The 1st Battalion, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, commonly the Rhodesian Light Infantry (1RLI or RLI), was originally formed in 1961 as a regiment of the army of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Raised as a light infantry unit at Brady Barracks, Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia, the Regiment served in the Rhodesian Bush War as part of the Rhodesian Security Forces between 1964 and 1979, from 1965 under the unrecognised governments of Rhodesia and latterly, during the second half of 1979, Zimbabwe Rhodesia. The RLI remained active during an interim period under British control and then, from April 1980, within the armed forces of Zimbabwe, before disbanding on 31 October 1980.
The RLI was formed in February 1961 as a light infantry battalion made up exclusively of white recruits. After first seeing action in September 1961 on the Northern Rhodesian border with Katanga, it relocated to Cranborne Barracks, Salisbury the following year and remained there as part of the Southern Rhodesian Army after the Federation dissolved on 31 December 1963. Violent political intimidation of black Rhodesians by two rival communist-backed revolutionary parties, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), necessitated a specially trained counter-insurgency unit, and the RLI was accordingly reformed into a commando regiment during 1964 and 1965 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Walls.
Following Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain on 11 November 1965, the RLI became widely known for its counter-insurgency operations during the Rhodesian Bush War against incursions by ZAPU and ZANU's respective military wings, the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) and Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA). The regiment acquitted itself well in several such operations, with some of its soldiers winning decorations for their actions. Some operations, such as Operations Flotilla and Excess in 1968, involved cooperation with the Portuguese Armed Forces in Mozambique.
The nationalist incursions became fewer and further between after the two guerrilla armies suffered repeated setbacks against the security forces during the late 1960s, with many attacks being countered by the RLI. The capture by the RLI of Phinias Majuru, the ZIPRA Director of Operations, in January 1970 caused a cessation for six years of major operations by ZIPRA, which had been the more active guerrilla army up to that point. The Rhodesian Light Infantry's performance during this early period of the Bush War is generally considered to have been of a very high standard, with historian Alexandre Binda pointing to Operation Cauldron (1968) in particular as having contributed to the battalion's formidable "fighting character" and reputation as "outstanding and peerless anti-terrorist fighters". This opinion was shared by Platoon Warrant Officer Herod of the Rhodesian African Rifles, who was wounded during this operation while fighting alongside the RLI on 18 March 1968. "We of the RAR used to laugh at your soldiers," he said in hospital to a visiting RLI officer; "To us they looked like boys. But they showed us how to fight. They have the faces of boys, but they fight like lions."
Within the Federal Army
Origin and formation in Bulawayo
The Rhodesian Light Infantry was formed within the army of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland at Brady Barracks, Bulawayo, on 1 February 1961, composed of white recruits only. The battalion's nucleus was drawn from the short-lived Number One Training Unit, which had been raised to provide personnel for a white infantry battalion as well as for C Squadron (Rhodesian) SAS, and the Selous Scouts, a Federal Armoured Car Corps. The majority of the first RLI recruits were from South Africa, with the rest predominantly from Southern Rhodesia and Britain: "We were a varied, rough and colourful bunch of skates," remembered Paul Wellburn, a member of the first intake, from Bulawayo. Instructors were seconded from the British Army to train the new regiment, with many coming from the Coldstream Guards and the Royal Highland Fusiliers. Split into four companies, A, B, C and D, the regiment suffered during its first few months from chronic desertions. The number of soldiers absent without leave reached a peak in April 1961, when 29 men deserted to fight as mercenaries for Moise Tshombe's secessionist State of Katanga, enticed by the hefty financial incentives offered by Katangese agents based at a Bulawayo hotel.
Despite the desertion problem, the battalion's strict discipline and drilling began to bring the men into line. "The awakening of a sense of pride in their training and confidence in themselves was becoming apparent," Alexandre Binda writes. Around this time the regimental march was chosen, as Binda says, "rather by accident than design". One of the instructors seconded from Britain, Scottish Lance-Corporal Mac Martin, developed a habit of accompanying the men's route marching with appropriate songs, played on his bagpipes. An American gospel song, When the Saints Go Marching In, became a favourite among the soldiers, and when it was omitted during a retreat ceremony in Bulawayo soon after the battalion's formation, a representative of the men complained to the Regimental Sergeant Major Ron Reid-Daly, asking why "our regimental march" was not played. Reid-Daly replied simply that there was no regimental march, prompting the representative to declare the song as such to him. Angered not only by his charges' impudence in choosing a march for themselves, but also because he believed that their preferred tune was "unimaginative", Reid-Daly consulted the Regiment's commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel J. S. Salt. To Reid-Daly's surprise, Salt sanctioned the troopers' choice, saying "I rather like The Saints." Soon afterwards, the lieutenant-Colonel arranged for his battalion to be presented with a pair of a cheetah cubs as regimental mascots.
