Peter Walls
Rhodesian Army | |
---|---|
Battles/wars | |
Awards | |
Spouse(s) | Eunice (wife) |
Relations | Three daughters and a son |
Early life
George Peter Walls was born in
Early military career
In the closing months of the
Return to Africa
Resigning his commission in the
Malayan Emergency
In 1951, Walls was promoted to the rank of Captain at the age of 24 years, and was appointed second-in-command of a reconnaissance unit that
Southern Rhodesia
Returning home to Southern Rhodesia, Walls continued as a career soldier, holding a succession of General Staff posts in the Rhodesian Army, and attending the British Army's Staff College in England for training as a future senior officer. In November 1964, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and appointed to be the Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion of the Rhodesian Light Infantry.
With the advent of global
General Staff Officer
After UDI, in the new
Rhodesian Bush War
As international pressure upon the Rhodesian government to admit more indigenous Africans into the country's governance increased during the late 1960s, exerted by crippling economic sanctions, guerrilla activity intensified among the
In 1973, after a study as to the nature of the opponents that Rhodesia was facing, Walls summoned Ronald Reid-Daly and asked him to assemble a new army unit in response to the strategic nature of the escalating guerilla tactics of Rhodesia's adversaries. The new unit needed to combine cross-border insurgency warfare to take the fight to the enemies' bases of operation in territory under hostile governmental control (which collectively virtually encircled Rhodesia), with domestic policing counter-insurgency operations of a more traditional colonial nature, both disciplines being drawn heavily from the experiences that both Walls and Reid-Daly had learned when they had fought alongside one another in the Malayan Emergency twenty years earlier. The new unit was the Selous Scouts.[9]
In 1976, Walls oversaw the introduction of indigenous Africans into the Rhodesian Army as commissioned officers for the first time.[10]
In 1977, Walls was appointed as Rhodesia's Commander, Combined Operations, commanding the nation's military and police forces, providing him with almost 50,000 men under his orders in increasingly severe fighting. On 3 April 1977, in a sign that time was running out for Rhodesia amid economic sanctions, Walls announced that the government would launch a campaign to win the "hearts and minds" of Rhodesia's indigenous African populations to undermine support for the guerrilla campaigns.[11]
In May 1977, General Walls received intelligence reports of a ZANLA force massing in the town of
In November 1977, Walls commanded another raid into Mozambique entitled Operation Dingo, inflicting heavy losses on ZANLA guerrillas quartered there. In a candid admission to the press, Walls gave an insight to the nature of the conflict that Rhodesia found itself in when he stated in an interview in September 1978 that: "There is no single day of the year when we are not operating beyond our borders."[15]
In 1977, rumours began circulating in the Rhodesian press that Walls had become deeply pessimistic about the future of Rhodesia, and that he had been quietly preparing to abandon the country and personally relocate his family into South Africa, and had covertly purchased property there for this purpose. Seeking to scotch these allegations, with the attenuation they would have to the military morale of the troops still fighting under his command, he publicly issued a denial they had any basis in truth.[16]
On 4 September 1978 a combined NATJOC meeting was held which Ian Smith attended. This was the day after the first Viscount tragedy. It appears that in the meeting after Smith had left the meeting, the Generals or elements of NATJOC rebelled and decided to approach the British Government to find out if a coup was staged, what would be the British Government's position, if Rhodesia was returned to British rule. Declassified minutes of the British Cabinet meeting of 7 September 1978 shows that the British were approached (cab-128-64 of the British archives). Any approach by these senior Generals would hand the British a significant advantage in future negotiations. This also compromised Ian Smith's hand at the Lancaster House Conference.
On 4 November 1978, Walls announced to the press that 2,000 nationalist guerrillas had been persuaded to lay down their arms (this figure has been placed by subsequent historical research at closer to no more than 50).[11]
On 12 February 1979, in an attempt to assassinate Walls, ZIPRA shot down
With the nation increasingly pressured by sanctions, the Rhodesian government offered an amnesty to the nationalist guerrillas operating in the field in March 1979, printing and distributing 1.5 million leaflets entitled: "TO ALL ZIPRA FORCES". The leaflets were printed with the signatures of Prime Minister Ian Smith, the ZANU founder Ndabaningi Sithole, United African National Council leader Abel Muzorewa, Chief Jeremiah Chirau, and Walls. Any who abandoned the Bush War were offered suffrage, food and medical treatment. Following this in April 1979, Walls issued an order to the Selous Scouts Regiment to train, organise, and support militants who had defected to the Rhodesian government's authority as part of Operation Favour.[11] However this hearts and minds approach had only limited success, and the Bush War continued unabated. Following the Internal Settlement, Zimbabwe Rhodesia's government concluded a ceasefire with the Patriotic Front ahead of negotiations in London.
Zimbabwe
In late 1979, at a peace conference held in at
Amid the international community's welcome of these developments, Lieutenant-General Walls publicly announced to the press his support for the new government and national dispensation of the Zimbabwean state.[19] This caused some surprise in military, political and diplomatic circles involved, and acrimony between himself and Rhodesia's last Prime Minister, Ian Smith (who had known Walls' father when they had served together in the Royal Air Force),[20] who privately accused him of betrayal[21] during the negotiations in London for the Lancaster House Agreement.[22] In consequence of his newly found conciliatory demeanour, Walls was maintained as the Commanding Officer of the new Zimbabwe national army by the new Government to oversee the integration of the black nationalist guerrilla units into its regular armed forces.
