29 Facts About Peter Walls

Peter Walls served as the Head of the Armed Forces of Rhodesia during the Rhodesian Bush War from 1977 until his exile from the country in 1980.

George Peter Walls was born in Salisbury, the capital of the British self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia, in 1927.

Peter Walls's mother was Philomena and father was George Walls, a pilot, who had seen service with the Royal Air Force in the First World War.

Peter Walls received his initial education at Plumtree School in Southern Rhodesia.

Peter Walls was commissioned on 16 March 1946 into the Black Watch regiment of the British Army.

In 1951, Walls was promoted to the rank of Captain at the age of 24 years, and was appointed second-in-command of a reconnaissance unit that Rhodesia despatched to fight in the Malayan Emergency.

In 1973, after a study as to the nature of the opponents that Rhodesia was facing, Peter Walls summoned Ronald Reid-Daly and asked him to assemble a new army unit in response to the strategic nature of the escalating guerilla tactics of Rhodesia's adversaries.

In 1976, Peter Walls oversaw the introduction of indigenous Africans into the Rhodesian Army as commissioned officers for the first time.

In 1977, Peter Walls was appointed as Rhodesia's Commander, Combined Operations, commanding the nation's military and police forces, providing him with almost 50,000 men under his orders in increasingly severe fighting.

On 3 April 1977, in a sign that time was running out for Rhodesia amid economic sanctions, Peter Walls announced that the government would launch a campaign to win the "hearts and minds" of Rhodesia's indigenous African populations to undermine support for the guerrilla campaigns.

In May 1977, General Peter Walls received intelligence reports of a ZANLA force massing in the town of Mapai, in the neighbouring country of Mozambique, and he launched an attack across the border to remove the threat.

Peter Walls announced a day later that the Rhodesian Army would occupy the captured area of Mozambique until it had removed nationalist guerrillas from it.

In November 1977, Peter Walls commanded another raid into Mozambique entitled Operation Dingo, inflicting heavy losses on ZANLA guerrillas quartered there.

In 1977, rumours began circulating in the Rhodesian press that Peter Walls had become deeply pessimistic about the future of Rhodesia, and that he had been quietly preparing to abandon the country and personally relocate his family into South Africa, and had covertly purchased property there for this purpose.

On 4 November 1978, Peter Walls announced to the press that 2,000 nationalist guerrillas had been persuaded to lay down their arms.

On 12 February 1979, in an attempt to assassinate Peter Walls, ZIPRA shot down Air Rhodesia Flight 827 with a Soviet-made SAM-7 missile.

The Zimbabwe African People's Union leader Joshua Nkomo appeared on British domestic television laughing about this incident, declaring that Peter Walls was responsible for the passengers' deaths because he was the "biggest military target", and this justified the action.

Amid the international community's welcome of these developments, Lieutenant-General Peter Walls publicly announced to the press his support for the new government and national dispensation of the Zimbabwean state.

In consequence of his newly found conciliatory demeanour, Peter Walls was maintained as the Commanding Officer of the new Zimbabwe national army by the new Government to oversee the integration of the black nationalist guerrilla units into its regular armed forces.

Peter Walls's request was based on the grounds that Robert Mugabe's forces had used intimidation of voters at the hustings and polling stations to win.

Peter Walls stated that there had been multiple breaches of military aspects of the Lancaster House Agreement's terms.

Peter Walls noted that the British Government had not even replied to his request.

Peter Walls left the country at the end of 1980 to live in exile in South Africa.

Peter Walls was the only recipient of the Grand Officer of the Rhodesian Legion of Merit.

Peter Walls settled with his wife at Plettenberg Bay in the Western Cape of South Africa, where he spent the remainder of his life in obscurity away from the public eye.

Paranoia increased in the Government about perceived potential threats from the previous era to its rule becoming a focus for popular discontent; this was publicly displayed by articles appearing in state controlled press outlets circulating rumours that Peter Walls had covertly been crossing the border into Zimbabwe from South Africa to support the Movement for Democratic Change.

Obert Mpofu, ZANU-PF Party Deputy Secretary for Security stated publicly that Peter Walls had been seen in the vicinity of the Victoria Falls.

Peter Walls's funeral was conducted on 27 July 2010 at St Thomas' Church, Randburg, Gauteng, South Africa.

Peter Walls was survived by his wife, Eunice, and four children from his first marriage: three daughters named Patricia, Marion, and Valerie, and one son named George.