Zimbabwe National Army

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Zimbabwe National Army or ZNA was created in 1980 from elements of the Rhodesian Army, integrated to a greater or lesser extent with combatants from the ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrilla movements (the armed wings of, respectively, ZANU and ZAPU.

Following majority rule in early 1980, British Army trainers oversaw the integration of guerrilla fighters into a battalion structure overlaid on the existing Rhodesian armed forces. For the first year a system was followed where the top-performing candidate became battalion commander. If he or she was from ZANLA, then his or her second-in-command was the top-performing ZIPRA candidate, and vice versa. This ensured a balance between the two movements in the command structure. From early 1981 this system was abandoned in favour of political appointments, and ZANLA/ZANU fighters consequently quickly formed the majority of battalion commanders in the ZNA.

The ZNA was originally formed into four brigades, composed of a total of 29 battalions. The brigade support units were composed almost entirely of specialists of the former Rhodesian Army, while unintegrated battalions of the Rhodesian African Rifles were assigned to the 1st, 3rd and 4th Brigades. The notorious Fifth Brigade was formed in 1981 and disbanded in 1984 after allegations of brutality and murder during the Brigade's occupation of Matabeleland.

1 Organisation
2 Equipment
3 Past Operations
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Organisation

The bulk of the formations are motorized, but several are more specialized:

Presidential Guards (three battalions)
Mechanized Brigade which includes the Tank Regiment and the Mechanized Regiment (IFVs).
Artillery Brigade which includes 2 x Field Artillery Regiments and 1 x Air Defence Artillery Regiment.
2 x Combat Engineers Regiments
Special Forces - Special Forces of Zimbabwe include the Commando Regiment, the Parachute Battalion and the Special Air Service with a Boat Squadron.
1 x independent Armored Reconnaissance Squadron

Each infantry brigade has:

Three infantry battalions with 31 APCs each
Reconnaissance Company (12 EE-9)
Signals Company
Mortar Battery (6 81/82mm or 120mm)
AA gun battery
Engineer company
Supply and transport
Workshop
Medical units

[edit] Equipment

Armour

NORINCO Type 59 MBT - 35
NORINCO Type 69 MBT - 10
Type 63 light tank - 20 received 1983/1984 from China
T-54 - 20 tanks received from USSR in September 1984.[1]
T-54/55 ARV
T-55 tanks - 12 from North Korea, 1981
EE-9 Cascavel Armoured Car - 90
EE-11 Urutu - 7
Panhard AML Armoured Car - 30
Eland Mk7 - 20
EQ2050 Armoured Car (Chinese version of the American M998 (HMMWV) - 100
PRC Type 63/YW 531 Armoured Personnel Carrier - 30 (8 from China and 22 Korean VTT-323 version)
Unknown type Armoured Personnel Carrier - 22 donated by China in January 2005
UR-416 Armoured Personnel Carrier - 36
Crocodile Armoured Personnel Carrier - 40
BRDM-1 Armoured Personnel Carrier, from North Korea in 1984 - 20
BRDM-2 Armoured Personnel Carrier, from Russia - 1980
BTR-152 Armoured Personnel Carrier, from North Korea - 1983
BTR-50 Armoured personnel carrier, from Syria - 1984 - 40
ACMAT TPK 4.20 VSC Armoured Personnel Carrier 260
Steyr-Daimler-Puch 4x4 Armoured Personnel Carrier (exact type not known)- at least 66

Field Artillery

2S1 122mm Self-propelled howitzer - 12
D-30/2A18M Towed Artillery (122mm) - 4
PRC Type 60 Towed Artillery (122 mm) - 18
PRC Type 54 Towed Artillery (122 mm) - 12
OTO Melara Mod 56 105mm Pack Howitzer - 18
L118 Light Gun 105 mm towed howitzer - 12
PRC Type 63 Multiple Rocket Launcher - 18
RM-70 Multiple Rocket Launcher - 52
BM-21 Grad - 25
L16 81mm Mortar - 100
81 mm / 82 mm Mortar - 502
120 mm Mortar - 74 (60 of unidentified type delivered from Bulgaria in 2000, according to the 2001 edition of the U.N.’s Register of Conventional Arm)

Air Defense Artillery

ZPU-1/-2/-4; ZU-23; M1939 Air Defence Guns - 215
ZSU-23-4 Shilka
SA-7/SA-18 Igla Surface-to-air missile - 30
Seacat/Tigercat missiles [2]
HQ-2 Surface-to-air missile - Reported. Quantity unknown.
ATGM missiles have been cited in military exercise reports.

