A Brutal State of Affairs

Henrik Ellert was born in Denmark but grew up in Kenya during the Mau Mau emergency. He came to Zimbabwe in 1961 and joined the police force in 1964, initially serving two years in the uniformed branch and stationed in Shabani and Hartley, where he gained his first experience with the nationalist guerrilla insurgency after the killing of the Viljoens by ZANLA in 1966. He later transferred to the CID being stationed in Gweru and shortly after joined Special Branch posted to the Chirundu border post where he was involved in Operation Couldron and Griffin and intel collection from Zambia. Returning to the Provincial Special Branch Office, Salisbury and Mashonaland, he was first responsible for border control at Salisbury airport and later on the European desk, rising to head of the section where his work brought him into contact with a wide spectrum of society. Throughout the 1970s he was periodically stationed at JOC Hurricane and, after completing Portuguese language studies, undertook liaison duties with Portuguese authorities in Beira, Tete, Chitima and Mukumbura. In 1978 he was seconded to special duties as UANC liaison on Operation Favour before being transferred as Member-in-Charge of CID/Special Branch Que Que with responsibilities during Operation Grapple and Operation Favour. He retired with the rank of Detective Inspector in 1979.

Dennis Malcolm Anderson was born in London in 1930. Having moved to Rhodesia, he attested in the BSAP on 28 October 1956 and initially served in the uniformed branch at Rhodesville, Salisbury, later joining the CID and then Special Branch, where he became closely associated with nationalist leaders during the course of political rallies in the 1960s. For the first time he came into contact with educated black people, not 'domestic servants' or 'garden boys', interaction that very few Rhodesians or even his colleagues experienced. He subsequently served in Manicaland province where politically inspired crime became a daily event. In 1967 he was promoted to Detective Inspector and transferred to Salisbury. In the September 1971 he was posted to Marandellas as Member-in-Charge of the CID and Special Branch station. Promoted to Superintendent he was transferred to Salisbury but after a short posting he was transferred to Umtali where he was engaged in counterinsurgency operations with the infiltration of ZANLA into the Chipinga district as the Special Branch JOC officer; he was also the JOC officer on Operation Thrasher. In 1976 he was transferred to Special Branch HQ and posted to the Terrorist desk with Superintendent Pelissier preparing monthly analysis on the war for the Director-General. In 1977 he was transferred to Operation Hurricane as the SB JOC Officer. His final posting prior to retirement in 1979 was to COMOPS.