [Zimbabwe Peoples Army] in 1975. Now, this collective group from then on led the attacks on Rhodesia. Despite their collective stupidity as separate units, once they joined forces, they became a threat worth taking notice of.589
On occasion the Scouts had minor setbacks. In March 1975 twenty Scouts staged an assault on a ZANLA staging base fifty-five kilometers north of Rhodesia at Caponda, Mozambique. After a twenty-hour foot march, the unit came upon the terrorist base only to find it deserted, as the camp had been evacuated due to a cholera epidemic. The unit returned safely to Rhodesia with a few men lightly wounded after a short firefight. This small engagement resulted in the Scouts killing seven terrorists and wounding sixteen others.
A May 1976 operation involved an attack on another ZANLA base 108 kilometers deep into Chigamane, Mozambique. Twenty European and African Scouts dressed in FRELIMO (Mozambique Liberation Front) uniforms traveled in four disguised military vehicles. The base was attacked and destroyed with rockets, mortars and machine guns. The Scouts then returned to Rhodesia.
The raid on Mapai, Mozambique, in June 1976 was another attack on a ZANLA base. Fifty-eight Scouts in four disguised trucks and two scout cars disconnected telephone lines and sabotaged the railway on their way to the target. The covert group was allowed to enter the terrorist base by an inattentive sentry. Once inside, sappers destroyed thirteen Mercedes buses used to transport terrorists, with one of them taken back to Rhodesia as a souvenir. The enemy weapons stockpile was also captured and brought back to Rhodesia. Upon leaving, the Scouts called in an air strike to destroy the base. Nineteen terrorists were reported killed with nineteen others being wounded. The Scouts lost one man killed with several wounded.
Of all the missions conducted by the Selous Scouts, Operation Eland is one of the more famous and was declassified. The operation took place in August 1976 against a ZANLA guerrilla camp in Pungwe/Nyadzonya, Mozambique, by seventy-two Selous Scouts, including Recces and a few SAS from South Africa, using Unimogs (four-wheel drive medium trucks manufactured by Mercedes-Benz—Unimog is the acronym formed from its German name: UNIversal-MOtor-Gerät) and three Ferret armored cars. The group drove straight into the center of the ZANLA camp, which contained some five thousand rebels on the banks of the Nyadzonya River. As soon as the enemy realized there was a threat the Scouts opened fire on unsuspecting insurgent terrorists who were drilling on the parade ground. They managed to kill more than eleven hundred of the ZANLA insurgents. Fourteen important ZANLA officials were captured and taken back to Rhodesia for interrogation. On their way out of Mozambique, they blew up the Pungwe Bridge to prevent any pursuit.
In October 1976 the Scouts launched another surprise attack inside Mozambique at Jorge do Limpopo and Massengena that involved a 350 to 400 kilometer roundtrip in an attack against a ZANLA base. Two reconnaissance teams were inserted by HALO in advance of the main column. Placing Claymore mines on the roads, the group also booby-trapped the rail line and cut telegraph and telephone lines. The extended mission lasted until November 2. The Scouts destroyed communications, derailed two trains, eliminated all motor vehicles in the vicinity, and planted landmines on all routes leading into Rhodesia. No sooner had this operation been completed than another was launched. The Scouts hit ZIPRA headquarters at Francistown, Botswana, where they destroyed a stockpile of suitcase bombs apparently headed to Rhodesia.
Another operation was launched against Jorge do Limpopo, Mpai, and Madulo Pan, Mozambique, from May to June 1977. Using a motorized column with 110 Scouts, again disguised as FRELIMO soldiers, this mission targeted several ZANLA bases that were 138 miles inside Mozambique. Most of the terrorists’ military vehicles and equipment were destroyed by Rhodesian air strikes, which covered the Scouts on the ground during their escape.
In March 1979 the Scouts crept across the border into Botswana and laid an ambush to capture Elliot Sibanda, a senior ZPA intelligence operative. Although badly wounded in the exchange of gunfire, Sibanda was brought back to Rhodesia alive. The following month the Scouts launched another attack into Francistown, Botswana, to kidnap the ZPA southern command. The Scouts used two armored cars along with trucks disguised as Botswanan military vehicles. The Scouts were dressed as Botswanan soldiers. They drove to the target house, arrested all the occupants, and took them back to Rhodesia without incident.
