Ian Douglas Smith. Prime Minister of Rhodesia 1964-1979
Rhodesia is the name of two British colonies in South Africa. Divided into Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). In 1953-63. both colonies were part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. After the collapse of the Federation, all its members gained independence, with the exception of Southern Rhodesia. Southern Rhodesia in 1965-1979 called itself simply Rhodesia.
Rhodesia received its name in honor of Cecil John Rhodes, who was the Prime Minister of the British Cape Colony, politician, industrialist and founder of the British South Africa Company. After the death of Rhodes, in 1902, the territory received its name, and also, due to its vastness, was divided into two parts - Southern and Northern Rhodesia. Northern Rhodesia was declared a British colony and remained a colony until 1964, when it became Zambia. Southern Rhodesia, legally under the auspices of the British Crown, was in fact a self-governing territory led by a private company. Great Britain planned to grant Southern Rhodesia official self-government, but this was prevented by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. The Rhodesians fielded 5,000 fighters on Britain's side, which was a quarter of its population (in percentage terms, this was the largest figure among all British dominions). Subsequently, Rhodesia always deployed its forces to help British troops in all wars fought by Great Britain. Rhodesians formed the backbone of the Allied special forces fighting in North Africa during World War II.
After World War II, nationalist movements began to gain strength in Africa. Great Britain attempted to create a new state entity called the Federation of Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland (modern Malawi). However, in 1963, the artificial federation collapsed, and London hastily granted independence to all territories of the former federation, except Southern Rhodesia. It is worth noting that Southern Rhodesia did not have an official policy of apartheid, like neighboring South Africa. There were also no essentially racial problems, since the blacks did not worry about their future - the whites strengthened the internal infrastructure of the country and provided the blacks with work.
It should also be noted that Britain at this time began to distribute independence to the former colonies with kaleidoscopic speed, sometimes completely unreasonably. Exhausted by two world wars and unwillingness to solve any problems other than their own, led to the fact that Great Britain was in a hurry to quickly recognize the nationalist leaders of the former colonies, and, in turn, declared representatives of the white population who did not want to bend under the new, generally racist African leaders, representatives of the white population as racists and conservatives.
In the late 50s and early 60s, under pressure from the international community and the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the former metropolises began to grant independence to former colonies, which ultimately led to civil wars on their territory, religious and ethnic massacres, and corruption in government. and the dictatorships of the “leaders of the struggle for independence.” In 1957, Great Britain granted independence to Ghana. After a couple of years, this led to the collapse of the economy of the former British colony, the establishment of a dictatorship and political assassinations. In 1960, Ghana was followed by Nigeria, which immediately began a bloody civil war between the Muslim north and the black south. In the same year, the Belgian Congo gained independence. And here, as elsewhere, a civil war began with tens of thousands killed. The white population of the former colony found itself at the epicenter of bloody civil strife. Streams of refugees poured into Rhodesia. Descriptions of the atrocities to which these unfortunate people were subjected were confirmed by Rhodesian doctors, and corresponding conclusions were drawn in Rhodesian society. Independence also came to Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Chad, Sudan, Angola, and Kenya. Former colonial powers with developed economies were reduced from thriving colonies to independent ruins.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe. Prime Minister and President of Zimbabwe since 1980
Great Britain, in relation to Rhodesia, was guided by the principle NIBMAR (No Independence Before Majority Rule) - “Independence only after granting power to the majority.” However, Rhodesia already had 40 years of experience in building a democratic society in which both white and black populations determined their own future through constantly held elections. In 1964, the National Front party led by Ian Smith came to power in the country as a result of elections. In 1961, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) party was created. A year later, this organization was banned and went illegal, declaring a course to overthrow the existing ruling regime. And in 1963, as a result of the split in ZAPU, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) party was created, which also switched to armed opposition to the Rhodesian government. On November 11, 1965, after lengthy negotiations with London on dominion status that did not bring results, the government of Ian Smith announced the unilateral declaration of Rhodesian independence. The British government, like the governments of other countries, did not recognize the independence of Rhodesia. The UN Security Council decided to apply economic sanctions (selective since 1966, comprehensive since 1968) against Rhodesia. However, a number of countries ignored the UN Security Council resolution and continued to trade with Rhodesia through the territories of South Africa and Portuguese Mozambique. At the same time, since the declaration of independence, Rhodesia began to be attacked by the armed groups ZANU (leader R. Mugabe) and ZAPU (D. Nkomo) both directly from Rhodesian territory itself and from the territories of Mozambique, Botswana and Zambia. Representatives of partisan-terrorist groups attacked farms and border villages, destroying all living things. Black leaders declared a "chimurenga" (war of liberation). Using the extensive experience of the Rhodesian commandos in North Africa during the Second World War, the government and military leadership of Rhodesia created special units to fight black guerrillas - the Selous Scouts.
The position of Great Britain and the UN sanctions against the government of Ian Smith were also supported by the United States. The socialist countries did not stand aside, branding the “racist regime” in Rhodesia with shame. The USSR, China and North Korea began to provide military and financial assistance to black partisans. At first, Moscow, Beijing and Pyongyang did not advertise their actions in this matter, but gradually began to act openly. At the end of the 70s, the USSR developed a plan for a full-scale invasion of Rhodesia, using for this purpose all the ZANLA and ZIPRA detachments located on the territory of Mozambique, Zambia, and Botswana, but did not manage to implement it. Great Britain also provided comprehensive assistance to the leaders of the partisan movement. Thus, a heavy guerrilla war was organized on the territory of Rhodesia. The leaders of the guerrilla groups were Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo. These figures led two wings of the Patriotic Front that hated each other. The only thing common to these “independence fighters” was the desire to begin building socialism after coming to power. Mugabe focused on Beijing, Nkomo on Moscow. ZANU and ZAPU received large amounts of financial assistance from the Soviet Union, China and North Korea. Military advisers from the USSR, China and North Korea trained sabotage groups of black partisans, and Great Britain, in particular, secretly supplied them with weapons. The militants also underwent training in Soviet and North Korean military camps. However, the Rhodesian army fought brilliantly. The raids on the partisan rear were extremely professionally organized and extremely effective. Over the 7 years of its existence, the commandos of the Sauls Scout Regiment exterminated up to 70% of the partisans operating in Rhodesia. However, despite the success of the army, the country fought alone with almost the entire world, and this could not continue for long. Along with the fighting, the process of negotiations also took place. As a result, in the late 70s, the parties came to a decision to create a government of national unity. As a result of elections held on June 1, 1979, Bishop Abel Muzorewa became the new prime minister, and the country became known as Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. Sanctions on Rhodesia should have been lifted. However, due to the US position, the sanctions were not lifted. American President Carter, who gave his word to unilaterally lift sanctions immediately after the election of a government of national unity in Rhodesia, was influenced by the position of US envoy to the UN Andrew Young, who promised Carter, in return for refusing to lift sanctions, support from the OAU states, and at the same time, votes the black population of America in the elections. There was no place for Mugabe and Nkomo in the Muzorewa government, and they refused to recognize the election results, threatening a resumption of hostilities. Under pressure from London, the Muzorewa government resigned, and in 1980 new elections were held in Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, which Robert Mugabe won. The election slogan of this “freedom fighter” does not leave anyone indifferent - “Vote for us or you will die along with your whole family!” The elections were accompanied by numerous frauds and violence against civilians. However, under the watchful eye of representatives of the British Commonwealth, the Rhodesian army units were disbanded. This did not affect the black partisan detachments. The former Rhodesia became known as the Republic of Zimbabwe.
After Mugabe came to power, he began to have differences with Nkomo, who received a minor position in the government and was excommunicated from financial flows. Immediately after the victory, Mugabe concluded a military agreement with North Korean leader Kim Il Sung. North Korean instructors trained Mugabe's personal special forces - the 5th Parachute Brigade. Nkomo was accused of attempting to seize power and fled the country. Nkomo's supporters (mainly representatives of the Matabele people, Nkomo relied on them) rebelled. The 5th Parachute Brigade went through the places where these people lived in a devastating raid, as a result of which from 50 to 100 thousand people were killed. However, Mugabe subsequently allowed Nkomo to return to the country, on the condition that ZAPU merged with ZANU. Thus Zimbabwe became a one-party state. In 1987, Mugabe abolished the post of prime minister and declared himself president of Zimbabwe. Political repressions were carried out in the country, affecting all sectors of society. The level of the economy began to fall catastrophically, and inflation grew. A huge number of the population were not just below the poverty line, but starving. As a result, Zimbabwe, from a developed country that provided the food needs of half of Africa, turned into a poor ex-colonial power dependent on foreign humanitarian aid.
The First World War revealed to the entire civilized world unprecedented bloodshed, the horror of gas attacks and the dreary nightmare of thousands of kilometers of trenches filled with liquid mud. One of the main and most characteristic features of that war was the extremely low mobility of the opposing armies: at the cost of the lives of hundreds or even thousands of soldiers, it was sometimes possible to advance a few kilometers deep into enemy territory. This situation drove professional soldiers on both sides into a state of impotent rage, since it was completely different from what was taught in military academies.
