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Never Quite a Soldier
A Rhodesian Policeman's War 1971-1982
Author: David Lemon
268pp; size 242 X 168mm
32pp black and white and colour pics & map
Trade paperback; ISBN 9781919854215
Bar code 978191854212
The author was a Rhodesian policeman during the Bush War days. His first involvement with the war came when he was member-in-charge of Macheke Police Station. Groups of infiltrating ZANLA guerrillas moved into the area and embarked on a murderous campaign targeting both black and white civilians.
The war throughout the country escalated and indiscriminate acts of terror like the bomb detonated in a Woolworths branch in Salisbury that killed 12 black shoppers and wounded another 76, the June 1978 massacre by ZANLA of nine white missionaries and four children — one a three week old baby, the shooting down of a Viscount airliner and the subsequent massacre of survivors and countless other terrible incidents decided him to join the elite Police Support Unit which comprised 12 companies of fighting policemen, most of them black.
The Black Boots, as the were known, were as smart or smarter than the Brigade of Guards on parade, and as fighting men they matched or surpassed any elite fighting unit anywhere in the world.
Lemon fought through numerous engagements and contacts until the war ended with the elections in 1980 that brought Robert Mugabe to power and Rhodesia became the new state of Zimbabwe.
But for him the war was far from over and in November 1980 his fighting Charlie Company and the Rhodesian African Rifles were engaged in serious fighting attempting to keep ZIPRA and ZANLA guerrillas away from each others throats in Bulawayo. Fighting again broke out in February 1981 when ZIPRA forces failed in their bid to capture Bulawayo from government forces.
Meanwhile, Mugabe had formed his 5-Brigade (the Gukuruhundi) — comprising ex-ZANLA guerrillas trained by the North Koreans — which embarked on a campaign of genocide against Ndebele civilians in Matabeleland. They murdered their way through the province killing an estimated 15 000 to 30 000 people.
Appalled by this terror campaign and frustrated by the drop in standards the author resigned from the police and left the country in 1983.
This book contains important information as well as photographs regarding President Robert Mugabe’s attempted genocide of the Ndebele nation using his notorious Northern Korean-trained 5-Brigade.
Media Reviews:
Lemon was born in Rhodesia but moved to England in 1963 hoping to become a school teacher. Burt things did not turn our as planned. On December 16 1964 he joined the British police and was quite happy until November 11 1965 — the day Ian Smith declared UDI, effectively starting the Rhodesian War.
After listening to the Rhodesian Prime Minister’s speech on the radio, Lemon decided to return home, where he joined the British South Africa Police as a patrol officer. Over the years he worked his way up in the ranks not really affected by the war, which was escalating out of control. His direct involvement came as member in charge of Macheke police station when ZANLA guerrillas moved into the area and started threatening black and white civilians alike.
This led to the transition from policeman to ‘soldier’. Lemon joined the BSAP Support Unit known as the Black Boots after nearly being court-martialled, fought with the unit until the 1980 elections when Robert Mugabe became president.
Peace did not mean the end of Lemon’s war for quite some time as he was now caught up in the action surrounding two newly-elected political parties who appeared set on tearing each others’ throats out. Finally, dismayed by all that was going on around him, he resigned his commission in the Zimbabwe Republic Police in 1963. Lemon’s recollections are based on a diary he kept during the time.
I found this a chilling book that tells the reader just how a country fell apart around the author as he tried to maintain law and order.
Pretoria News — Andrew Beet.
Lemon makes no bones of the fact that Ian Smith was militarily and politically defeated. He used the same ruthlessness to destroy Joshua Nkomo’s incompetent ZIPRA and to crush the Ndebele during the War of Gukurahundi when the North Korean-trained 5th Brigade used counter-insurgency techniques that would have impressed Timur Land (1336-1405) the Turkoman Mongol conqueror . . .
In passing Lemon also shows the tenacity and intelligence of the foe they were up against. IN an incident at the Chimurenga’s end, when ZANLA cadres go on the rampage at Enkeldoorn; order is restored when a commander steps forward. ‘One man stood apart from the rest . . . he stepped through the unruly throng and walked across to me. ‘Do you want my help Mr Lemon?’ The copper then realised he was facing Sachiweshe, his enemy for several years in the Wiltshire of whom he knew next to nothing, not even his real name. The reverse, however, was not true. He knew his name, his call sign in the BSAP Support Unit (Charlie Nine), his nickname amongst his troops (magirazi — one with spectacles), where he was based, where he lived and where his children went to school. ‘. . . in spite of all my research, he obviously knew a great deal more about me that I knew about him’, said an abashed Lemon.