In December 1979, forty-two Scouts parachuted into the Mboroma ZPA camp ninety-six miles inside Zambia after it had been softened up by an air strike. The Scouts’ targets were 120 terrorists known to be in the camp along with their prisoners. Eighteen of the guards were killed and six captured, although only thirty-two prisoners were freed due to the rest being outside the camp on work details. In the evening, the Scouts and freed prisoners were evacuated by air back to Rhodesia.
In Krueler’s words:
The short history of the Scouts was quite a proud one. I never went on any of the missions of course, I was too old and not a scout, and I just did not have the desire to take up parachuting. That’s a joke by the way. That was a young man’s game. There were many important developments that came from the creation and deployment of the Scouts. First of all, 80 percent of the force was black, hence it was highly integrated. That had not been done since the First World War, when the Germans did it. The British had white officers lead their troops, but the Germans had black NCOs and white officers, as well as white troops in the same unit, and it was quite significant. I think that the whites who served with their black brothers buried their prejudices, and became much better soldiers and men as a result. In fact, the Selous Scouts were the first integrated special force unit, as even the SAS remained all white.590
On March 3, 1978, Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith resigned, thus ending white minority rule and clearing the way for Bishop Abel Muzorewa to become Rhodesia’s first black prime minister following the elections in April 1979. The country’s name would also be changed to Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. However, Muzorewa did not have the support of the Communists who had supported the war, so the guerrilla war continued after his election. With both sides becoming increasingly exhausted by the war, both physically and financially, the Zimbabwe-Rhodesia government agreed to attend a peace conference held in London.
This conference resulted in the Lancaster House Agreement, so named from the location of the 1979 meetings in which Prime Minister Muzorewa and Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Silas Mundawarara represented the new Zimbabwe-Rhodesia government. Other participating parties were the British Government; ZAPU, represented by Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, along with Josiah Mushore Chinamano; and ZANLA/ZANU, represented by General Josiah Tongogara and Ernest R Kadungure. Ian Smith, as the former prime minister of Rhodesia and minister-without-portfolio in the Muzorewa cabinet, also attended. The conference was cochaired by British Foreign Secretary Lord Peter Carrington and Sir Ian Gilmour.
Krueler gave an opinion of Ian Smith:
I had the great privilege of meeting the prime minister once in Harare, at his farm. He was a dedicated anti-Communist, and he was an unashamed white supremacist, but not for the reasons most people think. He really is a good man. He supported the efforts of the Rhodesian military, and even created programs to help the blacks, which educated many, and gave national health care and the like.
Now, with black rule, as he predicted, the country is going to hell. Many people blamed him for the Rhodesian Civil War, but he was fighting a Communist-backed insurgency. This was not a rational, politically-based opposition group, nothing like the African National Congress in my country, which had a radical faction. These were all radical killers, and they had to be dealt with. I do not agree with racially motivated minority rule in general, but one must look at the realities as they were, and still are.591
In 1940, Ian Douglas Smith joined the British Royal Air Force as a flight lieutenant after studying business at Rhodes University in South Africa. He was a fighter pilot in World War II and sustained severe injuries. One serious injury occurred on take-off in a Hawker Hurricane in the Western Desert when he hit an obstruction on the runway. Subsequent plastic surgery left him with an off-balanced expression and a drooping eyelid, making him appear to have a gloomy disposition.
His second, less serious injury occurred when he was flying over the Po Valley in Italy. His fighter was hit by ground fire, and after bailing out he joined the nationalist partisans. After a few months he crossed the Alps to Allied lines and flew again, earning several military distinctions. Smith was a warrior who understood warfare, and the men who conducted it.
The Lancaster House Agreement, which was signed on December 221, 1979, created a cease-fire that allowed free elections. However, despite the presence of the British Army and other international observers, the election results were in question. Marauding Communist-backed terrorist gangs intimidated the local population, coercing them into voting for Robert Mugabe. There were many reports of violence, even murders and kidnappings in some of the tribal regions.