Whilst the
Whites continued to leave the country for
On 12 August 1980, the British Government issued a statement in response to the interview stating that
In response to the release of the interview with the BBC, the Zimbabwean Minister of Information, Nathan Shamuyarira, issued a statement that the new Government: "Would not be held ransom by racial misfits", and suggested that "all those Europeans who do not accept the new order should pack their bags." He also stated that the Zimbabwean government was now considering legal or administrative action against Lt. Gen. Walls for his comments in the BBC interview. On returning from a meeting in the US with President Jimmy Carter, Prime Minister Mugabe, on hearing of the interview, said: "We are certainly not going to have disloyal characters in our society."
Walls returned to Zimbabwe after the interview, telling Peter Hawthorne of Time magazine: "To stay away at this time would have appeared like an admission of guilt." Subsequently, the government removed him from his military post at the head of its armed forces and passed an order essentially precluding his presence within Zimbabwe's territory. Walls left the country at the end of 1980 to live in exile in South Africa.[26][27]
Military awards
Whilst a temporary major in the Southern Rhodesia Far East Volunteer Unit (Staff Corps) he was awarded the M.B.E. in recognition of his service in Malaya.[28]
Walls was the only recipient of the Grand Officer (Military Division) of the Rhodesian Legion of Merit. He was entitled to the post-nominal letters G.L.M.
His awards included the following:
- Legion of Merit (Grand Officer - Military) (GLM)
- Defence Cross for Distinguished Service (DCD)
- Exemplary Service Medal (ESM) w/ clasp
- Order of the British Empire (Member) (MBE)
Final years
Walls settled with his wife at Plettenberg Bay in the Western Cape of South Africa, where he spent the remainder of his life in obscurity away from the public eye.
At the turn of the century, as Zimbabwe became an economically chaotic state, the Government began to seize the properties and farmsteads of the remaining white farming population in an atmosphere of escalating menace and violence. Paranoia also increased in the Government about perceived potential threats from the previous era to its rule becoming a focus for popular discontent; this was publicly displayed by articles appearing in state controlled press outlets
During the night of 23 February 2001, a gang of black Zimbabweans attacked Walls' son, George, in Harare. Identifying themselves as Bush War veterans, they waylaid his car, demanded to know his father's whereabouts, and then proceeded to assault him, cutting his face and stabbing him in the thigh.[30]
Death
General Walls died in his 83rd year on 20 July 2010 at
His funeral was conducted on 27 July 2010 at St. Thomas' (Anglican) Church, Randburg, Gauteng, South Africa.
Personal life
Walls was survived by his wife, Eunice, and four children from his first marriage: three daughters named Patricia, Marion, and Valerie, and one son named George.[31][32]
References
- ^ a b c -2010 Walls: "We will make it work" Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine Time magazine and CNN
- ^ a b Kalley, Jacqueline Audrey. Southern African Political History: A chronological of key political events from independence to mid-1997, 1999. Page 711–712.
- ^ a b Peter Abbott and Philip Botham. Modern African Wars (1): Rhodesia 1965-80, 1986. Page 11.
- ^ "No. 37544". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 April 1946. p. 2038.
- ^ Obituary for Lt. Gen. Peter Walls, 'Daily Telegraph' 27 July 2010.
- ^ Obituary for Lt. Gen. Peter Walls, 'The Guardian' newspaper (England), 28 July 2010.
- ^ Obituary for Lt. Gen. Peter Walls, 'The Guardian', 28 July 2010.
- ^ Wood, J. R. T. 'So Far and No Further!' Rhodesia's Bid for Independence During the Retreat from Empire 1959, 2005, p. 244
- ^ 'Lt. Gen. Peter Walls obituary, 'Daily Telegraph', 27 July 2010.
- ^ AFP Report, 'First black officers graduate into Rhodesian Army', 11 June 1977 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SqmYYNH6rA
- ^ a b c Rhodesia Psychological Operations 1965-1980 Psychological Operations
- ^ a b Kalley, Jacqueline Audrey. Southern African Political History: A chronological of key political events from independence to mid-1997, 1999. Page 224.
- ^ Smith Takes a Dangerous New Gamble TIME magazine and CNN
- ^ Getting ready for war TIME magazine and CNN
- ^ Preston, Matthew. Ending Civil War: Rhodesia and Lebanon in Perspective, 2004. Page 65.
- ^ AFP Report, 'General Peter Walls presents troops with trophy Gweru', 26 August 1979 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2qGmbZpwAA
- ^ Again, death on "Flight SAM-7" TIME magazine and CNN
- ^ Sibanda, Eliakim M. The Zimbabwe African People's Union, 1961-87: A Political History of Insurgency in Southern Rhodesia, 2004. Page 196.
- ^ "We will make it work!", interview with Lt. Gen. Peter Walls, 'Time' Magazine, 24 March 1980.
- ^ Lt.Gen Peter Walls obituary, 'Daily Telegraph' 27 July 2010.
- ^ Obituary Lt. Gen. Peter Walls, 'Daily Telegraph', 27 July 2010.
- ^ 'Bitter Harvest, The Great Betrayal', by Ian Smith (Pub. Blake Publishing, 2008).
- ^ Raymond, Walter John. Dictionary of Politics: Selected American and Foreign Political and Legal Terms, 1992. Page 557.
- Granada Televisiondocumentary (1985).
- Granada Television(1985).
- ^ a b Zanu-PF's Walls 'manhunt' backfires Archived 30 November 2003 at the Wayback Machine Dispatch
- ^ A soldier faces his critics TIME magazine and CNN
- ^ "No. 39839". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 April 1953. p. 2405.
- ^ 'The Herald' (Zimbabwe) 20 December 2000.
- ^ Blair, David (27 February 2001). "Ex-Rhodesian army chief's son attacked". The Daily Telegraph. Harare.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
- ^ "Lieutenant-General Peter Walls". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 7 January 2022.