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| Support Commando 1st
Battalion, The Rhodesian Light Infantry |
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Introduction |
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Support Commando was the 'youngest' Commando
in the Battalion and was officially formed on the 6th January 1976 when
Support Group was expanded to a full size Commando.
The Commando consisted of a Headquarters and four Troops, namely:
- The 81 mm Mortar Troop.
- The Assault Pioneer Troop.
- The Reconnaissance Troop.
- The Anti-Tank Troop.
The Commando was directly responsible to the Commanding Officer for providing
the Battalion with supporting fire and specialist resources in both Classical
War and Counter-Insurgency (COIN) Operations, however, during COIN operations
it normally fulfilled the roles of a standard Infantry Commando.
The effectiveness of Support Commando as a fighting “infantry” unit during
is amply demonstrated by the fact that it holds the record for the highest
number of enemy killed by a single RLI sub-unit in one bush trip (147) and,
throughout the final intense phase of the War (April-December 1979), again
accounted for highest number of enemy killed by a single RLI sub-unit
RLI’s Enemy Killed
Tally
April - December 1979 |
| Sub-Unit |
No. of Enemy Killed |
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| 1 Commando |
450 |
| 2 Commando |
350 |
| 3 Commando |
410 |
| Support Commando |
470 |
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History |
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On the break-up of the Central Africa Federation
in December 1963, the Battalion’s Support Weapons and Specialist Platoons
were all operating as independent Platoons, under command of Headquarter
Company (now Base Group).
During 1964 the Rhodesian Light Infantry was reformed as a Commando Battalion,
and as a result it was decided to group the Support Weapons into one Group.
Consequently on 1 January 1965 Support Group was officially formed under
Captain Tony Stephens as the OC, with Colour Sergeant Harry Birkett, who
had been the driving force behind forming the original Mortar Platoon, as
Group C Sgt (Support Groups equivalent at that time to a CSM).
Support Group originally was comprised of just two troops, the Reconnaissance
Troop and Mortar Troop.
On formation of the Recce Troop, they were allocated 9 Ferret Scout cars
which originated from the Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment (Selous Scouts)
which had been disbanded on 14 December 1963.
The Ferrets arrived at the end of January 1965, giving Support Group two
sections of 4 Ferrets plus 1 for the Troop Commander.
Whilst the Recce Troop started to sort out their Ferrets, which were in
a poor state of repair after a year of neglect, the Mortar Troop commenced
their training.
The Mortar Troop of Federation days had virtually collapsed at the break-up,
so on 17 February 1965, the then Commanding Officer, Lt Col G. P. Walls,
MBE allocated 25 troops of all ranks to Mortar Troop and sent them to the
School of Infantry to train.
Lt D. I. Pullar who was then at the School was officially posted to Support
Group as 2IC Mortar Troop Commander, and tasked with training these troops.
The Mortar Course finished on 15 April 1965 and the personnel returned to
Salisbury. Thus, by the end of April 1965 Support Group properly became
a united entity rather than two separate troops.
The organization at that stage was as follows:
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a. Headquarters |
b. Mortar Troop |
c. Recce Troop |
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OC (Recce Tp Comd). |
3 x Sgts. . |
2 x Sgts. |
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OC (Recce Tp Comd). |
6 x Cpls. |
SxCpls. |
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2IC (Mortar Troop Comd). |
24 x L Cpl/Tprs. |
12 x L Cpls/Tprs |
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Group Colour Sergeant (CQMS). |
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3 x Clerks (Storemen). |
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During 1965 Support Group asked to be issued Staghound Armoured Cars for
interest training, a request that was refused. However, on 9 November 1965,
OC Support Group was summoned to the CO, who had Army HQ on the line asking
how many trained Staghound personnel in Support Group. At that time there
were two, Capt Stephens and Sgt Tony Riley plus the 2IC Base Group Capt
Peter Jackson.
As UDI was pending, members of Recce Troop underwent a couple of hours of
crash Staghound Training. The Staghounds at this stage had already been
condemned and all the Radio Equipment, leads etc had been cut-out with bolt
cutters, just to add to the problems.
Eventually the bulk of Recce Troop with two Staghounds, driven by Capt Stephens
and Sgt Riley left for Kariba at 2200 hrs on 9 November 1965 with orders
to be at Kariba by 0530 hrs on 10 November.
