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Fighting Men of Rhodesia ep198 | Lt Alan Balson part 2 | RLI & 1 Indep. Coy RAR
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- čas přidán 16. 08. 2024
- (By the way, the photo of the blood in the chopper was not from the Rhodesian war but from the Vietnam war and was included to illustrate the storyline. It was published by myself (JvZ) without reference to Beaver. Apologies to Tony).
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A great talk by Alan, a lovely guy. He met the sister of his good Canadian pal Eike that was killed in action and ended up marrying her and moving to Canada, hence his Canadian accent.
Agreed.
@44:45 I wasn't born during that time but as an educated black person who was born in Zim and educated in many western countries, I understand why the educated would fight alongside Rhodesians if they were integrated, earned their qualification and understood the need to work together...
Yes you are correct. Some of my soldiers became very good friends with me, we really were good mates, we ate together, laughed and cried together and of course trusted each other with our lives.
@@alantags7033 I believe you because I have friends who are there for me all the way.
I really appreciate the way the country was built. If only there could be a video explaining it all. The good hospitals, bridges, schools that still stand today despite poor maintenance. The military vehicles whose technology wa slater adopted by the americans like the crocodile etc.
I am not shy to ask how did you all do this. The ones in power since they were handed the country have ran it to the ground.
Hi, all I can say is thet Rhodesia had a government that was not as corrupt as the one that took over. I think for the most part the civil servants who ran the country just worked for a salary and did not embezzle the taxes as the next government did. There were budgets for repair and maintenance and everything else. A vibrant economy is made by having jobs, contractors, business, mining and farmers, along with factories and the civil service including the military were the employment. Im sorry for the people of Zimbabwe.
@@alantags7033 I envy such organisation. No country will match that in Africa for the next 100 years or more.
That's what it was, it was during the war Alan. It's history and it's for us to write the history of our country.
Again Gentlemen... Thank you all so very, very much....
And here is to the Rhodesian African Soldiers Whom actually did Rhodesians Proud and Honestly took so, so much Flack for being whom they were and for fighting Rhodesia.. Those Good Men had it Bloody hard... Especially when visiting their Kumusha/Kaya...!!
Men of Men and Respect and Salute to every single one of You Fighting Men Of Rhodesia.... 💪
Cheers 🍻
Thanks Charlie
Great talk Tags; Makorokoto shamwari wangu!
I was involved in the contact when Eike and Bruce were killed; me and my platoon warrant officer Munyika Collins commanded the two 1RAR call-signs from A Coy called in from the land tail and in direct support. It was at Gwamura Kraal, Chikwakwa TTL and the date 16 July 1979 and I spoke about this in my first interview with Hannes.
I remember all the guys you referred to from your cadet course as I was on reg cdt cse Inf/25(21) at the time.
RIP Brothers.
Salute.
Thanks Russell, I really wanted to show that war has its ups and downs and it does not all go perfectly.
Salute, Russell.
Beautiful interview .
Thanks
Thanks Alan, Tony B and John v Z; another fascinating 'first hand' experience of our War, especially in the southern Tangent area. Much appreciated. The emotional area affected me as well - and I have become quite "jumpy" later. Thanks Manne!
Hi Prop, yes some instances bring up emotion. We have never had a place to talk about the war. Thanks
We had a good many AS NS soldiers in '79 at my squadron, I also met a few of them at 4RR. They all seemed good guys to me.
A very moving, informative and compelling interview...thank you Alan and Tony!
thanks Lorna (Tony) xxxx
Thanks Lorna for your kind words.
It was ian Henderson and Willem Joubert in the K Car that was shot down, i took over the replacement K Car the next day and Ian found his way back to fly. We had some hectic contacts on the follow up. The story is in my book Choppertech. It was the first time I saw a Golf bomb dropped in anger.
Yes thanks WJ is what they called Willem. Excellent. Thanks Beaver for all your input.
Thank you Johan and Hanes for all these interviews. The stories are beyond belief and a record of real men
Thanks for this. Appreciated.
Super great talk, so much emotion coming to the fore. Thanks FMoR such a lekker listen.
