RHODESIAN NATIONAL PARKS TRACKER UNIT
RHODESIA’S DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL PARKS AND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AND THE VOLUNTEER TRACKER UNIT
A brief overview by Edward Ostrosky, previously Senior Ranger with the Department
“Undoubtedly, they rate a well-deserved place in the military history of Rhodesia.” - Lieutenant General J S V Hickman.”
This document is intended to give those interested in Rhodesia’s military history a brief overview of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management’s Volunteer Tracker Unit (VTU).
Members of the VTU served with distinction throughout the bush war years but are seldom mentioned and never accorded the recognition they deserve as serving members of Rhodesia’s security forces. While many members of the VTU had served in Rhodesia’s army or police, others, such as myself, and all the game scouts, donned the uniform and went into combat as civilians, without extra pay, rank or even a force number.
Though some of this information comes from my personal experiences, I have consulted the books noted in the text. However, all errors and omissions are mine. I humbly apologise to the Volunteer Tracker Unit’s members, white and black, that I could not mention each of you by name and record your deeds as they deserve.
BEGINNINGS
The Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management can trace its roots back to 1928 when Ted Davidson was appointed as the first Warden of Wankie National Park. The Department of National Parks was established under the Ministry of Lands in 1949, followed by the creation of the Southern Rhodesia Game Department in 1952. In 1958 the Federal National Parks Board was established, and the Federal Government assumed control of Southern Rhodesia’s national parks. Meanwhile, in 1960 the Southern Rhodesia Game Department became a fully-fledged department under the Ministry of Lands, and in 1961 was re-designated the Department of Wildlife Conservation. The final act was to amalgamate the two organisations, National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, into the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management (NPWLM). This was done in 1963.
Rhodesia’s largest conservation areas and the rangers and wardens that manned them were mostly on international borders. Though National Parks had supplied trackers to Rhodesia’s military on an ad hoc basis, their direct participation in Rhodesia’s counter-insurgency war started with Operation Nickel in 1967.
A group of 79 insurgents crossed the border at Batoka Gorge and based up on the banks of the Deka River in Wankie National Park. They then split into two groups, one of 48 and another of 21.
Security forces engaged the groups on the Inyantue River and near Leash Pan, and the insurgents moved southward into the Tjolotjo Tribal Trust Land. National Parks game scouts assisted with tracking, and rangers Ronnie van Heerden and Willie de Beer located tracks of two terrorists. One terrorist was shot and killed by Ranger van Heerden.
The war intensified in 1973, and ranger Robin Hughes and Mike Bromwich were on attachment to the army. Hughes was killed in action on the 18th of October while involved in pseudo operation. Game rangers and scouts participated in other follow-ups with the Combat Tracker Unit and on an ad hoc basis in their regular areas of operation.
In 1973, Ranger Dave Scammell found terrorist tracks in the Zambezi Valley, initiating Operation Caldron. (Detailed accounts of these and other operations can be found in National Parks and Wildlife Management, Rhodesia and Zimbabwe 1928-1990 by Mike Bromwich. Masodja and The Saints, both by Alexandre Binda.)
A visitor’s vehicle detonated the first land mine in Mana Pools National Park on 30 August 1972, and from then onward, Mana was subjected to frequent incidents of terrorism. In order to maintain a presence on the Zambezi River, work started on Fort Mana in June 1974. From then on, Mana would be a key but costly asset.
In early 1974, insurgents attacked D Camp, downstream of Mana, and ranger Richard Aylward was seriously injured when his vehicle detonated a land mine a few days later. The following year ranger Mike Jones was critically injured by a mine at Vundu camp while ranger D. Winhall received minor shrapnel wounds. Elsewhere, game scouts Smuyamba and Angus were shot and killed while on duty.
THE VOLUNTEER TRACKER UNIT
National Parks trackers were called on to assist the Rhodesian Army with follow-ups throughout the war. However, in 1972 Warden Paul Coetzee and Lieutenant D. Parker of the Rhodesian Light Infantry formalised arrangements, and the National Parks Volunteer Tracking Unit was born. Initially, Warden Coetzee controlled deployments from Sinoia, but in 1976 control moved to Head Office and fell under the control of Roy Killick.
Though there were endless variations, members of VTU sticks usually reported to Roy Killick in Salisbury and were deployed to Forward Airfields or Joint Operational Commandss (JOC) as directed by Combined Operations HQ.
