Rhodesian defence

  Rhodesian Defence Regiment Cap Badge - Rare.      Please add us to your favourites

  Rhodesian Defence Reg Cap Badge.     Please add us to your favourites

  Rhodesian Defence Reg Cap Badge. RARE.     Please add us to your favourites

Buy RHODESIAN DEFENCE REGT. THIN BLACKENED BRASS TITLE-WORN 1978-80-SCARCE- 2 LUGS for R180.00

Buy RHODESIAN DEFENCE FORCE CAP BADGE-WORN 1970`S- 2 LUGS for R120.00

Buy RHODESIAN DEFENCE REGT. LT COLONEL FACING PAIR EPAULETTE SLIP ONS - RARE -- (3710) for R700.00

Buy RHODESIAN DEFENCE UNIT - ANODISED + ENAMEL CAP BADGE (7883) for R150.00

Buy HS093 - Rhodesian Defence Unit badge on cloth Corps colours backing for R150.00

  Please note -  Should payment be made via paypal a 5% surcharge will be added to cover paypal charges. Please wait for us to send you a paypal invoice at an exchange rate of R 13.00 / US$1 -   Tip:- to save this cost we suggest International buyers use BOB VOUCHERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    WEIGHTS NOT INCLUDED !!   See more pics above                                                              

Winds of Destruction  is a unique account of one mans service in the Rhodesian Air Force, spanning a period of twenty-three years from 1957 to 1980through the politically turbulent years of Federation; the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (U.D.I.) by Ian Smiths government in 1965 and thirteen years of relentless, uncompromising bush warfare against the never-ending tide of Robert Mugabes and Joshua Nkomos ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillas. In a gruelling conflict that permitted no quarter, the Rhodesian Air Force (Rh.A.F.) fast became one of the Rhodesian Defence Forces most lethal and effective counter-insurgency organs. In pre-emptive bombing strikes against enemy camps in Mozambique, Zambia and as far afield as Tanzania; in its integral role as a troop-carrier and airborne strike force in fireforce operations; in working closely with such specialist units as the Selous Scouts, the S.A.S., the R.L.I. and the R.A.R. the Rhodesian Air Force was never far from the action and in no small way responsible for the astonishing military successes against a vastly numerically superior army. This, all in spite of the international sanctions against Rhodesia, which ordinarily would have brought a nations armed forces to its knees. However, forced by circumstances, the Rh.A.F. was obliged to maximise usage of its aging fleet of fighter-bombers, transports and helicopters and to resort to innovative techniques in terms of tactics and weapons systems, many of which were later adopted by the South African Air Force in its own counter-insurgency operations in Angola and Namibia in the 80s PAPERBACK: 392 PAGES WITH 300 B/W PHOTOS & MAPS Published January 2005