Thanks for listening.
Good day, Gents. I remember Loxton's. If memory serves correctly, their were two brothers same time and we briefly crossed paths during our (my) training final phase in early '78 and they were doing officers' practicals, COIN/CONVENTIONAL warfare. RIP.
I just remember one Loxton, Willie. He was incredibly funny and had us splitting our sides with a talk about how he had to get his camel to move, as an explanation why he had hair in his teeth.
Thanks Alan 🙏 appreciate. Tony, another brilliant interview! A master class! For anyone interested in military history this is gold!! Thanks my friend
Thank you yet again Nathan, my buddy! 😆(Tony)
@@Toncor12 👍
@@alantags7033 👍
Amazing interview much respect
Thanks for your support Charlie...
Great interview as always gentleman.
Much appreciated
Alan, thank you for these two interviews and for sharing your wonderfully insightful experiences. Your recollections of Maj Don Price are especially poignant to me, he is a wonderful man and a living embodiment of a Rhodesian and Rhodesian Officer. Salute
Thanks John.
Well done guys.
Great interview again.
Thank you Mike. (Tony)
Thanks Mike.
Op mulligan. Chikwaka ttl next to enterprise area.
All written up and presented on this channel on my talk on op enterprise/mulligan
An excellent talk Mike
@@Toncor12as were all of Mike's talks. Really interesting every one of them, & l learnt so much from his various talks about how much "ground" SB covered
Yes thanks Mike. I sent your story of Op Mulligan to Tony
@@alantags7033 thank you
Two good talks by alan
Liebigs ranch was the home of the Bully Beef products and much of the beef and game products - meat and biltong etc.
Great video, interview and histories!😎👍👍 Thank you Alan and Tony!🙏🙏
Thanks for watching
Thanks my friend! (tony)
It is very strange how 2 guys can go through an experience, one gets mentally screwed by it and the other, it has no impact of any kind.
Yes very strange. I have mates who were really affected.
my war all felt very mechanical to me, but I've had guys wide eyed telling me stories of details of contacts (mundane and eventful) where I was literally next to the guy telling the story but I don't remember it at all, or at least until I ask for more context and he gives it. they're like ''remember this?? remember that??''
I'm like ''no'' 😆
it occured to me that these guys were focusing intensely on and remembering vivid detail in a kind of tunnel vision, not so much the general situation. I think it's about emotion and focus. some people require a high degree of emotional involvement and investment to do the job right. they never really relaxed into it. they often hated the enemy too, or at least made a show of hating them... all part of their motivation. me, I never hated them and never had strong feelings about it; was just work... I was a tool. these other guys are going through things in a highly hyped up and emotional state. makes sense that the impact and the shift in emotions from calm to hectic and back again will effect these types more, and the memories will be more impactful. I reckon they're more 'in the moment' type of people - subjective rather than objective. highly profficient, but just not really at ease.
@@greg_4201 yes I agree with you. There are some things I dont remember at all. Funny how the mind works.
Im sure this has been asked and answered but...
Would it be possible to hear more about what happened to the AS troops after the war ? In particular the former RAR soldiers ?
Also I would like to hear about or from any Rhodesians who later served in the Transkei Defense Forces.
Thanks
Keep up the fire !
Hi Joe, by and large many just went back to their villages while others stayed in to serve in the Zimbabwe National army.
When I was with Training troupe with Capt Bob Lines 5 RR , a number of black and white could never map read.
Liebigs cattle ranch in Zimbabwe was one of the largest in the Africa. Situated in southwestern Matabeleland, Zimbabwe, it was originally staked out in the then Southern Rhodesian lowveld in the 1930’s by the cattle ranching family of Baron Justus von Liebig, supplier of canned ‘bully beef’ to World War II armies, and the inventor of the Oxo cube.
Interesting! Thanks
My dad worked for Liebigs Towla Ranch, it's 10 miles from my village.
Fascinating stories as always. I thought that Tony's question about African map reading was racist and good on the guest to point out that some of the black soldiers were smart, educated people. Also the late realization that not all black people were pro Mugabe is a shame. All the people wanted was equal opportunity, equal rights, and non-racial society.
