Stock Detective V.

This is coolbert:

Stock Detective.

Operations, tactics, and confrontation.

Continuing the interview with Deke. Stock detectives - - protectors of the cows, the herd, stalking and engaging in combat the cattle rustlers of the ZAPU and ZANU insurgents.

Bert: You would proceed by vehicle, horse [?] or foot [?] to an assigned area, wear socks over the boots when leaving the road, then patrol? Was this a moving patrol or did you establish a daytime hide spot, watch and observe for terrs to appear? Then engage with long range fire. During nighttime you used a moving patrol or set up an ambush?

Deke: We would be delivered by Land Rover or some other farm truck to an area we'd pre-planned to patrol and ambush (usually based on local intelligence from villagers and ranch workers). We'd often put on heavy wool socks over our boots before jumping off the truck to start the patrol, and wear them for the first 100 feet or more into the bush. Once far enough away from the road, we'd take the socks off (they'd wear out fast in the bush). The biggest concern was leaving boot tracks visible from the road--one never knew who was using that road and it was easy to spot boot tracks in the middle of nowhere, where no one was expected to be, leaving the road and going into the bush. That would be like putting out a huge neon sign saying, "security forces here!" If our boot tracks were seen, the usual response was for the local guerrilla/terr group to get out of the area, fast. Like I said, even though they outnumbered us by 40 to 3 and even had more deadly weapons, like RPG rocket launchers (similar to Bazookas) and belt fed machine guns, they did not want to face trained me with guns--even if there were just three of us.

We'd usually "patrol" through the bush during daylight hours, often taking detours to find high ground, mostly four and five story tall rock formations called "Kopjes" in Afrikaans (pronounced "Koppies") so we could bring the sniper rifle into effect if we saw the terrs moving below somewhere, while checking at the same time to see if the terrs were using the same Kopje for surveillance like we intended to use it for.

[a pride of lions is also known to use the vantage point of a kopje for surveillance of the surrounding terrain. Watch for "game" and keep an eye on their domain. It is not for nothing the lion is referred to as the "king" of the beasts!]

Our tactics varied: most times we'd move toward general locations where we'd been advised the terrs might have been seen.

Sometimes the intelligence would come from mistakes such as what I said we were trying to avoid ourselves: someone had seen boot tracks where none were expected.

A group of anywhere from ten to forty men leaves a sign as large as a highway in the bush. Or, someone may have actually seem a terr--where there was one, there was a group and most groups were 35 to 40, but sometimes less.

Remember, we were seeking them out during the days most of the time so we could use the advantage of long range shooting before they got close enough to make their numbers count against us. We worked different tactics for day and night, which is why I used the FN at night and the Model 70 during the day. BTW, we rarely encountered any enemy.

Other times we'd have more exact information about locations and trails known to be used by terrs and we'd head for that location and set up a day time ambush, usually picking a site which gave us some clear ground to use the long range rifle fire we intended to give us an edge.

At night, we'd find a suitable site to both "hole up" and at the same time, serve as an ambush site, as we'd expect to be in an ambush mode all night. The site would be close enough to a trail or choke point so we'd hear the terrs moving, yet far enough away that we'd not be in the middle if they ran toward us on the trail before we could stop them. We'd never move at night if we could help it--the noise of our moving would take away whatever advantage we had over the opponents. We'd wait to hear them moving in and surprise them. It sort of worked one night--no one was killed but our not moving caused major problems with one group.

One time we were advised the terrs watered at a certain site and we set up near that location.

Bert: Patrolling and missions were NOT normally from vehicles? You did just not drive around looking for terrs?

Deke: No, never.

Bert: How long generally did you spend in the bush? And between times in the bush your rest period was?

Deke: I am not fully certain but recall five to ten days at a time in the bush before our supplies, particularly water, ran low. We spent around two to four days resting--we didn't 'rest' well since being in a fixed and known location made us nervous. While in the bush we controlled where we were and who knew our presence. In a lodge, resting and picking up supplies, we were now in a known location, seen by many whose loyalties were not known, with time for an enemy force to gather and attack.

Bert: Longest continuous period in the bush?

Deke: I don't recall. No more than ten days.

Bert: It was not a hindrance for that SF SOG man to go on such missions with one artificial leg?

Deke: Not on most of our patrols and ambushes. He was very good at keeping his portion of the mission up to speed.

But one night we had to leave him behind because we'd received news of terrs going to appear at a certain location at a certain time. We had to move very quickly at a speed, which he couldn't keep up with, so we left him at a set ambush elsewhere with an SAS man and another security guy.

Bert: You describe a tracker? That man met an unfortunate and ghastly end. And his job was to "cut sign" and let you know who, where and when? He was a black African?

Deke: Yes. He was a black African with an expertise as a tracker. He chose not to carry weapons, from some feeling that perhaps the terrs, if they came upon him, would take that into account: that he wasn't there to kill them, but only working as a tracker for us.

The tracker whose name I forgot did indeed "cut sign" very effectively and led us often to tracks we would not have seen nor properly interpreted even if we did see them--he could look at tracks and tell you how many men were in the group, whether some were carrying heavy loads, if any were women (almost never), or children, how many hours or days ago they had passed, and whether they "belonged" in that area or not.

I don't know how he was captured, only that he was and what the results were.

[the tracker was slowly tortured over a thirty-six hour period!!]

Bert: You could call an air strike or artillery fire on a terr target?

Deke: No, we were contract security teams with no radio contact with the regulars. We did sometimes have access when in the lodge or ranches to a standard farmers' radio network used to notify the Army of attacks and beg for assistance, but when we were in the bush, we were on our own.

Bert: You had the ability to call upon national level assets [Rhodesian] if needed?

Deke: Only through the ranch emergency network. BTW, one time when we relied on the emergency network (but didn't have to use it), we found out later the radio' was inoperative for some reason.

Bert: Your three man hunter/killer team was willing to fight it out with a platoon sized unit of terrs? Engage them with long range fire for which they did not have a good response? Some persons will find it difficult you executed such gutsy maneuvers? And your reply would be?

Deke: I was there, I have photos and witnesses from my team to confirm what and how we did it and what we planned. Further, any other ranch security survivors can confirm the environment, as well as the various tactics used. Finally, any Rhodesian Army troops can add and confirm information about the terr tactics as well as the ranch security people . . . But the overall tenor of this description would be confirmed by the regular Army troopies as far as I know.

To be continued.

coolbert.