Trench mud is not capable of giving birth to heroes, but without heroes there cannot be a warring people: the ideologists of the state are obliged to regularly provide examples of heroism and devotion to their country, otherwise people give up from deprivation and aggressiveness disappears.
For the French, such a national hero was the young fighter pilot Georges Guynemer, who shot down fifty-four enemy aircraft and died heroically in the fall of 1917; For the British, the symbol of military romance at the end of the war unexpectedly turned out to be the eccentric in actions and hater of military uniforms, professional archaeologist and amateur intelligence officer Lawrence of Arabia, who led the partisan struggle of Arab tribes in the Turkish rear in the Middle East.
Germany was clearly losing the war and therefore needed heroes even more urgently. And in 1918 such a hero appeared - he became Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. The name of this officer is associated with the defense of the most valuable colony of the German Empire - German East Africa (today it is the territory of Tanzania).
Arriving in the country at the very beginning of 1914, Lettov-Forbeck did not yet know that he would have to spend several years here, waging a real partisan war. He was not inexperienced; he also cannot be called a white-handed staff theorist: back in 1904-1906, he fought quite successfully in South-West Africa (modern Namibia) with the rebel Herero and Hottentot tribes, and therefore knew perfectly well all the features of combat in the conditions African bush heaths. Even earlier, at the very turn of the century, in 1900-1901, he happened to participate in the suppression of the so-called “Boxer Rebellion” in China.
It was during this period that Lettov-Vorbeck managed to thoroughly study the tactical qualities of the British troops - then this knowledge was very useful to him when organizing partisan raids behind the British rear.
In August 1914, British ships bombarded the colonial capital of Dar es Salaam with main-caliber artillery, thereby demonstrating their serious intentions and clearly hinting at surrender.
The German governor had no intention of engaging in hostilities with the British, but was removed from his post by Colonel Lettow-Vorbeck, who, in fact, assumed full power in wartime conditions. The colonel moved north, leading his troops along the Kenyan border. At the same time, Lettov-Vorbeck’s small mobile detachments managed to inflict several defeats on the British in local battles.
At the beginning of November, the German colonial detachments were even able to repel an attempt to land eight thousand Anglo-Indian troops on the strategically important port of Tanga. It is significant that Lettow-Vorbeck had a little more than a thousand people under his command at that moment, most of them being native Askari soldiers.
However, the very next year, the colonel became convinced that the clear quantitative superiority of the British troops left the German troops with nothing else to do but conduct a classic guerrilla war and in every possible way avoid any more or less massive operations conducted in classical ways.
The main composition of the German colonial troops, as already mentioned, were detachments of native soldiers called askari. Lettov-Vorbeck even managed to organize several permanent training camps for askari training.
Conducting a long armed struggle in a state of complete isolation from the metropolis presented many difficulties, including those relating to purely local characteristics. For example, it was very difficult for the Germans to prepare a large number of askari at once, since the local Africans reacted very sensitively to the military situation and intuitively sided with the stronger ones. The Askari also had their own customs and habits, to which the Europeans inevitably had to adapt.
For example, Lettow-Vorbeck himself mentions the following incident in his memoirs: during a difficult night climb to Mount Casigao, which took place in extremely difficult conditions, one of the askaris noticed that a German officer had severely scratched his face while wading through thorny bushes.
The reaction of the native soldier was peculiar: he took off his stocking, which he had not changed for five days, and carefully wiped his officer’s face with it. To the German’s credit, he was only slightly surprised by the eccentric act of his subordinate. The askari himself immediately explained that this was an ancient military custom and that this was done only for true friends.
In general, it was a somewhat strange war, especially if you compare it with what was happening at that time in the European theater of operations. To serve each European during partisan raids, there were five to seven colored servants. One person prepared food and acted as an orderly, while the rest carried supplies of clothing, food, a tent, a bed and other things. The main difference between peacetime and wartime for a German officer traveling in East Africa was that under normal peacetime conditions he would have been accompanied by approximately twice as many colored servants.
But despite everything, the few Kaiser officers managed to form strong and effective colonial troops in battle, quite capable of conducting active guerrilla operations in local conditions.
Empirically, the Germans came to the conclusion that they should not disperse their main forces, but act primarily in small patrols. “Later on, these patrols were highly valued. From Engare Nerobi, small mixed detachments of 8 to 10 Europeans and Askaris bypassed the enemy camps, which had advanced to Longido, and acted on his communications with the rear.
Thanks to the booty taken from Tanguy, we had telephone sets; these detachments included them in the English telephone wires and waited until larger or smaller enemy detachments or ox-drawn transports passed by. The enemy was fired upon from an ambush from a distance of 30 meters, prisoners and booty were taken - and the patrol disappeared again into the endless steppe.”, Lettov-Forbeck later wrote.
When, as a result of several raids, it was possible to obtain a certain number of horses and mules, two cavalry companies were formed, which, in the form of a fairly strong partisan detachment, were sent on long searches across the vast steppe regions located north of Mount Kilimanjaro.
This detachment reached the Uganda and Magadh railways, destroying bridges, attacking guard posts, blowing up railway tracks and carrying out other kinds of sabotage on the routes of communication between the railway and enemy camps.
At the same time, foot patrols sent into the areas east of Kilimanjaro had to advance on foot for many days through dense bush and enemy guards to carry out the same tasks. They usually consisted of one or two Europeans, three or four askaris and five or seven porters. Their raids sometimes lasted more than two weeks.
Lettov-Forbeck recalled the actions of these foot patrols as follows: “They had to make their way through enemy guards, and were often betrayed by native spies. Despite this, they mostly achieved their goal, sometimes spending more than two weeks in the raid. For such a small number of people, one killed animal or small catch represented significant help. Despite this, the deprivation and thirst in the unbearable heat were so great that many times people died of thirst. The situation was bad when someone fell ill or was injured; often, despite all the desire, there was no way to transport it. Transporting the seriously wounded from the Ugandan railway across the entire steppe to the German camp, if this happened, presented incredible difficulties. Colored people understood this, and there were cases when a wounded askari, fully aware that he was being left to be devoured by numerous lions, did not complain when he was abandoned in the bushes, but, on the contrary, gave weapons and cartridges to his comrades, so that at least they died. This patrol activity became more and more refined. Familiarity with the steppe grew, and along with patrols that acted secretly, avoided clashes and dealt with explosions on railways, combat patrols developed their activities. They, consisting of 20-30 or more askari, sometimes armed with one or two machine guns, looked for the enemy and tried to inflict losses on him in battle. At the same time, in the dense bushes, things came to such unexpected collisions that our askari sometimes literally jumped over the lying enemy and thus reappeared in his rear. The influence of these enterprises on the development of enterprise and readiness for battle was so great among Europeans and coloreds that after a series of successes it would be difficult to find an army with a better fighting spirit..
By organizing such sabotage raids, German officers successfully used the excellent hunting abilities and warlike spirit of the askari for their own purposes. In addition, the vanity of the Africans was actively used: all native soldiers who distinguished themselves in battle promptly received awards or promotions. Such a competent approach to working with “human material” could not but bear fruit: throughout the war, black soldiers were distinguished by amazing trust and affection for their German officers.
Gradually, the tactics and equipment of the German “partisans” improved. “Our equipment also did not remain idle. Clever fireworks makers and gunsmiths, together with factory engineers, constantly produced new devices suitable for damaging railways. Some of these mechanisms exploded only after a certain number of axles had passed over them.
With the help of the last device, we counted on the destruction of steam locomotives, since the British, for the sake of safety, began to place one or two platforms loaded with sand in front of them. Dynamite was available in large quantities as an explosive material on the plantations, but the explosive cartridges captured at Tang were much more effective.”
Somewhat surprised by such stubborn resistance from insignificant German forces, the British began to develop attacks on German troops in the area of Mount Kilimanjaro. But Lettov-Vorbek, meanwhile, evacuated most of his troops and the most valuable equipment to the south and began to prepare without haste for the continuation of the partisan war.
The British were forced to remember the lessons of the Anglo-Boer War and develop counterinsurgency tactics in order to protect the strategically important Ugandan railway. The British entrusted the conduct of this “special operation” to a specialist - the former leader of the Boer rebels during the Anglo-Boer War, General Jan Smuts.
“On both sides of the railway, the British cleared wide strips, which were fenced off on the outer edge with a continuous clearing of thorny bushes. Then, approximately every two kilometers, strong blockhouses, or fortifications, equipped with artificial obstacles, were built, from which patrols had to constantly inspect the railway track. Special detachments were kept on standby, a company force or more, for immediate transfer on special trains upon receipt of a message about an attack on any point on the railway. In addition, covering detachments were sent in our direction, which tried to cut off our patrols as they returned from the railway - as soon as spies or posts located on elevated points reported this,”- Lettov-Forbek later recalled.
Looking ahead, let's say that all these measures by the British did not ultimately yield any comforting results. And even the experience of the former partisan General Smuts could not significantly change the overall picture of the “small war” in East Africa. Here we see, by the way, one of the most obvious paradoxes of guerrilla warfare: even very experienced leaders of the partisan movement, having become generals of the regular army, in the fight against partisans began to make exactly the same mistakes and blunders as their long-time opponents.
