Operation Eland

Operation Eland.

Capt Rob Warraker SCR was the first OC of Assault Group, after joining the Selous Scouts from the SAS in 1975. Rob was the man chosen to lead the Scouts on their most famous and arguably most dangerous cross-border raid of the war, Operation Eland. Op Eland was carried out with zero air cover or support due to political constraints on the country at the time, a hair-raising stipulation which was one of the reasons the SAS, who had initially been offered the job, had turned it down. Fortunately the op would prove to be a spectacular success and Rob was deservedly awarded the Silver Cross of Rhodesia on 29 October 1976 (as seen in the photo), the country's second highest award for conspicuous gallantry in action, for his commanding role in what proved to be a devastating blow to ZANLA in Mozambique and set the tone for many cross-border operations to come. Sadly Rob was killed in action mere months later on 12 January 1977, when the Canberra aircraft in which he was flying as an observer on a reconnaissance mission was shot down over Mozambique. The bodies of his and the two Canberra crew members were never recovered, and lie buried (by local villagers) where they fell.

An interesting sequel to this sad event was that many years later Members of the RhAF launched a expedition to locate the crash site & graves of these men, as well as the sites & graves of other aircraft & men lost on external operations. They successfully found them all & we no have the GPS locations of the sites. Mainly thanks to older members of the lical population that were in the area at the time!

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