An extraordinary collection of 77 Pre and Post UDI Rhodesian military badges. Please look at the list below for an itemisation of all the badges & if there is anything to note for each. Given the size of the collection it’s not possible to photograph each, however they are all original with no “Kariba” or collectors edition badges in the collection. Note that the lugs of the Pre & Post UDI badges do differ.    Rh RAR Slouch hat badge Rh RAR collar badge set (1 missing lugs) Rh Regiment blackened beret badge - Rhodesian Rh Regiment blackened badge - Queens Crown Rh Regiment blackened badge - Kings Crown (missing lug) Rh Regiment silvered collar badge set - also used as officers beret badges Rh RLI Beret Badge  Rh RLI collar badge set Rh RLI beret badge pre UDI in 1965   Rh Greys Scouts other ranks beret badge Rh Greys Scouts collar badge set Rh Intelligence Corps beret badge Rh Intelligence Corps collar badge set Rh 1st Psychological Operations Unit, beret badge Rh Artillery beret badge (missing 1 lug) Rh Military Police cap badge Rh Military Police collar badge set   Rh Prison Services officers cloth / bullion cap badge Rh Prison Services other ranks metal badge Rh Prison Services collar badge set Rh Airforce officers cloth / bullion cap badge Rh Airforce officers cap metal badge  Rh Airforce women’s badge Rh Regiment blackened beret badge  Rh Regiment blackened beret badge  Rh Grand Cross of Valour (G.C.V) medal bar Rh ?Regiment Officers Cord Boss beret badge? Rh ?Army Sgt Major Mess Dress rank badge? single Southern Rh ?General Service Corps beret badge? Rh ?Army Sgt Major Mess Dress rank badge? set Rh ?General Service Corps beret badge? Rh BSAP Officers cloth / bullion cap badge Rh BSAP metal cap badge Rh Guard Force ?Commander rank badge? also used as Officers cap badge Rh Guard Force Cap badge Rh Guard Force collar badge set Rh Internal Affairs badge Rh Internal Affairs collar badge set (missing lugs)   Rh Signals beret badge Rh Signals beret badge pre UDI in 1965 (crown stitched onto backing) Rh? Defence Regiment beret badge? Rh? Defence Regiment collar badge? - single Rh Armoured Car Regiment beret badge Rh Armoured Car Regiment collar badge set Rh Corps of Engineers collar badge set also used as Officers beret badges (one missing lugs) Rh ?Army Service Corps beret badge? Rh ?Army Service Corps collar badge? set Rh ?Army Service Corps beret badge? pre UDI in 1965 Rh ?Army Service Corps collar badge? set pre UDI in 1965   Rh Medical Corps beret badge Rh Medical Corps collar badge set Rh Medical Corps beret badge pre UDI in 1965 Rh Medical Corps collar badge set pre UDI in 1965 Rh Pay Corps beret badge Rh Pay Corps collar badge set Rh ?General Service Corps beret badge? Rh ?General Service Corps beret badge? pre UDI in 1965 Rh Chaplains Corps brass beret badge  Rh Education Corps beret badge Rh Education Corps collar badge set  

