The area from 90 miles high:

A) Mount Darwin: We spent the night here before driving into the northearst area. I still remember sitting in the dark looking out over the area to the north wondering what waited out there for us and how many of us would come back alive...

B) Dotito: This became the location for our company base. We had a miserable CO who showed little regard for us. I will recount some events that occurred here later that illustrate why I held him in such low regard.

C) I patrolled this whole area: I was out in this area when we did our first "Bomb Shell" - a rather nerve wracking experience. It was out here too that one of our guys got bitten by a snake at night and a chopper was sent out, in the dark, to get him. I was also in this area when one of our sticks had a contact over towards "J" and the terrs fled in our direction. We were radioed and asked to clear an LZ for the chopper they were sending to get our stick and drop us as a stop group closer to them. But, they shot them all before the chopper could reach us.

D) Pachanza: This PV become the location for our platoon base camp for a number of stints. It is in some of my photos and sketches.

E) I patrolled this area too: East of the mountain we referred to as the "Bulls Nose."

F) Chiswiti Village: On this first stint in the northeast our platoon was stationed at the Chiswiti village on the north side of the Mavuradonna Mountains at this approximate location. Just after we arrived at the new base camp a vehicle hit a landmine close to "I." As usual, Jackson sent our stick, Tom, Bin, Malcom and me out to patrol the area where the mine had been placed. We had to just dump our stuff, get our supplies and go.

G) Mukumbura: When we were north of the Mavuradonna Range our company base was here at Mukumbura. I remember stopping here once on our way back to our company base at Chiswiti and being able to shower. The showers were 44 gallon drums hung from a tree with a tap and rose attached. Where we had to shower there were no screens around the shower. I was showering there with Howard Benkenstein (I think) when an army woman walked right past us and took a good look. Even though she looked like an ugly man I did not like the idea of having to shower in full view of her. As guys we used to see a few of these rather manly women who joined the army voluntarily and even though they did no patrolling nor anything risky like that, we thought they must be nuts to join up.

The yellow line just above the "G" is the approximate border between Rhodesia and Mozambique.

H) RHU - Kiatano: Somewhere in here we were taken to an RHU, Dad's Army, base to patrol this area. These older men, in their 40's (but younger than I am now at 50) did patrols in this "no-go" area. They had come across terr tracks and our stick was sent to look for the terrs. I remember being absolutely stunned by the way these men treated us. They treated us the best we had ever been treated by anyone we ever encountered in our service - like valuable human beings. I think these men realized we were the age of their sons and were risking our lives for our country and treated us with kindness and respect. It was amazing. I remember that when we got back to their base from our patrol they would not even let us buy a drink - giving them to us and even cooked a meal for us. They truely appreciated us and I remember their kindness to this day. For many years I even rememberd the name of their commanding officer but sadly, after all these years, I have forgotten it. If you men, who treated us young boy-soldiers so kindly and with dignity, are still alive and find this, I salute you and thank you for what you did. You made a major, life-long impression on me.

I) First Landmine: See more detail below.

J) Mavuradonna Mountains: I spent most of my time here north or south of this mountain range.

K) Patrol Area: We patrolled all over this area too.

The area from 30 miles high:

A) Chiswiti Village: Our first northeast stint was in this area north of the Mavuradonna Mountains. The rest of my time in the northeast was all south of the mountains.

B) Mavuradonna Mountain Range:

C) Patrolled all over here:

D) Patrolled all over here:

E) Mukumbura:

F) Landmine: It was here that I saw what a Russian anti-tank mine could do to a truck and its occupants... Our stick was rushed out to patrol the area immediately after the blast. Some guys had gone out in a 4-5, west along the fence, to get water. They got water and started the return trip to base camp at Mukumbura. On the way back they hit a mine. I remember hearing over the radio that the mine made a crater 4ft deep and 6ft diameter. Fortunately none of the guys were seriously injured. They took cover and waited to be picked up. Now, in our training, we had been taught the following: a) Terrorists do not often lay just one mine. b) That if you ever go out to pickup people at a landmine site you must stop at least 1 mile away and walk in, in case there are more mines. c) That under no circumstances must anyone drive in untill the engineers have swept the road and declared it to be clear. d) That you cannot out-drive a landmine explosion by speeding. The landmine blast produces a wave at about 25,000 mph and, unless you are faster than 25,000mph, you cannot drive over it fast enough to miss the blast. Yet some people, our company PF mechanic in particular, still did not believe this and didn't follow the rules. He always sped, thinking he could beat the blast and, in this case, even though the engineers had not cleared the road, proceeded to drive right up to the site. He was in a 2-5 (or Unimog) and hit another mine about 40 ft from the truck he was going to get. It turned out that the terrs had laid four mines. The guys missed all four driving out and, on their return, missed the first and hit the second. Our company mechanic missed the first and hit the second from his end. Thus, there were still two active mines on each end, the inner two being detonated.

This was the first time for me to see such a site and I decided to record it. I did not have a camera so I tore the cover off the logbook that was lying on the floor in the 4-5 and, using my ballpoint pen, did a quick sketch of each truck. My sketch is below. (It was also published in Chas Lotter's book, Echos of an African War). This sketch is framed and hanging on a wall in my house.

Landmine on the Border:

The 2-5 is above and it was badly damaged. The interior had blood splattered everywhere from the follwing. The steering wheel had a very hard, black, plastic covering and there were "bite marks" on it through to the metal. The force of the blast had thrown our mechanic's head forward to such an extent that his mouth hit a spoke on the steering wheel and drove his teeth through to the metal, smashing his teeth and damaging his jaw, causing profuse bleeding. The guys waiting to be relieved were nearby, still in a bit of a shocked state from the blast they had just experienced, only to experience another close to them as the mechanic, breaking all the rules, drove up at high speed....

I picked up a wheel lug nut from this 2-5 and still have it today.

In each case you can see the craters in the road behind the trucks. Each truck was thrown through the air a number of yards and thankfully did not roll. As you can see, we had old 4-5's with no roll bars. Military regs were that we were to wear seatbelts and shoulder straps at all times when we were on a truck. But ,since we had no roll bars, we were told: "If you don't wear your belts you are likely to get thrown off the truck and be severely injured if you hit a mine - but, if you are wearing your belt and the truck rolls when it hits a mine, you will be crushed and killed under it. So, it's your choice if you wear belts or not." I always wore my belts and was on a 4-5, like the one I drew above, when we hit a mine. It hit the same front right wheel and fortunately did not roll...

In each case too you can see the border fence in the background. Beyond this fence was the minefield between Rhodesia and Mozambique.