Selous Scouts: The Controversial Legacy of Rhodesia's Elite Warriors

Рет қаралды 23,655

Ай бұрын

Buckle up for a journey through the controversial legacy of Rhodesia's elite Selous Scouts. From their covert operations to their role in the Rhodesian Bush War, Join us as we discover the fascinating story of one of the most enigmatic military units in African history. Uncover the complexities of their operations and the lasting impact they left on Rhodesia and beyond.
Subscribe and hit the bell icon to stay tuned for more lesser known WW2 history content.
The ownership of the footage and images used in the creation of this documentary is vested in their respective owners.

Пікірлер: 92

@ShimomuraTakezoWong Ай бұрын

One of the Top Combat units in the World during that time that's the way to fight a war especially now with political Islamic extremism & terrorism; no holds barred.

@mikestaak7951 25 күн бұрын

My late brother was a scout

@stupitdog9686 Ай бұрын

Good guys trying to improve things for everyone !

@bernardhacking7462 Ай бұрын

Seloo not Sellus

@TimelessChroniclesYT Ай бұрын

Apologies for the mispronunciation, Thanks for the correction.

@oreilly1237878 27 күн бұрын

They had a operational military history second to none.

@TheGrenadier97 20 күн бұрын

The portuguese were on the top with the rhodesians.

@ourclassicmovies1929-es1jd 17 күн бұрын

RHODESIA WAS A FIRST RATE ECONOMIC POWER # 2 IN THE RANKING ACROSS AFRICA WITH PLENTY OF ELECTRICITY AND AIR CONDITIONING A STABLE CURRENCY RUNNING WATER MEDICINE THRIVING AGRICULTURE CANALS FOR AGRICULTURAL EXPANSION SCHOOLS PLENTY OF JOBS NO TRASH IN THE STREETS THE LOCALS HAD THE 2ND HIGHEST BLACK WAGES ON THE CONTINENT AND IT WAS GROWING RAILROADS WILDLIFE CONSERVATION CLEAN STREETS AIRPLANES AND AIR TRAVEL PLENTY OF PETROL AND DIESEL PLENTY OF HYDRO ELECTRIC POWER PAVED ROADS HOSPITALS FUNCTIONING SEWAGE SYSTEMS THRIVING STEEL INDUSTRY WEALTHY BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS PLENTY OF FOOD HUGE TOBACCO TRADE A THRIVING ECONOMY PLENTY OF COAL EMERALDS AND IRON ORE TELEVISION GROWING INDUSTRIAL BASE

@MichaelBessinger Ай бұрын

I am proud to say i was one of the troopers to go into battle with the scouts i was in the SAS . Mess with the best die like the rest.😮😅😅

@user-mm4jv3fs5l Ай бұрын

Share brotherman

@user-jj1yk3yv3b Ай бұрын

Did you know Frik Muller?

@user-jj1yk3yv3b Ай бұрын

You must give more info for me to believe that you were SAS. Sorry man, but today almost everybody claims to have been in the special forces.

@MichaelBessinger Ай бұрын

As a SAS I made an oath to secrecy. And of many ordeals after all these years I still got PTSD. My CO was Major John Dealy Read.

@Phansikhongolza Ай бұрын

The Scouts and the SAS were Rhodesia's biggest units...... everyone claims to have been a member!

@RobMacK- Ай бұрын

Selou(s) silent 'S' pronounced Selloo and definatley not Sellas!

@TimelessChroniclesYT Ай бұрын

Please excuse the mispronounciation.

@Mark-te5uz Ай бұрын

Was about to make a similar remark..👍

@wernervanderwalt8541 Ай бұрын

Apart from the horrible pronunciation of some names this the most accurate video I've seen on this highly secretive unit of the Rhodesian security forces. Well done.

@TimelessChroniclesYT Ай бұрын

Thank you! Apologies for the horrible pronounciation.

@mudgutsiv Ай бұрын

Great footage of regular and national service Rhodesian soldiers, particularly pre 1976 when full camouflage wasn't worn. Very few pictures of the Selous Scouts - and the RLI marching when talking of the disbandment, the Scouts weren't a final parade.

@TimelessChroniclesYT Ай бұрын

Thank you! Did my best to locate available footage of the scouts, but footage of them is indeed quite rare and challenging to source. The RLI march was intended to symbolically represent the end of an era rather than to be a literal depiction of the specific event. Thanks again for the feedback, I'll keep striving to find the best possible content.