These tactics helped elect Mugabe as prime minister in February 1980, and the country was officially renamed Zimbabwe. On April 18,1980, the Selous Scouts were quietly disbanded. There was not even a parade as they lowered their colors. The Selous Scouts faded into history, and Mugabe still rules as a despot and international pariah to this day, a man who ruined a great country and destroyed one of Africa’s most robust economies.
Once Rhodesia changed hands nearly all of the white and many black Rhodesian soldiers fled to South Africa. Although South Africa was ruled by an apartheid government, it was not a Communist government driven by murderous megalomaniacs with delusions of grandeur. Blacks who had fought with the whites against the Communists also sent their families across the border. No one in Rhodesia was safe from retribution.
Many of the white farmers who stayed finally paid the price as recently as 2007 when Mugabe’s “idiocracy” had already bankrupted the second most prosperous nation in Africa (South Africa being the most prosperous). He then demanded farm confiscations from the whites in a land redistribution plan only rivaled by Lenin, Pol Pot and Mao to cultivate support amongst the people whom he had personally impoverished. Those whites remaining in the country had been born and, were often second or third generation natives, who were just as Rhodesian/Zimbabwean as their black neighbors and overlords. The majority of farms were in white hands, which in turn had fed the population.
Some whites were murdered, while others were thrown into jails; many simply fled under threats of violence as their land was taken by threat or direct force. Once Mugabe gave his cronies and supporters the farms, their failures due to lack of farming knowledge, soil conservation and land management threw the country into a modern economic dark age. This once rich nation now begs for foreign aid to feed its people.
Shortly before his death, Pieter Krueler prophesied the future of Zimbabwe in a letter:
I think, as I write this, that Zimbabwe will soon, perhaps not in my lifetime, become a third world black hole. It will suck the life out of the land and people, and then drain the free world of its prosperity by becoming a state of anarchy and starvation. I am always amused when the black natives always think they can run a government, just because they are black. That is stupid. I know many idiotic whites who cant run governments either. But at least they can read and write.
It is not the failure of the blacks, it is the failure of us whites for not preparing them for the future, which must be one of equal opportunity for blacks and whites. That is the only future that will work. It is the same in South Africa. If the white government thinks that there will not be a day similar to Rhodesia’s, then they are very wrong. Oppressed people are people waiting to be free. The transition is not always a happy one.592
The government in South Africa, seeing the possible future of Rhodesia as early as 1976, decided to bring the Rhodesian forces within the South African Defense Force (SADF) should the worst possible scenario occur. Both nations’ elite troops had worked well together in mutual support operations, and spoke the same language of English in the field, although a large number of the South Africans preferred to speak Afrikaans, and many of the officers and men in both national forces had served together in British, Rhodesian or South African units over the years. The end result was not to be as copacetic, as most of the Rhodesians were too British in their methods for the South Africans, and the South Africans considered the Rhodesians too relaxed when it came to military bearing and discipline
Krueler remembered:
When I returned to Pretoria, I had a meeting with an interesting fellow He was from the South African SAS, established on the model of the British, as was [Rhodesia’s] and others within the Commonwealth. He wanted to know if I was interested in doing more training work. Understand, I was ninety-two years old at that time, so I declined. Many Selous Scouts and SAS left Zimbabwe.
They lived on after Mugabe, good boys in those units for the most part. There were some problems and many Rhodesians left, but not too many from what I understand. One thing that did occur was the creation of the 44 Parachute Brigade in 1978. I was there for that ceremony, very nice. They had used paras in the past, but this unit was a complete restructuring of the forces, which added the second and third battalions in August that year.593
Although Krueler did not have any direct influence in the creation or training of the South African paratroops, he took satisfaction in knowing that much of their field doctrine came from the old-school methods he had used in three wars, which were also taught to the Rhodesian Light Infantry and Selous Scouts. The South Africans may have had their differences with the Rhodesians, but they damned well respected those soldiers and their capabilities. The South Africans would continue their tradition of cross-border operations, in such places as Namibia, Angola and Tanzania, when their national interests were threatened.594
One unit in which Krueler s experience apparently did have some influence, albeit indirectly, was with the training and creation of South Africa’s premier commando unit outside the SAS: 32 Battalion. Known around the world as “32 Bushmen” they carved out a legendary page in history for their counterterrorist operations. According to 32 Battalion veteran and author of a book on the unit Piet Nortje:
In 1989, surrounded by veterans and serving members of 32 Battalion, it occurred to me that someone really ought to preserve for posterity the tale of how a ragtag band of foreign freedom fighters became the South African Army’s best fighting unit since the Second World War.
