The Ghosts of Rhodesia

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
My podcast today is The Ghosts of Rhodesia. The Ghosts of.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Rhoda inside the Salu Salu Scouts Shadow War Salusus. Few
units evoked as much mystique in controversy as the Scouts
of Rhodesia. Operating between nineteen seventy three and nineteen eighty
during the Rhodesian Bush War, the elite force was unlike
any in the world. While Western special forces were busy

(00:27):
perfecting surgical strikes and reconnaissance, the Salu Scouts were mastering deception, infiltration,
and psychological warfare. They're named after the British explorer Frederick Salu.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
The union was built around a you can say, a
radical concept, using enemy tactics and appearances to turn the
war from within. The Scouts recruited not only elite white soldiers,
but also black Rhodesian trackers and even reformed enemy guerrillas
disguised as insurgents, complete with warren sandals, AK forty seven
and local dialects. They would penetrate deep into enemy corolled territory,

(01:00):
often living for weeks among hostile forces. Their objective was
to gather intelligence so confusion and strike when least expected.
Their success was extraordinary estimates suggests that the Scouts were
responsible for over seventy percent of all enemy kills during
the war. They relied on ambushes, misinformation, precision raids. One
of the most effective tools was the pseudo operation, posing

(01:23):
as rebel fighters to gain trust, extract intel, or lead
enemy columns into traps. But with success came infamy. Their
methods blurred the lines between soldiering and subversion. Operating in
the gray zone of warfare. They were accused of extra
judicial killing, psychological manipulation, and brutal interrogation tactics, Yet even

(01:44):
their critics couldnot deny their effectiveness. The Scouts were so
feared that guerrillas believed they could shape shift or vanish
like ghosts, hence the name the Ghosts of Rhodesia. The
unit was disbanded in nineteen eighty following the fall of
white minority rule and the rise of modern day Zimbabwe.
Most of its members faded into the shadows, their stories

(02:04):
buried beneath decades of geopolitical shift and silence. Today, the
Saluz Scouts remain a study and unconventional warfare, a part
cautionary tale, and a part master class in asymmetry. Warfare
in a world where the enemy rarely wears a uniform.
Their legacy continues to echo in the training rooms of
modern special forces.