Stock Detective IV.

This is coolbert:

Stock Detective.

The Adversary.

Continuing the interview with Deke, stock detective during the Rhodesian Bush War. Confronting the "adversary", the insurrectionist forces of the ZAPU and ZANU.

The "adversary" referred to as terrs [short for terrorists] as opposed to guerrilla. Terrs [terrorists] - - that definition fully explained!

Bert: The adversary for the most part was very poorly trained?

Deke: Yes very poorly trained.

Bert: Terrs were of the ZAPU and ZANU persuasion. One side was Chinese trained and the other Soviet trained? Any difference in the abilities between the two?

Deke: I don't know. All were universally badly trained. It made my job so much easier.

But it was explained by the fact that most of the terr's ranks were filled with men and boys who'd been kidnapped from their villages in Rhodesia, marched across the border and given six or eight weeks of training which often didn't include much in the way of soldering skills. Marxist-Leninist dogma seemed to fill up a lot of training hours. Most weren't trusted with weapons during the training.

After their training, they would be given an AK and a few magazines and kicked back across the border with orders to attack stores, villages and the like and cause havoc . . . The terrs were absolutely no match for trained fighters and they knew it. So they spent their time in fun terr stuff like torturing, raping and killing innocents . . . My own tracker was captured-- they took about 36 hours to slowly burn him to death.

Depending on which side you fought for, the terrs were either terrorists or guerrillas, but in fact, the vast majority of them seemed to be inclined toward terrorism rather than fighting. They avoided the Army . . . Doing most of their "fighting" against innocents . . .

Bert: Captured POW terrs in uniform were given the normal treatment under Geneva Convention? If not in uniform their fate was?

Deke: I don't know, other than what I was told; thus, my knowledge is insufficient.

Bert: Terrorists in the sense that they avoided contact with and fled when confronted by conventional military force or even the ranch security? They tended to intimidate black Africans through the use of force and attack when possible and kill white Rhodesians, but generally avoid all confrontation with an armed force?

Deke: Yes, from what I saw and heard . . . we had to hide our boots upon first leaving the road to enter into the bush near where we were going to patrol. Once our boot prints were seen, sometimes by the locals who might support the terrs, the terrs would leave the area. We were but three men with guns, but we were even told by the locals that once we were known to be in the area, the 40 man terr groups would leave for another area ASAP. We three carried one bolt action rifle and two FN FAL rifles whose advantage was range and accuracy over the enemy's AK-47s, or at night we'd be with three FN FALs. The terr fully "outgunning" us in weaponry--yet they would leave rather than fight us.

Bert: Terrorists that in a quite deliberate made attacks on civilians with purposeful intent? With relish too?

Deke: Yes, most seemed to enjoy the power they could show over other people. I've noted that attitude before with others who had little power in their own lives until they were made a part of a guerrilla group with little training or discipline: many become murderers and torturers by choice because it gives them a feeling of power. Some were forced into it by their leaders, until it became a way of life. Some hated it. Most or all did it, whatever their motivation or lack of.

Their organization believed from the top that the ends justifies the means--that made it easier to do the acts, since there was no expectation of punishment for what would be "war crimes" in the Western philosophy of war.

To be continued.

coolbert.