Masodja The Rhodesian African Rifles and Its Forerunner the Rhodesia Native Regiment

 

Formed in 1916 as The Rhodesia Native Regiment, its Shona and Ndebele troops were blooded with honour in the East African campaign, pitted against the wily General von Lettow-Vorbeck and his German askaris. Disbanded in 1919, the regiment was re-formed in 1940 during World War II as The Rhodesian African Rifles, seeing action in Egypt and 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. In the specialist Fireforce role, heli- and para-borne, the soldiers of the RAR were to earn themselves a fearsome reputation as counter-insurgency fighters par excellence. Ironically, it was after Zimbabwean independence in 1980, that the RAR's finest hour came, when, fighting for their erstwhile enemy, Robert Mugabe, the soldiers of the RAR defeated Joshua Nkomo's invading ZIPRA armies at the battles of Entumbane in Bulawayo.

 

The sadness and tragedy of it all was how the warriors of the RAR faded, almost unnoticed, into history …

Contents include:
The formation of the Rhodesia Native Regiment
RNR operations in East Africa during WWI
Armistice and the disbandment of the RNR
The formation of the RAR
The RAR in the Burma campaign
The RAR in the Malayan Emergency
The Nyasaland Emergency
The RAR in the Rhodesian bush war

 

Alexandre Binda and David Heppenstall

Book Code:  EX0886