Операция «Динго»: Рейд на лагеря ЗАНЛА в Мозамбике (1977)

Rhodesian Light Infantry
Rhodesian Special Air Service
RhAF
| units2 = Unknown
| strength1 = 200 soldiers6 Canberra light bombers9 Hunter fighter bombers6 Vampire fighter bombers10 Alouette III helicopters (K Car with 20mm cannon)11 Alouette III G Car (one as command helicopter)3 DC 3C Dakota <small>(Paradak)
| strength2 = 10,000 guerrillas + ZANLA political/civil elements
| casualties1 = 2 killed6 wounded1 Vampire crashed was an attack by the Rhodesian Security Forces against the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) run camps at Chimoio and Tembue in Mozambique from 23 to 25 November 1977.

At 0745 in the morning, directly after a strike by the Rhodesian Air Force's aging Canberra and Hunter strike aircraft, the camps were attacked. 96 Rhodesian SAS, 48 Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) paratroopers, and an additional 40 helicopter borne RLI troops took part. The intent was to exploit the concentration of forces on the parade ground for morning parade. In order to strike as many ground targets as possible, six mothballed Vampire jets dating from the 1940s were brought back into use for the operation. As part of a deception plan, a Douglas DC 8 airliner was flown over the Chimoio camps 10 minutes before the airstrike; the assembled ZANLA forces assumed a second false alarm, and did not disperse or try to take cover when the bombers subsequently approached. In the first pass, four Canberra bombers dropped 1200 Alpha bombs (Rhodesian designed anti personnel bombs) over an area long and wide. Following the initial air strikes by the Canberras, Hunters and Vampire FB9's, ten Alouette III helicopter gunships ("K Cars" in the Fireforce tactical terminology) engaged opportunity targets in allocated areas that together inflicted the majority of the casualties, while two Vampire T11's flew top cover. The paratroopers and heliborne troops were deployed on three sides of the objective into various stop groups and sweep lines, and were also effective in killing large numbers of fleeing ZANLA cadres. Nevertheless, the small size of the ground force and the lack of a complete envelopment allowed a number of fleeing ZANLA cadres to escape. Two important targets of the attack, ZANLA commanders Josiah Tongogara and Rex Nhongo escaped. A "stay behind" force of Rhodesian SAS remained in ambush positions around the area overnight, to wait for any ZANLA who might return; these SAS were then extracted by helicopter in the morning. The Rhodesian force withdrew, having lost one SAS member, Tpr. F. J. Nel, being shot and killed at Chimoio, and one Vampire pilot, Flt Lt Phillip Haigh, killed trying to crashland his jet in a field after his aircraft was damaged by ground fire. According to the Rhodesian government at least 1,200 ZANLA terrorists were killed in Operation Dingo. Most sources sympathetic to the ZANLA also put the death toll at over 1,000, adding that hundreds who were killed were actually civilians and not guerrillas.

A similar attack was repeated two days later at Tembue. On that occasion, the morning parade had been cancelled, making the cluster bomb strike on the parade ground assembly ineffective. Though there was a Mozambique Liberation Front base nearby they did not interfere in the Rhodesian force's activities. A new base was later built in the Chimoio area. The Rhodesians attacked it in 1978 under Operation Snoopy. Operation Dingo was to be followed by a further thirty cross border raids before the end of the war.