In 1974, the Special Branch of the Rhodesian Army noticed oddities that were further investigated. With a tremendously lucky break in intelligence, they were able to capture the ring leader and all of his henchmen. Caches were tracked down and the infrastructure was crushed. Being in the Northern part of the country, the SAS was called into recce out the bases from which these supply lines originated. That meant more External Ops. Seasoned Lt. ‘Shulie’ was tasked with this mission. He and three other men crossed over into Zambia near Victoria Falls. Blackened up and dressed out in full Terr uniforms and arms, they began to move into the bush prepared for a six week trip. They moved, lay up and listened. After two nights they heard the sounds of gunshots. At first, they did not know if they had been compromised and went to ground. Noting the sound of the rifles being high powered, they knew that the shots were not civilian. It was likely a hunting party trying to bag something to eat.
Not long after, their suspicion was confirmed as they heard a heavy truck motor away. ZAPU was supplied with Military Hardware by the Russians and operated in a more conventional manner than ZANU and more readily identified. The men set off to track its destination. The men were spread out in the bush and had malfunctioning radios, when another shot went off. The two men in the rear thought for sure someone had been shot and followed protocol to avoid capture and headed back to their RV point. Shulie had no way to communicate that he was fine and he and another were left to follow up.
The spoor that they picked up kept leading them east. They edged into a site where the men who fired the shots had been. It was abandoned. This was not the camp, probably just a resting site. After a couple of more indications of Terr activity, they set up an OP on a hill in the area. For two days they observed the area. With great disappointment, their next radio communication ordered them back into Rhodesia. They grudgingly complied.
The intrepid LT was back in the area 3 weeks later determined to find the camp. More traffic could be seen moving east. After a couple of days and nights they found a group of men in civilian clothing working diligently with picks and shovels. Being about a kilometer away and short on rations, Shulie decided to get up close by himself. He left his two team members in a well hidden ravine and crawled to within 150 meters of the men working. His initial instinct was that they were civilians doing road work along the track but when a 4 ton military truck came for the group, he realized they were ZAPU. It was out of the normal for one of their men to be out of uniform.
He reckoned that this was an underground cache, much harder to find from aerial reconnaissance and difficult to destroy. Shulie made it back to his men and they crossed back over to Rhodesia. Initially the Higher Ups were upset that an attack had not been made on the site, especially by SAS troopers. Shulie’s superior backed him up saying that they would have a more fruitful mission if they allowed ZAPU to build more infrastructure and fill the cache with weapons. A plan was made. Aerial reconnaissance followed the buildup of the camp over several weeks’ time. When it was felt that the new camp was ripe for slaughter the SAS went to work. They had employed their skills in infiltration, patient and relentless reconnaissance and now were going to use their Direct Action ability.
43 men were chosen for the assault. This was the largest External into Zambia since the war started. The LT had just spent time in the hospital due to jaundice. But he was back onto the mission as he was needed to pinpoint the location. The SAS had a Command Post in the area that had been used several times prior. It was here that the mission would be overseen.
Shulie and the three Stop Group commanders went in. He showed them where they should place their troops and did another day of surveillance. The next night the remaining 39 Assaulters used Zodiac boats to cross the river and make their way to the target. All seemed well.
Back at the CP, the OIC and his HQ group lay down for the night. Around 0200 hours, a new guard shift took place. From the stillness of the night AK-47 rounds ripped through the CP tents injuring several men. As swiftly as the men had attacked, they disappeared. The SAS men did not give chase and decided not to tell the Assault team fearing they would abort and come back to help with the wounded.
It was surmised that ZAPU men had seen them from across the river or that livestock herding boys had reported it to Terrs who took advantage of the mistake of basing up in one spot one too many times.
All Assaulters RV’d on a rise overlooking the camp. The Mopani trees had lost all their leaves and there was no shade. They would have to sweat that day out in the heat. As night came again, they set up for the assault. Two elements would come from the north and sweep the escapees right into a well emplaced stop group. Hammer and Anvil.
The dawn began to break and the gray sky provided just enough vision to see ( Night Vision Goggles were a thing of the future. They only had Spotting Scopes similar to what the US had in Vietnam ). All groups in place, Shulie was to give the opening shot. A guard started walking towards them for an unknown reason and the LT put him down, then all hell broke loose. Working in pairs, the Assaulters went from hut to hut clearing ZAPU scum from the earth. As one soldier saw the last two tracers of his mag, he yelled, ‘Reload!’, while the other kept firing. Methodically clearing the camp, the majority began to flee south directly into the stop groups. One man was shot in the chest as he charged at the SAS trooper with fixed bayonet. The man tumbled to within a step of the soldier. One man who was wounded cried out, I’m dead, I’m dead. Needless to say someone hastened this realization.
Minutes and 2500 rounds later, All Clear was prounounced. Now, for the cache, after some searching, they found the trap door under three feet of soil and opened up the largest jackpot of the war. Millions or rounds, mines, rifles, expolsives, everything to outfit hundreds of soldiers was in a cement reinforced fortress that was large enough to turn a military truck around in. After everyone got a look and took back rifles and mines that they could find useful, inventory began. The task was so large that it was disbanded and the demolitions men began stringing together charges that would destroy all of it.
Every dead body was searched and recorded. Amongst the intelligence found was a detailed plan of attack on the Infantry School in Gwelo, near Salisbury. Men began to lay landmines and some booby traps for the inevitable investigation of the incident by ZAPU. Time was ticking and the groups moved out and back towards Rhodesia. The head Engineer finally declared it ready to blow and after they were beyond the prescribed 500 meters, they blew it. It was the largest explosion the men would hear or see through the entire course of the war. The mushroom cloud was seen 56 miles into Rhodesia. At the CP, the ground rumbled and the river rippled. Closer to the explosion, men were literally thrown off their feet headfirst. The secondary explosions and exploding rounds continued for hours. Operation Big Bang had thwarted the supply for hundreds of soldiers to slip into Rhodesia and easily be resupplied.
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