Selous Scouts: The Controversial Legacy of Rhodesia's Elite Warriors

[@NikkiBlyth]

The bravest souls you would ever meet. They were sold out and dealt a rotten deal by politicians. What a huge sacrifice these young men made😢😢

[@ShimomuraTakezoWong]

One of the Top Combat units in the World during that time that's the way to fight a war especially now with political Islamic extremism & terrorism; no holds barred.

[@rickybosman6158]

The Rhodesian a S.A.S.were equally one of the best combat forces in world.

[@mikestaak7951]

My late brother was a scout

[@bernardhacking7462]

Seloo not Sellus

[@TimelessChroniclesYT]

Apologies for the mispronunciation, Thanks for the correction.

[@teon5329]

Rhodesia was a great country. Not racist as said by media.

[@coachjonjiujitsu]

Rhodesians never die!

[@ourclassicmovies1929-es1jd]

ITS FUNNY THAT THE MEDIA ACCEPTED THE UNSUBSTANTIATED RUMORS ABOUT THE SELOUS SCOUTS WHO ACCOUNTED FOR 68% OF INSURGENT KIA WHILE WE LOST ONLY 36 MEMBERS TOTAL NONE OF THE RUMOURS WERE EVER SUBSTANTIATED NO ONE BUT THE MEDIA CONTINUED TO LIE WHILE THE SAME MEDIA RELIGIOUSLY DENIED ALL THE VIOLENT MASSACRES PERPETRATED BY THE VARIOUS COMMUNIST INSURGENT GROUPS THAT HAD THOUSANDS OF AFRICAN WITNESSES

[@peterbrigden2124]

@@coachjonjiujitsu The just became Zimbanders 😭😭🥰

[@oreilly1237878]

They had a operational military history second to none.

[@TheGrenadier97]

The portuguese were on the top with the rhodesians.

[@ourclassicmovies1929-es1jd]

RHODESIA WAS A FIRST RATE ECONOMIC POWER # 2 IN THE RANKING ACROSS AFRICA WITH PLENTY OF ELECTRICITY AND AIR CONDITIONING A STABLE CURRENCY RUNNING WATER MEDICINE THRIVING AGRICULTURE CANALS FOR AGRICULTURAL EXPANSION SCHOOLS PLENTY OF JOBS NO TRASH IN THE STREETS THE LOCALS HAD THE 2ND HIGHEST BLACK WAGES ON THE CONTINENT AND IT WAS GROWING RAILROADS WILDLIFE CONSERVATION CLEAN STREETS AIRPLANES AND AIR TRAVEL PLENTY OF PETROL AND DIESEL PLENTY OF HYDRO ELECTRIC POWER PAVED ROADS HOSPITALS FUNCTIONING SEWAGE SYSTEMS THRIVING STEEL INDUSTRY WEALTHY BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS PLENTY OF FOOD HUGE TOBACCO TRADE A THRIVING ECONOMY PLENTY OF COAL EMERALDS AND IRON ORE TELEVISION GROWING INDUSTRIAL BASE

[@wharris7594]

​@@TheGrenadier97 Portuguese army is still being used in africa with Brazil anti terrorist special operations for the United Nations

[@glosfishgb6267]

1 Of these guys trained me at IJLB Shorncliffe Kent in 1985

[@RobMacK-]

Selou(s) silent 'S' pronounced Selloo and definatley not Sellas!

[@TimelessChroniclesYT]

Please excuse the mispronounciation.

[@Mark-te5uz]

Was about to make a similar remark..👍

[@stupitdog9686]

Good guys trying to improve things for everyone !

[@MichaelBessinger]

I am proud to say i was one of the troopers to go into battle with the scouts i was in the SAS . Mess with the best die like the rest.😮😅😅

[@ShimumaPoya]

Share brotherman

[@QUINNEETHLING]

Did you know Frik Muller?

[@QUINNEETHLING]

You must give more info for me to believe that you were SAS. Sorry man, but today almost everybody claims to have been in the special forces.

[@MichaelBessinger]

As a SAS I made an oath to secrecy. And of many ordeals after all these years I still got PTSD. My CO was Major John Dealy Read.

[@PhansiKhongoloza]

The Scouts and the SAS were Rhodesia's biggest units...... everyone claims to have been a member!

