Post U.D.I.
Following the
Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965, the Royal Rhodesia Regiment (RRR), as it was called from 1947 until 1970, consisted of a number of territorial army battalions (1RR, 2RR, 4RR, 5RR, 6RR, 8RR, 9RR, 10RR) and 6
national service independent companies (1 Indep Coy RR, 2 Indep Coy RR, 3 Indep Coy RR, 4 Indep Coy RR, 5 Indep Coy RR and 6 Indep Coy, RR) as well as a training depot, DRR, which received and trained most of the Rhodesian Army national servicemen from the 1950s onwards. 3RR and 7RR were Northern Rhodesian (Zambia) battalions that became part of the
Zambian Army. After
national service they were posted to a territorial battalion in or close to the town or city they hailed from. The regiment had
drill halls in the larger towns of Rhodesia, where the citizen soldiers would report when mustered. During the
counterinsurgency (COIN) war the battalions of the regiment identified with a brigade HQ, as for instance 2RR, 6RR and 9RR with 1 Brigade in Bulawayo, 1RR, 5RR, 8RR and 10RR with 2 Brigade in Salisbury and 4RR with 3 Brigade in Umtali. Along with regular battalions, they formed the infantry core of the brigade, to which various specialised infantry (e.g.
Fireforce) and supporting service units (e.g. Armour, Signals, Engineers) were attached at the Brigade Main HQs established in operational areas. 4RR was quartered at Grand Reef aerodrome WSW of
Umtali and was responsible for the Thrasher Sector stretching from
Inyanga to
Chipinga. At Grand Reef, 4RR Main occupied the centre of the camp, while its companies were established in temporary operational bases, usually deserted farms or schools along the sector, in the
Honde and
Burma Valleys to name two such camps. 4RR, like some other battalions, had a
tracking unit camped on the ground at the 4RR Main HQ next to the wet
canteen and the runway, many of the members of the 'Sparrows' being founder members of the
Selous Scouts tracking school. When there was a contact or a sighting anywhere in the sector, the RR trackers were dropped on the spoor by an
Alouette helicopter and did the dangerous work of follow-up. When or if they had run the enemy to ground, then the Fireforce was called in to surround and eliminate them with superior numbers, firepower and air support. The Sparrows on the other hand, usually three or four, armed with FNs and an MAG, covered in green 'jungle juice', would frequently run down and then face an enemy force which usually outnumbered and out-gunned them. Many people in the Brigade HQ knew how busy they were kept with daily call-outs, and held them in very high regard. One such action which received publicity was the contact at Hill 31 on 15 November 1976. The Independent Companies were where conscripts ended up if they did not volunteer for more glamorous infantry or specialist units, consequently they tended to be the more conservative, long-suffering, persistent sloggers. An intake of some 300 men reporting to Depot RR would be whittled down to about 30 of these individuals, the remainder of the intake 'skiving off' to support or specialist units elsewhere in the army over the course of the first four and a half months. 1 and 4 Indeps were stationed at
Victoria Falls or
Wankie with 1 Indep moving to
Beitbridge in late 1978, 2 Indep at
Kariba, 3 Indep at
Inyanga and 5 and 6 Indeps at Umtali. 1 Indep Coy formed the core of Rhodesia's fourth Fireforce unit called Fireforce Delta. For a brief time a unit of French volunteers formed
7 Indep Coy,{{cite book The RR battalions and their national service counterparts, the Independent Companies, rarely received much attention in the media but covered most of the ground that was ever covered on aggressive foot patrols by the Rhodesian Forces. They ambushed and were ambushed. When there was trouble, as often as not, it was a
Bedford lorry full of RR soldiers who were first on the scene of a massacre, a contact, or an attack. It was the ordinary citizens who recognised their contribution: as it was, the regiment was peopled by the citizens and the citizens knew it from the inside and the outside. The Regiment was honoured by being given the
Freedom of Towns and Cities throughout the country. The Regiment's effectiveness deteriorated in the last year and a half of the
COIN war when it became manned by rapidly trained African volunteers and conscripts. At the same time the experienced European members, many of them family men, were emigrating to South Africa as the end drew near, so that by December 1979 the Regiment was barely recognisable for what it had once been, all through its long association with the colony and republic of Rhodesia. Morale was shattered and the Regiment, as happened to many others, disappeared when the British peacefully took over the executive powers of the country,
Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, in that month. With the creation of
Zimbabwe, the Rhodesia Regiment ceased by definition. ==Badge and uniform==