Orders, Decorations and Medals

Sold by Order of Lieutenant-General Peter Walls’ widow

Robert Mugabe: “Why are your men trying to kill me?”
Lieutenant-General Peter Walls: “If they were my men you would be dead.”


The highly important Malaya Emergency and Rhodesia “Bush War” group of eleven awarded to Lieutenant-General Peter Walls, G.L.M., D.C.D., M.B.E., arguably one of the greatest counter-insurgency leaders of modern times, who, having commanded ‘C’ Squadron, 22 Special Air Service Regiment in Malaya, rose to the command of the Rhodesian Army under Ian Smith during the U.D.I. and briefly of the Zimbabwe Armed Forces under Robert Mugabe on independence in 1980 - at one time he had 45,000 men under his command and his protracted defence of Rhodesia must surely rank as one of the finest military achievements of all time

Zimbabwe Independence Medal 1980, in silver, officially numbered ‘0110’, with its case of issue; Rhodesian Grand Officer of the Legion of Merit (G.L.M.), neck badge and breast star, in silver, gilt and enamel, the latter fitted with four loops to reverse for wearing and in its case of issue; Rhodesian Officer of the Legion of Merit (O.L.M.), breast badge, gilt and enamel, in its case of issue; Rhodesian Defence Cross for Distinguished Service (D.C.D.) (Lt. Gen. G. P. Walls), with its case of issue; Rhodesian General Service Medal (Brig. G. P. Walls); Rhodesian Exemplary Service Medal, with Bar (Brig. G. P. Walls); The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 2nd type breast badge; War Medal 1939-45; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Malaya, G.VI.R. (Major C. P. Walls, S. Rhod. Mil. F.), note first initial; Coronation 1953, mounted as worn where applicable, together with a set of uniform tunic ribands, minor official correction to unit on the G.S.M., otherwise generally good very fine (11) £30000-40000

M.B.E. London Gazette 1 May 1953. The original recommendation states:

‘Major Walls has commanded the Rhodesian Squadron in the 22 S.A.S. since its arrival in Malaya in 1951.

Although he is young and has no previous experience of commanding a unit of this size, his work had been quite outstanding; the Squadron has been absorbed into a British Army unit most successfully.

The success of the scheme initiated by the Southern Rhodesian Government, whereby Southern Rhodesians were made available to fight against the communists in the Far East, is, in the case of the present Squadron, due to a great extent to the untiring efforts of Major Walls.

He has set a very high standard of conduct, determination and courage throughout his tour with the Regiment, and his qualities of leadership are such that the Squadron has developed into a first rate fighting unit.’

George Peter Walls was born in Southern Rhodesia in July 1926, the son of one of the colony’s pioneer pilots, George Walls, who had served in the Royal Naval Air Service in the Great War. Educated at Plumtree School, Peter, as he was known, entered Sandhurst towards the end of the 1939-45 War, and was commissioned in the Black Watch, but, on learning that he was to be transferred to another regiment, chose to resign and ‘return to my beloved Rhodesia rather than serve in any regiment other than the Black Watch.’

With the S.A.S. in Malaya 1951-53

Commissioned into the Northern Rhodesia Regiment on his return, he was just 24 years of age when in early 1951 he was given command the Southern Rhodesia Far East Volunteer Unit (S.R.F.E.V.U.), afterwards designated ‘C’ Squadron, Malayan Scouts (S.A.S.), an unusual appointment for one so young, as recalled by Trooper Geoff Turner-Dauncey in S.A.S. Rhodesia, by Jonathan Pittaway and Craig Fourie:

‘S.R.F.E.V.U. was placed under the command of Lieutenant Peter Walls, a young Staff Corps officer who had served in the British Army with the Black Watch. He was appointed Temporary Captain to signify his position as the senior officer in the unit. As a Squadron Commander’s rank is that of Major, he was then appointed Acting Major. The intention was that on arrival in Malaya, a British Major would be appointed Squadron Commander of ‘C’ Squadron, and Major Walls would revert to the rank of Temporary Captain. This never happened, so the young Lieutenant, Temporary Captain, Acting Major Walls still in his twenties had the responsibility of being an operational commander for the complete duration of his Far East tour. I have no doubt that this experience stood him in good stead during the years that followed and in due course enabled him to become the supreme commander of the Rhodesian Forces.’