In contrast with Mugabe and ‘Sachiweshe’, the Rhodesian war effort was marked by a lack of seriousness. ‘Two days before the [1980] election, I was called to Enkeldoorn for a meeting with General Peter Walls [the Rhodesian Combined Operations commander]. Discussing the likely election result, Walls told Lemon and his colleagues the Wiltshire was ‘probably a borderline case[‘ and ‘could still be won by Bishop Abel Muzirewa, who Lemon considered incompetent and inept. ‘I listened to this mounting drivel with mounting incredulity. This man was the man leading the fighting forces of my country . . . This was the man I would have died for and he was lying through his teeth. I knew he was lying. We all knew he was lying and he must have known. His lies were totally pointless in the circumstances and he lost all my respect at that moment.’
Lemon spins a highly readable yarn, using good humour to describe his career from 1971 when he returned home to Rhodesia from Britain , to 1982 when he resigned from the Zimbabwe Republic Police in disgust. Much of the story involves Lemon overcoming his aversion to soldiering as the Chimurenga intensifies around him. At first he was so averse to things military that he refused to become involved with his station’s Police Anti-terrorist Unit. Gradually he finds he enjoys soldiering and musketry and joins in the war all the less reluctantly, eventually taking transfer to the Support Unit (the Black Boots) a 12-company counter-insurgency unit with the British South Africa Police. As commander of Charlie Company (the companies were named Alpha to Lima ). In that capacity he served from 1978 until the war’s end and beyond.
Armed Forces Journal, Johannesburg
Readers' Comments:
Your book is one of the best I have read about Rhodesia and what it went through. You must have many more stories to tell – any chance of a sequel?
Chris Murcott – South Africa
I have just put your book down and not without a few tears in my eyes. I am the richer for having read it.
John Davison – Pinetown
Your book was a great but emotional read. I really felt that you gave an honest representation of those days. You were fair to the situations and your honesty about your own feelings and involvement were heart breaking as you did not shy away from some hard truths. It really was an emotional travel back in time to those ward days.
Jane Van der Westhuizen – Perth
Congratulations; your book is a unique record of life in the BSAP at the time, well written and pretty gut wrenching. I hope that one day all Zimbabweans will be able to read it with an appreciation of what a dark period of Zimbabwe’s history it represents.
Jero Young – Australia
I have to tell you that I haven’t enjoyed a book quite so much for a long time.
Allan Carson – Cape Town
Really enjoyed your book and have just re read it. You certainly did your bit and you bring back the feelings, the anger and the excitement of it all.
Jim O Toole – Devon
Your book is very well written and I enjoyed it immensely. What I enjoyed about your attitude is the honesty. I will plug it on my Forces website here in New Zealand.
Hugh Bomford – New Zealand
You have managed to capture the exact mind-set and thoughts of all the people who were involved in the terrorist war in Rhodesia. Your self analysing throughout the book was incredibly accurate for a lot of people and I have never read such a personal, human-related story.
Gareth Loxton – Kabul, Afghanistan
A book that seems to express the spirit of the BSAP. Well done.
Bradley Allen – Hong Kong
When reading your book, I often felt that you were expressing my own thoughts on the period. Congratulations.
Stuart Tennant – Johannesburg
The book is a really good read and highly recommended. I believe it is written from the heart and you are to be congratulated on an exceptionally fine work – and there aren’t too many of them around!
Dave Willis – Johannesburg
Your book moved me more than I thought a book could. It has had a very profound effect on me and thank you for writing it.
Richard Holland – Melbourne
I would like to make contact with the David Lemon, the author of Never Quite a Soldier, which I have just read, as I would like to send a note congratulating him on his book. I am an ex-policeman from Rhodesia and I served during this time. I believe he has captured the exact state of mind of the people and his facts are incredibly true. I do not believe another book has been written in this manner before and I hope to encourage more ex-members to read it.
Gareth Loxton - ex-British South Africa Police
I collect books on military and political history and I am also researching a book to hopefully be written in the near future, but I just wanted to say that David Lemon’s book is perhaps one of the best I have read regarding the Rhodesian conflict and I would ask that you pass on my compliments and thanks to him.
Stephen Dunkley
NB: The Price includes shipping costs inside South Africa.
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R225.00 |