Formed in 1916 as The Rhodesia Native Regiment, its troops were blooded with honour in the East African campaign. Disbanded in 1919, the regiment was re-formed in 1940 during World War II as The Rhodesian African Rifles, seeing action in Burma. In the 1950s, the regiment distinguished itself further during the Malayan Emergency. During the 1960s and 1970s, the regiment was at the forefront of hostilities in the bloody Rhodesian bush war. Ironically, it was after Zimbabwean independence in 1980, that the RARs finest hour came, when, fighting for their erstwhile enemy, Mugabe, the soldiers of the RAR defeated Nkomos invading ZIPRA armies at the battles of Entumbane in Bulawayo. Masodja  London launch address - Brigadier D. Heppenstall: 09/11/07 Lord Salisbury, our President, General Lord Michael Walker, the son of our battalion 2ic in Burma in World War 2, honoured guests, members of the Association, ladies and gentlemen. Like the Battle of Waterloo, this has been a close run thing. Yesterday morning I received four copies of Masodja from the printers in Durban, South Africa, by special delivery, and the main consignment only arrived at Heathrow yesterday evening. The main reason for the four by special delivery was so that we could present one of them to Prince Philip when he signed our Regimental Drumskin at lunchtime yesterday. He was most intrigued when Tobias Mutangadura pointed out to him his photograph taken at the Malayan Independence Merdeka celebrations fifty years ago in 1957. Anyway to get back to the main topic, the reasons why we almost didnt succeed in getting the books here for the launch were several. Firstly it was published and printed in South Africa on the one hand and the author and Regimental Association in the UK on the other. This of course prevented close liaison between the two sides although the use of email made things far easier than they used to be. Most of the text was completed by Alex Binda several years ago, although there were gaps in the records available, and more information was received right up to the last minute. Originally we had planned to have the Launch last April to coincide with our Regimental Day, Tanlwe Chaung Day. This was deemed too early, and it was put back to July, the month in which the Regiment was formed. In the meantime, however, in conjunction with Chris Cocks, Alex had written the History of the RLI, The Saints, which had a very impressive Launch last June. Chris Cocks, our publisher at 30 Degrees South, advised us that a July Launch would be too close to the Saints Launch and recommended that it be postponed to Remembrance Weekend  which we agreed and set the wheels in motion to hire this hall and invite our VIP guests. Apart from the distance between publishers and originators, other mitigating factors included the sheer volume of photographs of which about 75% have been included. These were still being annotated about ten days before the book went to print! Another major factor which nearly caused a postponement was the bad reaction to a new course of medicine prescribed to Kerrin Cocks. This resulted in her being rushed into intensive care followed by a two week break to recuperate. Kerrin is a vital cog in the 30 Degrees South machine, but was soon back on line to rush things through. Pinetown Printers in Durban did a great job in completing those books which we have here today, and in fact they were working 24 hours over the whole of last weekend. We owe a debt of gratitude to all involved in the publication, to Chris and Kerrin Cocks for their expertise, to Pinetown Printers and to Bill Welsh for acting as our Marshal Blucher and arriving with the books in the nick of time. Apart, of course, from Alex Binda, I owe a special thank you to John Hopkins, Iain Harper, Bridget Wells-West and all those who supplied photographs and reminiscences of their time in the Regiment. I would now like to deal with our four members whom we invited over from Zimbabwe. This has been possible due to the magnificent support given by the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League who paid all their expenses. Our four who came over are: Captain Machakada Patrick Nelomwe: He attested in time to go to the Canal Zone, Egypt, with 1RAR in 1952, and has subsequently seen service in Malaya, the Nyasaland Emergency, the Congo border and the Rhodesian bush war. He rose from company clerk in A Company to ORQMS in the 1st Battalion in 1980. He was commissioned, subsequently in the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA). Major Tobias Chenharu Mutangadura DMM: A member of the Rhodesian Army Education Corps who served almost all his time with 1RAR. By 1980 he was a WO1 and had been awarded the Defence Forces Medal for Meritorious Service (DMM). He was commissioned in the ZNA, and retired as major. He was curator of the Gweru Military Museum for several years. RSM Gibson Zanago Mugadza BCR: A very talented half back in my battalion football team in his younger days. In the Rhodesian bush war he was awarded the Bronze Cross of Rhodesia (BCR) for outstanding leadership and bravery in action. He retired from the Army after 1980 as RSM at the School of Infantry, Gwelo. RSM Obert Veremu DMM: Obert was in my platoon in Malaya where he was a junior NCO, leading scout and tracker. That was exactly 50 years ago. He rose steadily through the ranks, was a champion 110 mile marcher and was awarded his DMM in 1972. He was RSM 1RAR from 1977 to 1978 and 3RAR from its formation in 1978 until after independence when he retired and went farming. The four are ideally situated throughout the country. Patrick is in Bulawayo, Tobias in Gweru, Gibson in Harare and Obert in the Vumba. They will be able to tell all our old comrades that the Regiment is still very much alive! I must now emphasise that the main reason that they arrived here at all is thanks to Lt-Col Malcolm Clewer, the Chairman of our Association in Zimbabwe and also the Chairman of the Harare Branch of the Legion

Jeremy Hall’s childhood in the white-ruled apartheid South Africa of the 1950's and ’60s was ostensibly idyllic: growing up in the farming areas of Natal, he had free rein to pander to his keen exploratory mind, yet niggling away was entrenched racism and interracial hatred. Closeted in the hallowed halls of an English-speaking high school, the revelation of the real world that followed — a world of township unrest, Afrikaner politicians issuing dire warnings of the red and black hordes massing on the borders — exploded into Hall’s psyche with his national-service call-up into the South African Defence Force (SADF), where he encountered the institutionalized hatred of the Afrikaner hierarchy for the English-speaking recruits, the  rowe, or ‘scabs’. Disillusioned and unsettled, following his SADF conscription, Hall found himself in 1976 signing on for three years with 2 Commando The Rhodesian Light Infantry as the bush war in that country erupted from a simmering, low-key insurgency into full-blown war. As a paratrooper with this crack airborne unit, he was to see continual combat on Fireforce operations and cross-border raids into Zambia and Mozambique, such as Operation Dingo, the 1977 Rhodesian attack on ZANLA’s Chimoio base.   PAPERBACK: 360 PAGES WITH PHOTOS & MAPS. Published March 2014

