Masodja: The History of the Rhodesian African Rifles and its Forerunner, The Rhodesia Native Regiment

Includes the award-winning BBC documentary DVD, Frontline Rhodesia

Originally formed as The Rhodesia Native Regiment during World War I, this fine regiment first saw action in East Africa, pitted against the wily von Lettow-Vorbeck and his army of German askaris. Disbanded and later re-formed, the regiment was to distinguish itself during World War II in the North African and Burma campaigns. Using the counter-insurgency experience gleaned from the Malayan Campaign of the 1950s, the RAR provided the frontline troops in the battle for Rhodesia during that country’s bitter civil war of the 1960s and 1970s.

Contents include:
The formation of the Rhodesia Native Regiment
RNR operations in East Africa during WWI
Armistice and the disbandment of the RNR
The formation of the RAR
The RAR in the Burma campaign
The RAR in the Malayan Emergency
The Nyasaland Emergency
The RAR in the Rhodesian bush war

Alexandre Binda was born in Beira, Mozambique in 1945. He joined the Rhodesian Army in 1965. Although he had attested into the Pay Corps, he was to get more operational and combat experience than any of his colleagues. Between 1968 and 1972 he took part in a dozen or so deployments with RLI and SAS combat-tracker teams in support of the Portuguese Army in the Tete Province of Mozambique, countering Frelimo and ZANLA guerrilla incursions from the north. He was awarded a Military Forces Commendation. During his 15 years in the Rhodesian Army, he did a four-year tour of duty with the Selous Scouts and was commissioned in 1979. Alex is a keen student of African military history and has written several articles for Lion & Tusk, the magazine of the Rhodesian Army Association. He is also co-author of The Saints—The Rhodesian Light Infantry.