Operation Panga

Operation Panga
Part of Rhodesian Bush War
Date 17 April 1971 Location Mushenshi River, Zambia Result Rhodesian victory ZIPRA camp destroyed.
Belligerents
Rhodesia	ZIPRA
Commanders and leaders
Maj. Peter Rich	Unknown
Units involved
Rhodesian Army SAS RhAF	unknown
Strength
10 troopers	unknown
Casualties and losses
none	1 killed 1 wounded

Operation Panga was a military operation launched by the

At this point in the war Rhodesia's political and military position appeared to be a strong one. Nationalist guerrillas had been unable to make serious military inroads against Rhodesia. In the early 1970s the two main nationalist groups faced serious internal divisions, aid from the Organisation of African Unity was temporarily suspended in 1971 and 129 nationalists were expelled from Zambia after they were alleged to have plotted against President Kenneth Kaunda.^[2] Furthermore Britain's efforts to isolate Rhodesia economically had not forced major compromises from the Smith Government.

In 1971, Rhodesia joined Alcora Exercise, a secret defensive alliance for Southern Africa, formalised in 1970 by Portugal and South Africa. Alcora formalised and deepened the political and military co-operation between the three countries in the fight against the revolutionary insurgency in the territories of Rhodesia, Angola, Mozambique and South West Africa and in the prevention of possible external aggression to those territories from the hostile neighbouring countries.

The Raid

On 17 April 1971 a ten-strong force from the

Bibliography

• Britannica (1972). Britannica Book of the Year 1972: Events of 1971. Chicago, Illinois: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
• ISBN 978-1-920169-61-9. Archived from the original
  on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2018.

This Rhodesia-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e