Operation Dingo

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Operation Dingo, also known as the Chimoio massacre,[1] was a major raid conducted by the Rhodesian Security Forces against the ZANLA headquarters of Robert Mugabe at Chimoio (15°53′0″S 39°14′0″E / 15.883333°S 39.233333°E / -15.883333; 39.233333 (Chimoio)) and a smaller camp at Tembue (14°47′33″S 32°50′10″E / 14.7925°S 32.83611°E / -14.7925; 32.83611 (Tembue)) in Mozambique from November 23-25, 1977. More than 3,000 ZANLA fighters were reported as killed and 5,000 wounded while only two government troops died and six were wounded.[2]

SAS, paratroopers and helicopter-borne light infantry attacked the camps in the early morning to achieve surprise, directly after a strike by the Rhodesian Air Force's aging Canberra and Hunter strike aircraft. The operation was considered so important that six mothballed Vampire jets dating from the 1940s were brought back into use for the day.

A DC-8 airliner was flown over the Chimoio camp an hour before the airstrike. When the first military jets arrived, the assembled ZANLA forces did not take cover again as they assumed it was the DC-8 that was returning. [3]

A moving line of soldiers, supported by helicopter gunships, swept through the camp, driving the guerillas into a stationary line of troops which inflicted the majority of the casualties. The attack on Chimoio camp on November 23 was repeated two days later at Tembue.

The Rhodesian force withdrew in good order having suffered one SAS member being shot and killed at Chimoio, and a Vampire pilot being killed after his plane was shot down at Vanduzi cross-roads (18°57′14.5″S 33°15′49″E / 18.954028°S 33.26361°E / -18.954028; 33.26361 (Vanduzi)) on the return leg of his bombing sortie.[4]

Several tons of equipment were destroyed or returned to Rhodesia.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Attack on ZANLA military headquarters of Chimoio 29th anniversary Newsnet
  2. ^ Winds of Destruction Pg. 446
  3. ^ JRT Wood. "Helicopter Warfare in Rhodesia: 1962-1980". http://www.jrtwood.com/article_fireforce.asp. Retrieved 2007-09-27. 
  4. ^ JRT Wood. "Rhodesia: Roll of Honour". http://www.jrtwood.com/roll_of_honour.asp. Retrieved 2007-09-27. 

[edit] References

  • Petter-Bowyer, P. J. H. (2003). Winds of Destruction: the Autobiography of a Rhodesian Combat Pilot. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 141201204X. 
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