Selous Scouts: Rhodesian Counter-Insurgency Specialists (Africa@War) Paperback – December 27, 2011

Let me start by saying that I have read every book publish about the Selous Scouts (or had coverage of the Selous Scouts), and this book rates at the top of the list. This is for a few reasons. The first is that this book is affordable for all to read about this deadly and world renowned elite force. Most books on the Selous Scouts are out of print and/or very expensive to obtain, for that matter most Rhodesian Bush War books are generally all very expensive to obtain. For one they are printed overseas and shipping is also very, very high. It is not uncommon for a book with shipping to be over eighty dollars which if you are not a collector would be ridicules to spend. So for me this book rates high just for this reason.As for as content this book I will briefly hit some salient points;The contents;ForewordPrelude - A Brief History of War in Rhodesia. This chapter covers briefly conflict from settlement to the fall of Rhodesia in 1980. As well, as the coverage of Rhodesian participation in WWII with the SAS/LRDG and Malaya.Chapter One - The Formation of the Selous Scouts. This is an interesting chapter covering the evolution of the formation of the Selous Scouts from early beginning with nucleus of Special Air Service (SAS) troops and British South African Police (BSAP) experimenting with pseudo methods. This chapter clearly explains the command relationship between the Army, BSAP and Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), explaining the complicated but streamlined joint organization of the scouts. Finally it covers the initial selection and assessment process developed to get "into" the scouts.Chapter Two - Operations Commence. Covers in detail the merging of FireForce operations with Selous Scout pseudo teams acting as "pathfinders" for the Rhodesian Light Infantry (Commando0 (RLI) direct action elements to kill and capture terrorist. As well this section elaborates on the "turning" of terrorist for pseudo-operations.Chapter Three - External Operations - Terrorizing the Terrorist. This chapter does an excellent job at explaining the evolution of external operations by the Selous Scouts flying columns, as well it gives a brief overview of all the major external operations.Chapter Four - Intelligence and the Reconnaissance Troop. Covers the importance of intelligence, to support pseudo-operations as the techniques became known and semi-compromised by the BSAP and terrorist. The second half is on the formation and operational employment of the Recce Troop, in particularly the employment of small team and singleton recce operators for external missions.Chapter Five - The Selous Scouts Spies. Interesting look at the use of undercover Selous Scout agents externally in bordering countries for advance recce missions, intelligence collection, direct action and assassination.Chapter Six - The Mud Begins to Stick. This chapter covers the beginning of the end of the Selous Scouts, due to rivalry and service in-fighting; ultimately covering up to Reid-Daly's retirement and the disbandment of the scouts. Also covers a lot of the allegations of illegal activities supposable conducted by the Selous Scouts to include chemical warfare and poaching.Chapter Seven - Operation Miracle. This chapter covers some of the major operations up to "Miracle"; coving this operation in detail. As the author states this was the last hurrah for major Rhodesian operation. This was a somewhat conventional joint operation that included Rhodesian air assets, SAS, RLI and the Selous Scouts.Chapter Eight - The End. Is a brief look at Operation Quartzes and some of the various plans to assassinate Mugabe during the turbulent transition period. As well as the demobilization and disbandment of the legendary Selous Scouts.This book is lavishly illustrated with excellent maps, graphics and line drawings, as well as load of color and B&W photography, a lot I have not seen in other publications or on-line. The format of the book reminds me kind of like the Osprey line of books but with a whole lot more detail. The book is also physically larger at approximately 13.5"x 10.5" which is not a standard size print, but it works well with the format. This book is also volume four of the "africa@war" series, currently only a four volume set that includes;Volume 1 -  OPERATION DINGO: Rhodesian Raid on Chimoio and Tembue' 1977 (Africa at War) Volume 2 -  FRANCE IN CENTRAFRIQUE: From Bokassa and Operation Barracude to the Days of EUFOR (Africa@War) Volume 3 -  BATTLE FOR CASSINGA: South Africa's Controversial Cross-Border Raid, Angola 1978 (Africa@War) If you found this book to be interesting I also recommend looking at;" Pamwe Chete " by Reid-Daly." Selous Scouts - Top Secret War " by Peter Stiff and Reid-Daly." Assignment Selous Scouts: Inside Story of a Rhodesian Special Branch Officer " by Parker." The Bush War In Rhodesia: The Extraordinary Combat Memoir of a Rhodesian Reconnaissance Specialist " by Dennis Croukamp." Selous Scouts: Rhodesian War-A Pictorial Account " by Peter Stiff.All I can say is this volume on the Selous Scouts is a must own and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in irregular warfare, counter-insurgency and military history.