‘C’ (Rhodesia) Squadron, Malayan Scouts (S.A.S.), arrived in the Far East in March 1951, where it was once more re-designated, this time as ‘C’ (Rhodesia) Squadron, 22 S.A.S. Regiment, and Walls quickly set to work in training his men in readiness for the jungle warfare ahead, himself being an early member of the team which carried out experimental “tree-jumping” as a means of entry into the deep jungle terrain. Mick Coetzee, another contributor to S.A.S. Rhodesia, takes up the story:

‘The answer was to drop directly into the jungle and since clearings were almost non-existent, dropping into trees was the only way. A member of ‘C’ Squadron was tasked with studying tree-jumping. The first experiment was conducted in a rubber plantation. Another experiment was to drop from a helicopter and this was actually tried over water. The difficulty was that there was no slipstream to assist in the development of the chute. Using helicopters was also expensive. The biggest helicopter in service was the S55 which had a ten-man capacity.

Getting down to the ground from the tree was a problem. A hand-over-hand descent using knotted rope was successful but the physical effort required left the soldier almost exhausted on the reaching the ground. The hobby of the Regiment’s Medical Officer at the time was climbing in the Swiss Alps and he came up with the idea of the abseiling technique for making the tree-to-ground descent. For training purposes a scaffold was erected in camp and individuals were taught the technique. An experiment with the technique in the jungle proved successful. Unfortunately Peter Walls was wounded in the lower jaw at the moment the helicopter touched down on the helipad. It was speculated that the pieces of metal extracted from his jaw and lower face had come from the helicopter rotor which broke on touchdown.’

By January 1952, Walls - recovered from his injuries - was ready to take ‘C’ Squadron into action from a new base at Sungei Besi camp in Kuala Lumpur. In fact, the Rhodesians mounted no less than four operations in the months ahead, namely “Helsby” in Perak, “League” in Pahang, “Copley” in Kelantan and “Hive” in Negri Sembilan. In Rhodesia S.A.S., Trooper Geoff Turner-Dauncey describes the type of conditions the Squadron faced on such operations:

‘From the moment we stepped into the jungle until we returned to base we got soaked, and stayed wet, from the humidity, crossing rivers and swamps, and the soaking vegetation caused by monsoon rains. In that humidity, one has to learn to cope with impetigo skin diseases including ringworm, leeches and other ailments. Insect and leech bites began to fester, and ringworm, many forms of eczema, and athlete’s foot resulted in widespread ulceration of the skin. Ointments only aggravated rotting fleah, so where possible penicillin wound powder was applied to open sores.

With our operational dress torn and rotting, and stinking of sweat, rifle oil and decaying vegetation, it was common practice to burn our clothes on returning to base. For a while troops returning to base from operations looked rather like clowns: wearing just P.T. shorts, sandals and berets, their bodies lavishly painted with mercurochrome, gentian violet and Whitfield’s lotion until their skin problems healed ...

As darkness falls, the ulu comes alive with a cacophony of noise. Frogs, insects, flying foxes, and night birds all add up to the chorus, interrupted from time to time by an almighty crack like a rifle shot. This is caused by giant bamboos over a hundred feet tall succumbing to the sheer weight of all the water collecting in each of the hollow sections that form the main stem. As the bamboo bends over and breaks, the crash does wonders for those of a nervous disposition! Other denizens of the jungle are huge rats. We never saw them until an Army Medical Research team deliberately trapped some of them to find out what was polluting the drinking water at a jungle base camp situated on Bukit Jangau. The disease that cost Sergeant Otto Ernst his life, and very nearly cost Colour Sergeant Dudley Diedricks his life, was caused by rats’ urine in the hollowed out bamboo pipes bringing water from the spring to base camp along the contours of the ridge. The indigenous Sakai and the Dyak trackers from the Iban tribe in Borneo were totally at home in the jungle. But in no way can it be considered as the long-term habitat of the European serviceman.’

