Fighting Men of Rhodesia ep157 | Sgt Wayne Stevenson | RRR 

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My family lived at Rutenga from 1975 to 1982. We saw it all during the war. My parents worked for the Rhodesia Railways. Our house (the railways clinic) shared a fence with GSU camp at the station. I wrote a book THE TRAIN LEAVING SALISBURY which I have a full chapter about the war.

In this wonderful narrative Tony asked a question about the Congo and troops. There is an excellent history in the 4th chapter of the book, "A Maverick Soldier", by John Essex-Clark (Melbourne University Press, 1991). He not only describes the role of the army in the Congo, August 1961, he has also included a chapter of the RhAR in Malaya, 1956. It is an excellent history. Thank you, Wayne for sharing such interesting insights. Nice interview Tony.

Thanks Wayne and John for the fascinating story. I and my family were staying in a company house near the Holiday Inn during that Nthabeni happening. I was the manager of a transport company and must say I was up all night wondering if our fleet of trucks were safe, as the skies were ablaze with rockets, tracer and explosions. Not knowing what was happening I chose to stay at home to protect my wife and three young children. At 3 am a guy ran past our house at a high rate of knots and I knew he was pooping himself. Following this incident I decided it was time to take my family to a safer country, and we relocated to Johannesburg on 19 May 1982. Keep up your excellent series guys. Much appreciated.

Great talk Wayne!

Thanks gentlemen for the history lesson, very interesting indeed, Tony Ballinger you have a great personality, I like your interviews the best, I guess I'm repeating myself, I'm here because I have an interest in military history, so again much thanks to you both. Part 2 and 3 please! 👍

Great once again. I remember so well the confusion at the end of the war. So sad.

Brilliant talk, well done Wayne and Tony. Fascinating to hear from a TA who was involved right from the start to the end. Brilliant 👍

Well done,sir!

Great interview much respect

Great to see you so well Wayne. Thank you for the informative interview!

Guys another Great interview,tatenda for sharing your experiences. To all Rhodesians,Zimbobs and adptopted FMR world wide have a great Lekker Xmas and have a great new year.Take care keep it tidy

Another excellent interview. Thank you.

The MAP described was not a crocodile. The MAP was the fully enclosed armoured truck built on either a Nissian or 75 chassis. In army nomenclature a Croc was a MAP1 requiring a D licence, the big all enclosed Nissian was a MAP2 also a D licence and the Mercedes was a 75MAP, also fully enclosed and requiring an F licence.

Great interview Wayne. We were at some places at the same time. I was running the LAD at Joc Shabani when major Dennison was ambushed. When the cio started arresting the guys with cammo kit, I had a braai and burned all my kit. I too were phoned to report to Brady with the uprising. I refused to go. I was never demoped from the army. Thanks again for the great interview guys.

I came off a callup in 1980 April. I just took my Kit to Cranborne handed it in , went home and never heard a thing again.

Let’s get a part 2!

I remember as a kid on the Copperbelt when the refugees from the Congo came across the border into Northern Rhodesia. My folks put up a family of 4 for a few days. Husband, wife & 2 small kids. All they had was the clothes on their backs & a VW Beetle! Now they were REAL refugees, unlike these dinghy divers coming across the channel. Glad to hear that someone else found the A30 radio a piece of crap. A feel that money must have changed hands for that rubbish to have been approved. As Wayne says, once the seal was removed from a drum of Avtur, irrespective of how little Avtur was used, no other chopper would use the remainder. I believe this was to stop the chance of contaminated fuel, or sabotaged fuel!

Salute Wayne. Good to see you are in good health my friend. You bring back many great memories 😅Lt. Ged Smith F Troop 1st Field Regiment 1RhA

Tatenda Tony , Wayne and John .. another interesting and engaging episode… you are correct about ZIPRA .. The Rhodesians should have made a plan with them to go head on against ZANLA against Bob and his gang .. the Zimbabwe we know would have have been a very different place today . But I know people in higher places had already set the stage for Mugabe to take the top job . How sad things ended without closure 😢🙈. Sadly too many good men died for what seemed nothing today . Respect and salute the fallen and for the current ex military warriors . Rest in peace 🙏🏻

Thanks guys that was great.

Wayne, were you at Rutenga when the "Enemy"had a go at the fueltrain with a RPG7, missed the tanker and hit the rail. We were used as Stop groups for RAR who did the follow up

Rhodesia Lives.

Fabulously informative talk Wayne and Tony... I still can't believe RAR helped cement uncle Bob in Zim by taking down Zippra, what a twist of fate for the European communities in Rhodesia!

Very interesting

Tony the MAP was based on the Mercedes 45 chassis. The Nissan Crocodile was mainly used by the cops, Support Unit. I never saw an army unit use the Crocodile

does Does Fred Sargent ring a bell

Episode ep140