At the heights southeast of Casigao and up to the seashore and further in the area of coastal settlements, English camps were also located, against which, in turn, the actions of German patrols and “flying squads” were directed. Lettow-Vorbeck sought to continually harm the enemy, forcing him to take defensive measures and thus tie up his forces right here, in the area of the Ugandan railway.
For this purpose, strong points were created for German combat patrols; primarily from the coast to Mbujuni (on the Taveta - Voi road). The same work was carried out in the more northern region. The enemy camp at Mzima on the upper reaches of the Tsavo River and its communications with the rear along this river were constant targets of sabotage carried out both by patrols and by larger detachments of Germans.
Nevertheless, in March 1916, General Smuts, with the support of British and Belgian troops, launched a decisive offensive in two columns from the border with Kenya into the depths of German possessions. By August, Boer units reached the Morogoro Mountains and cut the railway connecting the port of Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika with the sea coast. To avoid being surrounded, the Germans were forced to leave Dar es Salaam to the enemy and retreat south to the Rufiji River valley.
However, this was where the main successes of the Boers ended: the people were exhausted by difficult transitions, and besides, it is unlikely that all the Boers from the recent enemies of the British Empire became its ardent allies, ready to give their lives for the Queen of England. Soon General Smuts himself was recalled from Africa, and most of the South Africans left after him.
Leaving East Africa, Jan Smuts was sincerely confident that Lettow-Vorbeck would not last long, but everything turned out quite the opposite. After the departure of Smuts, the British chief specialist in combating partisans, the Germans were left with only one main enemy - a lack of food, ammunition and fodder.
However, the German “rangers” have already learned to cope with all these difficulties. Food supplies were replenished with the help of hunting teams that hunted buffalos, elephants and antelopes in the steppe. Sugar was replaced with a large amount of wild honey, and salt was obtained by evaporating sea water on the shore. African women spun fabric from local cotton that was used for clothing, workshops made shoes from the skin of killed animals, and local craftsmen even learned to make diesel fuel from coconuts.
Several German missionary hospitals located in the south were quickly and effectively repurposed, turning into field hospitals that provided invaluable assistance to Lettow-Vorbeck’s “partisans.” It is significant that the Germans even managed to establish a continuous production of quinine, the main remedy at that time for the fight against tropical fever and malaria: a rare European could not get sick from these common ailments in tropical conditions.
Lettow-Vorbeck's tactics and strategy fully fit into the canons of classical guerrilla warfare - in an organized retreat before superior enemy forces, German troops were constantly looking for opportunities to inflict damage on their enemy. However, the inner ferment of the Prussian officer, brought up on the theory of “classical” war by Clausewitz, sometimes made itself felt, and then Lettov-Vorbeck ventured into open battle.
So, in October 1917, having received information from his scouts, he secured a position near the village of Mahiva that was advantageous and well adapted for defense. The frontal attacks of the British expected by the Germans were not long in coming. The commander of the British units in this area, General Beaves, usually did not indulge his opponents in tactical delights, preferring to hit the enemy in the strongest place and rush forward through the defense, regardless of any losses.
The result of such tactics was not long in coming: in four days of fighting, the British lost more than one and a half thousand people (a quarter of the corps), while the Germans had only about a hundred people killed and missing; Numerous trophies were captured, including ammunition and even machine guns, precious for any partisan.
Despite the obvious success, these losses, absolutely miniscule by the standards of a major war, forced the colonel to think about how he could continue to fight, since the loss in ammunition, weapons, manpower and especially in competent officers was extremely difficult to make up.
July 1918 saw another operational success for the Germans and their black Askaris, who captured one of the most important railway junctions. In order to throw off the trail of the pursuing British units and avoid a difficult crossing of the large Zambezi River, the Germans abruptly changed the direction of their movement and quickly marched north.
However, the unexpected happened here: the blow was struck by an invisible and merciless enemy - the Spanish flu, which was widespread at that time. Most of the German troops were affected by this infectious disease. After the epidemic, Lettov-Vorbeck had only less than two hundred Germans and about one and a half thousand askari at his disposal.
Trying with all his might to break away from the enemy and give a respite to the soldiers weakened after the epidemic, the colonel led his troops across the northern shore of Lake Nyasa into the territory of British Rhodesia. The fact that this new partisan raid was quite successful is evidenced by the following fact: on November 11, 1918, on the very day when Germany, exhausted by the war, was forced to agree to a truce, the Kaiser’s colonial troops under the command of Lettow-Vorbeck took the inhabited Kasama point.
But this was already the last military success of the German “partisans” - the next day, British General Deventer, commander-in-chief of the military forces of the region, officially notified Lettow-Vorbeck of the cessation of hostilities.
In Germany, the colonel was greeted as a national hero. Already here he learned that the strategy he had developed brilliantly justified itself. Such classic techniques of guerrilla warfare as operational flexibility and tactical improvisation, the use of the enemy's numerical superiority against himself and complete autonomy in the logistics of one's troops made it possible to retain a disproportionate number of allied forces in the secondary theater of operations.
In fact, in the best periods, the number of soldiers and officers at Lettow-Vorbeck did not exceed fourteen thousand people, while a group of more than three hundred thousand English, Belgian, Portuguese and South African troops acted against them.
On the strategic and geopolitical scale of the world war, Lettow-Vorbeck’s activities turned out to be almost unnoticeable. In this regard, a parallel immediately arises with another famous contemporary - Thomas Lawrence of Arabia, whose guerrilla strategy, although it allowed British troops to achieve operational success in Asia Minor, ultimately did not play any significant role on the scale of the entire war.
The post-war fate of Colonel Lettow-Vorbeck is quite typical for a Prussian officer of the old Kaiser school: immediately after his return from East Africa, he led the so-called “Free Corps” - volunteer detachments that suppressed the communist uprising in Hamburg. Then, while serving as commander of the Mecklenburg troops, he took part in the Kapp Putsch of 1920.
After the failure of the putsch, the colonel resigned, but over the next ten years he was regularly elected as a deputy of the Reichstag. Lettow-Vorbeck’s book “My Memoirs of East Africa,” written by him in the 1920s, did not have any literary value, since all the events were presented there in dry and clear military language, with a minimum of emotions and lyrical digressions.
At the same time, it cannot be said that these memoirs did not make any contribution to the theory of the “small war”: in the 1920-1930s, the Russian translation of the book by the Kaiser’s colonel was one of the main sources in the training of Soviet saboteurs - along with the books of Drobov, Karatygin, Denis Davydov and Lawrence of Arabia.
To Lettow-Vorbeck’s credit, it must be said that he never became a Nazi, although all his life, like most Germans of that time, he was a staunch nationalist. He categorically refused the position of ambassador in London offered to him by Hitler, so during the Second World War he lived under the guardianship of his daughter as a private citizen.
Having lost both sons during the war, Lettov-Vorbeck could not experience any warm feelings towards the Nazi regime. At the same time, he continued to maintain friendly relations with his former enemy Jan Smuts, whose food parcels from South Africa were very useful to the old soldier in the most difficult post-war years.
In 1964, shortly before his death, Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck again came to East Africa. The former askari, who had grown old together with their commander, gave him the warmest welcome. The former colonel once again walked through the sites of long-standing battles and raids that put him among the most successful partisan commanders in world military history.
PY.SY: When the famous General Lettow-Vorbeck died in 1964, the German Bundestag decided to take a beautiful step - to find the surviving black German partisans in Africa and pay them a bonus for their selfless service to the Empire.
A bank representative flew to Tanzania, to the city of Dar es Salaam. And there he encountered a difficulty - HOW (!?) can one determine that this elderly man fought under the command of a legendary commander? A lot of time has passed - 46 years. Many fighters have already died. No one has any supporting documents left.
Then the old black soldiers began to bring shabby pieces of German uniform - as a sign of confirmation of their service. But, unfortunately, this could not serve as proof.
And then the banker found a way out. He himself was a participant in the First World War. And he began to check everyone who came for money on their knowledge of drill training and on the correct execution of commands. It turned out that none of the blacks FORGOT a single command in German.
“Be equal!”, “Humble!”, “Left!”, “To the right!”, “Circle!”, “Charge!”, “Cut-cut!”, “ stop! one-two!” - the old soldiers did all this correctly and with great enthusiasm. For which they received the promised bonus.
So, military drill is not forgotten! Drill – it’s drill in Africa too
Little is said about this, but during the Cold War, the USSR defended its interests not only in the countries of the social bloc, but also in distant Africa. Our military has been involved in many African conflicts, the largest of which was the civil war in Angola.
Unknown War
For a long time it was not customary to talk about the fact that the Soviet military fought in Africa. Moreover, 99% of USSR citizens did not know that there was a Soviet military contingent in distant Angola, Mozambique, Libya, Ethiopia, North and South Yemen, Syria and Egypt. Of course, rumors were heard, but they were treated with restraint, not confirmed by official information from the pages of the Pravda newspaper, as tales and speculation.
