Operation Flotilla

Operation Flotilla was a military operation launched by the Rhodesian Army working with the Portuguese Army in Mozambique in response to the threat posed to Rhodesia by a group of 17 Lusaka-based nationalists who had the intent of entering Rhodesia through its border with Mozambique.

Background
Covert coordinated efforts between the Rhodesian and Portuguese Armed Forces had started in 1967, and soon after Cauldron ended, the RLI was involved in a joint operation in Mozambique. A group of 17 Lusaka-based nationalists infiltrated Mozambique's north-western Tete Province, between Rhodesia and Malawi, in April 1968. Their presence was reported to Portuguese authorities on the 20th May by local tribesmen from Catumbula, a small village just north of the Mazoe River, which in that area ran along the border with Rhodesia. A Portuguese patrol contacted and scattered the guerrillas the next day. The nationalist fighters, split into two groups, then moved towards Rhodesia, one team heading south-west and the other south.

Operation
Acting on information given by the Portuguese, the Rhodesians started Operation Flotilla, based at the border town of Nyamapanda, on the 23rd May. 1 Commando, RLI was sent out on patrol the same day under Major Peter Rich. However, no trace of the insurgents was reported by Rich's men, apart from the tracks of six men on the northern (Mozambican) side of the Mazoe River. The cadres had not actually left Mozambique; a counter-insurgency effort by the Portuguese military and police resulted in most of them being captured or killed. Six who did eventually cross into Rhodesia in early June were captured by the BSAP.