[@mudgutsiv]

Great footage of regular and national service Rhodesian soldiers, particularly pre 1976 when full camouflage wasn't worn. Very few pictures of the Selous Scouts - and the RLI marching when talking of the disbandment, the Scouts weren't a final parade.

[@TimelessChroniclesYT]

Thank you! Did my best to locate available footage of the scouts, but footage of them is indeed quite rare and challenging to source. The RLI march was intended to symbolically represent the end of an era rather than to be a literal depiction of the specific event. Thanks again for the feedback, I'll keep striving to find the best possible content.

[@colinriddell9553]

The clip you used was not RLI but infact the Air Force.

[@philipmariposa3067]

By the way - 'Selous' is not pronounced as though it rhymes with 'jealous'.

[@TimelessChroniclesYT]

Please excuse the mispronounciation.

[@AJKecsk]

Suh-lose? Seal-us? How is it properly pronounced?

[@TimelessChroniclesYT]

@@AJKecsk It’s pronounced ‘Seloo’ it seems.

[@gazhandrail]

When narrating something like this, you need to get your pronunciations right. Main example, it is pronounced "Sel-oos Scouts", not "Selous" as in "Jelous."

[@stikkkkk]

Thanks for that, was driving me nuts!

[@gazhandrail]

@@stikkkkk No worries, Mate. Yeah, me too!

[@seandobson499]

Named in honour of Frederick Courtney Selous, on whom Sir Henry Rider Haggard based his most famous fictional creation, Allan Quatermain.

[@wernervanderwalt8541]

Apart from the horrible pronunciation of some names this the most accurate video I've seen on this highly secretive unit of the Rhodesian security forces. Well done.

[@TimelessChroniclesYT]

Thank you! Apologies for the horrible pronounciation.

[@grahampovey8073]

Pamwe Chete!

[@kotsaris87]

The video feels like reading an essay that a student has written to reach a certain number of words

[@zekeooo2]

pretty neat video, there's a podcast that has a bunch of episodes with different selous scouts being interviewed if you want to go further down the rabbit hole. it's called "fighting men of rhodesia" it's a pretty interesting podcast regardless of someones views of the war. certainly interesting for someone into history that is. it has episodes with rhodesian soldiers being interviewed, rhodesian police officers, one episode with someone from the opposing forces and even an episode with an interview of a rhodesian farm family member

[@ourclassicmovies1929-es1jd]

" WE GET TO RIDE MOTORCYCLES INTO BATTLE? " " YES " " AND WEAR SHORT SHORTS?" " YES" " WHERE DO I SIGN ?"

[@TheGrenadier97]

Check out the portuguese Flechas of east Angola. Author John P. Cann has a good Osprey-style book about them, and other troops of the Ultramar. The specific recruitment and inclusion of the Flechas in the excepcionally well-suited portuguese counter-insurgency forces were perhaps even more remarkable.

[@TimelessChroniclesYT]

Thank you for the recommendation! Yes, there are some fascinating stories from the Ultramar, I'll try to make a video about the Flechas as well.

[@comitatus5337]

Pronounced Selloo scouts

[@GhostRanger5060]

When men were men.

[@TimSerras]

How can you infiltrate enemy base disguised as a defector and still be able to kill, destroy and slip away without being detected? So, why desguise?

[@TimelessChroniclesYT]

There were instances where native African Rhodesian infantry troops would defect to the side of the rebels. So the Selous Scouts took advantage of that. For them, disguising as defectors would help in gaining the enemy's trust. As the rebels didn’t have strong intelligence or counterintelligence units, they were less likely to suspect someone of their own that they believed had turned against the Rhodesians, allowing the scouts to operate more freely within the base. The scouts also maintained a low profile and avoided unnecessary interactions. Only took action when they were confident it won't raise suspicions. When the time came to kill, destroy, or sabotage, They chose targets that will cause the most disruption while minimizing the risk of immediate detection.

