We Dared to Win
The SAS in Rhodesia
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Narrated by:
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Roger Clark
About this listen
Andre Scheepers grew up on a farm in Rhodesia, learning about the bush from his African childhood friends, before joining the army. A quiet, introspective thinker, Andre started out as a trooper in the SAS before being commissioned into the Rhodesian Light Infantry Commandos, where he was engaged in fireforce combat operations. He then rejoined the SAS.
Wounded 13 times, his operational record is exceptional even by the tough standards that existed at the time. He emerged as the SAS officer par excellence; beloved by his men, displaying extraordinary calmness, courage, and audacious cunning during a host of extremely dangerous operations. Andre writes vividly about his experiences, his emotions, and his state of mind during the war, and reflects candidly on what he learned and how war has shaped his life since.
In addition to Andre's personal story, this book reveals more about some of the other men who were distinguished operators in SAS operations during the Rhodesian War.
©2018 Hannes Wessels and Andre Scheepers (P)2020 TantorPoor Narration
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Outstanding account of SAS activity during the war in Rhodesia
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Interesting insight into the Rhodesian Bush War
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Amazing story
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The means justify the ends, nowhere in the world will development brought by oppression, especially of the majority stand. Rhodesia, though it brought development and ushered Zimbabwe into the modern world, it was a system that benefited you and your race above all and l understand why you fought nail and tooth to keep it.
A little background to the war would also help, the struggle for equality had started more than 60 years prior to the war. Surely dialogue and diplomacy failed dismally as the black Africans remained excluded from all meaningful sectors of the society of the day. You can refer to Nkomos letter writing diplomacy, the concerns he raised fell on deaf ears while the white minority continued to flourish in any conceveble manner. The whites had no incentive to listen to the blacks as they had everything working in their favour. This infuriated the blacks.
White settlers raped women, took land by force and resettled black into reserves, benefited from forced labour on their farms. They would burn huts, take cattle from black Africans by force, thousands were hanged, the list of atrocities by whites on the blacks is endless. The judiciary was pro white and more often than not, a white man was never found to be in the wrong. Surely noone in their right mind would not expect an uprising at some point. What ensued was a product of the white man's behavior. Even the violence of the post war politicians, though l do not condone it in any way, is a product of the white man's system, the Rhodesians were violent towards the black politicians whom they incarcerated and tortured for years because they had asked to vote, just like the white man, a truth the author was conservative about, the black politicians were victims and hence learnt from the Rhodesians that violence works in achieving political ends.
In the book, the author focuses on battles that he and the Rhodesians won, he fails to mention guerilla successes such as the bombing of the fuel depos in the then Salisbury which dealt a significant blow to the Rhodesian system. He also fails to mention how Africans were thrown into acid tanks during the war, biological warfare by the Rhodesians i.e. Cholera attacks, the bombing of civilian, unarmed refugee camps and schools by the Rhodesians in Mozambique.
With no doubt, post independence Zimbabwe has been nothing but a failure in so many ways, this the author captures well to a larger extent.
But the Rhodesians supported Mugabe post independence in the Matebeleland genocide because it benefited them as they felt Zipra threatened their white compatriots farming in the area. Surely to them, it's all about interests and will partner with anyone to achieve their interests as they did with RENAMO in Mozambique regardless of moral standing. Not so different from Mugabe himself.
The departure point was the farm inversions where Mugabe attacked the Rhodesians/British. as long as Mugabe was attaching anyone else, it was ok but since he was now attacking the whites, notice was now taken
good story telling but not balanced
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