Meanwhile, only through the 10th Main Directorate of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces from 1975 to 1991, 10,985 generals, officers, warrant officers and privates passed through Angola. During the same time, 11,143 Soviet military personnel were sent to Ethiopia. If we also take into account the Soviet military presence in Mozambique, then we can talk about more than 30 thousand Soviet military specialists and rank and file on African soil.
However, despite such a scale, the soldiers and officers who fulfilled their “international duty” were as if non-existent, they were not given orders and medals, and the Soviet press did not write about their exploits. It was as if they were not there for official statistics. As a rule, the military cards of participants in African wars did not contain any records of business trips to the African continent, but simply contained an inconspicuous stamp with the unit number, behind which the 10th Directorate of the USSR General Staff was hidden. This state of affairs was well reflected in his poem by the military translator Alexander Polivin, who wrote during the battles for the city of Quitu Cuanavale
"Where have you and I taken us, my friend?
Probably a big and necessary thing?
And they tell us: “You couldn’t be there,
And the land did not turn red with the blood of Russian Angola"
The first soldiers
Immediately after the overthrow of the dictatorship in Portugal, on November 11, 1975, when Angola received its long-awaited independence, the first military specialists, forty special forces and military translators appeared in this African country. After fighting colonial forces for fifteen years, the rebels were finally able to come to power, but that power still had to be fought for. At the helm of Angola was a coalition of three national liberation movements: the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA). The Soviet Union decided to support the MPLA. With the departure of the Portuguese, Angola became a real battleground for geopolitical interests. The MPLA, which was supported by Cuba and the USSR, was opposed by UNITA, FNLA and South Africa, which, in turn, were supported by Zaire and the USA.
What did they fight for?
What did the USSR achieve when it sent its “African special forces” to distant lands, to distant Africa? The goals were primarily geopolitical. Angola was seen by the Soviet leadership as an outpost of socialism in Africa; it could become our first enclave in South Africa and could resist the economically powerful South Africa, which, as is known, was supported by the United States.
During the Cold War, our country could not afford to lose Angola; it was necessary to do everything in our power to help the new leadership of the country, to make the country a model African socialist state, oriented in its political tasks to the Soviet Union. In terms of trade relations, Angola was of little interest to the USSR; the countries' export areas were similar: timber, oil and diamonds. It was a war for political influence.
Fidel Castro once succinctly said about the importance of Soviet assistance: “Angola would not have had any prospects without the political, logistical and technical assistance of the USSR.”
What and in what did you fight?
From the very beginning of the USSR's military participation in the African conflict, they were given carte blanche to conduct military operations. This was reported by a telegram received from the General Staff, which indicated that military specialists have the right to take part in hostilities on the side of the MPLA and Cuban troops.
In addition to the “manpower”, which consisted of military advisers, officers, warrant officers, privates, sailors and combat swimmers (the USSR sent several of its military ships to the shores of Angola), weapons and special equipment were also supplied to Angola.
However, as Sergei Kolomnin, a participant in that war, recalls, there were still not enough weapons. However, the opposing side also lacked it. Most of all, of course, there were Kalashnikov assault rifles, both Soviet and foreign (Romanian, Chinese and Yugoslav) assembled. There were also Portuguese Zh-3 rifles left over from colonial times. The principle of “we will help in any way we can” was manifested in the supply to Angola of reliable, but somewhat outdated by that time PPD, PPSh and Degtyarev machine guns that had remained since the Great Patriotic War.
The uniform of the Soviet military in Angola was without insignia; at first it was customary to wear the Cuban uniform, the so-called “verde olivo”. It was not very comfortable in the hot African climate, but military personnel, as a rule, do not choose their wardrobe. Soviet soldiers had to resort to military ingenuity and order lighter uniforms from tailors. Lieutenant General Petrovsky once planned to make changes to the ammunition at the official level, add insignia to it and change the material, but his proposals were met with hostility by the command. People were dying on the Angolan fronts; dealing with issues of uniform in such conditions was considered frivolous.
Change of course
We missed Angola, as well as Lebanon and other African countries. Now we can talk about this. When the USSR collapsed and the political course in the country changed, our military contingent was recalled from Africa. A holy place, as we know, is never empty. The President of the same Angola, Dos Santos (who, by the way, graduated from the University of Baku and is married to a Russian) had to look for new allies. And, not surprisingly, it turned out to be the United States.
The Americans immediately stopped supporting UNITA and switched to helping the MPLA. Today, American oil companies operate in Angola, Angolan oil is supplied to China, and Brazil has its own interests in Angola. At the same time, Angola itself remains one of the poorest countries in the world with a poverty rate of 60 percent, outbreaks of the HIV epidemic and total unemployment.
Soviet Africa turned out to be an unfulfilled dream, and several hundred Soviet soldiers who came there to fulfill their “international duty” will never return.
Oleg Valetsky
01.04.2014 - 15:41
Africa in the 90s plunged into the chaos of wars of all against all, despite the end of the Cold War.
In Angola, initially after reaching an agreement on a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Cuban troops from the territory of the country, a UN mission (UNAVEM - United Nations Angola Verification Mission) was created. In May 1991, the mission was transformed into UNAVEM-2. Under her control, elections were held in September 1992, the results of which were recognized by the UN, but not recognized by the opposition UNITA. As a result, fighting resumed in October 1992, and UNITA forces almost took Luanda.
In March 1993, UNITA forces captured the city of Soyo on the Angolan coast, where there was a large oil refining center and oil terminals. To regain control of the city, the Angolan government hired the South African private military company Executive Outcomes, which transferred fifty of its employees there.
In June 1993, the company signed two contracts with the Angolan government, each worth $40 million, to train the Angolan Army and train Angolan Air Force pilots. The contracts were paid for with funds from Western oil companies, as well as the provision of oil concessions. Executive Outcomes hired five thousand military veterans in South Africa, most of them black.
To support operations, the company received MiG-23 fighter-bombers and Mi-17 helicopters from the Angolan government. The company also received the 16th brigade of the Angolan army under its control.
As a result of the combat operation developed and carried out by this company and its subordinate forces from November 1994 to January 1996, UNITA forces were seriously defeated. As a result, the UNITA leadership agreed to negotiations. However, under US pressure, Executive Outcomes was forced to curtail its activities in Angola.
"Executive Outcomes"
It is noteworthy that the famous South African company De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd., founded by Cecil Rhodes in 1888 and controlling 80% of the world's diamond production and almost the entire diamond market, had Lebanese traders as its main partners in the Congo and West Africa. One of the most influential of them was Imad Bakri, who was the main supplier of weapons to UNITA, so the cool attitude of representatives of the De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. company is understandable. to the activities of the company “Executive Outcomes”.
In Angola, by 1995, the number of UNITA reached 63 thousand people. Plans for its demobilization, provided for in the Lusaka agreement of November 20, 1994, were not implemented.
Although UNITA suspended hostilities, its troops continued to hold the diamond-mining regions of Angola. The UN peacekeeping force was reorganized into UNAVEM-3 in February 1995, and from July 1997 into MONUA (Missao de Observasao das Nacoes Unidas em Angola).
In June 1998, after a plane crash due to unclear circumstances, in which several leaders of the UN mission in Angola were killed, UNITA forces went on the offensive and captured several settlements. In December 1998, a full-scale war began in Angola. The UN mission had little success and was closed in February 1999 at the request of the Angolan government. In the fall of 1999, Angolan government forces went on the offensive, inflicting a serious defeat on UNITA, capturing its supply bases and center in Andulo.
In January 1995, Executive Outcomes received a contract from the government of Sierra Leone to train the Sierra Leonean army and, in fact, to conduct combat operations against the rebels of the Revolutionary United Front, who by that time had entered the capital of Sierra Leone. Leone Freetown and seized control of the Sierra Rutile titanium oxide and Sierramoco bauxite mines.
Executive Outcomes in Sierra Leone
It was assumed that the company was paid for each month of combat operations in the amount of from $1 million to $1.2 million. In its activities, the company used three Mi-17 and one Mi-24 helicopters, purchased in Russia and piloted first by Belarusian and Russian crews, and then and South African crews.
Helicopter of the PMC "Executive Outcomes" in Sierra Leone
Executive Outcomes has sent up to 300 of its employees to Sierra Leone. In April-May 1995, Freetown was cleared of rebels, and in August of the same year, the Koibu diamond-bearing area was also cleared of rebels by the company's forces. Later, the company's forces organized a helicopter landing on the headquarters of the United Revolutionary Front, as a result of which the headquarters was destroyed.
Another private military company, International Charter Incorporated-ICI, based in the US state of Oregon, was also involved in the operation in Sierra Leone. Its management consisted of former US special forces soldiers, whose task was, without drawing attention to the US role, to prepare a “peacekeeping” contingent of the Nigerian army and provide its combat and logistical support in the combat zone.
However, in practice, in Sierra Leone, the rebels, famous for the systematic cutting off of limbs and gouging out the eyes of their opponents (RUF militants are known to have killed 5 thousand people and amputated the arms, legs or gouged out the eyes of several thousand more), also attacked Nigerian troops, therefore The Americans also had to take part in the battles. The ICI company also used Mi-8 helicopters with “Russian” crews to work in Sierra Leone.