Their training followed similar guidelines as the SAS and the Scouts. Only the best could serve, and only the most dedicated remained. The “Bushmen” are perhaps as good if not in some ways better than the Scouts, in the fact that they had much better intelligence and logistical support from the SADF. This is important, especially when it comes down to long-term planning, and extended operations deep in enemy country.595
The South African Special Forces had many serious issues with which to contend. Angola had erupted into the longest sustained civil war, albeit a proxy war between the United States and Soviet Union, in Africa’s history. The Communist South-West African Peoples’ Organization (SWAPO) in Namibia (created in Cape Town in 1958), the Communist-backed Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), and the anti-Communist National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) were all fighting each other, off and on, for control of the former Portuguese colony. Later, the People’s Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) was created. “Within two years FAPLA had been transformed from lightly armed guerrilla units into a national army capable of sustained field operations.”596
The United States and Soviet Union made Africa their chessboard: the Soviets used East German and Cuban advisors and soldiers, and shipped arms by the millions. The United States and European nations provided weapons and supplied mercenaries and advisors. Both sides spent three decades in a politically motivated and ideologically driven war of fratricide, a war that often spilled over into the borders of neighboring countries. South Africa, like Rhodesia, preferred to take a proactive as opposed to a reactive approach to terrorism.
Pieter Krueler witnessed a century of war on two continents. He saw and met some of the most influential persons in their respective spheres of politics and the military. The world of warfare in Africa, which had started several millennia ago as small bands of men hunting animals and each other, had evolved into modern war, complete with the technology and weapons so familiar to the soldiers of today. Then, the methods again changed, to where small bands of men, again hunting each other, used modern technology in order to impose their will upon their neighbors, or eradicate those with whom they disagreed.
Pieter Krueler died in 1985 while in Pietermaritzburg, according to the note sent to author Colin Heaton, bearing a Pretoria postmark. The circumstances of his death are unknown, and the shadowy world in which he chose to live has been one of the many problems in writing this book over the last twenty-five years or more. In closing, it seems appropriate to sum up his life with quotes from his interviews and letters. His outlook on life and his pragmatic approach to the world at large belied his lack of formal education, but displayed his inherent wisdom. These words, more than anything else, tend to provide a unique picture of a man who seemed out of place in the various worlds in which he operated. Some of his more memorable statements follow:
“I am certain the killing will continue long after I am gone. I would like to think that perhaps we would have learned something from the entire process. It should be everyone’s right to live in peace.”597
“You can measure the stupidity of a man by his inability to see, let alone initiate, change.”598
“Never underestimate the resolve of a hungry man, or the stupidity of a well-fed one.”599
“The moment you fail to respect your enemy, you become his victim.”600
“If you can’t look beyond the color of a man’s skin, then you will always be a very ignorant person.”601
Men such as Pieter Krueler were rare, even in their own time. Very few lived to be his age, and even fewer lived to relate their stories and experiences. They usually died in the process. Krueler lived through the ages of colonialism to independent nationalism. He was born before the advent of the automobile, and lived to see the birth of Communism, fascism, men landing on the moon, and see the space shuttle on television. He never traveled by air in a jet, and he never owned an automobile.
Pieter Krueler’s life was as simple and austere as it was adventurous. He lived through and participated in some of the most dramatic events in history. He was an outspoken critic of apartheid in his native South Africa, but he also understood the necessity of slow change as opposed to violent revolutionary upheaval. He did not live to see his country embrace unity, although he correctly saw the future. However, he did manage in many ways to become an integral part of history and partake in the changes that eventually came to that continent. Perhaps that alone is his greatest legacy.