Bax Timothy Bax

eBook, ePUB

Three Sips of Gin (eBook, ePUB)

Dominating the Battlespace with Rhodesia's famed Selous Scouts

Beschreibung

The memoir of a special forces veteran of the Rhodesian War, with over a hundred photos included. Nothing terrorized Russian and Chinese-backed guerillas fighting Rhodesia's bush war in the 1970s more than the famed Selous Scouts. The name of the unit struck fear in the hearts of even the most battle-hardened-rather than speak it, they referred to its soldiers simply as Skuzapu, or pickpockets. History has recorded the regiment as being one of the deadliest and most effective killing machines in modern counter-insurgency warfare. In this book, a veteran of the unit shares his stories of childhood in colonial Africa with his British family, documenting a world where Foreign Service employees gathered at "the club" to find company and alcohol, leopards prowled the night, and his mother knew how to use a gun. Eventually he would move to Canada, only to feel drawn back to the continent where he grew up. There he would be recruited into the Selous Scouts, comprised of specially selected black and white soldiers of the Rhodesian army, supplemented with hardcore terrorists captured on the battlefield. Posing as communist guerrillas, members of this elite Special Forces unit would slip silently into the night to seek out insurgents in a deadly game of hide-and-seek played out between gangs and counter-gangs in the harsh and unforgiving landscape of the African bush. By the mid-1970s, the Selous Scouts had begun to dominate Rhodesia's battle space. Working in conjunction with the elite airborne assault troops of the Rhodesian Light Infantry, the Selous Scouts accounted for an extraordinarily high proportion of enemy casualties. Not content with restricting themselves to hunting guerrillas inside Rhodesia, they began conducting external vehicle-borne assaults against camps situated deep inside neighboring countries. Recounting his experiences while surviving in this cauldron of battle, while also relating with dry wit the day-to-day details and absurdities of the world that surrounded him, Timothy Bax provides a rare look at this time and place.

Technische Details

• Geräte: eReader
• mit Kopierschutz
• Größe: 60.55MB
• FamilySharing(5)

Barrierefreiheit

• Text-to-Speech

Autor

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-in-command 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 multi-national 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.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Helion and Company
• Seitenzahl: 448
• Erscheinungstermin: 19. August 2013
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781909982444
• Artikelnr.: 40563057