Operation Dingo

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During the long-running insurrection in Rhodesia, Operation Dingo was a major raid conducted by the Rhodesian Security Forces on 23 November 1977 against camps at Tembue and Chimoio in Mozambique. The camps were used by the ZANLA organization headed by Robert Mugabe.

Paratroopers and helicopter-borne light infantry attacked the camps in the early morning to achieve surprise, directly after a strike by the Rhodesian Airforce's aging Canberra and Hunter strike aircraft. The operation was considered so important that six mothballed Vampire jets dating from the 1940s were brought back into use for the day.

A moving line of soldiers, supported by helicopter gunships, swept through the camps, driving the guerillas into a stationary line of troops who may have killed up to two thousand of the enemy.

The Rhodesian force withdrew in good order having suffered only two killed. Several tons of equipment were destroyed or returned to Rhodesia.

The attack was a major success, but failed to alter the overall course of the bush war.

In today's Zimbabwe, the attack is considered an atrocity. [1]