Their task was to escort Air Force and Radio vehicles which were continually
breaking down. This was further aggravated by the fact that all the brake
linkage on the OC's Staghound collapsed. Holding 14 tons of Armoured Car
on the road ceased to be a joke, consequently Tpr Paddy Ryan became the
OC's braking system and sat the whole journey on the back of the Staghound
armed with two chunks of concrete which he placed behind the wheels every
time the convoy stopped.
The Staghound saga did not end here and were issued with 6 rounds of solid
AP shot each, the boxes that these came from were marked "FORT WORTH TEXAS,
1941".
Shortly after UDI it was decided to test the Gun on Kariba Range. The gun
fired alright but the breach protector sheared off through metal fatigue.
This was probably the last 37 mm round fired in Rhodesia. On the return
to Salisbury Support Group kept 5 Staghounds, as an additional troop until
early 1966 when they were handed back to Army HQ.
Support Group continued on a 2 Troop organization, participating in most
major operations, until 1972 when Tracking Troop was incorporated as part
of the Group.
Tracking Troop was originally formed as an independent troop towards the
end of 1971. It was administratively controlled by Base Group, and had tracker
teams attached to the various Commandos for operations. This arrangement
proved unsatisfactory and in June 1972 Tracking Troop became an integral
part of Support Group forming the third troop.
In October 1972 the Battalion received the first consignment of 60 mm Hotchkiss
Brant Mortars, which were intended to, become the Infantry Commando's Mortar
Sections. However, because of the lack of mortar training in the Commandos
they were eventually given to Support Group.
Following the arrival of more mortars a 60 mm Mortar Troop was formed in
mid 1974, although through lack of personnel this broke up and when required
the 60 mm mortars were manned by personnel from the 81mm Mortar Troop.
With the reformation of the Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment in 1973, Recce
Troop, who were at the time deployed operationally with their Ferret Scout
Cars, started to lose personnel and eventually their Ferrets to the new
unit.
The Ferret Scout Cars were gradually withdrawn, as they were released from
operations, commencing in November 1973, the last car leaving Support Group
on 22 January 1974. The remaining personnel in Recce Troop were absorbed
into the Mortar and Tracking Troops and Recce Troop officially disbanded.
By mid 1975, Support Group again had only two Troops, namely the 81/60 mm
Mortar Troop and a Tracking Troop, which for COIN Operations were broken
down into three callsigns, 81, 82 and 83.
It was at this time that Major Pat Armstrong came onto the scene, and commenced
agitation to have Support Group reformed as a proper Support Commando. His
efforts were finally rewarded and Support Commando was eventually officially
formed on 6 January 1976. Army HQ signal G 19 dated 060840B Jan was the
official authorisation of this. Being now a fully fledged Support Commando,
internal reorganisation took place.
The 81 mm and 60 mm Mortars split and became two separate troops. The Tracking
Troop was renamed Reconnaissance Troop, and given extra roles in addition
to just purely tracking.
Towards the end of 1976 an Anti Tank Troop was formed in anticipation of
the arrival of the new antitank weapons. Until the first of the new anti
tank weapons arrived in April 1977, the Anti Tank Troop was equipped with
3,5 (88 mm) Rocket Launchers, although they underwent training courses on
the new weapon.
In January/February 1977 it was decided that as the 60 mm Mortars were primarily
a Commando Support Weapon they should be returned to the Commandos. This
was duly done, the Commandos providing the personnel and Support Commando
continuing to provide the training.
This move threw up, the 60 mm Mortar Troop personnel, who had now no weapons
to operate with. Thus in February 1977 an Assault Pioneer Troop was formed
to add an additional Support Troop to the Battalion.
This new Troop underwent Combat Engineer Training & was eventually operationally
effective in September 1977.
Consequently by the end of 1977, Support Commando comprised the following:
- a. Mortar Troop.
- b. Assault Pioneer Troop,
- c. Reconnaissance Troop,
- d. Anti Tank Troop.
- e. 60 mm Mortar Troop - split up and attached a section to each
Commando.
During 1977 the RLI became an Airborne Commando Battalion, and Parachute
Training commenced. Support Commando's first 24 men were trained in March
1977 as Parachutists.
Also during late 1977 three 60 mm Mortars were given back to Support Commando
for use on COIN operations. These were manned by members of the Mortar Troop
when required.
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