As a result, a peace agreement was signed in Sierra Leone in November 1996, and in February 1997 the contract with the company was terminated by the Sierra Leone government.
In 1998, another PMC, the American company MPRI, received a contract from the Pentagon to train the armed forces of Equatorial Guinea, and in 2000, MPRI received a contract to reform the Nigerian army.
The emergence of Western PMCs in Africa was caused by similar problems, because UN peacekeeping troops showed their ineffectiveness in Africa, deprived of the former colonial system of governance. An example is the war in Rwanda, where in October 1990 an uprising of the Hutu tribe, who made up the majority of the population of Rwanda, broke out against the ruling Tutsi tribe. The Rwandan army and the militia armed forces of the Hutu tribe - “Interahamwe” - began pogroms of the Tutsi tribe, during which, according to various sources, from 500 thousand to 1 million Tutsis were killed. The Tutsis organized themselves into the Rwandan Patriotic Front and were able to go on the offensive and, with the help of Uganda, seize power. In neighboring Burundi, where the Tutsis came to power, while the Hutu, divided into several factions, launched a guerrilla war, relying on support from Zaire and Angola, a civil war also began in 1993, in which 200 thousand people died, and 1200 thousand . turned out to be refugees.
The UN Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR) appeared only in October 1993 on the basis of UN Security Council Resolution 872. Its strength was 2548 people with a gradual increase to 5820 people. By May 1994, relative security had been established, but only in the Kibuye-Jikongoro-Syangugu triangle in the area of responsibility of the French military contingent. However, peacekeeping troops were unable to prevent a new massacre in April 1995 in the Tutsi refugee camp in Kibeho. As a result, Ugandan troops intervened in the conflict and entered Rwandan territory. As a result, the UN mission in Rwanda was closed.
As a result, both Tutsi refugee camps and Hutu refugee camps ended up on the territory of neighboring Zaire, which served as a mobilization base for the creation of armed groups. These units became participants in the civil war in Zaire (Congo) between the rebels of Laurent Kabila, who was supported by the Americans, and President Mobutu of Zaire, who was supported by the French. Laurent Kabila was from the province of Katanga and one of the members of Patrice Lumumba's movement. Kabila was also in an allied relationship with one of the Tutsi leaders in Rwanda, Paul Kagame, the Minister of Defense of Rwanda, who later became its president. The President of Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko, was hostile to the Tutsi, who were on the territory of Zaire and posed a constant threat to him, and supported the Hutus.
On October 7, 1996, the vice-governor of the province of South Kivu in eastern Zaire issued a decree ordering the expulsion of all Tutsis from his province within six days. This caused a Tutsi uprising. Already on October 10th, Tutsis attacked a Hutu refugee camp near the city of Lemera, and then the uprising expanded throughout Eastern Zaire. The ADSO movement (Alliance des Forces Democratiques poor la Liberation du Congo-Zaire) was created, led by Leon Kabila, which included both Tutsi units and units subordinate directly to Kabila, including tribal militias of the Bantu tribe of the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu - so-called Mai-Mai. The total number of ADSO forces reached tens of thousands of people.
The army of Zaire, as it quickly became clear, was unable to resist the Tutsi. For Mobutu, only the presidential guard - DSP, a separate military intelligence unit - SARM, the Dragon special forces battalion and the airborne corps with a total strength of up to 15 thousand people were combat-ready. The rest of the army of Zaire, as well as the gendarmerie forces numbering up to 100 thousand people, showed themselves to be incapable of combat. Fifty tanks, up to two hundred armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, as well as a dozen MB-326 light attack aircraft and five Mirage-5 fighters were inoperative.
ADSO rebel forces, with the support of the Rwandan army, established control over eastern Zaire within a month, capturing the cities of Uvira, Bukawa and Goma, and destroyed the Hutu camps there in the battles of Mungunga in November 1996. At the same time, ADSO forces enjoyed the support of units of the Ugandan army, which was pursuing units of the Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces movement, which enjoyed the support of Sudan. In addition, ADSO forces received support from the Angolan army. The American PMC MPRI, which trained units of the armies of Uganda and Rwanda and commanded artillery units, also provided assistance to the ADSO rebels.
After the capture of Eastern Zaire in December, the city of Kisangani was besieged, and on December 12, Kabila declared a truce. However, Mobutu, returning from Switzerland, gave the order to launch a counter-offensive on December 18 in the Bunia-Beni and Fizi-Baraka directions. However, the counterattack was repulsed. Mobutu then announced mobilization, managing to “put under arms,” according to Konovalov, up to 26 thousand people. The army of Zaire was trained by instructors from France and Israel. Since there were two French reconnaissance groups in Zaire - one from the 13th Parachute Regiment, and the second from the Commando landing group, Mobutu entered into an agreement with French military intelligence on the creation of the White Legion, led by the Belgian mercenary Christian Tavernier . The legion was recruited from three hundred people from France, Belgium and Italy, and the bulk were mercenaries from Bosnian and Croatian Serbs - veterans of the 1991-95 war in the former Yugoslavia.
Kabila's Serbian mercenaries
According to the materials of the trial that took place in 2012 on the fact of war crimes in Bosnia against one of the participants of this legion - Franz Kos, a Slovenian by nationality, a soldier of the 10th sabotage detachment of the army of the Republika Srpska, the recruitment in Serbia was carried out by a French intelligence officer Yugoslav Petrusic - a Serb nationality, acting in coordination with the military security of the Republika Srpska Army and the Serbian State Security Directorate.
The bulk of one hundred and twenty mercenaries, recruited in two sets, were veterans of the 10th sabotage detachment, whose commander Milorad Pelemish was also in the legion. The recruitment was carried out through the Geolink company, one of whose owners is Slobodan Lazarevich, a former military security officer in the army of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, who testified against Slobodan Milosevic in favor of Croatian Army General Ante Gotovina during the trial at the International Tribunal in The Hague.
When in the fall of 2011, Slobodan Lazarevic, who also had French citizenship, together with French citizen Philippe Verdon, was captured in Mali by local al-Qaeda, it turned out that both Lazarevic and Verdon were employees of the French intelligence services.
Kabila's Serbian mercenaries
The White Legion included MI-24 helicopters with French and Belarusian pilots, French Puma Puma and Gazelle helicopters, as well as Galeb and Yastreb light attack aircraft purchased from Yugoslavia and Mirage-5 fighters that remained in service with the Zairean Air Force.
The legion was stationed in a training camp near Kisangani, from where its forces, together with a two thousand contingent of elite Zairian units, were to launch a counter-offensive on January 20, supported by ten thousand Hutu forces located south of Kisangani. In addition, another 2.5 thousand Zairian soldiers were stationed in the Kindu-Lokandou and Kalemie regions. Instructors of the White Legion were distributed among units of the Zairean army for their training.
Although at the beginning of the offensive, White Legion aircraft destroyed several columns of ADSO forces, and the forces of the legion and Zairian troops defeated one ADSO detachment near the village of Muengo, which was advancing on the city of Kindu, the offensive failed. Tavernier already on February 2nd withdrew all his forces from the front and concentrated them in Kisangani. However, after the city of Kindu was captured on March 1, Kisangani also fell on March 15, and the forces of the White Legion were evacuated to Kinshasa, and from there abroad.
By the spring of 1997, Kabila’s forces numbered 40 thousand people. In mid-May they entered Kinshasa. By then, Mobutu had resigned as president of Zaire.
On May 18, Leon Kabila proclaimed himself president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, returning the country to its old name, and on May 22, his forces established full control over the territory of the country. However, individual Hutu units continued to wage a guerrilla war against Kabila, and then the Mai-Mai tribes also opposed him.
In neighboring Congo, fighting also broke out in 1998 between the government forces of President Denis Sassou Nguesso, on the one hand, and the Ninja troops of former President Pascal Lissoube and the Zulu troops of former Prime Minister Bernard Kolele, on the other.
Two years later, fighting in the DRC resumed again, as Tutsi forces in the northeast of the country came into conflict with the Kabila government, receiving support from Uganda.
On August 2, 1998, DRC army units created from Tutsis, the 10th Infantry Brigade, stationed in Goma, and the 12th Infantry Brigade, stationed in Bukava, rebelled. A rebel detachment led by Colonel James Kabarere arrived by plane at the Keatona training camp in Bas-Congo, where 15 thousand former Mobutu soldiers were undergoing forced retraining, and raised an uprising against Kabila there.
Tutsi forces created the Congolese Movement for Democracy (Rassemblent Congolais pour la Democratie), which numbered about 50 thousand. fighters. Its disadvantage was the lack of armored vehicles, aircraft and heavy artillery. However, since the Tutsi forces were completely controlled by the leadership of Rwanda, the latter introduced a 12,000-strong military contingent into the territory of the DRC. The Angolan UNITA movement, whose 4,000-strong contingent was also in the DRC, became an ally of the rebels.
