Nice pics, as always.

My Grandfather made that choice in May of '61. We fled Cuba and came to the US.

 

Zimbabwe is known for institutionalized racism. But what about all the blacks who served in the Rhodesian forces? How were they treated when the commies took over?

Well, there was that little publicized genocide of the Ndebele..,

The RAR ( Rhodesian African Rifles) guys were treated the same way as the SADF 32 Battalion guys....google 32 Battalion. Not good...

Mugabe and his ilk made the Selous Scouts & SAS 22nd Sqdn disband...

Taken from one of the Rhodesian vet groups

They were not even given a proper disbandment. The SAS were allowed to disband.

 

+1

Anyone have an estimate on the total number of Whites in Rhodesia at peak civilization?

 

-Wood, J.R.T. So Far and No Further!: Rhodesians bid for independence during the retreat from empire, 1959-1965. (Johannesburg: 30° South Publications, 2005).

IIRC, the white population peaked to somewhere around 300,000 and then started to decline again as the Bush War got rather hot.  I think it's around 30,000 right now and declining.

Ironically, if it had not been for European rule, the African population would not have expanded so rapidly.

+2, I wear man shorts. There is a company making them again, they are called chubbies. My wife LOVES them.

Yes. If approached by the wildlife, I want the 7.62.

Cool pics!  Thanks for sharing.

Anyone ever find new made Rhodesian camo?

Trident Military

 

Link? Their site is hard to navigate...

ETA: http://www.tridentmilitary.com/rhodesia.html

They had the stuff many years ago.  They are almost certainly out and they are not very responsive.  One only sends them money at their peril.

There's a South African guy named Bertus de Beer who is producing and selling it (cheaper to go through him directly than the online vendors of his products, btw).  I don't recall if he got the pattern's colours overlapped properly, but they are otherwise pretty good from what I hear, and he also makes other items, such as British style smocks, in the pattern.  IIRC he's also making a wet season version of the pattern (green-dominant); not sure if he's going to do the dry season version (replaces green with a brush yellow).

Someone also made a couple of runs on a smaller scale in Europe and you might find his stuff for sale on the New Rhodesian Forum.  The colours are overlapped wrong, though, in the printing (seems to be a very common error with reproductions), which is the only thing wrong with them; otherwise they are pretty good reproductions.

Kommando Store had a page looking for prospective buyers to test the waters, as they were considering doing BDU-pattern uniforms in Rhodie camo, but the page isn't up anymore.  They were only halfway towards the numbers they needed to make the investment last I checked.  

If you find older used stuff, the Trident is in fact pretty good.  IIRC, Propper's BDUs in the pattern used a fairly accurate rendition of the camo pattern.  Other reproductions have tended to be inaccurate.  Except for the above, there really isn't anything that looks right or close enough.

Buy through Ebay if you are gonna buy from Trident.  They are tough to deal with otherwise.

What did service get you if you were a foreigner? Just money or did they offer citizenship and land to those who fought?

I've never bought from them, but I know this company does sell repro Rhodie and SADF gear.  I most just follow them for the pictures and history it injects into my news feed.

https://www.facebook.com/OldRepublicEnterprises?fref=ts

Thanks for posting these. Love these threads.

Bump for FALs

Shameless bump

If not previously mentioned

. Google New Rhodesia Forum lots of good stuff.

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