Various historians have considered December 1972 and Operation Hurricane to have been the start of the insurgency war in Rhodesia. The government of Zimbabwe consider the relatively minor skirmish they call the Battle of Chinhoyi (Sinoia) on 28 April 1966, as the official start of their Second Chimurenga, as they call what is also referred to as the Rhodesian Bush War. Farm manager Petrus Oberholzer was murdered by the ZANU insurgent Crocodile Gang on 4 July, 1964. Eminent historian, Professor JRT Wood writes, that was actually the start of the insurgency in Rhodesia. The Oberholzer murder took place three years before the Battle of Chinhoyi, and eight years before the commencement of Operation Hurricane, although Oberholzer’s murder was initially investigated by the BSAP as a criminal incident.  

By 1968 skilled combat tracking had become a recognised Rhodesian Army counterinsurgency tactic, and high emphasis was placed on the use of combat trackers on operations. However, during the early phases of the insurgency the Rhodesian Security Forces were caught on the backfoot and heavy reliance was placed on tribal trackers in the employ of the BSAP, on game scouts, and game rangers, from the Department of National Parks & Wildlife Management, and on the limited use of BSAP tracker dogs. In 1964/5, ex-game ranger turned ecologist, Allan Savory, who as a TA Captain in 4 RR was already an astute student of guerrilla warfare, bushcraft, survival, and tracking, convinced the Rhodesian Army HQ of the need for skilled European combat trackers in an insurgency war which most people believed was on the Army HQ clearance Savory initially formed his Guerilla Anti-Terrorist Unit (GATU) made up in the main of game rangers, game ranchers and hunters. To join, candidates had to undergo a rigorous selection in the Gonarezhou National Park under Savory. Later, he was joined by the then SAS Captain Brian Robinson and with a selection of SAS candidates returned to the remote area in the Sabi and Lundi River confluence and ran the first course for SAS combat trackers. On Operation Hurricane in 1968, and for the first time, European SAS trackers, and RLI trackers tracked ZIPRA insurgents to contact. In 1970 Captain Brian Robinson was tasked with forming the Rhodesian Army’s first School of Bush Warfare & Tracking at Lake Kariba. The school’s name would later revert to Tracking Wing One of the book includes contributory chapters by Lt Col Brian Robinson OLM, MCM who became the longest serving CO of the SAS, Allan Savory who also very kindly gave me access to his unpublished autobiography, Major Don Price BCR who was involved with combat tracking virtually throughout his military career, and raised the first RLI Tracking Troop. After Lt Al Tourle’s tragic death to a lion, Price took over as OC Kariba Tracking Wing which in January 1974 was absorbed into the newly raised Selous Scouts. Also included is a chapter on the use of tracker and scent dogs on counterinsurgency operations, including with the BSAP and as a reader interest comparison, with the Royal Australia Regiment in Vietnam. I must emphasise though; this book is not an instructional ‘How To’ about tracking. Rather, it looks at how tracking evolved as a needed counterinsurgency tactic during the Rhodesian Bush War and covers various operations from the beginning, including Operation Nickel and Operation Cauldron. Some ex-combat trackers have also contributed short anecdotal stories of their much of my research I relied heavily on the superb Rhodesian historical writings of Professor JRT Wood, and I have used some of his maps, for which I am grateful. Preller ‘Prop’ Geldenhuys’s detailed book Rhodesian Air Force Operations was another of my research sources, as was Alex Binda’s The Saints, plus various other works. Part Two of the book covers the use of pseudo counter-gangs in Rhodesia from the 1973 experimental phases onwards, including the formation of the Selous Scouts and my own experiences in the field of pseudo-operations. I have dedicated the book to all of those brave men who were combat trackers and pseudo-operators, and I am grateful to Major Nigel Henson OLM, for having written the Foreword. After having served in the Selous Scouts in 1974, he eventually went on to become the longest serving Fire Force OC in the RLI (Support Commando). The cover was designed by Simon Willar, who also came up with the title after input by Nigel Henson and myself. Simon Willar saw service as an officer in both the RLI and the Selous paperback version and the eBook Follow My Tracks – Combat Tracking and Pseudo Operations: Recollections,  are both available on Amazon although the electronic version has less photos than the paperback print