At the same time, Mobutu’s former forces created their own “Congo Liberation Movement (Mouvement de Liberation du Congo),” which was under the control of the Ugandan government, which also sent a 16,000-strong military contingent to the north of the DRC, controlled by this movement.
Uganda Army Military Police
Burundi also sent a 16,000-strong military contingent to help the rebels and allocated a group of river boats to support them.
The size of Leon Kabila's army was estimated at 140 thousand people, despite the fact that most of it fled and the backbone consisted of the presidential guard, military police forces, rapid reaction forces and the 50th Infantry Brigade with a total strength of 15 thousand people. These forces had two hundred armored vehicles. Hutu forces from Rwanda and Burundi, numbering 50 thousand people, also fought on Kabila’s side. But Kabila’s main force was the military contingents of Angola, which sent here a 5,000-strong military group with a large number of tanks and supported by aircraft. Zimbabwe also played an important role, sending up to 11 thousand troops as part of a commando regiment, an airborne regiment, a reconnaissance regiment and an armored cavalry regiment called Gray Scouts.
The Zimbabwe army was supplied with weapons by the British Bredenkamp, who also supplied weapons to Southern Rhodesia. Bredenkamp, thanks to Mugabe's support, played an important role in the Congo, first supplying Kabila with weapons, and after Kabila's victory, receiving cobalt mines for development.
The economic interests of Western TNCs were key in this war. The sending of Namibia's 200,000-strong military contingent here, as well as the participation of the Executive Outcomes PMC in hostilities, can only be explained by such interests. The participation of Chad in this war on the side of Kabila, who sent a 2,000-strong military contingent, is explained by the fact that this contingent was paid for by Libya, whose leadership apparently had its own interests in the DRC.
As a result, a new war began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between Tutsi armed groups, supported by troops from Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, and Kabila’s army and allied Hutu forces, as well as against units of the armies of Angola, Chad, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
The armored units of the Angolan army were able to repel the rebel advance on the capital, where paratroopers from Zimbabwe were sent, supported by AB-412 helicopters and F-7 (MiG-21) fighter-bombers.
Rwandan army units demonstrated their superiority over the Zimbabwean army, which tried to fight by relying on landings, which were often ambushed by Rwandan units.
Although a ceasefire agreement was signed on January 19, 1999 in Lusaka, Zambia, the insurgent offensive resumed after the end of the rainy season. The rebels advanced in the Lumumbashi, Mbuji-Mayi and Mbandaku directions. In the battles, heavy losses were suffered by the contingents of both Zimbabwe, whose battalion was defeated in the battles near Cabinda, and Uganda, which lost up to 230 troops in the battles for Mbuji-Mayi. On July 11, 1999, a peace agreement was signed in Lusaka, according to which all foreign troops were to withdraw from the DRC.
However, in August 1999, clashes began in the DRC both between the troops of Uganda and Rwanda in the Kisangani area, and between the Tutsi groups that supported them. The Congolese Movement for Democracy (Rassemblent Congolais pour la Democratie) split into two parts with headquarters in Kisangani and Goma.
Taking advantage of the clashes in the ranks of former allies, Leon Kabila brought the army to a strength of 56 thousand people and purchased a large number of weapons in the states of the former USSR and in the former Yugoslavia, as well as in China and the DPRK. Ten Su-25 attack aircraft were purchased from Georgia, and operational-tactical missile systems were purchased from Iran.
Congolese Su-25
Although an agreement was concluded on the deployment of UN military observers, this did not prevent the war from resuming, and in May 2000, Rwandan troops attacked Ugandan army units near Kisangani. Taking advantage of this, Hutu troops attacked the city of Uvira, which was under Tutsi control, in the same year 2000. Kabila's army, together with Zimbabwean troops, launched an offensive against Tutsi positions in Shaba province. However, the Angolan government refused to support Kabila and began peace negotiations with Rwanda and Uganda.
As a result, Tutsi forces and the Rwandan army launched a counter-offensive in Shaba province and captured the city of Pweto.
On January 16, 2001, Leon Kabila was assassinated in his residence by conspirators from the ranks of his own army. He was succeeded by his son Joseph Kabila.
In 2001-2002 There were no active hostilities. On September 27, under pressure from the United States, the Rwandan government began to withdraw troops from the DRC, but immediately fighting resumed in the DRC between Tutsis and Mai-Mai in the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu. In May 2003, armed clashes began between the Lendu and Hema tribes in the north-east of the DRC in the province of Ituri. The conflict that took place around the city of Bunia ended with the arrival of the French military contingent and UN troops, but fighting between the tribes continued.
On June 30, 2003, a peace was signed between Joseph Kabila and the Congolese Movement for Democracy (Rassemblent Congolais pour la Democratie) and the Congo Liberation Movement (Mouvement de Liberation du Congo), according to which Joseph Kabila retained command of the General Staff and The Navy, the “Congolese Movement for Democracy (Rassemblent Congolais pour la Democratie)” received control over the ground forces, the “Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (Mouvement de Liberation du Congo)” - over the Air Force, and the country was divided into ten military districts, headed by leaders tribal groups.
A 19,000-strong UN military contingent was stationed in the country. The economy of the DRC worked in such a way that Western TNCs, under the protection of PMCs, freely exploited mineral resources. This did not prevent a new Tutsi uprising in June 2004 in the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu. Colonel Laurent Nkunda, who led the uprising, had 5 brigades and for years resisted the weak army of the DRC, and in October 2007 he successfully repulsed the offensive of not only Kabila’s army, but also UN troops, despite the latter’s armored vehicles and air support from Indian helicopters Mi-35. Only on January 22, 2009, Colonel Nkunda was arrested during a special operation by the previously allied army of Rwanda.
In total, according to rough UN estimates, up to 4 million people died in the DRC during the 1996-2003 war.
The Americans' reliance on the armies of Senegal and Nigeria in West Africa and the armies of Uganda and Kenya in East Africa for use in peacekeeping missions did not justify itself. The superficial approach to their training, based on short-term courses, did not affect the essence of the African armies, so most of the financial resources allocated by the United States were simply stolen by the military-political elite.
The failure of the ECOMOG peacekeeping troops in Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone, the passive behavior of the African Union peacekeepers in Somalia prove that the Americans’ bet on the countries of the African continent is a losing cause. In this case, African countries do not have trained senior and partly middle-level command personnel capable of independently carrying out combat missions. In addition, the reduction in the size of the French military contingent in Africa to 5 thousand people dealt a serious blow to the ability of the US ally, France, to conduct independent operations in Africa. The “interregional forces” created from the armies of the countries of the former French colonies (Ghana, Namibia, Guinea, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Mauritania, Mali, Senegal and Portuguese-speaking Guinea-Bissau) turned out to be ineffective in practice, although several exercises were carried out these forces.
As a result, in Mali in 2012, the French had to send in their own troops again in order to prevent Islamic fundamentalists from coming to power.
French troops in Mali
Another pillar of the UN in Africa - South Africa - is not of key importance in UN peacekeeping operations in Africa, since, as a result of the UN policy in the fight against apartheid, South Africa no longer has the effective army that it had in the 80s, when its troops were able to during Operation Protea, put Cuban troops in danger of defeat.
It is absolutely clear that military security in Africa is a fragile thing and is ready to collapse at the very first large-scale offensive of the same Islamic fundamentalists from Sudan and Somalia with large-scale support from the outside, and even more so with the direct participation of military contingents from the countries of North Africa, the Near and Middle East, because There are simply no other forces on the African continent ready to upset the balance.
NATO currently does not have the required number of troops to participate in operations in Afghanistan. Its regional command South, headquartered in Naples, is currently only able to participate in relatively small peacekeeping operations in the Mediterranean and in the fight against illegal emigration. The same applies to the “Southern Euroforces” created within the “Western European Union”.
The only force currently in Africa is the United States, which created the military command in Africa - AFRICOM - in 2008. This command has a limited contingent of marines capable of solving problems in a single country, and focuses on training allied armies.
AFRICOM has deployed its activities in many African countries, such as Ethiopia, Sudan (in Darfur), Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, Seychelles, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Nigeria, Liberia, Cameroon, Gabon, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania . He launched the AFRICAP (Africa Peacekeeping) program, which provided for logistical support, education and training of the armed forces, construction, maritime security, provision of equipment, operational command, aviation surveillance with priority areas for the armed forces of South Sudan, peacekeeping forces of the African Union ( African Union - AU) in Somalia, as well as on the Armed Forces of the Government of Somalia, the Armed Forces of Congo (Zaire), Liberia and Sierra Leone and on the peacekeeping forces of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
On September 11, 2009, the US State Department announced that during the tender held within the framework of the AFRICAP program, for which $1.5 billion was allocated, contracts divided into equal parts of $375 million each were awarded to four companies - PSI (Protection Strategies Inc), DynCorp International, AECOM and PAE (Pacific Architects and Engineers). By and large, the main goal was to counter the threat to American interests from both the forces of radical Islam associated with Al-Qaeda and from Chinese expansion in Africa. For this purpose, another program was also implemented - ACOTA (Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance), which was under the control of the Pentagon. According to it, by the end of 2010, the command forces (about 3.5 thousand instructors) should train 75 thousand. soldiers of African armies. It was in this area that PMCs received contracts. For example, with the start of operations of the African Union forces in Somalia, PMCs MPRI and PAE received contracts to train military contingents from Uganda and Burundi, which formed the basis of the peacekeeping forces of the African Union - AMISOM.
