Timothy Bax - Three Sips of Gin: Dominating the Battlespace with Rhodesia’s Elite Selous Scouts

Timothy Bax was born in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanganyika in 1949. He attended boarding school in Lushoto from the age of six and in 1963 moved to England to continue his schooling. A year later he moved with his mother and two sisters to Toronto, Canada, where he completed his education. At the age of nineteen he returned to Africa, living first in South Africa then in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). He joined the Rhodesian Army in 1969 and was commissioned two years later as a Lieutenant in the Rhodesian Light Infantry. A year later he was wounded while engaged in the first ever Fire-Force deployment mounted by the Rhodesian Security Forces. In 1974, Tim was asked by the legendary commanding officer of the Selous Scouts, Lt. Col. Ron Reid-Daly, to join his unit. After successfully completing the selection course, Tim was given command of a pseudo-terrorist group tasked with seeking out and destroying real terrorists groups operating both inside and outside Rhodesia. In 1975 Tim commanded the first Rhodesian vehicle-borne raid ever mounted against guerrilla camps situated deep inside neighbouring countries. A year later he was seriously wounded while taking part in a similar raid. Tim was later appointed second-incommand of the Selous Scouts Reconnaissance Group. He was married to his wife Carol in 1977. In 1980 he and his wife left Rhodesia to settle in South Africa where with the rank of major, he was appointed second-in-command of South Africas 5 Reconnaissance Regiment. Tim resigned from the army in 1982 and later served on the board of a multinational company in South Africa. Their daughter, Jennifer, was born in June 1982. In 2002 Tim moved to the United States. He currently resides in Lake Placid, Florida.

Co-published in 2013 by:

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Designed and typeset by Farr out Publications, Wokingham, Berkshire
Cover designed by Euan Carter, Leicester (www.euancarter.com)
Printed by Henry Ling Ltd, Dorchester, Dorset

Text Timothy G. Bax 2013
Photographs as individually credited

ISBN 978-1-909384-29-3
EPUB ISBN: 978-1-909982-44-4

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Front cover: Selous Scouts pig blown up in a landmine. (Dennis Croukamp). Rear
cover: Tim Callow, Selous Scouts Reconnaissance expert. (Tim Callow).

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To my parents, for encouraging me down the road to my destiny

And to my family and friends, for sharing my journey.

Contents

List of photographs

Colour section

Black and white photographs

Acknowledgements

M y family and many of my friends have been ceaseless in their endeavors at getting me to write this book. More often than not they have done so while unashamedly imbibing my limited stocks of wine. While I was unsuccessful in my endeavors at getting any of them to help with the manuscript, I am grateful for their unfailing support during the time it took me to complete it. Without their support, the book would never have been written. I am particularly grateful to my daughter Jenni, her mother Carol, and to my good friend Charlie Aust for persuading me to begin the book, and encouraging me to finish it.

A few have given freely of long periods of their valuable time in making the book a reality. I would like to thank Andrew Mackay for tirelessly going through each chapter to improve its literary content. Also to Jeremy Strong, Doug Lambert, Charlee Griffiths, Dick Lockley, Vic Walker and Tom Thomas for keeping the project headed in more or less the right direction. I would like to thank the Regimental Associations of the Rhodesian Light Infantry and the Selous Scouts for giving their blessing to the publication of this book. I am deeply saddened that my good friend and colleague, Lieutenant Colonel Ron Reid-Daly, passed way before the book could be published. I would like to thank him posthumously for his untiring assistance in correcting the detail in many of the chapters.

Many thanks, also, to Marco Gollino for all his work in establishing my website. He gave freely of his time and expertise for which I am extremely grateful.

Finally, and in particular, I would like to thank my editor, Gail Adams, for the many hours she devoted to trawling through each chapter for errors while reclining on a beach near her Portuguese villa successfully resisting drinking vast amounts of cheap Spanish plonk.

I am deeply indebted to them all.

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