Thanks Gilmore
Thanks Gilmore, honestly my soldiers were my life. I Loved and respected them. Mostly it was myself and 4 African soldiers in the bush for 10 days. We became good friends.
Thanks Gilmore. That is exactly what l was fighting for. A non racial society based on merit. Equal opportunity for all. So good to see your comments here. As for map reading, l don't think that Tony's comment was racist. I think that it came from his personal experience & Alan just explained that his experiences were different. I operated with good black trackers & good white ones. Only difference l found was that on a lot of occasions the black trackers were reticent to track to contact. This is just my personal experiences & is not based on any racist bias
@@calummackenzie1797 hi Calum. I has one soldier who always used to fire on terrorists when they were 400 yards away, anyway He Was transferred to one of the RAR batallions and the guessing as to why he did that time after time was solved.
My question about map reading was not intended to be racist. Some white guys I commanded also struggled, indeed one sergeant was pretty poor at it.
I came for the epic stash
The picture of the blood in the chopper does not come from Rhodesia it is from the Vietnam war it was used in an article I wrote on PTSD.
Thanks Beaver, much appreciated!
Thanks Beaver.
Am shocked at the way you know our history... Ngulumbi it's our Ancient Mt. Our ancestors were relocated to Masera when the white Govt established farms. We were relocated to Masera...
I knew Rob Halstead very well
He was in PRAW and also used to fly me to Bulawayo if I was going on R and R and he was heading back.
Next to West Nicholson
Been that done that OP's
Yup. It was our life!
I really enjoy your stories Alan but you missed the truth. People we forced to go BSA Police station in Beit bridge to see the 2 dead. I was in form 1 at Beit bridge school when we were told to go to Police station. It was my first time to see dead people wich was against our culture at that age. Any where we are talking history and enjoying your stories wich is good for our history.
Hi, sorry I missed this. I didn't know that you were forced to go to view the bodies of terrorists, I am shocked and sorry about that. I sure have learned a lot since. Thanks and regards.
Lt Alan Balson am following your stories the places you are talking about they are my home area. Masera it's my father home area. If I may ask do you know Nhwali, Bulobela Camp, Tuli areas Gwanda South. Any operations...
Thank you
Masera was one of my favourite places. On the map that flashed on the screen you can see the name Ngulumbi. We did do some operations in Gwanda South. Even though we were at war the people were very good. I remember one village giving us watermelons. Zack, who I mentioned a former freedom fighter, liberated a leg of a goat one day from a village. I asked him what he was doing? He returned it to the villager. I remember giving one old man and some children fishing hooks and fishing line to catch fish. The poor locals got it from both sides.
Just a further story on Masera and the farming community to the West. Besides the zebra and plains game, we also came across elephant. The locals had erected huge stout log fences, buried vertically, around their gardens to keep the elephants out. I was called Tagati, and what I used to do was patrol around a village at dusk and talk to a couple of families, then when it was dark I would walk 12-14kms and the next day at dawn walk through a village. This elicited shock as the mujibas had spread the word that I was miles away, but here I was at first light. We did have some limited success with this, but very tiring.
Alan Balson tells very interesting stories but he doesn't want interacting with us so we can have more interesting stories that brings us together in our history. Alan can we please hear from you.
Hi, i am happy to communicate with you and you can ask me any questions you want it was a while ago when i did the talk, but will eep checking ba k to see if i can answer any questions. One thing about those times, it was all a bit of madness with much propoganda on both sides. Myself and my African soldiers had an amazing bond. I also got onwell with most africans i encountered, i was raised in Tanzania, where as a child, they had independence in 1963. My best friends were africans and i spoke swahili fluently. To me it was astounding that there was such turmoil in Rhodesia. I was a farmer working in the mtepatepa area and went to Gwebi College, my life revolved around Africans, as our whole labour force depended on them being well, happy, housed and fed, and also i had very good friends amongst the workers, of course i ws almost the same as i was just a "picanin" boss and learned so much from the African foremen, who were my mentors. @aifhelimudau2133