Selous Scouts. Top Secret War

Published by Galago Publishing November 1982. First Edition, 3rd imp. Very good + hardback covers in a very good + pictorial dust jacket. Illustrated with colour plates and b/w maps and plates as listed including frontispiece.

 The Selous Scouts was a special forces unit of the Rhodesian Army that operated during the Rhodesian Bush War from 1973 until the reconstitution of the country as Zimbabwe in 1980. It was mainly responsible for infiltrating the black majority population of Rhodesia and collecting intelligence on insurgents so that they could be attacked by regular elements of the security forces. The unit did this by forming small teams that posed as insurgents and usually included captured insurgents. Over time, the Selous Scouts increasingly attacked insurgents themselves and operated in the countries that neighboured Rhodesia.

The unit developed a reputation for brutality, and was responsible for attacking and killing civilians. The Selous Scouts were also involved in the Rhodesian chemical and biological weapons program and used poisons and biological agents in some of its operations. The methods used by the unit led to the deaths of large numbers of insurgents, but proved counter-productive as they further alienated the black majority population from the white minority Rhodesian government and increased international opposition to the regime.