Another Trooper, Frank Wentzel, describes in S.A.S. Rhodesia how he and Walls were lucky to escape a lethal burst of fire, their comrade, Corporal “Vic” Visagie, not being so fortunate:

‘I recall that we were dropped off along a tar road in the Cameron Highlands. This was a full Squadron operation commanded by Major Walls. We climbed a steep bukit (mountain) and when we reached the top in the late afternoon a halt was called.

I was Bren Gunner on that occasion and was exhausted, having to carry my own kit plus Bren plus spare magazines.

Major Walls was three to five yards away and I distinctly heard him say, “Vic, take some chaps and scout around for water.”

Vic was facing me about two yards away and I asked, “Me too, Vic?” and he replied, “Yes, you too.”

I went over to pick up my Bren and was straightening up when shots came over my back and head from behind. I saw Vic crumple and hit the deck very smartly. The shots sounded very loud as they had been fired from nearby. A couple of men charged forward and I seem to recall that a few shots were then fired.

The Squadron had actually stopped, unbeknown to us, no more than fifty yards from a C.T. base camp complete with bashas [barrack huts], cookhouse and parade ground. Hot food was found cooking in the cookhouse which I saw some of our men eat later.

My own summing up was that Vic was targeted by a watchful terrorist guard. The next day Vic’s body was carried down to the tar road by 14 Troop for transport to Kuala Lumpur.’

In May 1953, Walls’ courage, determination and leadership gained him the M.B.E. and, in the following month, he added the Coronation Medal to his accolades, having attended the official proceedings as a member of the Southern Rhodesia Contingent.

Rhodesia and the “Bush War”

Clearly marked out for senior command, Walls attended a number of Staff courses following his return to Rhodesia, so, too, Staff College at Camberley, Surrey and, in 1964, as a Lieutenant-Colonel, he was appointed to the command of the 1st Battalion, Rhodesian Light Infantry, a unit comprising especially tough professionals who were shortly to win fame in the “Bush War”. And Walls was the ideal C.O. of such a body of men, ‘a tall, broad-shouldered man of action who liked to lead for the front.’ Moreover, he was very much a soldier’s soldier, a personable and convivial man who quickly gained the respect and admiration of his men. As the decorated reconnaissance specialist Warrant Officer Dew Croukamp put it, his commander ‘always had time to greet me and have a short chat whenever we met in barracks, at a forward base or in the operational area.’

A year after Walls took command of the 1st Rhodesian Light Infantry, and with hardening white resistance to suggestions of black rule, Ian Smith, the Prime Minister, instigated his Unilateral Declaration of Independence (U.D.I.), a resolve that gained unexpected strength when Harold Wilson’s Labour Government in the U.K. deemed military intervention a non-starter. Walls, who was committed to the U.D.I. and now knew he would never have to face British troops, was advanced to Brigadier and appointed to command of 2nd Brigade.

And his forces quickly went into action against early incursions from nationalist guerillas crossing from Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia - from Robert Mugabe’s Z.A.N.L.A. (Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army) and Joshua Nkomo’s Z.I.P.R.A. (Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army).

Here, then, the master of counter-insurgency operations acting swiftly and successfully, his understanding of Special Forces and ‘hit and run’ tactics proving crucial throughout the “Bush War”, especially following his appointment as General Officer Commanding the Rhodesian Army in 1972, and as Commander of Combined Operations from 1977. Enlisting the support of his ex-Malaya S.A.S. comrade, Ron Reid-Daly, he established the formidable Selous Scouts who, in common with the Rhodesian S.A.S., operated clandestinely behind enemy lines. And in keeping with his reputation as a soldier’s soldier, he was a regular visitor to operational areas - one Christmas he parachuted into northern Mozambique to deliver a consignment of roast turkey to his hard-pressed men.

And his message on arriving at Combined Operations was clear cut: the prosecution of war 24 hours a day, seven days a week, under one supreme commander. Nor did he relent when controversial decisions had to be made, Rhodesian S.A.S. operations “Dingo” and “Gatling” in 1977-78 being classic examples of his determination to win, for, as Walls so succinctly put it, ‘If we worried about what the West says we should do, we would have had our necks wrung a long time ago. It seems to me that we are constantly being advised to lie down and take it. But nobody else in the rest of the world has to do it - only us.’