@colinriddell9553 25 күн бұрын

The clip you used was not RLI but infact the Air Force.

@comitatus5337 Ай бұрын

Pronounced Selloo scouts

@grahampovey8073 Ай бұрын

Pamwe Chete!

@zekeooo2 Ай бұрын

pretty neat video, there's a podcast that has a bunch of episodes with different selous scouts being interviewed if you want to go further down the rabbit hole. it's called "fighting men of rhodesia" it's a pretty interesting podcast regardless of someones views of the war. certainly interesting for someone into history that is. it has episodes with rhodesian soldiers being interviewed, rhodesian police officers, one episode with someone from the opposing forces and even an episode with an interview of a rhodesian farm family member

@TheGrenadier97 20 күн бұрын

Check out the portuguese Flechas of east Angola. Author John P. Cann has a good Osprey-style book about them, and other troops of the Ultramar. The specific recruitment and inclusion of the Flechas in the excepcionally well-suited portuguese counter-insurgency forces were perhaps even more remarkable.

@TimelessChroniclesYT 20 күн бұрын

Thank you for the recommendation! Yes, there are some fascinating stories from the Ultramar, I'll try to make a video about the Flechas as well.

@user-bc5nl6uq5t Ай бұрын

loo tenant???

@fmyles3 Ай бұрын

Rhodesia - Will be back soon.

@ozzyphil74 28 күн бұрын

In your dreams... Lol...

@skillzsett7958 28 күн бұрын

@@ozzyphil74👊🏻

@ayodejiolowokere1076 28 күн бұрын

In Hell, why not?

@conceretejungle1150 7 күн бұрын

Lol😂😂😂 you so funny😂😂😂

@mikestaak7951 25 күн бұрын

Exactly

@gazhandrail Ай бұрын

When narrating something like this, you need to get your pronunciations right. Main example, it is pronounced "Sel-oos Scouts", not "Selous" as in "Jelous."

@stikkkkk 23 күн бұрын

Thanks for that, was driving me nuts!

@gazhandrail 23 күн бұрын

@@stikkkkk No worries, Mate. Yeah, me too!

@seandobson499 14 күн бұрын

Named in honour of Frederick Courtney Selous, on whom Sir Henry Rider Haggard based his most famous fictional creation, Allan Quatermain.

@ourclassicmovies1929-es1jd 17 күн бұрын

" WE GET TO RIDE MOTORCYCLES INTO BATTLE? " " YES " " AND WEAR SHORT SHORTS?" " YES" " WHERE DO I SIGN ?"

@TimSerras 28 күн бұрын

How can you infiltrate enemy base disguised as a defector and still be able to kill, destroy and slip away without being detected? So, why desguise?

@TimelessChroniclesYT 28 күн бұрын

There were instances where native African Rhodesian infantry troops would defect to the side of the rebels. So the Selous Scouts took advantage of that. For them, disguising as defectors would help in gaining the enemy's trust. As the rebels didn’t have strong intelligence or counterintelligence units, they were less likely to suspect someone of their own that they believed had turned against the Rhodesians, allowing the scouts to operate more freely within the base. The scouts also maintained a low profile and avoided unnecessary interactions. Only took action when they were confident it won't raise suspicions. When the time came to kill, destroy, or sabotage, They chose targets that will cause the most disruption while minimizing the risk of immediate detection.

@TimSerras 27 күн бұрын

@@TimelessChroniclesYT I understand what you mean. What puzzles me is the “defector “. I witnessed the same ops with Portuguese GEP’s (black paratroopers) what they called operation manioc (mandioca) but they posed as Frelimo guerrillas not defectors. That would raise great suspicion within the guerrillas. Many new groups would arrive from Zambia or Tanzania and since communications within the Frelimo was pratically non existing, they were almost always welcomed. Once the GEP’s were confident enough, they would act with Portuguese special forces (comandos or paras) as backup. Most operation manioc were very successful. Flechas also used same procedure in Angola. Defectors of Portuguese Army in Frelimo had to go through a very painful procedure before being accepted, many were not and were executed , the process lasting several days, even weeks. One famous manioc operator was sergeant Robbie (Ribeiro his real name) a Cape Verdean that is mentioned in Breytenbach’s book “Forged in battle “ about Bravo group in Angola. Breytenbach even recommended he receive the Honoris cross for bravery but it was refused. He was killed by a SA army truck that jumped the military convoy in SWA .

@daffidkane8350 Ай бұрын

1800 members? That’s almost a brigade!

