ANTI-AMBUSH DEVICES

The Rhodesians also developed several devices that could be fitted to security force vehicles to counter ambushes. The objective was to provide the occupants of vehicles with some means of killing, injuring, or pinning down the ambush party until security forces could outflank them. One such measure involved mounting devices similar to claymore mines facing outward from the sides of vehicles. The vehicles were protected by reinforced backing plates and the mines were detonated electronically from within the cabs. In one instance, this device killed 11 insurgents during an ambush. Rhodesian engineers also developed other similar grenade dischargers, including one that used old bolt-action .303 rifles with Ballistic cartridges as a propellant to launch hand grenades from a cup holder affixed to the barrel. The grenade’s activating lever was secured by the cup until it was discharged. Care had to be taken in loading and unloading the dischargers, which were placed at various points along the vehicle to provide complete coverage. The triggers were activated by a pull cord and could be fired individually or at once. Another device involved two AK-47s mounted on the back of a Land Rover. The guns were fired from a solenoid activator located inside the cab.

All these devices required the driver to travel through the kill zone as quickly as possible once an ambush occurred. If enough occupants were available to retaliate against the attackers, the driver would stop the vehicle once it was clear of the ambush point and the security forces would determine the direction of fire by a quick examination of any bullet holes on the vehicle. Although the retaliatory devices did not actually kill many insurgents, reports indicate that they were quite successful in providing a diversion. They also did much to enhance security force morale.

In sum, mine-protected and mine-resistant vehicles were among the most successful countermeasures of the war. Although mine warfare, among other insurgent tactics, imposed a garrison-mentality on Portuguese troops in Mozambique during the early 1970s and in El Salvador more recently, the Rhodesians actively fought to regain and then retain control over the roads. The Rhodesians commonsense approach was characterized by a flexibility in the design and constant modification of the vehicles to keep pace with the insurgents’ changing tactics. They thus were able to cope not only with the initial mining threat, but with each new tactic the insurgents developed. When the insurgents began to combine small-arms fire with mining, the Rhodesians were able to overcome the new threat and remained on the roads. Similarly, when the insurgents began planting nonmetallic mines, the Rhodesians readjusted their mine-detecting devices to home in on the holes rather than the mines themselves.