Operation Miracle (or the Battle of Mavonde) | |||||||
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Part of the Rhodesian Bush War (or Second Chimurenga) | |||||||
Eland-90 armoured cars of the Rhodesian Armoured Corps. | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Zimbabwe Rhodesia |
ZANLA FRELIMO | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Lt. Gen Peter Walls Lt. Col Ron Reid-Daly Capt. Richard Passaportis Gp Cap. Norman Walsh | Solomon Mujuru | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
| Mavonde base | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
100 Selous Scouts 100 RLI 6 Eland Mk 6 Armoured cars 20 Unimogs 1 (Pig) Armoured Command car 4 Canberras 4 Hawker Hunters 4 Alouette III (1 K-Car) (3 G-Cars) | 6,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
8 killed 3 wounded 1 Canberra and 1 Hawker Hunter shot down 1 Alouette III crashed |
ZANLA: hundreds Frelimo: 1 tank destroyed |
Operation Miracle or the Battle of Mavonde was a military raid in 1979 by the Rhodesian Security Forces (RSF) against ZANLA guerrilla bases in Mozambique towards the end of the Rhodesian Bush War. ZANLA put up stiff resistance although at the cost of many losses with as many as Hundreds dead, The tactical success of the RSF did not lead to the expected strategic changes, But did result in a decisive tactical victory with few losses.