Ugandan Army soldiers as part of the African Union peacekeeping force - AMISOM - in Somalia
In October 2011, the deployment of Kenyan army troops to southern Somalia began as part of the Kenyan army's Operation Protect the Nation. Its military contingent of 1,600 troops quickly began to increase, and Kenyan troops expanded their operations into the center of the country.
Kenya Army in Somalia
Taking advantage of this, the peacekeeping troops of the African Union - AMISOM, which by that time had reached a strength of 9 thousand people and included military advisers from the PAE Group PMC, in December 2011 - January 2012, attacked Al-Shabaab forces in Mogadishu , throwing them to the outskirts.
Al-Shabaab militants
The transition in the summer-autumn of 2012 of the military contingent of the Kenyan army, supported by aviation and helicopters, together with the armed forces of the transitional government of Somalia and the forces of the African Union - AMISOM - on the offensive against the forces of Al-Shabaab led to the fact that Al-Shabaab lost its positions near Mogadishu and in several key cities. However, the al-Shabaab command managed to maintain its organization and the bulk of its personnel, and its forces continued to conduct active combat operations.
The direction in which events will develop depends on the ability of the armies of Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Ethiopia to conduct combat operations in Somalia, because without their support the forces of the Transitional Government of Somalia are unable to resist the enemy. In addition, about 2.5 million Somalis live in Kenya. The Islamic community is influential here, which may contribute to the transfer of hostilities to Kenya.
Just how explosive the situation in Kenya is was shown by the riots that occurred in Kenya's main port of Mombasa after the murder of Sheikh Abud Rogo on August 27, 2012 by unknown assailants. The death of the sheikh, who was listed by the State Department as a person associated with al-Qaeda, sparked riots in Mombasa and clashes between Kenyan Muslims and Kenyan police. Several churches were burned by Muslim protesters during the clashes, which left several people dead. Armed attacks were carried out against the police using small arms and hand grenades, during which two police officers were killed and sixteen police officers were injured.
In Africa, due to the instability of the situation, the activities of PMCs are also important for ensuring the activities of various public and private Western corporations, including the protection of the areas where specialists of these companies live. For example, in Kenya, the G4S company has a strong presence in this area, and in Uganda, the Saracen company is active, hiring local personnel, as well as contracting out local security companies.
In Nigeria, especially in the Niger Delta, where there was a noticeable increase in the influence of Islamic fundamentalist groups (the most influential organizations of them: Boko Haram, Hizbah, Al-Sunna Wal Jamma, Muhammad Yusuf Movement) who advocate conducting an armed struggle against the “Christian” south and Western oil companies, the same kind of security activities are carried out by such PMCs as Control Risk, Erinys International, Armor Group, Triple Canopy.
Nigerian Army
The Nigerian Army, which is actively fighting against Boko Haram, also includes military advisers from the MPRI PMC, which was later renamed the Engility Corporation.
The ever-increasing efficiency in the actions of PMCs, which in Africa began to penetrate into places of armed conflicts even before the appearance of the American army there, suggests that they are becoming an independent factor in American politics.
In this case, the American army, rather, follows the developing political situation and, as threats grow, increases funding for training programs for the armies of African states.
Without going into questions of how much the policy of the modern international community contributes to the pacification of Africa, which, in fact, is more than obvious from the example of Libya, it should be noted that for PMCs in the context of ongoing wars, the main condition for the successful activities of PMCs is missing - the presence of military units of NATO armies or their extremely limited quantity. Thus, the situation, in some way, got out of control, and modern media exaggerate the degree of influence of American politics and the PMCs carrying out this influence on certain countries participating in wars.
The wars in Somalia, Sudan and Libya have raised new questions for modern private military companies, because in this case the situation is completely different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where these companies occupied such an important place. In this case, a significantly higher level of training of employees and organization of the activities of PMCs is required than was the case in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the operational management of these PMCs could, with one call to the headquarters of a neighboring American unit, solve all problems both in relations with the command of the local armed forces, and when attacked by enemy forces. In Africa, such a challenge is much more problematic, and therefore companies such as MPRI and PAE, whose management and employees have many years of experience in military service and participation not only in programs, are allowed to tender for contracts in accordance with the rules of the ACOTA Contract Procedure Guide training, but also in conducting special operations.
The organization of PMCs makes it possible to carry out short-term and, if necessary, long-term planning of operations, which is illustrative of the example of Africa, where the activities of PMCs are organically connected with the plans and activities of the AFRICOM command. Thus, training programs - POI (Program of instruction), prepared by MPRI and PAE companies, undergo a verification process in the AFRICOM command in accordance with the requirements of the rules for conducting peace support operations - PSO (Peace Support Operations). In addition, programs for engineering and sapper training for these operations are coordinated in mine action centers - MAC (Mine Action Centre), created at the initiative of the UN in a number of African countries.
Sappers of the African Union peacekeeping force - AMISOM - in Somalia
The selection of PMC employees for the ACOTA program is carried out by company management based on the requirements of the AFRICOM command and the acquired experience of the companies themselves. The use of PMCs allows the AFRICOM command to act more quickly, since the very dispatch of military units to train foreign armies requires a complex procedure in the US Congress and the US State Department.
However, what is happening in Africa will quite possibly become a familiar picture for the rest of the world over time.
As Clausewitz wrote, war is a continuation of politics, and any economy, in turn, depends on politics, which, in fact, gives scope for the activities of PMCs. At the same time, any policy also depends on national, racial and religious factors. The economies led by the British, Germans, Russians, Arabs, Tajiks, Americans and Brazilians operate on different principles. An important role is also played by which racial-national group makes up the bulk of the labor force, especially the skilled one.
The economic boom in Europe in the second half of the 20th century was used to settle millions of Africans, from whom the management created would bring Europe down to African levels. This will inevitably lead to the fragmentation of government bodies according to the scenario common in Africa and Asia. Simply put, the Western world will accept the vices characteristic of the Third World - tribalism and corruption, because the migrant environment, from which Angela Merkel recently called for recruiting more civil servants, is not much different in its psychology from the environment of its “national” states.
In such conditions, this will inevitably affect the Armed Forces of Western states, which are already degrading under the political pressure of left-liberal circles.
It is unlikely, of course, that the owners of modern TNCs are particularly concerned about such developments, because, apparently, they set the course for these events. However, in order to more effectively protect the interests of their own companies, they will obviously increasingly attract PMCs based on the last current incentive - money. This gives some operational space for similar activities to less influential forces in the world, in accordance with the assumptions of Jerusalem University professor Martin van Creveld, made in his book “Transformation of War” about the future “fragmentation” of war. Such “fragmentation,” according to Martin van Creveld, meant a whole range of different actions - from terrorist to guerrilla and from political extremism to economic sabotage. In such conditions, the activities of PMCs become an important factor in combat operations.
Ugandan employees of PMC “EODT” in Iraq
The US Army Charter FM 3-90.119, dedicated to the conduct of operations to combat IEDs, already considers PMCs to be an integral part of the operations of the US Army in a number of provisions.
In fact, a natural process is taking place when military strategy is determined not by politicians, but by the owners of TNCs. For the latter, Africa is now of increasing interest. And since it is generally difficult to use the American army due to the absence of a clearly defined enemy, modern PMCs play the role of a kind of operational mechanism for managing local African armed forces.
Interested parties can argue long and tediously about the fighting qualities of Italians. Especially during World War II. However, that’s not what we’re talking about. I want to talk about a little-known page - resistance to the Allied forces organized in East Africa by a group of Italian officers.
After the victory in the Ethiopian war of 1935-36. the so-called Italian East Africa, from which Mussolini planned to begin the creation of a second Roman Empire. Several tens of thousands of Italian troops were concentrated in the region, assisted by detachments from local residents. And this was already a real threat to British possessions in Somalia, Kenya, Egypt and Sudan. With Rome’s entry into the war, the Italians seriously intended to interrupt the artery connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean - the Suez Canal. Moreover, they captured British Somalia. After that, luck ran out - the British were angrier, and the Italians had serious supply problems. Within a few months, the British returned theirs and launched a successful offensive.
Even during the battles of 1940-41. Some Italian officers paid tribute to the convenience of guerrilla tactics, in particular using detachments from the local population.
So, on November 28, 1941, the last large Italian garrison in Africa, commanded by the Viceroy and Governor General of Italian East Africa, Guglielmo Nasi, capitulated. However, not all descendants of the legionnaires agreed that this was the end of their epic. Nearly 7,000 Italian soldiers continued to fight in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia against the British, hoping for an early victory for Rommel and the return of the shadow of the Lictor fasces over the entire Mediterranean. However, the stated number of partisans was probably an order of magnitude smaller in practice.
