Operation Flotilla

Seventeen insurgents left Lusaka on 16 Apr 1968, heading for Zululand in South Africa. To illustrate the variety of support given by Zambia, 12 were armed members of the South African Pan African Congress (PAC) and 5 were guides from the Comite Revolucionario de Moçambique (CoReMo). The Portuguese authorities were alerted to the intruders by villagers from the Tete Province, near the Mazóe River on 20 May and a joint operation with Southern Rhodesia was initiated.

A Portuguese force made contact on 21 May and the group split up but strayed into Southern Rhodesia, where parts of 1 Rhodesia Light Infantry and two Alouette III carried on the pursuit. Between 30 May and 24 July, 13 of the group had been either killed or captured in the joint operation, while the remaining 4 returned to Zamabia.