Crocodile Armoured Personnel Carrier
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (November 2017) |
| Crocodile Armoured Personnel Carrier | |
|---|---|
| Type | Armoured personnel carrier |
| Place of origin | Rhodesia |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1977–present |
| Used by | Rhodesia Zimbabwe United States |
| Wars | Rhodesian Bush War 1980 Entumbane clashes 1981 Entumbane uprising Mozambican Civil War Second Congo War |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 6.55 tonnes (empty) 11.55 tonnes (combat) |
| Length | 7.65 m |
| Width | 2.25 m |
| Height | 3.1 m |
| Crew | 2+16 |
| Armor | 10 to 40 mm |
Main armament | one 7.62 mm, 12.7 mm or 14.5 mm machine guns |
Secondary armament | personal weapons through gunports |
| Engine | Standard Nissan 6.54 litre diesel 160 hp |
| Power/weight | hp/ton hp/tonne |
| Suspension | wheels, 4 × 4 |
Operational range | 600 to 700 km |
| Maximum speed | 90 km/h |
The Crocodile Armoured Personnel Carrier or "Croc" is a Rhodesian armoured personnel carrier first introduced in 1977 and based on Japanese commercial heavy-duty trucks' chassis. It remains in use with the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA).
General description
Built on a
Protection
The Crocodile was appreciated for its protection against landmines and ambush, since its hull was made of welded ballistic 10mm mild steel plate, whilst the front windscreen and side windows had 40mm
Armament
Rhodesian "Crocs" were usually armed with a
Variants
- Troop-Carrying Vehicle (TCV) – is the standard IFV/APC fully protected version, armed with either a single LMG (Rhodesian SF 1978–79) or HMG (ZNA 1980–present) and capable of accommodating 16 infantrymen.
- Convoy escorting version – designated 'E-type', this is a basic IFV/APC version fitted with a turret, either the 'dustbin' with Browning MG or the 'box' variant with MAG-58 LMG.
- Light TCV version – standard IFV/APC version with scaled-down armour.
- Jackal – unarmed civilian version employed by the Rhodesian Posts & Telecommunications Corporation (PTC).
Combat history
The Crocodile APC was employed by the Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI)[5] late in the war on Fireforce operations and on their cross-border covert raids ('externals') against ZIPRA and ZANLA guerrilla bases in the neighboring Countries,[6] such as the September 1979 raid on the ZANLA's New Chimoio base in Mozambique (Operation Miracle).[7]
After independence, the Crocodile APC entered service with the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) in early 1980. In November that year, ZNA's "Crocs" were thrown into action against ZIPRA troops at the 1st Battle of Entumbane and later at the February 1981 2nd Battle of Entumbane (near Bulawayo, Matabeleland), and later again after February 1982 by helping to put down the Super-ZAPU insurgency also in Matabeleland.
During the
Operators
Zimbabwe – About 40 vehicles still in service with the ZNA.
Former operators
Rhodesia – 130 vehicles in service with the Rhodesian Security Forces in 1977–1980 passed on to successor state.
United States – Unknown number in service with the U.S. Marines in Somalia 1992–1994.
Notes
- ^ Locke & Cooke, Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80 (1995), p. 45.
- ^ Locke & Cooke, Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80 (1995), p. 45.
- ^ Locke & Cooke, Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80 (1995), p. 43.
- ^ Locke & Cooke, Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80 (1995), p. 45.
- ^ Grant & Dennis, Rhodesian Light Infantryman 1961–80 (2015), pp. 24-25; 56-57.
- ^ Locke & Cooke, Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80 (1995), p. 58.
- ^ Touchard, Guerre dans le bush! Les blindés de l'Armée rhodésienne au combat (1964-1979), pp. 65; 73.
- ^ Abbott & Ruggeri, Modern African Wars (4): The Congo 1960-2002 (2014), pp. 41-42.
See also
- Bullet TCV
- Hippo APC
- Thyssen Henschel UR-416
- Rhodesian Armoured Corps
- MAP45 Armoured Personnel Carrier
- MAP75 Armoured Personnel Carrier
- Mine Protected Combat Vehicle
- List of weapons of the Rhodesian Bush War
References
- Laurent Touchard, Guerre dans le bush! Les blindés de l'Armée rhodésienne au combat (1964-1979), Batailles & Blindés Magazine No. 72, April–May 2016, Caraktère, Aix-en-Provence, pp. 64–75. )
- Neil Grant & Peter Dennis, Rhodesian Light Infantryman 1961–80, Warrior series 177, Osprey Publishing Ltd, Oxford 2015. ISBN 978-1-4728-0962-9
- Peter Abbott & Raffaele Ruggeri, Modern African Wars (4): The Congo 1960-2002, Men-at-arms series 492, Osprey Publishing Ltd, Oxford 2014. ISBN 978-1782000761
- Peter Gerard Locke & Peter David Farquharson Cooke, Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965–80, P&P Publishing, Wellington 1995. ISBN 0-473-02413-6
- Peter Stiff, Taming the Landmine, Galago Publishing Pty Ltd., Alberton (South Africa) 1986. ISBN 9780947020040
- Robert K. Brown, The Black Devils, Soldier of Fortune Magazine, January 1979, Omega Group Ltd., Boulder, Colorado.