@TimelessChroniclesYT Ай бұрын

Indeed, 1,800 members is a substantial number, comparable to the size of a brigade in later stages. Most of the later additions were regular RLI troops who were not permanently assigned to the unit. The expansion to this scale highlights the significant increase in their operational capacity, even though it came with challenges related to personnel quality and operational effectiveness.

@colinriddell9553 25 күн бұрын

It was actually 1650 personal, of which a vast majority of the black personnel were ex guerrillas

@colinriddell9553 25 күн бұрын

Only read your comment after, completely wrong! The unit was actually formed by SAS & RAR personal in the experimental stage. Once it was decided to form a unit, a selection process was introduced where persons from all units could try for selection. You could break down to unit into two sections, internal operations consisted of mainly black personal from predominantly the RAR & and turned! Captured guerrillas with white regular soldiers as control. The Assualt grp consisted mainly of white territorial personal.

@rickybosman6158 11 күн бұрын

The Rhodesian a S.A.S.were equally one of the best combat forces in world.

@peterbrigden2124 27 күн бұрын

It must have been the biggest and best army in the world ? Everyone Zimbabwean that I know was in it and brag about it. Its the same with the South African army, the only trouble is that they both lost their respective wars and their countries 😈😈😈😈

@billisaac326 26 күн бұрын

Don,t you mean every Rhodesian was in it? Everyone but you.

@conceretejungle1150 7 күн бұрын

Pamberi ne ZANU PF

@GhostRanger5060 17 күн бұрын

When men were men.

@user-bp6qo8gw6w 20 күн бұрын

All this is very well. You may love them or hate them. They were awesome in their effectiveness and ruthlessness. What always haunts me about Rhodesia is that it's fatal flaw was apparent from its formation. Similar to the Afrikaners in South Africa; they seemed to exclude from their plans the fact that Africans existed and shared the land into which they had moved. In reflection it was a big mistake. The Rhodesians basically lost everything in the end. But the underlying stupidity of never addressing a fundamental flaw in their plans belongs to them alone.

@rhodesia1578 17 күн бұрын

In your opinion 😂 ! You speculate ! You assume !!

@groovydrzi6967 12 күн бұрын

Well said.

@user-bp6qo8gw6w 7 күн бұрын

I read a lot of history books. Rhodes' Pioneer Column had the seeds that grew into the whites reluctance to recognize any black land rights. (The absolute reluctance to recognize the "land issue since at least 1920). The surrender of Chetswaio was automatically assumed to mean that the whites owned all the territory that the Shona had occupied for centuries. PROBLEM. Don't forget, the Eastern half of Zimbabwe was considered part of Mozambique until Rhodes bulldozed his way in there. PROBLEM. Prior to that, Mzilikazi's invasion of the south western area of Zimbabwe only occurred mid 1800's. The Zulu's were a very recent occurrence in that area and were raiding, raping and pillaging the Shona. Who gave them all of Zimbabwe? It never happened. PROBLEM. There was very little legitimacy regarding Rhodes invasion. Queen Victoria just looked the other way and let it go on...PROBLEM. But forget that bit; conquest is conquest, all races do it and have done it. Think about this; HOLISTIC thinking (Alan Savoury, a great Rhodesian himself, and Jan Smuts: two men who invented/endorse this method) ; holistic thinking requires that you exclude nothing from your list whence you tackle a problem in seeking a solution. My point is this: by omitting THE LAND ISSUE, from the very beginning, the whites doomed Rhodesia. No amount of "sweeping it under the carpet," or omiting the above-mentioned historical PROBLEMS, could put this issue away. And it's this so many whites do not want to accept. I'm white. I'm an Africa. I was conceived in Rhodesia, born in South Africa, raised and educated in Swaziland, and live and farm in Mozambique. And I read a lot of history. Rhodesia had a fatal flaw. And it is the white man's fault for never recognizing it. For decade after a decade, they chose not to look it in the face and deal with it honestly. It's done and dusted now. Our fault.

@FreeWorldSoldier1 16 күн бұрын

Men of steel ❣️

@hoseA-sy4ld Ай бұрын

the woodoo

@MrPh30 13 күн бұрын

Good troops , that mostly were farm guys and pro Hunters . All guys no matter where one came from were equal there . Capable of much , and what was the expression again “ Miskuzi “

@groovydrzi6967 13 күн бұрын

They murdered many innocent people and caused the death of many more. They instilled terror into the hearts of many of us African teenagers of the 70s. And what did they achieve in the final analysis?