As Commander of Combined Operations, Walls had charge of some 45,000 servicemen who, man for man, were better trained, disciplined and equipped than their foes, and by the Bush War’s end they had killed around 20,000 guerillas. But with mounting casualties of his own, and and a changing political landscape, Walls was fighting an unsustainable war - and knew it. Probably the defining moment in accepting that the end had but one conclusion was when Portugal withdrew from Mozambique and Angola, thereby allowing much greater freedom of movement for Z.I.P.R.A. and Z.A.N.L.A. to inflict heavy losses on Rhodesian servicemen and civilians alike - farms were attacked, roads mined and even two civil airliners downed by SAM-7 missiles: Ian Smith and the Rhodesian Front Party turned to political negotiation, the ensuing Lancaster House conference leading to a British interregnum in Rhodesia, under Lord Soames, with a small force of British servicemen and policemen.

For his own part, Walls was unavoidably drawn into the political process, deeply unhappy as he was with the conduct of the March 1980 elections, in which victory went to Robert Mugabe’s Z.A.N.U. Party. He said as much to Margaret Thatcher, but to no avail. But with worrying scenes developing in the streets of Salisbury, and in the interests of all concerned, he was quick to make an appearance on national television, calling for calm among the white population. In fact, to general amazement from all quarters, he even accepted Mugabe’s invitation to take control of Zimbabwe’s Armed Forces. Yet it was an ill-fated compromise, Mugabe being convinced of a plot to have him assassinated. Within a few months, Walls resigned, and settled in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

And with him went his many Honours & Awards, among them the Rhodesian Officer of the Legion of Merit (O.L.M.) and the Exemplary Service Medal, both awarded to him in 1971, his Defence Cross for Distinguished Service (D.C.D.), awarded in 1976 and, above all, his insignia of the Grand Officer of the Legion of Merit (G.L.M.).

The General died in July 2010, aged 83 years.

SOLD WITH THE FOLLOWING ARCHIVE AND ARTEFACTS

(i) The recipient’s khaki hat and jungle knives (2), as worn and used by him during S.A.S. operations in Malaya 1951-53.

(ii) Folders containing a mass of S.A.S. reports, messages and orders, not just as per the recipient’s command of ‘C’ (Rhodesia) Squadron in Malaya 1951-53, but also from the early days of the S.R.F.E.V.U., subject matter ranging from equipment and parachute training to casualties and confidential ‘star grading’ nominal lists, together with numerous maps, and accordingly an important archive in terms of the early history of the Rhodesian S.A.S.

(iii) Congratulatory letter from General Sir Charles Keightley, K.C.B., K.B.E., D.S.O., C-in-C Far East, on the award of the M.B.E., dated 1 May 1953 (’The high standard of efficiency and fighting qualities displayed by your Squadron while in Malaya were due very largely to your own determination, courage and leadership ... ’), framed.

(iv) Wooden S.A.S. crest wall plaque; S.A.S. Golden Jubilee 1941-1991 commemorative plate, fine bone china, by Aynsley; an S.A.S. commemorative medallion, bronze; and the recipient’s S.A.S. blazer patch and ties (2).

(v) A large quantity of British Army and post-Malaya Rhodesian Army career documentation, comprising secret / confidential reports, nominal lists, lecture notes and much besides, up to and including his appointment as C.O. of the 1st Rhodesian Light Infantry in the 1960s, including a ‘Recruitment, Selection and Morale in the Rhodesian Special Air Service Regiment’ report, dated 22 January 1962; together with a file of later documentation, comprising letters regarding his Honours & Awards and appointments to senior command, etc., including Robert Mugabe’s letter to Walls appointing him G.O.C. of Zimbabwe’s Armed Service, dated 11 April 1980 (’I would like to discuss with you soon the guidelines on which military command should seek to proceed ...’); a quantity of career photographs (approximately 25), many of the latter with titled card mounts, and a selection of newspaper headline posters from the 1970s.