Light Infantry Weapons

L85A1 Assault rifle
AK family of rifles is standard issue infantry weapon
FN FAL sometimes issued the special forces
MAG Machine gun
PK Machine gun
Dragunov Sniper Rifle

[edit] Past Operations

Raids On Gorongosa

Some Renamo elements had crossed from Mozambique into Zimbabwe several times, had robbed some shops along the border and had burned down a timber factory. After several meetings with Mozambican officials it was agreed that the ZDF could pursue into Mozambique any Renamo elements that might have committed atrocities in Zimbabwe. This was the basis on which the ZDF started planning follow up operations which took them deep into Mozambique and all the way to Gorongossa.

Operation Lemon. The first of these Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) follow up operations was launched from Katiyo and Aberdeen and it was code named Operation Lemon. The operation lasted from the 5-9 December 1984. It comprised elements of 3 Brigade, the Parachute Group, Special Air Service (SAS), and was supported by the Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ). Bad weather conditions and the difficult mountainous terrain reduced the use of aircraft, and all the trooping had to be done by helicopters. The movement of troops on the ground was also difficult. Four contacts were made and two Renamo bases were destroyed. However, most Renamo elements in the bases managed to escape and only eight were captured.

The ZDF considered this operation as a major failure and the code word Lemon was corrupted to mean any failure in all subsequent operations. It was further established that there were no other permanent bases in the area, only some advance posts and temporary bases used by Renamo as launching pads for food raids into Zimbabwe. It was also revealed for the first time that the main Renamo bases were at Messinse, Chito, Nyazonia, Buetoni, Gorongossa, Central Base and Cassa Banana.

Operation Grape Fruit. The report for Operation Lemon was taken seriously by the commanders of the ZDF, and in July 1985 preparations for major offensive operations were started. Rehearsals for a FireForce operation were carried out at Inkomo Barracks near Harare. Three infantry brigades were mobilised together with the Parachute Group, One Commando Battalion and the AFZ. Men and equipment were moved to Chimoio in Mozambique, with a Forward Replenishment Point (FRP) being established at Grand Reef near Mutare.

Intelligence sources had indicated that Renamo's main regional base in Manica province was at Muxamba and that Cassa Banana was the national stronghold of Renamo. Both bases had to be attacked and Muxamba was targeted first, being only 70 kilometres south of Chimoio. The most important consideration however, was the hope that activities around Muxamba might divert Renamo's attention from monitoring too closely the movement of the heavily armed three Zimbabwean infantry battalions marching from Chimoio towards the Gorongosa Mountains.

Muxamba was believed to hold at least 400 Renamo elements commanded by Major General Mabachi. The attack on Muxamba was launched on the 20th of August 1985 by elements of 3 Brigade, supported by the Parachute Group and the AFZ. The operation went on for four days with minor problems for the ZDF. One helicopter was riddled with small arms fire but managed to get back to Chimoio.

Raid on Cassa Banana. Intelligence sources had indicated that Cassa Banana, Renamo's national headquarters had a strength of 400 elements. However, the organisation maintained a string of other smaller bases along the Gorongossa Mountains, which were considered as part of the main base. This raised the total estimated strength in the area to 1 000 elements. During the night of the 27th of August 1985, three Zimbabwe infantry battalions were established in their Form Up Points (FUP) with the help of the SAS and Commando elements. At Chimoio a FireForce was being given final briefing, and five AFZ planes were given orders for a first light take off for Gorongossa on the morning of the 28th of August.

Although the Renamo elements captured at Katiyo had given a grid reference for Cassa Banana, further intelligence had cast some doubt as to which of the several Renamo bases scattered on all sides of the Gorongossa Mountains was the actual headquarters of Renamo. It was because of this uncertainty that the FireForce was divided into three sections each with one helicopter gunship, two transport helicopters and two transport aircraft with paratroopers.

Each FireForce section was detailed to attack specific suspected Renamo positions around the Gorongossa Mountains. It was during this three pronged attack that one helicopter flew overhead Cassa Banana airstrip and the pilot noticed a green pickup truck disappearing into some bushes. It was then that the pilot recognised the place as that given at the briefing as Cassa Banana. The jets from Thornhill, which were already orbiting overhead a predetermined Initial Point (IP), were then talked on to the target, and the raid on Cassa Banana began.

The aircraft attacked the target, knocking out several Anti - Aircraft gun positions. Two helicopter gunships continued to hit suspected strategic positions and managed to flash out several pockets of resistance. A third helicopter was directing the dropping of the first wave of paratroopers. When the paratroopers had entered the base, the infantry battalions, which were close by, were ordered to move in and occupy strategic positions. The FireForce then moved on to deal with the several pockets of resistance from the smaller Renamo bases all along the Gorongosa Mountains. It took the whole day to silence all of these pockets of resistance.

There is no official Zimbabwean record of the number of casualties on the first raid on Cassa Banana. However, considering the amount of effort, the numbers of troops involved on both sides, and the time it took to capture the base, there must have been a lot of deaths and injuries on both sides. [3]