[@TimSerras]

@@TimelessChroniclesYT I understand what you mean. What puzzles me is the “defector “. I witnessed the same ops with Portuguese GEP’s (black paratroopers) what they called operation manioc (mandioca) but they posed as Frelimo guerrillas not defectors. That would raise great suspicion within the guerrillas. Many new groups would arrive from Zambia or Tanzania and since communications within the Frelimo was pratically non existing, they were almost always welcomed. Once the GEP’s were confident enough, they would act with Portuguese special forces (comandos or paras) as backup. Most operation manioc were very successful. Flechas also used same procedure in Angola. Defectors of Portuguese Army in Frelimo had to go through a very painful procedure before being accepted, many were not and were executed , the process lasting several days, even weeks. One famous manioc operator was sergeant Robbie (Ribeiro his real name) a Cape Verdean that is mentioned in Breytenbach’s book “Forged in battle “ about Bravo group in Angola. Breytenbach even recommended he receive the Honoris cross for bravery but it was refused. He was killed by a SA army truck that jumped the military convoy in SWA .

[@fmyles3]

Rhodesia - Will be back soon.

[@ozzyphil74]

In your dreams... Lol...

[@skillzsett7958]

​@@ozzyphil74👊🏻

[@ayodejiolowokere1076]

In Hell, why not?

[@conceretejungle1150]

Lol😂😂😂 you so funny😂😂😂

[@arashrezaee1464]

highly doubt it. There's hardly any whites left in Zimbabwe to even make that a considerable reality

[@rodlaidlaw-b3f]

loo tenant???

[@FreeWorldSoldier1]

Men of steel ❣️

[@Krokmannetjie]

Nice

[@dougcomrie1893]

‘Sel-oo’ scouts

[@mikestaak7951]

Exactly

[@kathrynhull7404]

Please pronounce Selous correctly!!!!!

[@MichaelPersson-d5h]

All this is very well. You may love them or hate them. They were awesome in their effectiveness and ruthlessness. What always haunts me about Rhodesia is that it's fatal flaw was apparent from its formation. Similar to the Afrikaners in South Africa; they seemed to exclude from their plans the fact that Africans existed and shared the land into which they had moved. In reflection it was a big mistake. The Rhodesians basically lost everything in the end. But the underlying stupidity of never addressing a fundamental flaw in their plans belongs to them alone.

[@rhodesia1578]

In your opinion 😂 ! You speculate ! You assume !!

[@groovydrzi6967]

Well said.

[@MichaelPersson-d5h]

I read a lot of history books. Rhodes' Pioneer Column had the seeds that grew into the whites reluctance to recognize any black land rights. (The absolute reluctance to recognize the "land issue since at least 1920). The surrender of Chetswaio was automatically assumed to mean that the whites owned all the territory that the Shona had occupied for centuries. PROBLEM. Don't forget, the Eastern half of Zimbabwe was considered part of Mozambique until Rhodes bulldozed his way in there. PROBLEM. Prior to that, Mzilikazi's invasion of the south western area of Zimbabwe only occurred mid 1800's. The Zulu's were a very recent occurrence in that area and were raiding, raping and pillaging the Shona. Who gave them all of Zimbabwe? It never happened. PROBLEM. There was very little legitimacy regarding Rhodes invasion. Queen Victoria just looked the other way and let it go on...PROBLEM. But forget that bit; conquest is conquest, all races do it and have done it. Think about this; HOLISTIC thinking (Alan Savoury, a great Rhodesian himself, and Jan Smuts: two men who invented/endorse this method) ; holistic thinking requires that you exclude nothing from your list whence you tackle a problem in seeking a solution. My point is this: by omitting THE LAND ISSUE, from the very beginning, the whites doomed Rhodesia. No amount of "sweeping it under the carpet," or omiting the above-mentioned historical PROBLEMS, could put this issue away. And it's this so many whites do not want to accept. I'm white. I'm an Africa. I was conceived in Rhodesia, born in South Africa, raised and educated in Swaziland, and live and farm in Mozambique. And I read a lot of history. Rhodesia had a fatal flaw. And it is the white man's fault for never recognizing it. For decade after a decade, they chose not to look it in the face and deal with it honestly. It's done and dusted now. Our fault.

[@trelawneychipepera4454]

At the time of UDI, efforts should have been made to reduce the issues of segregation & discrimination. Achievement, progress and success should have been allowed to proceed on the basis of merit alone, that would have certainly minimized the possibility of the war

[@KunieStenzel]

​@MichaelPersson-d5h True, BUT what did Europeans find when they first entered this territory? What were the baseline conditions? What were the population dynamics before and after modern agriculture was implemented? Have you ever read Hannah Arendt's analysis of the European settlement of Southern Africa? Because, to me, this a creation that turned on its creator. How many generations, if there is no outside interdiction, do you think it will be before reversion back to a full entropic ground state? I genuinely would like to hear your informed opinion.

