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The Crocodile Armoured Personnel Carrier or "Croc" is a Rhodesian armoured personnel carrier first introduced in 1977 and based on Japanese commercial trucks' chassis. It remains in use with the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA).

Crocodile Armoured Personnel Carrier
TypeArmoured personnel carrier
Place of originRhodesia
Service history
In service1977 - present
Used byRhodesia
Zimbabwe
WarsRhodesian Bush War
1980 Entumbane clashes
1981 Entumbane uprising
Mozambican Civil War
Second Congo War
Specifications
Mass6.55 tonnes (empty)
11.55 tonnes (combat)
Length7.65 m
Width2.25 m
Height3.1 m
Crew2+16

Armor10 to 40 mm
Main
armament
one 7.62 mm, 12.7 mm or 14.5 mm machine guns
Secondary
armament
personal weapons through gunports
EngineStandard Nissan 6.54 litre diesel
160 hp
Power/weighthp/ton hp/tonne
Suspensionwheels, 4 × 4
Operational
range
600 to 700 km
Maximum speed 90 km/h

General description


Built on a Nissan, Toyota or Isuzu 5-tonne truck chassis, the Crocodile consisted of an open-topped hull or 'capsule' faceted at the sides, which were designed to deflect small-arms' rounds, and a flat bottom or 'deck' reinforced by a v-shaped 'crush box' meant to deflect landmine blasts. Three inverted U-shaped high 'Roll bars' were fitted to protect the fighting compartment from being crushed in case the vehicle turned and roll over after a mine detonation.


Protection


The Crocodile was appreciated for its protection against landmines and ambush, since its hull was made of welded ballistic 10mm mild steel plate, whilst the front windscreen and side windows had 40mm bullet-proof laminated glass.[1] However, the heavy "Croc"'s hull added about 3 tonnes of armour to a commercial truck chassis nominally road rated at 7.5 tonnes, placing a strain especially on its clutch and brakes.[2]


Armament


Rhodesian "Crocs" were usually armed with a FN MAG-58 7.62mm Light Machine Gun (LMG), sometimes installed on a locally produced one-man machine gunner armoured turret to protect the gunner. Vehicles assigned to convoy escorting duties ('E-type') had a Browning M1919A4 7.62mm medium machine gun mounted on an open-topped, cylinder-shaped turret (dubbed 'the dustbin'), whilst those employed on 'externals' received a tall, square-shaped and fully enclosed MAG turret mounted on the roof over the commander's seat.[3] The Zimbabwean vehicles after 1980 sported pintle-mounted Soviet-made 12.7mm and 14.5mm Heavy Machine Guns (HMG) instead.


Variants



Combat history


The Crocodile APC was employed by the Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI)[4] late in the war on their cross-border covert raids ('externals') against ZIPRA and ZANLA guerrilla bases in the neighboring Countries,[5] such as the September 1979 raid on the ZANLA's New Chimoio base in Mozambique (Operation "Miracle").[6]

After independence, the Crocodile APC entered service with the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) in early 1980. In November that year, ZNA's "Crocs" were thrown into action against ZIPRA troops at the 1st Battle of Entumbane and later at the February 1981 2nd Battle of Entumbane (near Bulawayo, Matabeleland), and later again after February 1982 by helping to put down the Super-ZAPU insurgency also in Matabeleland.

During the Mozambican Civil War, they were employed by the ZNA forces in Mozambique guarding the Mutare-Beira oil pipeline in 1982–1993, and served with Zimbabwe troops in the ill-fated United Nations' peacekeeping mission in Somalia (UNOSOM I) from 1992 to 1994. During that assignment, a few "Crocs" were loaned to the U.S. Marines contingent for convoy escort and security duties in the Mogadishu area. The "Crocs" served with the ZNA contingent sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo during the Second Congo War from 1998 to 2002.[7]


Operators



Former operators



Notes


  1. Locke & Cooke, Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80 (1995), p. 45.
  2. Locke & Cooke, Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80 (1995), p. 43.
  3. Locke & Cooke, Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80 (1995), p. 45.
  4. Grant & Dennis, Rhodesian Light Infantryman 1961–80 (2015), pp. 24-25; 56-57.
  5. Locke & Cooke, Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80 (1995), p. 58.
  6. Touchard, Guerre dans le bush! Les blindés de l'Armée rhodésienne au combat (1964-1979), pp. 65; 73.
  7. Abbott & Ruggeri, Modern African Wars (4): The Congo 1960-2002 (2014), pp. 41-42.

See also



References







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