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- The 1st Battalion, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, commonly the Rhodesian Light Infantry (1RLI or RLI), was originally formed in 1961 as a regiment of the army of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Raised as a light infantry unit at Brady Barracks, Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia, the Regiment served in the Rhodesian Bush War as part of the Rhodesian Security Forces between 1964 and 1979, from 1965 under the unrecognised governments of Rhodesia and latterly, during the second half of 1979, Zimbabwe Rhodesia. The RLI remained active during an interim period under British control and then, from April 1980, within the armed forces of Zimbabwe, before disbanding on 31 October 1980. The RLI was formed in February 1961 as a light infantry battalion made up exclusively of white recruits. After first seeing action in September 1961 on the Northern Rhodesian border with Katanga, it relocated to Cranborne Barracks, Salisbury the following year and remained there as part of the Southern Rhodesian Army after the Federation dissolved on 31 December 1963. Violent political intimidation of black Rhodesians by two rival communist-backed revolutionary parties, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), necessitated a specially trained counter-insurgency unit, and the RLI was accordingly reformed into a commando regiment during 1964 and 1965 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Walls. Following Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain on 11 November 1965, the RLI became widely known for its counter-insurgency operations during the Rhodesian Bush War against incursions by ZAPU and ZANU's respective military wings, the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) and Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA). The Regiment acquitted itself well in several such operations, with some of its soldiers winning decorations for their actions. Some operations, such as Operations Flotilla and Excess in 1968, involved cooperation with the Portuguese Armed Forces in Mozambique. The nationalist incursions became fewer and further between after the two guerrilla armies suffered repeated setbacks against the security forces during the late 1960s, with many attacks being countered by the RLI. The capture by the RLI of Phinias Majuru, the ZIPRA Director of Operations, in January 1970 caused a cessation for six years of major operations by ZIPRA, which had been the more active guerrilla army up to that point. The Rhodesian Light Infantry's performance during this early period of the Bush War is generally considered to have been of a very high standard, with historian Alexandre Binda pointing to Operation Cauldron (1968) in particular as having contributed to the Battalion's formidable "fighting character" and reputation as "outstanding and peerless anti-terrorist fighters". This opinion was shared by Platoon Warrant Officer Herod of the Rhodesian African Rifles, who was wounded during this operation while fighting alongside the RLI on 18 March 1968. "We of the RAR used to laugh at your soldiers," he said in hospital to a visiting RLI officer; "To us they looked like boys. But they showed us how to fight. They have the faces of boys, but they fight like lions." (en)
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- The 1st Battalion, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, commonly the Rhodesian Light Infantry (1RLI or RLI), was originally formed in 1961 as a regiment of the army of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Raised as a light infantry unit at Brady Barracks, Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia, the Regiment served in the Rhodesian Bush War as part of the Rhodesian Security Forces between 1964 and 1979, from 1965 under the unrecognised governments of Rhodesia and latterly, during the second half of 1979, Zimbabwe Rhodesia. The RLI remained active during an interim period under British control and then, from April 1980, within the armed forces of Zimbabwe, before disbanding on 31 October 1980. (en)
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