Moreover, the partisans were not even always Italians; often the last ones were only the commanders, the rest were representatives of local tribes. Major Gobbi's partisans operated in northern Ethiopia.
At the beginning of 1942, partisans appeared in Eritrea (Captain Aloisi's group helped Italian prisoners of war escape from British camps) and British Somalia. Most of the detachments obeyed the orders of General Muratori, who had previously headed the fascist militia in the colony). One of his main successes was inspiring the anti-British uprising of the Azebo-Galla tribe of the North Ethiopian Oromo people, which the British and Ethiopians managed to suppress only at the beginning of 1943.
In addition to the partisans themselves, there was also an Italian underground in Africa. Thus, Colonel Lucetti created the underground organization “Resistance Front” (Fronte di Resistenza) in large cities of the former Italian East Africa, which was engaged in espionage and sabotage. In turn, back in September 1941, the Blackshirts created the “Sons of Italy” (Figli d’Italia) organization in Ethiopia, which began terrorizing the British and Italians who cooperated with them.
There were other detachments - Colonel Calderari in Somalia, Colonel Di Marco in Ogaden (eastern Ethiopia), under Colonel Ruglio in Danakil (mountain system in northeastern Ethiopia, southern Eritrea and northern Djibouti), centurion of the Blackshirts (captain of the fascist militia) de Warde in Ethiopia. They acted quite successfully - the British had to transfer additional units from Sudan and Kenya to this area, including armored vehicles and aircraft. They also remembered the experience of the Boer War - a significant part of the Italians in the coastal regions of Somalia were driven into internment camps (including in order to prevent their interaction with Japanese submarines).
In addition, local support for the Italian resistance began to wane at the end of 1942 after Rommel's defeat at El Alamein. In addition, the partisans lacked modern weapons and ammunition. On the other hand, the partisans had a hidden ally from among yesterday’s enemies - the Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie I, who allegedly promised his support in exchange for concessions in the event of a victory for the German-Italian coalition in Africa. However, information about the negotiations is based on the memories of the participants and may be , so to speak, slightly embellished. Another serious blow to the underground was the arrest of Colonel Lucetti.
The resistance of the Italian partisans held out until the summer of 1943; some laid down their arms in the fall. The last of the partisan officers was Colonel Nino Tramonti, who fought in Eritrea.
The African partisans also had their own supermen - for example, Lieutenant Amedeo Guillet, nicknamed the “devil commander” by the British. The Amhara cavalry detachment he led tormented British posts and convoys, then he created a partisan detachment in Eritrea from representatives of the Tigrayan people.
In August 1943, having avoided capture, he managed to get home and even persuaded the Ministry of Defense to allocate a plane with ammunition for the Italians fighting in Eritrea. The plan failed only due to the signing of a truce with the Western allies by the command of the eccentric lieutenant.
Actually, the lieutenant has an extremely interesting biography, so let’s look at it in more detail. Amedeo came from a noble family originally from Piedmont and Capua, and graduated from the Academy of Infantry and Cavalry in Modena in 1930. An excellent horseman, he was a member of the Italian Olympic team at the 1936 Berlin Games. He then fought in Ethiopia and volunteered in the Spanish Civil War.
There he became an aide-de-camp to General Luigi Frusci (deputy commander of the Italian Volunteer Corps, then commander of the 20th Italian Friuli Division), without any help from influential relatives. Then, there in Spain, he commanded an arditi company (relatively speaking, special forces) in the Famme Nere division, then a Moroccan unit, received a Silver Medal for bravery. Then he served in Libya, where he was in favor with the local governor.
Upon returning to Italy, Guillet disapproved of the rapprochement of his homeland with the Reich and the growth of anti-Semitism in Italy, and therefore asked to go to East Africa. Here he was engaged, relatively speaking, in a counter-terrorism operation - leading the fight against rebels loyal to the exiled emperor Haile Selassie I. As you understand, this experience soon came in handy for him, only from the other side...
The detachment of 2,500 bayonets he created in 1940 was called Gruppo Bande Amhara and actively operated behind British lines. Bande is not our "gang", but an Italian name for irregular semi-partisan units formed from natives. So, this detachment consisted of only 6 European officers, several Eritrean corporals, the rest were Amhara cavalrymen (people in Ethiopia), mostly on camels, and Yemeni infantrymen. Keep in mind that Guillet was only a lieutenant, but managed to command such a large formation.
Then the lieutenant forms a 5,000-strong cavalry detachment of Eritreans, called Gruppo Bande a Cavallo or Gruppo Bande Guillet. The commander enjoyed unquestioned authority among his soldiers, and with his decisive and brave actions he had already spoiled so much blood for the British that he earned the already mentioned nickname “devil commander.” However, Guillet was a worthy opponent, he played, although devilishly cunning, but honestly, thanks to which he received two more nicknames - “The Knight from the Past” and “The Italian Lawrence of Arabia.”
At the end of 1940, the British drove the lieutenant and his brigade into a vice. And the lieutenant decided on the unthinkable - a mounted attack on British armored vehicles. Guillet personally led his subordinates in throwing hand grenades and Molotov cocktails at the enemy. The encirclement was broken. It is interesting that literally a year before, it was through the efforts of Italian war correspondents that a beautiful but unreliable legend was created about “reckless Poles attacking German tanks on horseback.”
Guillet's detachment suffered heavy losses in battles with superior enemy forces (about 800 people killed in two years), but continued to torment enemy positions. Amedeo never tired of emphasizing the valor of his subordinates, saying that “the Eritreans are the Prussians of Africa, but without the shortcomings of the Prussians.” After the defeat of the Italians in East Africa, he hid the uniform on an Italian farm and began his own war against the British, confirming his reputation as the “devil”. Even after his defeats, he managed to reach Yemen on his own (while working as a laborer and water seller), where he befriended the son of an imam and trained local soldiers. And from there I got out to Italy on a Red Cross ship.
As you know, Guillet was unable to return to Eritrea, but he was promoted to major and assigned to military intelligence. And here is another scenario for an action-packed series - due to the fact that Italy was no longer an ally of the Reich, Amedeo is assigned as a liaison to the British intelligence services. Moreover, he began to cooperate and even became friends with Colonel Harari.
And he, by the way, commanded exactly that commando detachment that unsuccessfully tried to catch Guillet in Africa. The warriors quickly found a common language and carried out a couple of hitherto secret operations in the northern part of Italy, still occupied by the Germans. In 1944, Amedeo got married and later had two sons.
With the abolition of the monarchy, Amedeo planned to leave the country, but Umberto II personally asked the hero of Africa to serve his country under any government. Amadeo, remaining loyal to the Savoy dynasty even after its fall, could not disobey and went to university to study anthropology. He later served in the diplomatic service, representing Italy in Yemen, Jordan, Morocco, and finally as ambassador to India. Then he settled in Ireland, spending the winter months in his homeland.
In 2000, he was awarded honorary citizenship of the city of Capua, and the President of Italy awarded him the Grand Cross of the Military Order of Italy, the country's highest military honor.
The following year he visited Eritrea, where he was greeted by thousands of admiring supporters, including Amedeo's former subordinates. By the way, Guillet died, you won’t believe it, not so long ago - in 2010, at the age of 101 (!) years, having outlived his wife by twenty years. His centenary was celebrated with a special concert at the Palazzo Barberini in Rome. In 2007, Italian television made a documentary about him. Guillet is one of the most decorated Italian military personnel; he also has awards from Spain, Egypt, the Vatican, Germany and Morocco.
Or take the Italian intelligence captain Francesco de Martini, who in January 1942 blew up an ammunition depot in the Eritrean port of Massawa. He joined the Royal Italian Military Information Service (that is what the Italian Abwehr was called) from the tank forces, and went to the mountains immediately after the defeat - in November 1941. After sabotage in the port, de Martini was captured, but he managed to escape to Yemen, then returned to Eritrea. Here he put together a group of local sailors, which successfully operated in the Red Sea on small sailing boats, collecting intelligence information about the British, which was transmitted to Rome.
In August 1942, the captain was captured by British commandos after another sabotage. He returned to his homeland in 1946 and, by the way, received neither more nor less for African arts - Italy's highest award for feat on the battlefield - the gold medal "For Military Valor". De Martini rose to the rank of brigadier general (1962) and died in 1980 at the age of 77.
But the German Iron Cross for African partisanship was received by a woman, moreover, a representative of a rather peaceful profession - military doctor Rosa Danelli, a member of the Fronte di Resistenza. She personally managed to blow up (and, by the way, survived) the main British warehouse in Addis Ababa in August 1942. Thus, depriving the enemy of the latest Sten submachine guns, which would have been of significant use to the British.
The Italian partisan war, naturally, did not have a significant impact on the overall course of the war; it did not even help Rommel much. On the other hand, operating in difficult conditions, without reinforcements and supplies, the partisans managed to attract relatively large forces of British and Ethiopian troops, and also supplied Rome with intelligence data and carried out a number of successful sabotage actions. In the end, this selfless struggle at least slightly shook the image of the weak-willed and cowardly Italian soldier.