All VTU members wore regular Rhodesian army camouflage uniforms. Many rangers chose to use chest webbing, with regulation web belts and accoutrements. The trick was to travel light but have at least a sleeping bag, a gas cooker, and enough food for a meal or two. By 1976 all VTU members were armed with 7.62 mm, FN FAL rifles and four twenty round magazines. In addition, supporting units supplied hand grenades, smoke grenades, rifle grenades and additional medical kit as required. When operating independently in 1979, VTU sticks sometimes carried captured weapons such as RPD light machine guns.
VTU patrols were on constant standby for deployment to incursions, farm attacks, ambushes, land mine incidents, abductions or other incidents as directed by the JOC commander. As the VTU stick needed to get onto tracks as soon as possible, they were usually deployed by helicopter. However, recovery to base was sometimes problematic and depended on available transport. In one case, after a lengthy follow-up, senior ranger Ron Wienand, the writer, two trackers and the 1 Independent Company (Wankie) backup stick caught a lift with a convoy of passing fishermen.
Another difference between members of the Volunteer Tracker Unit and territorial units was that, at the conclusion of their call-ups, most VTU members returned to their regular duty stations in operational areas. Back at base, they did the same work, but without backup.
Two VTU members were killed in action during 1976. senior ranger Richard Smith was killed in action on 20 February while on a VTU call up with the RLI. According to one account of the Battle of Chibara Hills, the initial follow-up group consisted of eight men of 3 Troop and three National Parks trackers led by Richard Smith. The VTU stick and its backup were ferried forward to join 4 Troop and again to join Ian Scott’s 1 Troop. The bush was extremely thick, and two 1 Commando trackers, Sergeant Pete White and Corporal Cookson were both killed by unseen enemies. Soon afterwards, 1 Troop was ambushed, Trooper Diedericks was killed, and Ranger Smith, who was next to Scott, was mortally wounded. He died of his wounds in the helicopter on the way to Karanda Mission.
Ranger N J R (Nick) Gregory died from wounds received in action on 9 November 1976, while on a three-week VTU call up with senior ranger Charles Mackie. They were operating with 1 Battalion Rhodesia Regiment and the Rhodesian Light Infantry west of Mukumbura. According to Charles Mackie, it was dark, and they had become separated when a bullet hit Gregory’s shoulder and penetrated his lungs. Unfortunately, darkness and rain prevented immediate CASEVAC, and he died of his wounds en route to Mount Darwin. Bodies of 23 insurgents were counted the next day.
National Parks casualties continued to mount. On 20 December 1976, Chizarira National Park’s headquarters was attacked and destroyed. Fifteen staff members were abducted and were loaded on inflatable boats. However, the Kariba Boat Squadron intercepted and sunk the boats, and two staff members were drowned. During 1977 game scouts Jolamu and Ndabezinhle were shot dead by insurgents at Matetsi, and game scout Marume was abducted and murdered while on leave.
Though Fort Mana held the line on the Zambezi, it had to be resupplied by way of a gravel road that ran through dense mopane forest. On 20 March 1977, Ranger Gerry Bell and game scouts Mafairos, Marufu and Zovoro were killed during an ambush on the Mana Pools access road, and on 25 December 1977, ranger Minnaar was killed in the same area.
Wankie was also a target. On 12 January 1978, research technician Russell Williams was killed in action while participating in a follow up near Wankie Main Camp. Then, in March 1978, VTU members senior ranger Charles Mackie and Tom Fynn set off with a scratch force of eight to check for insurgent movements in the Mitswiri Area. The ill-equipped patrol was ambushed, and Charlie Mackie was seriously wounded by an M60 rifle grenade in the opening salvo. However, despite both rangers being out of action, the scouts, armed with Fynn’s damaged single shot FN and their bolt action Lee Enfields, managed to hold off repeated attacks, and the ZIPRA force withdrew.
In late 1978, due to complaints by VTU members about the quality of backup provided by some security force elements, Combined Operations agreed that VTU call-signs would track for the Rhodesian Light Infantry only. The move was welcomed by many, but the RLI seldom needed traditional ‘Sparrow’ trackers when engaged in Fire Force activities. However, the usefulness of traditional tracking units like VTU was soon re-evaluated. From May 1979, VTU patrols were deployed to selected National Parks bases in border areas. They actively patrolled, supported local operations and tracked for other units when called to do so. Marongora was one such base, and it was due to this final change that Warden Oliver Coltman’s VTU stick was at Fort Mana in May 1979.