I knew of the tracking skills of the Selous Scouts and was hoping to learn more details of their experiences in the field. This book documents the orgainization of the unit and its leadership. It gives the reader an overview of the operational capabilities of the Scouts. It also discusses the successful intergration of black and white operators in the unit. The Scouts were very successful in cross border counterinsurgency operations and developed the ability to turn captured guerillas into support troops.

Review: Selous Scouts: Rhodesian Counter-Insurgency Specialists Peter BaxterSelous Scouts by Peter Baxter is a bit of legendary history of a regiment in the Rhodesian military in the last years of White Rhodesia. This unit was set up to be a “pseudo” guerrilla unit and an intelligence unit 1973 - 1980. 1980 was the end of white rule in Rhodesia. They would “turn” captured guerrillas from the Black Nationalism to the Rhodesian side by pointing out their three options, immediate execution, to trail and 99% chance of being hung, or turning. They would then send these men back into the battle zones and infiltration zones as “pseudo guerrillas.” There they would gather information and call in air and ground strikes on the infiltrators. Several sources show that over 68% of the killed infiltrating guerrillas in their period were killed by the Selous Scouts (over 1200 to about 400 dead).I found the book a bit hard to understand at first, due to my confusion of which war was being discussed, and the use of terms unfamiliar to me like pseudo counter intelligence and pseudo guerrilla. After about 10% of the book, it became clear. The book is well written. The story well told with lots of pictures of main players and action. There is lots of action. As near as I can tell, while the book is about White Rhodesian military, and discusses the racism of the time and place, it has little other bias. The Selous Scouts contained about 60-70% Blacks and the only commissioned Black officers in the Rhodesian Military. The book is not negative to Blacks and in fact honors them, naming and picturing them as active, nearly equal members of the Selous Scouts.The interaction of the commander (Ron Reid-Daly), his Commander and friend Gen. Wall, and the remainder of the Rhodesian military command is well told. Reid-Daly was not from the honored military academies (Sandhurst) but rose through the ranks. Thus he was resented by the true bloods of the Rhodesian military. Reid-Daly also did lots of “lateral” thinking and out of the box thinking. Selous Scouts had some special privileges and were frequently given frozen, other unit free zones. Thus he had to spend lots of time justifying his unit and their actions to the Rhodesian Military Commanders.Many of the exploits of the Selous Scouts are described in some detail, both internal and external to Rhodesia, including the failed assassinations of the Black leaders of the ZANA and ZANLA, both movements of Black nationalism in Rhodesia.The author, Peter Baxter is White and was born in Kenya and educated in Zambia. He lived through the early parts of the Black Nationalism in Africa. Once Africa became untenable for Whites, he moved to England and then the United States, where he now lives. He is currently an active guide of many African trips, both historical and military, with several advertised on his website. On his website are several downloadable articles on African History and lore. He is an amateur historian who has written several other books on military history of White Africa.I wondered about accuracy. I checked Wikipedia and found that their article paralleled this book very closely. Their article references primarily Reid-Daly's book “Pamwe Chete: The Legend of the Selous Scouts.” (Reid-Daly's book is available for over $600 dollars for a hardbound copy on ABEBooks) It does not reference this book. The references in this book are a wide mix, including Reid-Daly's book. Helion and Company Ltd, the publisher, a British Publishing house specializing in Military History, lists lots of small ebooks on mainly European and African military history. 30 South, the associate publisher, is a South African publishing company which lists many small ebooks on African military history, geology and travel, with an emphasis on memoirs. Thus, this book appears to tell the story accurately.

Basically accurate, but written by someone who clearly was not involved on the ground or in the organization. This account favors the views of the European bureaucrats and politicians who forced the untimely end of colonial rule, and is written from the perspective of someone who was not socialized or raised in the time period of those who lived there and had to fight the war. If you’d like to read a more unbiased account, read Tim Bax’s ”three Sips of Gin”.

A well-written book on a specialist subject that is informative, instructive, fascinating and accurate. Brilliant accountof an era that for better or worse changed the face and content of Southern Africa.

A slim volume, scattering information but not a definitive assessment of the Scouts.Disappointing. Reads like it is thrown together

good

A very good book. I have read a number of books about the Selous Scouts and I know of some of the Officers who served with the Regiment.

Pity its in a magazine style / size rather than a book.