The military history of Rhodesia until the early
sixties is a history of Rhodesia's participation in wars fought on
behalf of Britain, the mother country. Rhodesians partook of these
varied conflicts with competence, bravery and a marked degree of
enthusiasm which, on consideration of their military inclination and
origins, is perhaps not surprising.
An indication of how small the Rhodesian armed
forces were between 1920 and 1939 is that in the latter year, the
Permanent Staff Corps totalled only 47 officers and men. The BSA Police,
however, have always been trained as both policemen and soldiers, a dual
role which was abandoned with the outbreak of WWII.
Distance, for Rhodesians, has always made the
heart grow patriotic. They flocked to volunteer when, on Monday 4
September 1939, the local press carried full page advertisements for
recruits. Conscription was introduced and initially six full time units
were formed. Some 6650 white and 1730 black Rhodesians served outside
Rhodesia in North Africa, Sicily, Normandy and Burma. A total of nearly
11000 Europeans and mixed race personnel of whom 1500 were women,
actually went into uniform, as did 15000 African troops.
Rhodesia supplied more troops per head of
population to the allied war effort than any other country in the
empire. One in ten of the 8500 Rhodesians of all races who served
overseas were killed or died on active service.
Rhodesia's most important contribution to the
ultimate success of the allies, it could be argued, was the fact she
provided the nucleus, and the enemy free skies, for the huge Rhodesia
Air Training Group of the Royal Air Force. During the six years of war
the Southern Rhodesia Air Force itself was absorbed into the RAF
initially as No. 237 (Rhodesia) Squadron (in which Prime Minister Ian
Smith served) and later in the form of at least two other squadrons. Of
the 2409 Rhodesians who joined the Air Force, 498 were killed. (©
abc.net.au)
A total of 26 Rhodesians (Northern and Southern)
are buried in The Netherlands. Click here to go to the
Northern Rhodesian casualties.
Casualties of Southern Rhodesia killed and/or
buried in The Netherlands