Three Sips of Gin: Dominating the Battlespace with Rhodesia’s Elite Selous Scouts

551 Pages·2013·14.39 MB·English

by  Timothy Bax

Timothy Bax was born in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanganyika
in 1949. He attended boarding school in Lushoto from
the age of six and in 1963 moved to England to
continue his schooling. A year later he moved with his
mother and two sisters to Toronto, Canada, where he
completed his education. At the age of nineteen he
returned to Africa, living first in South Africa then in
Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). He joined the Rhodesian Army
in 1969 and was commissioned two years later as a
Lieutenant in the Rhodesian Light Infantry. A year
later he was wounded while engaged in the first ever
‘Fire-Force’ deployment mounted by the Rhodesian
Security Forces. In 1974, Tim was asked by the
legendary commanding officer of the Selous Scouts,
Lt. Col. Ron Reid-Daly, to join his unit. After
successfully completing the selection course, Tim was
given command of a pseudo-terrorist group tasked with
seeking out and destroying real terrorists groups
operating both inside and outside Rhodesia. In 1975
Tim commanded the first Rhodesian vehicle-borne raid
ever mounted against guerrilla camps situated deep
inside neighbouring countries. A year later he was
seriously wounded while taking part in a similar raid. Tim was later appointed second-incommand of the
Selous Scouts Reconnaissance Group. He was married to his wife Carol in 1977. In 1980 he and his wife
left Rhodesia to settle in South Africa where with the rank of major, he was appointed second-in-command
of South Africa’s 5 Reconnaissance Regiment. Tim resigned from the army in 1982 and later served on the
board of a multinational company in South Africa. Their daughter, Jennifer, was born in June 1982. In 2002
Tim moved to the United States. He currently resides in Lake Placid, Florida.

Co-published in 2013 by:
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Designed and typeset by Farr out Publications, Wokingham, Berkshire
Cover designed by Euan Carter, Leicester (www.euancarter.com)
Printed by Henry Ling Ltd, Dorchester, Dorset
Text © Timothy G. Bax 2013
Photographs © as individually credited
ISBN 978-1-909384-29-3
EPUB ISBN: 978-1-909982-44-4
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system,or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written consent of Helion &
Company Limited and GG Books.
Front cover: Selous Scouts pig blown up in a landmine. (Dennis Croukamp). Rear
cover: Tim Callow, Selous Scouts Reconnaissance expert. (Tim Callow).
For details of other military history titles published by Helion & Company Limited
contact the above address, or visit our website: http://www.helion.co.uk.
We always welcome receiving book proposals from prospective authors.
To my parents, for encouraging me down the road to my destiny
And to my family and friends, for sharing my journey.
Contents
List of photographs
Acknowledgements
Glossary
Map
Prologue: A Most Worrisome Exposé
1 A Case for the Prosecution
East Africa

2 The Road
Magamba

Lushoto School

3 Dar-es-Salaam
Mr. Deppetawalah’s Villa

England

4 Canada
Europe

Lumberjack

5 London
The Atlantic
South Africa
6 Recruit
7 Trooper
Border Control

8 An Officer I Wanted to Become
9 An Officer I Became
10 Subaltern Officer
Mukumbura

A Girl in my Soup

A Walk in the Dark

A Lady in the Attic

11 Mozambique
A Port Too Many

Brush with Fire

Early Bird Catches the Worm

The Doctor and the Cane Rat

12 An Unconventional Wisdom
Selection

The Regiment
Moses

Mechanized Raids

13 Passage of Fire
14 Matriarchic Matron
The Mess

A Rocky Engagement

15 Interlude
Honeymoon

An Angry Brigadier

16 Melting Pot
Third Sip of Gin

17 Conduct Unbecoming
Betrayal

18 Division of Cultures
Wild Coast

19 White Mischief
20 Farming Frolics
21 Caravan of Camels
A Laborious Union
22 Monkey Business
Mikhail Kalashnikov

Where Danger Lurks

Post Scripta