Hi,
I think that this is my first post on Alternate History. I've been thinking of other ideas to do but I'm not knowledgeable enough about those particular fields and I feel that my ideas for those areas are probably implausible. So I chose Rhodesia. My idea is such:
(There's a great map of Rhodesia & Zambia here
http://www.greatnorthroad.org/elements/media/maps/malawi_rhodesia_zambia_1966.jpg)
OTL until:
February 16th, 1979: Joshua Nkomo's ZIPRA shoots down a third Rhodesian Air Vickers Viscount over Lalapasi, killing 51 passengers and all crew.
February 18th, 1979: Rhodesian leader Ian Douglas Smith delivers "Gates of hell" speech in Salisbury.
March 20th: Operation OUTCOME initiated by Rhodesian Security Forces, British South Africa Police, & Rhodesian Central Intelligence Agency.
March 29th: Joshua Nkomo assassinated
April 2nd: Josiah Magama Tongogara & Robert Mugabe assassinated
April 7th: Maputo severely bombed by RhAF. FRELIMO warned to change their behaviour towards Rhodesia or face further repercussions. Zambia is ordered to expel ZANLA and ZIPRA operatives or face a similar threat to Mozambique.
April 8th: Operation CARDIGAN initiated by Rhodesian Security Forces. ZANLA and ZIPRA camps attacked in Zambia.
April 10th: Zambia appeals to the USSR for aid. Meanwhile, Rhodesia undergoes a "last ditch" mobilisation and calls up all personnel from leave or into the reserves.
April 12th: Soviet aid arrives. Six 2K12 'Kub' launchers are deployed around Lusaka and more radars are installed further west at Dundumwensi. Unbeknownst to Zambia, the Rhodesians are watching.
April 13th: The new Zambian SAMs are attacked on the ground whilst still inoperational by Rhodesian SAS infiltrated and exfiltrated by ground-hugging Alouette-III helicopters. Simultaenously, Hawker Hunters of the Rhodesian Air Force engage and destroy one of the three new radar sets. Lusaka International is cratered by Canberra bombers and strafed by de Havilland Vampires. Numerous Zambian planes destroyed on the ground and the airfield is put out of operation for several days. Across the continent, millions awake the next day to a new Africa.
April 14th: ZIPU and ZANU merge into Zimbabwean Liberation Front (ZLF) and ZANLA and ZIPRA merge into Zimbabwean Liberation Front Army (ZLFA)
April 15th: ZLFA launches an all out offensive east of Lake Kariba and their troops occupy Kariba and Feira with Zambian armour in tow. Bridges are blown on the west side of the Zambezi river.
April 16th: Two battalions of Rhodesian African Rifles are moved to Makuti, twenty miles east of Kariba. They are outnumbered some twenty to one by ZLFA forces. RhAF begins aerial bombardment. For the first time in the war, a Rhodesian Hawker Hunter is shot down and crash lands in Lake Kariba.
April 17th: Forward forces of the Rhodesian African Rifles being a feint against Kariba. Withdrawing to Makuti with ZLFA troops in hot pursuit, a vicious aerial assault begins. The ZLFA is decimated from the air. The Rhodesians, however, are running out of aerial munitions.
April 18th: Ian Douglas Smith turns to South Africa with a plea to purchase more bombs and other munitions. P.W. Botha refuses.
April 19th: RAR withdraws from Makuti under pressure. Simultaenous terrorist attacks inside Rhodesia by ZLFA insurgents keep the Rhodesian Army from reinforcing the main battle northwest of Salisbury.
April 20th: Zambian armour leads the way to Karoi, less than a hundred miles to Salisbury. There is little the Rhodesians can do (OTL, Rhodesians receive their first tanks, eight T-55s, in October of '79) but lay mines and withdraw, trying to minimise casualties on the Road to Salisbury.
April 21st: A sympathetic South African military orders the shipment of munitions to Rhodesia, under the nose of P.W. Botha. The first weapons arrive in Rhodesia early morning of April 22nd.
April 22nd: Rhodesia immediately launches a counterattack. The Zambian T-55s and PT-76 tanks are identified from the ground and destroyed from the air by dH Vampires. Rear-echelon troops are held back by aerial bombardment as Rhodesian Eland armoured cars of the Rhodesian Armoured Corps clash with light vehicles and a few Zambian tanks.
In a classic all-or-nothing movement, Rhodesian Light Infantry go in for what might be their last ever raid, in conjunction with the SAS, using their Alouette helicopters and Dakota transport aircraft to arrive at the rear of the ZLFA formation. The Rhodesian Armoured Corps moves to surround the ZLFA force from the flanks as Rhodesian General Peter Walls, having scraped the barrel, puts militiamen and last-line reservists in with surviving RAR troops at the front. A box is about to be formed around the ZLFA troops ahead of Karoi.
Sensing an encirclement, the ZLFA formation leader orders forward his tactical reserves, only to find his radio lines have been cut by the Selous Scouts. He dies flipping through pages of Mao's little red book as a Rhodesian 250lb bomb immolates his command post. Meanwhile, back at Kariba, the ZLFA General orders the last of the ZLFA troops across the border, only to find Zambian Army personnel are blocking the bridges. Having lost contact with any field-attache forwards of Kariba, especially with their tank formations, Zambia has feared the worst and cut support for ZLFA.
April 23rd: Rhodesia can not go on much longer. As well as the need to take care of several thousand PoWs at Karoi, the Rhodesians are running out of ammunition and fuel for practically everything. They are still outnumbered six or seven to one, although they don't yet know that the ZLFA is unable to reinforce or resupply their troops inside Rhodesia.
In Salisbury, Ian Douglas Smith is about to pick up the phone to Kenneth Kaunda, in anticipation of making some sort of deal. An aide brings him tea and he pauses for a moment. After taking the first sip, the phone rings. It is Kenneth Kaunda. "We are stopping the ZLFA," he says. IDS is silent. "Zambia is willing to negotiate."
April 24th: Informed that they are cut off from retreat, reinforcement, or resupply, on the verge of annihilation (several nervous flyovers by Rhodesian aircraft sporting dummy training bombs gave the right impression) and told that if they turn in their commanders they will not face any charges, ZLFA troops from Kariba to Karoi stage a mass uprising, capturing their commanders and turning themselves and their Kalashnikovs in.
Simultaenously, Zambia moves to arrest ZLF leaders. Some have already escaped to Angola, but dozens fall into the net. They are handed over to Rhodesia in exchange for compensation for damage inflicted to Lusaka International Airport, which is still not repaired. The core of the ZLF's fighting force, built up over fourteen years by ZIPRA and ZANLA, the elite of the ZLF leadership, and the political support and financial backing of the Communist resistance in Rhodesia has been destroyed.
Rhodesia had won the Bush War.
I have more to write, but I will see what you think of this anyway.
I'm willing to write a post per date (and more!) if this survives a plausibility check.