Jeremy Halls childhood in the white-ruled apartheid South Africa of the 1950's and 60s was ostensibly idyllic: growing up in the farming areas of Natal, he had free rein to pander to his keen exploratory mind, yet niggling away was entrenched racism and interracial hatred. Closeted in the hallowed halls of an English-speaking high school, the revelation of the real world that followed a world of township unrest, Afrikaner politicians issuing dire warnings of the red and black hordes massing on the borders exploded into Halls psyche with his national-service call-up into the South African Defence Force (SADF), where he encountered the institutionalized hatred of the Afrikaner hierarchy for the English-speaking recruits, the  rowe, or scabs. Disillusioned and unsettled, following his SADF conscription, Hall found himself in 1976 signing on for three years with 2 Commando The Rhodesian Light Infantry as the bush war in that country erupted from a simmering, low-key insurgency into full-blown war. As a paratrooper with this crack airborne unit, he was to see continual combat on Fireforce operations and cross-border raids into Zambia and Mozambique, such as Operation Dingo, the 1977 Rhodesian attack on ZANLAs Chimoio base.   PAPERBACK: 360 PAGES WITH PHOTOS & MAPS. Published March 2014

Silver Cross recipient, Mike Borlace is considered to be one of the most experienced combat helicopter pilots of recent times. Now he collates his experiences in this compelling wartime memoir set against the backdrop of the civil war fought in Rhodesia during the 1970s.  Helicopters were a vital component of the small Rhodesian Defence Force and as part of special forces, Borlace and his fellow aircrew soon became key weapons in the counterinsurgency operations. Adopting new flexible tactics and blending stealth with courage, they carried the fight by air to the heart of the enemy, establishing a fearsome reputation. In this vivid history, Borlace chronicles the story of airmen, soldiers and leading figures such as Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabes communist backed guerillas from the perspective of a professional officer at the sharp end.  In  Spider Zero Seven, Borlace humorously recounts the training, living conditions and hardships of his time in the forces. He also touchingly depicts the human side of the military through his portrayals of his fellow pilots, technicians, medics, nurses and flying with his dog Doris.  Out of the 1096 days he served as a pilot in 7 Squadron, Borlace spent 739 days on combat operations. During his 149 contacts with the enemy he was shot down five times and wounded twice. He is one of only five recipients of the Silver Cross, the highest gallantry award given by the air force. With this authority he gives a powerful insight into the violent events of a brutal conflict, in a book that will appeal not only to those interested in military history, but also to a wider readership who enjoy a personal, true-life adventure. Paperback, 272 pages. This title is imported from the United Kingdom and a waiting period might apply.

Four Flags refers to the four armies Dave Barr fought in, US Marines, Israeli Paratroopers, Rhodesian RLI and the South African Paratroopers, Pathfinders where he lost his legs. PART 1 - US MARINE CORPS VIETNAM 1969-72, ISRAELI DEFENCE FORCE 1975-77 Dave Barr had had a penchant for trouble since day one, born in the back of a car, shooting by the time he was five, riding a motorbike at seven, Dave regularly got into fights at school. The only reading Dave would do growing up involved motorbikes, shooting, westerns and the military. After reading Battle Cry by Leon Uris aged 12 he knew he wanted to be a Marine. Following a series of menial jobs, working at a barbers and in service stations, at 17 he joined the Marines before shipping out to Vietnam. This was his dream come true, flying as a helicopter gunner, he ended the war with an impressive 57 Air Medals. After leaving the Marines, like many veterans Dave found it hard to hold down a good job and stay out of trouble. It was then that he read about Israel. Always looking for a rush Dave learnt to skydive before he deciding to take his chances, emigrating illegally to Israel. He was inducted into the Israeli Army and then the Paratroopers, where the training was difficult, involving long tough marches, and learning Hebrew. After serving his time he left Israel - back in the USA, Dave was stuck in a rut and ready for his next adventure This is the first volume in the gripping and action-packed memoirs of Dave Barr, providing a rich and colourful account of one man's odyssey as a professional soldier, seeing war at the 'sharp end'. First published December 2015. Paperback, 300 pages.