[@MrPh30]

Good troops , that mostly were farm guys and pro Hunters . All guys no matter where one came from were equal there . Capable of much , and what was the expression again “ Miskuzi “

[@daffidkane8350]

1800 members? That’s almost a brigade!

[@TimelessChroniclesYT]

Indeed, 1,800 members is a substantial number, comparable to the size of a brigade in later stages. Most of the later additions were regular RLI troops who were not permanently assigned to the unit. The expansion to this scale highlights the significant increase in their operational capacity, even though it came with challenges related to personnel quality and operational effectiveness.

[@colinriddell9553]

It was actually 1650 personal, of which a vast majority of the black personnel were ex guerrillas

[@colinriddell9553]

Only read your comment after, completely wrong! The unit was actually formed by SAS & RAR personal in the experimental stage. Once it was decided to form a unit, a selection process was introduced where persons from all units could try for selection. You could break down to unit into two sections, internal operations consisted of mainly black personal from predominantly the RAR & and turned! Captured guerrillas with white regular soldiers as control. The Assualt grp consisted mainly of white territorial personal.

[@yvonnebasson8652]

Wonder what the army looks like today

[@peterbrigden2124]

It must have been the biggest and best army in the world ? Everyone Zimbabwean that I know was in it and brag about it. Its the same with the South African army, the only trouble is that they both lost their respective wars and their countries 😈😈😈😈

[@billisaac326]

Don,t you mean every Rhodesian was in it? Everyone but you.

[@johncarey5141]

They lost really look at the shit holes now ,no the people lost to corruption, and lies ,😮

[@wharris7594]

Mugabe was the same greedy self empowered self serving corrupt warlord just like all the rest, and look at this place today, no food

[@peterbrigden2124]

@@billisaac326 Didn't live here then ?

[@conceretejungle1150]

Pamberi ne ZANU PF

[@hoseA-sy4ld]

the woodoo

[@DirkJacobsz]

who cares who wins..

[@Uuu29-fy2vc]

But African triumphed

[@russellcoleman8840]

Yeah they have really gone ahead since independence. Smashing it

[@Mike-jz9tc]

Politics

[@AA-4cx250b]

Yes Africa won then ruined it

[@d0g780]

​@@AA-4cx250bAfrica was financed by Communism and American politics. Rhodesia was alone.

[@nejahdproductions3707]

@@d0g780 womp womp

[@terrancecharles2108]

All this hype. But still got their asses kick in my the cubans in Angola. Smfh

[@colinriddell9553]

Should get your facts right!, before you make such a stupid comment!. Two different countries and armies.

[@Enoch940]

True . The guy thick. Cubans were killed in huge numbers by South Africans.

[@groovydrzi6967]

They murdered many innocent people and caused the death of many more. They instilled terror into the hearts of many of us African teenagers of the 70s. And what did they achieve in the final analysis?

[@Ghoulza]

well thats a load of bullshit. Mugabe was the terrorist and look what he did to the country. destroyed it, made himself rich and wrecked the country and it's people. if Rhodesia had stayed now of that would have happened and it would be one of the most powerfull countries in afrcia. but you idiots could see that far ahead you just wanted everything handed to you for free, well you got what you wanted and lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths

[@007bombastic]

The failed state of Zimbabwe. Bravo.

[@andycandal5934]

Criminal teenagers

[@MabvutoPhiri2015]

These were cowards who attacked inocent civilians who fought racism

[@jdoyle6821]

JUST LOOK AT THE SHITHOLE NOW.

[@MabvutoPhiri2015]

Look at the shit

[@reinerraymondo1586]

Lies. Zanupf propaganda.

[@ourclassicmovies1929-es1jd]

" WE GET TO RIDE MOTORCYCLES INTO BATTLE? " " YES " " AND WEAR SHORT SHORTS?" " YES" " WHERE DO I SIGN ?"

[@glosfishgb6267]

90% of selous scouts were black soldiers who fought communists