Move to Cranborne Barracks
The battalion's first operational duty was to relieve the Rhodesian African Rifles (RAR), which was maintaining a cordon around the town of Gwanda, south of Bulawayo, during a local outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. A small detachment of 14 men, led by Second Lieutenant Brian Barrett-Hamilton, was then stationed on attachment to the British Army in Bahrain in June 1961, and remained there for two months. The Congo Crisis led to the battalion's first full mobilisation on 9 September 1961, when it was detailed to man the border between Northern Rhodesia and Katanga. The companies were deployed separately in the border towns of Chingola, Kitwe, Bancroft and Mufulira, and proceeded to run checkpoints and assist refugees who crossed the border. While there were many coming over from Katanga during that time, the garrison at Chingola was surprised to meet Tshombe himself on 13 September as he fled into Northern Rhodesia.
When the Regiment returned to Bulawayo, it found that Brady Barracks had been ransacked, with over four-fifths of the men losing all of their civilian clothes and personal belongings. The RLI was due to transfer to Salisbury in any case, with a state-of-the art headquarters at Cranborne Barracks already under construction, but in light of the burglary it relocated first to Inkomo Garrison, about away from the capital. The battalion settled at Cranborne in April 1962, and at the same time received approval from the British College of Arms for its regimental badge. The RLI's ceremonial dress was also adopted at this time: tartan green was chosen with peaked caps. A riot at Kariba occasioned the RLI's deployment to resolve the violence, but on arrival the troops found that they had little to do, their mere presence having restored order. They instead found work assisting in Operation Noah, an animal-rescue exercise made necessary by the construction of the Kariba Dam on the Zambezi and resultant rising of the waters into what became Lake Kariba.
The College of Arms produced two colours for the RLI, with Queen Elizabeth II giving final approval to a Queen's colour and a regimental colour on 15 July 1963. The first of these was a standard Union Flag design; the unit's name was marked on a circle, which was placed centrally and surmounted by a crown. The second was based on a dark green background and featured the regimental badge in its centre, surrounded by a wreath of flame lilies, Rhodesia's national flower, and topped, as with the Queen's colour, with the royal crown. The battalion took part in Operation Zephyr during the second half of 1963, a counter-intimidation action against political agitators from the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU). As with the previous posting to Kariba, little to no action was necessary; it was enough of a deterrent that troops were present. When the Federation broke up on the last day of 1963, members of the Federal Army could transfer to the Southern Rhodesian Army, request a posting to Northern Rhodesia, or leave the military altogether, receiving a monetary "golden handshake" if they chose the last option. So many servicemen chose to take the money and leave that "only a handful", according to paymaster Lieutenant Paddy Leen, remained in the mess on 31 December 1963. Leen had paid off over 200 RLI men since the start of work on 30 December.
Reforming the RLI; the introduction of Walls and the road to UDI
The commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel R. A. Edwards, convened a meeting of the regiment during the first week of 1964, and gauged the extent of the decimation; about 150 officers, non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and men remained. While Edwards was rebuilding the RLI from this base, Winston Field, the Prime Minister, stepped down, and was replaced on 13 April 1964 by the deputy prime minister, Ian Smith, a firm advocate of independence from Britain under the existing 1961 constitution. Although the country was still led by the same party—the Rhodesian Front (RF)—Smith took a harder line than Field on the issue of independence. Britain insisted on an immediate shift to majority rule before independence but Smith firmly refused to yield on this constitutional question, saying that an instant transfer to black rule would cause "the destruction of our country".
ZAPU members attempted to bomb or burn down the houses of blacks who joined or supported white-led political parties, as well as the churches they attended. Rival nationalists also used violence against each other as they jostled for prominence. In an attempt to restore confidence in the government and end the political intimidation, Smith cracked down hard on the militant nationalists, arresting political agitators in the townships for criminal offences and jailing ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo in Gonakudzingwa Restriction Camp, a remote detention unit in the country's south-east. The British government, worried that Southern Rhodesia might issue a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) rather than continue with negotiations, placed troops in Aden on alert.