ZIPRA’s 17 May 1979 attack on Fort Mana was the longest sustained attack on a Rhodesian base during the entire war. The attack started with a bombardment of the Mana complex with B10 recoilless rifles, 82 mm mortars and 14.5 mm AA guns. Fortunately, the staff complement of rangers, scouts and NS was supplemented by the presence of warden Oliver Coltman and his VTU team. Nevertheless, shelling and ground assaults continued through the night while the defenders replied with rifle, Bren, MAG and 60 mm commando mortar fire. Fort Mana held, and in the morning, a Dakota dropped a resupply of ammunition by parachute.
During subsequent sweeps, seven dead insurgents were found, including one that had reached the perimeter fence. Seventy-six firing positions were found along with blood trails, bloody bandages and wheel tracks of the B10 recoilless rifle. In a subsequent follow-up by Provincial Warden Ronnie van Heerden’s VTU patrol, the writer and trackers located the insurgent’s forward base, and various items were recovered. Later intelligence indicated that a further fifteen ZIPRA died of wounds sustained in the attack.
Perhaps the last contact involving a regular VTU call-sign occurred on 11 October 1979 in the Zambezi Valley, along the Mashayenyi River below Nhawa Hill.
The call-sign, consisting of Ronnie van Heerden, Ed Ostrosky, Gorden Putterill, Phungwe and Goliad engaged a ZIPRA unit of unknown size, killing one, and capturing one PPSh 41 submachine gun and seven rucksacks loaded with AK ammunition, M60 rifle grenades and land mines. At the end of the deployment, John White’s VTU team took over. However, they were recalled a few days later to attend the funeral of Senior Ranger Tim Wellington (Territorial SAS), who had been killed by an elephant in Wankie.
While the National Parks Volunteer Tracker unit stood down when the cease-fire took effect in December 1979, thousands of insurgent troops soon occupied the assembly point at Rukomechi, known as Papa Camp. When a patrol reported poaching and the possible wounding of a rhino, Senior Ranger Nevin Lees-May and Rangers Andy Gibson, Ken Jones, and several game scouts went to investigate. They were ambushed by ten or more insurgents near Nyakasikana, and in the ensuing shoot-out, one ZIPRA was killed, and one was captured. The next day a trailer, towed by a Water Development vehicle, detonated a land mine on the Nyamomba Road, and NPWLM staff went back to using hardened, mine-protected vehicles. The situation remained tense until the insurgents were moved to Mashumbi Pools in the Dande Tribal Trust Land at the end of August 1980.
BOOK REVIEW
NATIONAL PARKS AND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT, RHODESIA AND ZIMBABWE, 1928-1990
By Mike Bromwich
Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe) probably had the African continent’s flagship Game Department for almost half a century. Zimbabwean national parks like Hwange, Gonarezhou and Matusadona remain prime, untamed African wilderness even today. .
Rhodesian National Parks attracted, or shaped, the best and the brightest. Men like Ted Davison,
Ron Thomson, Rupert Fothergill, Clem Coetsee, Ollie Coltman, Rowan Martin, Glenn Tatham, Willie Nduku and Norman Monks who were and are legends in African conservation.
Mike Bromwich was one of them. One of this book’s strong points is that it is written from a number of different perspectives by the people who were on the ground, and had seen and done it first-hand.
The book is about a sort of renaissance period wherein Africa’s colonial ‘game departments’ were evolving into true custodians of their countries’ natural heritage, rather than merely being some form of liaison division between wilderness and farmers. Also, the cut-off date for the period covered, 1990, marks a time of great turmoil within the department, and indeed within the Zimbabwe government. There are still many stories that need to be told about those days. I have had the pleasure to know and work with men like Ollie Coltman, Howard Shackleton and Glenn Tatham, and to shoot and socialise with the likes of Chris Pakenham and Ken Worsley over the past thirty years, so it was a real pleasure for me to review this work. This book is unique in that it is more than a story of the African wilderness and wildlife, it is a story of people: the people who pioneered the concept of sustainable management and use of game.
In his foreword, Dr Colin Saunders, who headed the National Parks and Wildlife board from 1975 to 1987, and who knew most of the key players, emphasizes the hopes, dreams and aspirations of the myriad people who made the whole system work. As he says, “They led very full and interesting lives.” (Saunders’s own book Gonarezhou - A Place for Elephants is well worth reading.)
DL order flyer_2020 2nd edition
114 total views, 1 today
